I love this picture of Jackson blowing out the candles. I saw this really cute birthday cupcake idea on bakerella and wanted to try it. The kids loved helping paint the bears with frosting, & we all liked the end result. It was so yummy!
My handsome birthday boy!
Morgan enjoying her cupcake.
And of course Hallie couldn't wait to dig in to her own cupcake either. :)
Last night Brian and I were able to go with all of my family to the temple and do sealings (of some family names my mom had done). My grandparents were also able to come and it was such a neat experiences seeing each of my siblings with their spouses, my grandparents, & Brianna all dressed in white & in the temple. Carly & Kaylie (the youngest 2 went to do baptisms for the dead) Now, who watched all the kids???? My brother-in-law Jared has a wonderful mother & sister in law and they were so sweet to come and watch all 8 grandkids at our house. It was so sweet of them to do it, and meant the world to us. Here are their kids with Brianna. It's crazy to think that she will only be gone for 18 months, yet how much will change, especially the kids while she is gone.
I am SOOO excited for Brianna!!! I always wanted to go on a mission. Part of me wishes I was going with her. How exciting it must be to go to the MTC today along with so many other missionaries & learn more about teaching the gospel to those who are waiting. Last night after the temple she was set apart, and the Stake President talked about how the MTC is protected, & how each of these missionaries are protected through out their missions as they are obedient. I am so happy for her and the choice she has made in putting her life on hold to serve the Lord. She will be such a wonderful missionary & will touch the lives of so many. We will miss her a lot, but what greater place to be then in the service of our Lord.
One more picture before she left of all the sisters (minus Rachelle). I am so grateful to have each of these sisters in my life. Brianna looks so cute & missionary like. I noticed a big difference in last night before she was set apart and today. Today she looks like a missionary. She has the fire in her eyes of being ready to preach the gospel. I am so excited for her!
Before my sister left for her mission, my parents wanted to have a small reunion with all of our family. We started on Sun. night by going to Heber to visit my grandparents & have a big party with yummy food with them. Then on Monday night we all went and did the water slide again. We had so much fun! Morgan & Jackson loved going alone & so we tried Hallie out to see what she would think. She is our little dare devil and kept saying "gen" (again) The family loves doing the train & even got the kids involved. It is such a fun activity & we've decided to make it a yearly tradition.
Jen & her family stayed at our house Mon & Tues night and the kids were so excited to have their cousins stay with them. Mon. night we didn't go to bed until 12:00 and the kids at 10:30. They were all so tired and all slept in until 9:15. I woke up with Hallie at 8:00 and took her into the kitchen to eat breakfast. I was surprised to see Rachel (Jen's 3rd daughter) sitting in the high chair. I was wondering why Jared & Jen just left her in their with crumbs from the night before. So we ate and then these 2 played peek-a-boo in Hallie's cabinets until everyone else woke up. Turns out that Jen & Jared didn't know Rachel had even woken up. She walked up the stairs and climbed in the highchair by herself. They are such good & cute little girls. We had such a fun time with they.
At my grandparents house we took a picture of them with all of their great grandchildren (we were missing 4 who couldn't be there) They are such cute little girls.
For the last 2 years we have gone with our neighbors to a field to watch the fireworks. This year we had a yummy barbeque & then headed off to watch the fireworks. We had such a fun time. The kids love running around with their friends, and Brian & I love being able to visit with our friends. 
Morgand & Jackson loved the fireworks. Jackson couldn't take his eyes off of the fireworks in the parking lot long enough for me to get a picture.
The cute little friends. It was actually supposed to be a picture with Jackson and his girlfriends, but Morgan wanted to join. She was so sweet while watching the fireworks. She laid right by me and kept telling me how pretty they were.
All the kids lined up to watch the fireworks. I think they were all so tired, but we all had a blast. Happy 4th of July!
Sat. morning we woke the kids up early again to go to the parade. We were debating going or not, but felt that the 4th of July wasn't quite the same without the parade. Jackson looks so excited to be there. He kept waiting to the fireworks to start and asked us all day when he would see them. We lucked out this year with seats. As we were walking to find somewhere to sit we heard some yelling at us, and it turned out to be Brian's boss and his family. His wife had gotten there at 4:30 and saved a huge area and they had plenty of room for us. It was so nice sitting with friends & being close to the car.
Hallie even found a new friend. These 2 (Mitch's little guy) kept following each other around. Hallie loved the parade. She did really well until the end when she laid in the gutter with her head on the sidewalk and rubbed her eyes because she was so tired. Poor girl. ;)
My cute kids. Morgan was really excited about the parade & loved seeing the princesses at the end. Jackson's favorite part was when all the missionaries came walking by and gave him high-fives. He thought it was so cool! Now he wants to be big so he can go on a mission. Thanks missionaries!
I LOVE this picture. What the perfect parade picture.
This year we all got up and left with some friends at 6:30 to go and see the Freedom Festival Balloons. We all had a fun time and it was fun watching the kids watch the balloons. Hallie couldn't keep her eyes off of them and kept trying to run after them to catch them.
Jackson had this great idea as he told Brian. "Dad, when the balloon comes down again, we can hurry and get in it before it flys up in the sky" If only it were that easy. :)
Our cute little family. We had decided to do the balloons on Friday morning instead of the 4th because it would be one less thing to pack into our busy day. After we saw the balloons, we went and had a yummy breakfast at our friends house and then went home for naps. (We were all a little ornery by 11:00, so the naps were a must) :)
At the end of the balloons this is how Hallie felt... Daddy, just take me home and put me in bed.
Last night we had some friends over for dinner and I think the kids had a little bit too much sugar with their 4 pieces (each) of watermelon and cake and icecream. I had a Primary meeting at 8:00 and Brian put the kids to bed. He thought they were asleep until Jackson walked out in the living room and I got a glimpse of his face. He ran back to his room really quick & he went and grabbed him to show his pretty face to my friends. I then went and handed him off to Brian, but not before seeing their room. Morgan and Jackson had decided to play Maids & artists and had taken off all of their sheets & comforters. However, I don't think they had any intentions to actually wash the sheets and put them back on again. Jackson's whole body was covered with a nice green dry erase marker (which thankfully came off very easy & thankfully it wasn't a permanant marker... that would give something for people to talk about this weekend as I'm sure it would still be on for the 4th of July) :) So anyway, as Brian put all the sheets back on he told the kids they had lost the privelage to sleep in their beds (which is something they hate) and that they needed to sleep on the floor (since I was using the living room, they couldn't use bathtub as you remember from a previous post) This is how we found Jackson. We couldn't help but take a picture. Brian is so much more calm then I am. I think he counted to 100 to calm down before he decided what to do. I would have counted to 2 & still probably would have lost it. :)
The other night Brian and I were talking about how sometimes we feel as though we live at the Circus. This all came because Jackson was outside and had a number 2 accident in his pants. Morgan was being the big helper sister and decided to bring in the dirty shorts & underware, of course dropping the evidence on the kitchen floor. She then accidentally stepped on the evidence (of course wearing tennis shoes with a thousand grooves) and began walking around the kitchen, (not sure where to sit as Brian & I were telling her to sit down) until I finally pushed her down & she stayed. It was SOO much FUN cleaning this all up, and I used almost the whole bottle of Lysol (not really, but close) :) So with these past 2 experiences, you can see how sometimes life does feel like the circus. Although, we wouldn't trade it for anything. It adds more adventure & humor to our lives. :) 
