Birthdays are the best!

I can't believe our little baby is already one!!!! What happened to the time. This is Sterling as a newborn.

Goodbye little baby, hello one year old!

Sterling's first birthday isn't until Sunday, but we will be at my sister's house that day so we decided to celebrate early. Sterling's elephant cake. What dinner does a one year old choose? Anything you know he likes. By the look of his face I think spaghetti was a good choice, don't you.

We gave Sterling a part of the trunk and he immediately picked it up and chowed down. I've never seen a baby eat cake so fast!!! I guess witholding sugar from him for a year was worth it. We had so much fun watching him devour his cake.

Opening presents: who has more fun, the one year old or the family watching nearby?

Sterling got so frustrated opening presents. He finally just gave up and then Garrett and Maelie stepped in and graciously 'helped out'.

A bouncy ball:

A dinosaur:

He also got cars and shoes. Happy birthday Sterling!!!! WE LOVE YOU.

Potty training!

Awwww! All my fears of potty training Garrett were in vain! He truly AMAZED me! We started him last Monday (a little over a week ago.) We said 'goodbye' to the diapers and went straight to undies. He only had about 2 potty accidents and one poop accident! He wears undies to bed and hasn't once wet the bed!

Garrett's funnies:
-he had to go number 2 in the toilet, but he refused to go number 1 with it. As he was holding his penis so he wouldn't go potty he said "I'm squishing my peanuts."

-he tooted "daddy, my bottom burped"

Garrett has turned all my dreaded future potty training thoughts into 'I can do this again' thoughts. Thanks Garrett!

The fruits of our labor

Not much labor was required to get these wonderful tomato plants. Just watering daily.

Our tomato plants have grown and produced delicious tomatoes. We have already picked off 9 big tomatoes and about 30 grape tomatoes. If anyone wants some tomatoes, just give us a call. We have 11 plants and the tomatoes are coming faster than we can eat them. They're salmonella free and delicious.

Hair fixing

Maelie liked my hair from camp so much that she wanted her's done too. This is what we ended up with. It was fun to do.

Girl's camp, corn rows, and fender bender

This video was taken on the night of the talent show. Some girls started singing a song and any one that knew joined in. (even myself!)

On Tuesday I drove some girls to girls camp and stayed just half the day. Then on Thursday I went up to stay until Saturday. Here we are on the hike on Thursday morning.

Do they look like happy campers to you?

Our bishop came up on Friday for Bishop's games and dinner and testimony meeting. It was a lot of fun. The girls did really well in the games and we didn't get last place!!!!

Look at our crazy poses.

At camp, Vanessa fixed my hair. I loved it! I had to wear it to church to show it off. I got it done on Friday night and it still looked good on Sunday.

I had tons of fun at girls camp. The weather this year was cooler than last year which really helped because last year was AWFULLY HOT AND HUMID.

Today (Sunday) after dropping Young Women off, I got rear ended. It was pouring rain and I was stopped at a red light. The car behind me was going pretty fast and once he slammed on his brakes he slid and he hit me hard (at least it seemed like that to me. Luckily none of the kids were in the van and not much damage was done to it. I've never been hit before and was pretty shaky. The only injury I got was a huge headache from the blow. I'm very grateful it turned out as well as a little fender bender could.

Sesame Place

For the second time we went to Sesame Place thanks to Here's to our Heroes Program (for the men in the military). This year, however, I wasn't pregnant so I got to ride on all the rides with the kids.
Sterling was the best baby! He didn't cry once and when he got tired, he just fell asleep in the stroller. I was really impressed with him!

We love Zoe!

GO BERT!

Atlantic City

I absolutely LOVE the beach! I love the sound of the waves and the ocean air. Last week I had the chance to go to the beach with some friends while our husbands were busy at school. It was so nice and the kids had a blast. The water was too cold to swim in (it was unusually cold) so we just got our feet and legs wet and played in the sand.

We are beach bums.

First 2 teeth and all smiles

Sterling decided to wait until 10 months old to get his first teeth. (They came together) One on top and one on bottom.

Cute teeth!

Sterling smiles all the time. He is so fun to be with. I love having him around. His smile is contagious and makes the rest of the family smile. What a sweet boy.

Our Vacation

We decided to summarize our trip by saying the top 10 best and worst things. There was just too much to say. So here goes

Best (not in any order)
1. Spending time together as a family for 2 weeks
2. Swimming in the ocean (cape cod)
3. Seeing the most beautiful lighthouses I've ever seen (in Maine).
4. Going to the Boston temple. We took turns watching the kids.
5. Learning more about our church's history
6. Singing The Spirit of God in acapella in the Kirtland Temple with 130 other people.
7. Watching the Hill Cumorah Pageant.
8. Going on Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls
9. Visiting with family. We visited with 3 of my sisters and one bro-in-law
10. Taking Erin home with us and spending time with her in Philly
Sorry, there's more.
11. Watching the most AMAZING fireworks I've ever seen on the banks of Lake Ontario!
12. The white mountains in NH or VT (I don't remember. We loved driving through NH and VT. It was absolutely beautiful).
13 Staying up late and sleeping in.
14. Going to church in Palmyra.
15. Visiting the Dental clinic on the Boston AFB. DJ loved it!
16. The thunderstorm in Boston. It was really cool.
I better stop or I could go on and on. It was a great and much needed vacation.

