It's official...he can practice law!

Josh swore into the Utah Bar Association on Halloween.  It was so fun to share this time with Nate and Angie.

It was a great day.  We are so happy to have this step done. 

Hope at 5

Hope even at 5 is still impossible to get a good photo of.  I thought she would grow out of it, but I think it is just her personality...she doesn't really like to have her picture taken.  When she is looking at the camera she isn't smiling.  When she is smiling she isn't looking.  Add the sun, and she is immediately squinting.  Plus, with balloons and wind and the fear of loosing the balloons...well it just was not a great set up.  So, when I look at these pictures I giggle inside.  They aren't exactly what I had envisioned, but they are so Hope.  Perfectly imperfect!  I love her.  And I will always cherish these photos smirks, and crazy faces and all. 

Hope LOVES the color PURPLE!  And loves tigers. Her favorite movie is Alvin and the chipmunks, and she is often caught playing chipmunks. 

Hope has lost 2 teeth.  She loves going to preschool.  This girl HATES cleaning anything up.."It's so boring!" But she is the best at making HUGE messes.

 She loves grandpas mashed potatoes, spaghetti, taco soup, and bean burritos.  She can eat salsa and jalapenos and not complain but if she uses adult toothpaste it is too spicy. 

Yup!  She still pees her pants (sometimes everyday!).  I have to include this so when her child is peeing his/her pants at 5 she will believe me when I tell her she did too.  I have given up on the issue and just figure eventually something will click.

She has gotten so much more vocal in the last year.  Sometimes it is hard to get her to stop talking.  She still obsesses over her hair, and thinks that people like/don't like her based on if they like/don't like her hair.  I have no clue where this notion originated.  She is absolutely beautiful inside and out.  She loves to play with her friends, cousin, and sister, but not so much her brother. 

Hopes eyes sparkle and light up when she is excited about something.  She begs to sleep on the top bunk every night with Brielle. 

We are so thankful to have this beautiful sweet girl in our family...she truly is our Hope.

Hope's balloon-tastic, tiger-rific, purple-licious 5th birthday

 We celebrated our sweet Hope all week!  On Monday she got to take in treats to her preschool class.  On Tuesday (her actual birthday) she got to take treats into her other preschool class.  When she came home a special package had arrived. 

 She fell in love instantly.  She couldn't believe it was for her.

 Her aunt Angie had recently come for a visit and bought her the purple tiger.  She had no clue that purple was her favorite color and she loved tigers.  She had me take this picture with her "new favorite things."

 And then it was party time!  It was the dreaded 5th birthday sleepover party.  We did this for Brielle because it was all she wanted.  Afterwards I said "I will never do that again!"  Josh said "yes you will in 18 mos. for Hope"  and here we are, 18 months later!  Hope has been talking about her sleepover party for 18 months now.

 She didn't make it easy on me.  She chose tigers for the theme.  We added purple because its the favorite color, and she wanted lots of balloons.  WOW!  What a theme. 

Treats and cake!

Center of the "tent".

Josh drew this cute girl and we had nightgown for each of the girls to decorate.  Then we played pinned the nightgown on the girl.  The girls loved it.

 My mom came to see everything, and when she started saying goodbye, Rigdon ran to the door to wait for her.  He wanted to sneak out with her.  I think he had an inkling he was about to be overwhelmed by girls!

And then the little cuties started to arrive.  Hope was so hyper-excited.  She was bouncing off the walls.  I think Brielle was just as excited, as if it were her party.

5!  Really...ugh!

Blowing out the candles.  Notice we had a little help from Reese.  Too funny!

She wanted a tiger cake, so I had planned to make a 3D type tiger head.  Well, it was a good thing I ran it passed her because she was very opinionated about what she wanted from her cake.  She wanted it just like Brielle's 5th birthday cake.  So then I planned to do orange and black stripes so that you could tell it was a tiger.  She said no I want it like my stuffed tiger (pictured above).  Ok!  Purple and white striped cake it is!  I love that she is starting to be more vocal about her opinion.

 All the girls except Taytum (not sure where she was...sorry Hill).  Total we had 9 girls ages 3-6.  Yup...Were crazy!

