William-ese

After a Family Home Evening lesson on the first line of The Family: A Proclamation to the world ----

Brandon: What did you learn tonight, Bud?

William: About marriage.

Brandon: Marriage is ordained of God?

William: Uh huh.

Brandon: Temple marriage is really good.

William: Yep. Don't get married in a house.

Brandon: Getting married is good, but we should get married in the temple.

William ponders this.

Wiiliam: Here's the order from baddest to good. Bad -- to not get married at all. Good-- to get married in a house or somewhere random like that. Temple? The best. High score.

Fotos de Julio

 For the 4th of July we decided to try out the local festivities in our new city. The pancake breakfast was par for the course. Krusteaz pancakes, sausage, under seasoned eggs, sticky store bought syrup, and Tampico juice. We loved it! Haha. No really, I was there and trying to figure out why I love pancake breakfasts like I do .... because the food really isn't that great. It's a nostalgic thing, I guess. I lived in Cheyenne, WY and every July for Frontier Days we would hit up the pancake breakfast. Oh how I looked forward to those pancake breakfasts! And the parades!

 After the parade we walked down the street and found a spot to wait for the parade. It was hot. It was a normal parade. The kids had fun and the candy was fairly limited, which I was grateful for. Past parades we've attended throw sO MuCH CanDy. Bleh. Candy is overrated.

 The afternoon and evening were filled with water fun, a BBQ, and fireworks with some of our favorite people ever. Oh boy do I love all these kids. They won't hold still for a picture, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 Um, please explain this picture to me. It is amazingly creepy. 

 A week and a half later was our Anne girl's 2nd birthday. Two! Woohoo! Curious George kept both of us sane through the past few months so it was perfectly fitting that the kids decided that would be the theme for our celebrations.

More pictures of the birthday girl to come, but I had to share this darlingness above. These kids are my pride and joy, through and through. I just love them to pieces. Samuel included, even if he was left out of the picture.

 The end of the month brought a much anticipated family reunion for the W clan. My mom and Aunt Marilyn (married to mom's brother) spent hours planning this shindig and they certainly pulled off a good one! We stayed at a lodge 10 miles out of Bear Lake called Beaver Creek Lodge. Family came from Kansas, Texas, California, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho.

Grandma sat and enjoyed watching all the chaos. She was the cause of all of it, after all.  Grandpa and Grandma would have been married for 62 years this year. Well, they have been married for 62 years. Grandpa passed on 11 years ago this month. We sure do miss him. 

My mom, her mother, and her siblings. I love this crazy bunch.

While We're At It

 Samuel's outfit was another revisit. I cannot tell a lie. I love being able to revisit these cute little outfits and these cute little pictures. Look at those darling boys of mine!

William and Ethan (cousin): July 2006

Samuel: July 2012

Miss Fourth of July

Marie, July 4, 2009

Once upon a time I made a cute bandanna skirt and just happened to find cowboy boots in just the right size for my darling, ever willing to pose, little (almost) two year old.

Anne, July 4, 2012

 Three years later we resurrected the skirt and boots, spiffed them up with a new shirt and threw them on our newest (almost) two year old.

 We tried our DarNdEsT, but in true Anne-style she 

would

 not

pose. 

(Do you love her popsicle face, too?) 

She's BusY, 

she's mEsSy, 

she's pLayFuL, 

she's fIesTy, 

she's AnNe. 

And she doesn't smile for the camera. 

Usually.

Summing up June

 We welcomed June in with William's last day of kindergarten. It was a welcome day. We were all ready to be done driving from Layton to Clinton every day. I will forever be grateful for our friend and neighbor, Megan, for helping me out with getting William to and from school after we moved. It was hard enough getting out there once a day. Doing it twice would have been impossible.

 Marie was Samuel's little mommy, always eager to help in anyway that I'd let her. I still haven't convinced her to try changing a diaper yet. 

 Samuel tried out the famous jumperoo for the first time. He's a fan. 

 After a rare night when Samuel gave me a decent amount of sleep a friend sent me a text inviting us to join her at Kinnecott Copper Mine. I was feeling spontaneous so off we went. I love these kids and their mother.  

Thank goodness she is always (always, always, always) ready to lend a helping hand because an outing with all four children, one being a nursing baby (never mind her three), is not for the faint of heart.

Other than that, we spent June at home just existing. And let me tell you, even that can be hard work.