Abundant Recompense Copy

Today I dropped off my little sister Brianna at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. It is crazy to think that she's all grown up and being a missionary! I am so stinkin' excited to hear from her and see the miracles that happen because of this decision she's made. Here are pictures from the day we got to spend with her. On Temple Square (as a result of Nate's shoe incident). Ain't she cute in her missionary clothes? This is not the greatest picture of anyone (aka. Jenna is going to love it), but I wanted to show where we had our little picnic lunch right outside Nate's work. The view is pretty amazing. Kneaders/Chick fil A = everyone was really happy.  Last night Bri and I ran out to do some last minute shopping and live it up at the Burger Bar. She had a radioactive milkshake. This morning Leah helped Aunt Bri pack. Waterproof mascara comes off with baby wipes, fyi. Today we had a picnic in a park in Provo just before time to report at the MTC. The kids ha...

Probably because I'm still recovering from babies waking up at all hours of the night, I like to stay in bed until the last possible moment. I have the morning routine down to a science and can eat, pack a lunch, shave, shower, dress, and pack in 26 minutes. 25 minutes is pushing it. But I always cut it too close. Sometimes that means I miss the train (OK, often). Sometimes I speed over the train tracks as the crossing arms come down. And sometimes I grab unmatching shoes. I didn't notice for over an hour. Michelle was coming to SLC anyway to pick up her sister at the airport (a newly minted, Brazil-bound missionary!) and switched my footwear - but not before having a good laugh at my expense.

This summer I wanted the kids to have some sort of goal to work toward, so we decided on reading. We got a piece of posterboard and cut out a whole bunch of fish from construction paper and hung them on the side of the posterboard in a bag with glue sticks and markers. Every time Bryn has someone read two books to her she can glue a fish with her name on it on the posterboard. Addison is starting to read on his own, so every time he reads one of his Bob books  to Nate or I he gets to put one up.  The original plan was that when we filled up the whole posterboard with fish we could go to the water park down the street from our house. But then Addison broke his arm, so we switched the plan to the trampoline park, which we'd never been to before, hoping it wouldn't be a bust. And it was a winner, let me tell you. Foam pits, tons of trampolines all put together, basketball goals, slide things, dodge ball. All for the very reasonable price of $5 a kid. So much fun. All three of the...

My favorite thing about visiting Georgia is, by far, being with my family. I love 'em. My growing up years were so happy. And I miss all these guys when I'm not with them. Me, Bri, and Jenna Jenna, Me, Kaylyn, Brianna, and Rebecca. We went shopping together. Can you tell? Shopping with your peeps is so much better than going it alone. Shauna and her little peanut. Leah Russell and Emilee Addison and Ryan. Those two played and played and played. Addison gave Grammie a private piano recital. At Grandma M's house. She had this little chair when I was little, with a doll named Sara in it. The kids loved both. They fought over who got to sit in the chair, in fact. Leah won for the most part. Speaking of Grandma M., I found this little gem while rifling through our piano books in search of inspiration for my students. This book has the name of each of the ten kids in my family. We all used it! Blow it up big and find 'em, if you so desire. Jenna's is in pink crayon, but i...

Toward the beginning of our vacation this year we took a trip up to Amicalola Falls. It's a state park up in north Georgia with, you might've guessed it, some amazing waterfallage. The drive took about an hour and a half, so the kids and Ryan and Kaylyn watched a movie and played. This is Nate's excited face. As I get old and crotchety and as we have more children, I am losing my game-ness. I am becoming something of a stick-in-the-mud. And visiting Georgia is especially bad because it's the one time a year I see my family, so I want to pay the million dollars, deal with the anxiety of traveling for an entire day with three small children, and then sit down in the middle of the floor at their house and not move the entire time. Nate is an explorer, though, and likes to get out and see. So this year we compromised. Instead of taking a 5 hour trip to Savannah (Nate's first choice) and instead of watching the grass on the front lawn grow (my first choice), we took a tr...