That's MY Baby!

Incase you may not be aware, let me inform you. Caleb is not my baby. He's Isaac's baby. Isaac HAS to be the one who gives Caleb his binky and blanket. Caleb's not even allowed to do it. Today at church, this cute little girl, maybe 18 monthsish, looks at Caleb and says "Baby!" Isaac immediately ran in between her and Caleb and said quite forcefully, "NO! That's MY baby!" Hopefully he'll always be this protective of his baby brother. Or maybe he won't need to be once Caleb is twice as big as him. In this picture Isaac has given himself a star on his forehead for being such an amazing artist and is exclaiming "Ta Dah!"

Poor Baby Caleb. First he has to act as a canvas for his crazy 2 year old brother. Second his mom doesn't even bother to wash it off for a couple hours until she has to anyways after he eats. I guess that's just what happens when you're the 3rd child.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

On June 16th, our ward decided to have a mecca to zion and walked up to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple for the open house. I have been too cheap to buy a TRIPLE stroller so instead we just squash the boys in to a $40 KSL delight and off we go! It's great having little walking paths with wild flowers in the neighborhood. We're definitely spoiled here in Utah to be close enough to walk to the temple. Zekie and Isaac had been looking forward to going to our temple for a looooong time. They can see it out their bedroom window and around the neighborhood and everytime Zekie would say "Mama, is the temple ready yet?"

Here is Zekie and the Merrills. They are his FAVORITE family in the ward by far and I don't blame him. They are truly awesome...very generous and super social. Luckily for us they have quickly and happily adopted him into their family of Mom, Dad, and 3 girls. Zekie Merrill for the last couple of months has been going home with Katelyn after church (the middle Merril who just turned 11!) and eating lunch and playing the afternoon away. It definitely makes for a peaceful Sunday for us, especially when the other two boys take naps :)

All my blue boys at the temple. Our silent tour was not so silent if you know what I'm saying. During the intro movie Zekie leaned over to me and said "Mama, I love being here." The boys thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the beautiful murals, pictures of Jesus, and gorgeous chandeliers. We got to take our stroller inside which meant there was lots of elevator button pushing as well, which is always a thrill. Although Zekie was happy to be at the temple he was anxious the whole time because he HAD to tell the Bishop something...which always means he has a request for candy. Since we live so close, I was able to help as a temple volunteer and was assigned to take family pictures outside the temple. Later, Rob and I had the opportunity to work as volunteers in the sealing room. It was a wonderful experience! We got to see our friend from college, Heather and her cute growing family AND we had a guy who told us he'd just proposed in the celestial room and wanted to know how to reserve a sealing room to get married :) We love, LOVE the temple!

Nick and Erica's Big Day!

My younger brother Nick and his now wife Erica got married on June 11th! These two are sooo in love and it was fun to see them glowing all day. Erica is a great addition to the fam and I especially appreciate her kid skillz. The boys were so excited to come to the temple and join in the festivities. It was a great day.

I'm telling you, these 2 found each other! I offered to let Erica borrow my shoes but as you can see she had a little something different in mind :)

Does anyone know what goes through a Nani's head when she gives a 2 year old a BRIGHT red super frosting cupcake?! I told her she was incharge of clean up.

I guess Isaac must have inspired Nick and Erica with his frosting in the face idea!

The Storm

Here's the neighbor kids Lexi and Jarren's reaction to the crazy HUGE storm we had. It literally dumped rain and hail to the point where the gutters became rivers and soccer fields became lakes. It was really awesome and the kids (myself included) loved every second of it. Luckily we didn't have any flooding or I'm sure that would have put a damper on my enthusiam.

The hail made this sweet volcano once the drain had reach maximum capacity.

Here is little Squeak playing in the river/gutter. He had a blast and was soaked to the bone.

Heather's Birthday

On May 28th, We had a birthday party for Aunt Heather! Kim was gracious enought to host it at her house and we had a delightful time. Rob gets props for picking out a trendy black purse...we'll have to watch and see if we see it in the future or if it turned into Target cash :)

One of the best parts about these family get togethers is the boys spend quality time with their cousins Peyton, Haley and baby Ryker. What could be better than relaxing on a hammock on a warm spring evening after eating cake and icecream?

Kim and Mark have an awesome playset in their backyard and the boys thoroughly enjoy it!

Zekie's Preschool Program

On June 1st, Ms. Holly put on a lovely Mother Goose preschool program for Zekie's caterpillar class who are now graduating on to butterflies! Zekie was Jack (as in Jack and Jill) and "fell down and broke his crown" with as much flair and drama as he could muster. Actually he was quite stoic during falling bit, but as you can see from the pictures he bust out the cheese for the rest. Zekie has really LOVED preschool so much, and it's so fun to see him with all his friends. He was front and center and the other parents told me that he stole the show! Zekie has learned a ton from Ms. Holly this year and has done a great job socially and academically. We're so proud of our Zekes and thrilled that Ms. Holly decided to have Preschool Summer Camp this year :)

Grandma (Rob's mom, Diane) decided to make the trip down from Centerville to see Zekie in his big production, and we're so glad she came! 1. because we love her and 2. because she helped watch the other boys so we could video record and take pictures of Zekie and all his glory :) As you can see, Caleb was verrrrrrry happy to get some love and attention from his grandma.

Isaac's Obsession

Isaac is OBSESSED with driving. When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he says is "bankee bankee!" (van key). And there's no giving him a different key that would be safe. He has to have THE van key, so that he can put in in the ignition and start the car. That's right folks. My 2 year old can push the button on the fob key that opens the door, climbs in, pushes the garage door opener, turns on the radio and then turns on the engine to the car, and starts swerving the wheel back and forth...I'm quite worried that he'll be going to heaven, if he keeps this up! The above picture is of Zekie climbing into the van after Isaac and saying "Where are we going today Isaac?" Isaac of course, very seriously replied "The temple." Luckily he has been transitioning into requesting to ride his bike instead of the car, but he still thinks he needs to sit on my lap and "drive" Zekie back and forth to preschool.

Here Isaac is showing the correct wrist action for turning on the engine.

Several month's later Zekie is still telling people about our "new" van. It really has been a wonderful switch from our Honda Passport that we were squeezing the kids into. The fact that they could all reach each other was a recipe for disaster with 3 little boys. Isaac was regularly "debinking" Caleb and then chucking the binky to the back of the car. Our Honda Odyssey on the other hand has plenty of room for all. They can also climb in and out with ease and I love the auto doors. It was a little hard to admit that we were a officially a van family, but now we have embraced it and are loving the convenience and fun features as you can see the boys checking out here. Hooray for minivans!