For the most part it was a good crazy and uneventful night.  Hope had a blast and that is all that counts.

Circus! Circus!

My Mom treated us to the circus and what a special treat it was.  The kids absolutely loved it.  I was a little nervous about Rigdon, but he did ok.  Some things he was totally enthralled others I was pulling my hair out...or more literally he was pulling my hair out because I wouldn't let him run! 

 Brielle loved every second.  She clapped giddily when the elephants came out (elephants are her favorite animal!)  and she got so frustrated with me that I wasn't taking pictures of everything.  My hands were a little full with Rigs.  So she stole the camera and was taking pictures of EVERYTHING.  Thanks to Brie we have a lot to show.

 Elephants walking in.  We had great seats and we could see the wrinkles on them.  Rigdon kept saying " whoaaaaa"

 This was during the horses...He wanted off my lap so bad so he could get closer.  Too bad I wouldn't let him go any farther than this.  See that little boy eating the popcorn in front of him?  Yeah, we DON'T know him at all.  Rigdon just reached down and helped himself to some popcorn.  The little boy didn't know what to do...he just kinda looked at him like What the heck! Then a few minutes later Rigdon accidentally kicked his brother in the head.  I feel really bad for the people who sat in front of us.

 The tight rope walkers were another favorite.  I am just astounded with the skill and the amount of practice all these acts take. 

 Yes, they are on the tight rope, on bikes and she is on a pole standing on a chair on the men on bikes!  CRAZY!

 Hopes favorite was the tigers (that is her favorite animal)  but we didn't get a great picture of them.

 More elephants

 Brielle loved that they sat on these little tiny stools.

All the grandkids with Grandma.   Thanks mom for a fabulous day!

the stolen camera!

When I uploaded my pictures, there were all sorts of pictures I didn't take!  Some of them were sweet like this one.  Hope surrounded by all her toys.  She can often be found with a pile of treasures.

 Some of them were random...like this picture of curious george playing on the TV

Or this picture of me, talking on the phone!

And how about this one?  Brie says she was practicing.

Hope must've wanted a turn too.

And then I got to this one.  An upside down one of Rigs.  It just creeped me right out, because I kept thinking they were some how holding him upside down...then I realized they just turned the camera around.

Love those crazy kiddos!

A day to remember!

This was a special day.  Josh came downstairs and proudly announced that we could call him counselor.  This is the day we found out that he passed the bar.  We screamed.  We cried.  We laughed.  We jumped up and down.  And we said a prayer of thanks! 

To celebrate we went out to dinner with my brothers and sisters.  So proud of my man!

P is for Preschool (finally!)

 Preschool could not get here fast enough for little Hope.  Brielle started sooner than her so she has been waiting patiently (most the time!).  Hope is going to 2 preschools this year.  One is for speech on and Tuesday, and the other we already had her signed up for, and figured she would like to go 4 days a week anyway.
She started her speech preschool first and was so excited.  I was shocked when she picked out this shirt for her first day.  When we went school shopping 90% of the things she picked were purple.   I didn't really care, it is her favorite color, but Josh wanted some variety and got this shirt for her.  Then she chose it to wear on the first day.  Funny girl. 

 She picked a weed flower for her teacher.  Who doesn't love dandelions?  She was not scared or shy at all.  I was a little shocked by this.

 She looks so big with her missing tooth!  I can't believe she is almost 5!  She absolutely loved preschool and couldn't wait to go back.  Unfortunately she had to wait a whole week. 

 Then finally the day came when her "different preschool" (as she calls it) started.  I love that this school is in the J. Rueben Clark house.  It totally reminds me of the old schoolhouses, and they have it fixed so cute inside. 

She had to wear the boots because they are so comfortable!  She had a great time here too, and just loves to go.  I think we made the right choice by sending her 4 days a week.  She would've gotten bored at home with me. 

On a side note:  Today was the first day the Brie was in school (she's been sick) and Hope was in preschool, and Rigdon took a nap.  I had a quiet house all to myself for 3 1/2 hours.  I didn't quite know what to do.  I cleaned and it stayed cleaned (at least til Rigs woke up).  I ate and didn't have to get up 50 times to get drinks, napkins, more food, etc.  I think I am going to enjoy my quite afternoons.