Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come.

Joseph F. Smith

My lesson learned.

Bouncin'...

Good Morning ~

The girls don't skip a beat when they wake up..they grab their toys and its on

Reesey is always the most chipper in the morning..she gets the smiles out of ya in no time

When I look down - pretty much most of the time - this is my view. Beautiful, huh?

Sass is always the welcome committee for Bubba..she has to touch him first.

Despicable Me = G n' R's morning coffee

Rally Point...

I've been counting down all week for Christmas. We have completed our lists and checked them twice. Presents are wrapped and food is just waiting to be gobbled. We are ALL completely excited for the big day. Tonight though, I realized the count down has changed from a Christmas day count down, to a count down of when my Gracie Girl will come home. This week is her bioMom's part of the Christmas holiday, and ours will start Christmas day at 1 pm. She has been gone 3 days. 3 days!! And I still have 2.5 days to go..

Oy.

Jaxman said at dinner tonight, that he is saving his presents to open for when his little sister comes home, so she won't be alone opening her presents. His heart is the best. Selfishness has never reared its ugly head around this humble young man of mine. I hope his little sisters will soak up his awesomeness..

So we will wait. Wait with all the patience we can rally up for Christmas morning and more importantly - the return of the missing piece of our "yiddle" family...it'll literally be "like Christmas" on Christmas, when our Gracie Girl is back home.

Our Night Out ~

We partied at Grandma Grace's Friday night.. It was B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Babies)..we gobbled pizza, buffalo wings (from chicken) and doughnuts, pronounced DUFF-NUTS...

We got silly after that..








When our sugar highs wore off, we gave the babies a night cap, packed our haul and gave kisses..





I'll tell ya what.. For a good time, call Grandma Grace..you'll be glad you did ~

Shutter - Bugs ...

As humbly as any proud mother and wife can say ~ here is my perfect, beautiful, loving, happy, solid family.

I'm lovin' it...

I'm totally lovin' it... I have three children that are so smart and loving. I feel like I learn more from them and get more from life out of them, then me as their mom, is supposed to be giving them.

Our son Jaxon is doing wonderful. It has almost been a year since we moved to Layton. Although not far from Logan, it was a huge deal to us. We would be leaving my sister and she was "Ground Zero" for us. She took us into her home with her already hectic life, and let us stay, while I rebuilt mine. Jaxon loved his auntie before, but his heart grew 3 times bigger for her. His school work is awesome...he loves all the kids in his class..and when we remember *sigh, he loves Scouts. He is wonderful in his Big Brother role... he was an only child for 9 years. And now he happily shares that one-on-one time he had with me for close to a decade to his two little sisters that he loves more than I thought possible. I know Gracie loves Chris and I, but I don't think she would enjoy coming home as much without her "Bubba.." being here. He is so protective of both Gracie and Reese. I know if it wasn't for his sweet spirit, our home wouldn't be the fun silly place that it is.

Gracie Girl or Sassy..our littlest, oldest daughter. How she keeps me in shape. AND productive. When you walk into our home you either know Sassy is home or if she is not instantly. When she is with her bioMom I'm so lame...I play with the kids and still run the house. But the extra's like deep cleaning of bathrooms and vacuuming falls behind. Not that I do nothing but clean while she is home with me, but the energy she brings to our home is crazy and its like a "spoonful of sugar". I dance and sing for her, and play ring-around-the rosies until there are two little Sassy's in front me. I chase her til neither of us have air and we fall onto the couch to chill out while watching a movie. She makes me a better mom. She keeps me on my toes and gives me her energy. I can honestly say I am a better person because of that little girls heart.

Reesey...what a sweet baby. I use to think she had something wrong with her for the first 3 months. She never cried..she slept through the night. She NEVER threw up or fussed. She would squawk like a peacock a couple times and that was her letting us know she would totally love a bottle. When she started to smile in July I was thrilled. Every time I go to get her out of her crib in the morning, she does that smile and it makes me feel like the luckiest momma. She is just a smitch away from rolling over. And she is holding her head very well while on her tummy. Its so funny to see the chins pull away from her face and you can see her in the "single chin" light that she was born to be in :)

I'm going to boast a little and say that the happiness and contentment that my kids have AND show are reflections of Chris' and my marriage. Since we are happy and are at peace finally with our lives, I think it keeps our home happy and at peace. I don't know...but I do know that life is awesome. Its never been this way and I know I won't let it go away. I'm very grateful for the family I have been given. And I couldn't be lovin' it more!!!

Walls, Slides and Germs OH MY!!!

The neighborhood carnival was most exciting! I stepped out of my germ and/or filth-phobia to make my little girl smile and cheer Jaxman on. It happened once..it wasn't bad and it could happen again. But Lagoon isn't happening anytime soon still....

Jax climbed this huge monster wall aut-a-magically!! He was a monkey!!!


This is our friend Takoda ~ she lives across the street...they are always silly and Gracie just loves when she gets to play with them ~


This is where I stepped out of my comfort zone..(you couldn't wear shoes!!!) and played with my daughter. She loved it though, so it was very well worth it when she gave me squeezes all the while giggling and smiling.


I love them..they love me no matter who's dirty or clean!!!

Our Spongebob SmileyPants'...

How lucky are dad and I to have 3 beautiful, happy kids... VERY LUCKY!!! We love you silly kids with all our hearts ~

Details...

We realize there is an addiction...we're trying to get her to cut down to at least one bink a day.

At least she is serious about success and doesn't let her "problem" get in the way...

And these two are just always together. I realize that this is such a good thing, but I'm jealous. There I said it...jealous. blah

That's fine..cause we girls are tight...you have to have one of these to roll with us ~

But this lil diddy is any body's friend...she'll match you smile for smile ~



But at the end of the day, it's always all of us..happy and together.

Stay Classy San Diego... Stay Classy

We loved you San Diego... we played on your beaches, boogy boarded until chaffage occured.. we giggled over the sea lions and "Ooohh'd" over Shamu at Sea World. We loved how our little Gracie tried to figure out these huge "fishies" and how Jax was so excited to drag Christo on the rides. We loved your zoo and all the animals to see..when Gracie saw the lion and whispered "RARRHHH" in my ear, as if she was scared she would scare them.

We loved the nights in our beach house where everyone was so tired, we all had the giggles :) And the way the fresh air made us all so tired we didn't move in our beds.

So until next time San Diego..stay classy ~~~~

We're busy laughing!

Let's recap our summer... so far we were married. It was so perfectly perfect for our family ~ we had a little baby girl with cheeks you just want to bite, Jax started scouts and is just killing it with earning so many patches, arrow heads and beads "Oh My!" Gracie was gracefully taken off the bottle ~ excuse me while I do a celebration dance!!! ~ Chris finally got his dream to watch Manchester United play here in the states. We've made it to the cabin in Bear Lake twice already. I know we're out of control!! And I, as the Momma was a part of each of these awesome events... except the Manchester game...but I was busy holding down the fort so Dad could go and have a great time....so according to my calculations, drop the 1 carry the 2, I was a part of the Manchester action :)

Here are some pictures of the stellar partying we've been doing...








Stay tuned because we have lots more to do...our little family is making a trip to San Diego. We are all but done with our rental house remodel and the closing for the sale is just a signature away. We are sooo close to hearing some chuckles from Reese and who knows what crazy things out of Sassy's little mouth :)