Sweet Blessings

My friend lost her little girl today to a year long battle with leukemia.  It really makes you stop and think about what's important.  I sat and watched my children play together today: laughing, smiling, and even a little bickering every now and then, but I'm still grateful for all of it.  I love how Harrison is so sweet and sensitive.  He just wants to get along with everyone.  If he does something wrong he says in the sweetest voice ever, "Please don't be mad at me, Mom."  It melts my heart.  Who could stay mad at that?  Not me.  He's so funny too.  I love that he's a total goof ball.
I love how Lily loves to be in a good mood.  She's hardly ever in a bad mood.  She loves to laugh and be tickled.  It doesn't take very much to make her smile.  If she seems sad or down all I have to do is tell her I love her, play a game with her, tickle her, or just give her a little bit of positive attention and she is right back on track.
Lucy is very much like Lily in so many ways, and being happy is one of them.  You just look at Lucy and give her a little bit of attention and she will give you a grin that could melt your heart.  She loves to have someone playing with her.  Harrison is always trying to get her to laugh, which she loves.  Lily is always taking care of her.  She wants to help her with everything.  It's so sweet.  Lucy is very curious and out to discover the world.  I hope she keeps that sense of adventure for many, many years.  In fact, all three kids are like that and I hope they stay that way.  
If I had a genie in a bottle I would ask to have my kids stay like this for another year.  I love the stages they are at.  It all seems to be going by so fast.  Today was a firm reminder that you never know when you might lose someone you love and adore.  I believe 100% that families are eternal and while tragic things may happen here, there will come a day when we are reunited and get to be together for all eternity.  I love my family so much. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have them.

Here is one of my funnys having a little private time.  Too bad he doesn't know that his private time is being posted on the blog.  I love that he went and got some mail to read while he did his business.  As weird as this might sound, it's moments like this that make me realize how much I love being a mom.

I'm so impressed that he's already starting to think about his financial future.  That is a credit card application he pulled out of the mail.  Very interesting.

And no one in our house reads while sitting on the pot, so I have no clue where he got that from.

A Sunny Afternoon

It's been beautiful here.  I love being outside enjoying the nice weather.  The kids have been asking to go walk around the temple, so today we made that happen.  I was going through the pictures trying to pick and choose which ones to post, but I've decided to post the majority.  Why not.

Caught in the act. . . kind of

We found this little one fleeing the scene of the crime.  I think she looks pretty guilty.  I'm sure her little fingerprints are all over that entire roll of toilet paper.

Hiking in the Rain

It's so nice to have good friends that you can go do fun things with.  My friend, Monae, and I took the kids hiking.  It started to rain on us - which actually made it more fun.  There was way more poison ivy on our path than I was comfortable with.  I'm shocked that the kids didn't wake up this morning covered in rashes and itching.

Happy 4th of July!

I really love the 4th of July.  It's such a fun holiday.  While I worked in the kitchen making yummy treats, I was able to watch a little bit of Glenn Beck and his show Founders' Friday.  He pays tribute to the founding fathers of this great nation.  I learned a lot of very interesting facts.  Anyway, I'm proud to be a citizen and I love celebrating the 4th.

Every year we have a neighborhood parade.  The fire department comes out and lets the kids sit in the truck, then they lead everyone around the block.

I made these patriotic fruit pizzas (strawberries and blueberries on sugar cookies with a cream cheese and sugar spread).  

We went over to a friend's house to BBQ and Tag brought tons of fireworks from Wyoming to liven things up.  

Lucy loved the fireworks.  She couldn't take her eyes off of them.

Sparklers

This is Quincey, she babysits for us a lot and the kids love her :)

On another note, Lucy is busy.  She climbs on everything.  Earlier today she wanted to look out the window.

Later, she climbed up on this chair and couldn't figure out what to do next.

Last, I just had to post a picture of these socks.  The box comes with several colors, so I thought I would have Lucy wear two different colors to show some of the variety.  

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!

A Night Out

Every year the youth at our church hold some type of fundraiser to make the money they need to attend camp.  The young women did a silent auction and one of our favorite babysitters was auctioning off an overnight babysitting stay.  We jumped all over that and won.  Last night was the night!  We booked a hotel downtown and headed out the door.  This was a huge deal for me because I have NEVER spent a night away from my kids.  The exception being only when I have gone to the hospital to have another baby or when Lily was first born and had her surgery and I couldn't physically even sleep in the same room.  Anyway, I actually did it and took a few pictures to prove that I was able to spend a night away from my babies.  Tag and I had such a blast.  I only teared up once when we first left, but I actually did really well.  We just love being around our kids and we love going places with them.  We have a big upcoming trip that just Tag and I are going on and this was a test run to see how I would do.  I passed with flying colors.  I did keep looking for the diaper bag though.

First Stop - The Gas Station

Our Hotel

 View to the right

 View to the left

 We went out to eat at Sushi Sasa.  This might have been the best sushi I've ever had.  We sat outside in the warm sun and enjoyed people watching, the amazing food, and of course the company.

 After our very chic sushi, we hopped in a cab and went across town to  D Bar.  It's owned by the host of the Food Network Challenge, Keegan Gerhard.  D Bar is mostly a dessert bar, but they also have what looked to be a very impressive food menu as well.  Keegan was there walking around and saying hi to all the tables.  He even bussed a few.  We ordered the Molten cake and the Creme Brulee.  They were incredible to say the least.  When we left the line had gotten so long to get in that  people were sitting on the sidewalk.  I can see why people would wait so long - it was amazing.  Luckily though, we got right in.

We caught a cab back to our hotel and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hot tub.  In the morning, despite how anxious I was to see the kids, we ventured out to the 16th street mall for a little breakfast.  

The kids greeted us at the door with big smiles and even bigger hugs.  They had fun and so did we.  I realize that it's good for the kids and good for us to get away every now and then, but I'm still a firm believer in spending time together as family.  I think I'll do just fine on my upcoming trip :)
(Just a side note - Tag and I make date night a priority.  It's just never been an overnighter)