Worst (not in any order)
1. Driving all over East coast with 3 rambunctious kids
2. Paying for hotels
3. DJ's battle with poison ivy. Poison Ivy won
4. Our Motel 6 that didn't have any AC, any pillowcases, and any towels! (Thankfully, we were refunded our $ in the morning.)
5. Not having many home cooked meals. We are truly sick of PB&J and the dollar menu at Wendy's.
6. Toll roads (although they were all much cheaper than the tolls to DC and NYC)
7. My battle with pink eye. I had to wear my glasses for the majority of the trip.
8. Running out of memory on our camera so we couldn't take any more pictures.
9. Changing poopies on the go, in the car.
10. Paying for gas! However, it was usually cheaper than Philly's prices.

I have yet to post pictures of our vacation and my sister's visit, but I just had to share this one, kind of sad, conversation I had with Maelie

Maelie: Mom, when I grow up I'm going to live far away.
Me (very hurt and sad): Why?
Maelie: Because you live far away from your mom.
Me: Well, what if I move closer to my mom someday?
Maelie: Then I'll visit you at your moms.

It must be so hard for parents to let their kids leave. I want them all to live next door to me! I'm glad I have many years before that day comes, but I know it's going to go fast. After that conversation I realized I probably won't have all my kids live near me forever (I wish, but it's not likely) so I'm going to cherish every moment I have with them now. Yes, even changing the poopies.

A big relief, followed by vacation!

We finally got DJ's board scores in the mail today and...HOORAY! He passed and did a great job! I felt such a lift once we found out.
Now on to vacation! We are excited to be gone for a couple weeks and see some new sights. We plan to visit Cape Cod, Boston, Maine, (drive through all the states PA, CT, RI, VT, NH, NY, NJ, MA, ME, and OH. 10 states in one trip. Incredible! We want to see church sights in Palmyra, New York and Kirtland, OH and visit Niagara Falls. Then we will visit with my 3 sisters (at one time!) in Ohio and we get to take one of them home with us for a few days! Thanks for all those who prayed and crossed their fingers for us!

No more splint

Maelie is fine. She can move her arm. There is no break! hooray. Now we can go swimming!
I was relieved when we went to the Dr. appt. and they said nothing was wrong. I wasn't at all impressed with the Orthopedic Surgeon. He didn't say more than one thing to Maelie the whole time and he looked annoyed to be there and he acted like he was too good for his job! I was glad to get out of there.
3 cheers for the good news!

Oh What do you do in the summertime...

...and all the world is HOT! I don't know how hot it got today, but it was Hot and humid!

So the kids and I went outside and sprayed water from the hose on ourselves. It felt so good!!! DJ's been studying for the boards that he takes on MONDAY! Hooray for me and nerve wracking for him. So he didn't get to participate, but at least it's about 10 degrees cooler downstairs where he studies.

Yesterday we went to Gina's (a friend of ours) son's graduation party. Let me tell you, Phillipinos know how to party! There was TONS of DELICIOUS food, karaoke, visiting, and laughing going on. We unfortunately had to leave the party early (at 9:30) to get the kids to bed. No pictures unfortunately.

Nice neighbors-So the other day we were out watering ourgarden (11 tomato plants so if you want tomatoes we'll have a bunch. We might have the kids sell them for 25 cents a tomato, depending on how many we get). Our neighbors were barbecuing and we were just visiting with them. We had already eaten and the kids were in bed so we didn't expect their nice offer to give us 2 hamburgers, 4 hot dogs, and 2 grilled chicken breasts! It was so thoughtful of them and even though we said we didn't want to take any of their food, they still gave it to us. It was delicious. It's nice to have good neighbors.

My dad's birthday was yesterday and this is what he learned in his 74 years of life.

"Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."

thanks dad, how true it is! I also learned that 50 years ago on his birthday, he took his new bride (they married the day before his b-day) and drove to San Manuel, AZ (from SLC Utah) to get a job at the copper smelter. He made good money there. About $2 an hour/ $15 dollars a day which was a better job than the byu bookstore where he made 80 cents an hour! But then again gas was 31 cents a gallon.

A birthday she'll never forget

Five years ago, Maelie was born at 6lbs. 9 oz. We were in the hospital then and in the hospital on her fifth birthday. Keep reading to find out why!
She grew from this... ...to this...

...to this...

...to this...

...to present day this!

She chose cornflake chicken and wanted a princess cake. I don't decorate cakes AT ALL (not that I don't want to, I just can't!), but to my five year old it was perfect which is all that matters. She LOVED it.

Opening presents. If anyone else has a daughter that wants you to draw paper dolls everyday, I found these pre-made, pre-colored paper dolls on sugardoodle.net and printed them and then lamenated them with packing tape. She loves them and I don't have to draw paper dolls any more!

So, as Maelie was opening presents, we see that her right arm is about double the size of her left. Let me back up. Two days before her birthday, Maelie fell in the hallway (not on soft carpet, but wood floors). DJ and I were downstairs and we heard her crying worse than I've ever heard her cry so we knew something was wrong. She had slipped and landed on her arm. So we decided to wait it out a bit and see if her arm was okay. The next morning I took her to the pediatrician because she still wasn't using her arm. The Dr. there thought she had nurse maid's arm and tried to pop it back into place. Thinking that was it and she was going to be fine, we went home. I tried to get her to use her arm so I could make sure it was better. The rest of the day went on and she didn't use it at all. Then the next day was her birthday. We had fun celebrating with her and after dinner and presents (we noticed her arm was swollen) I took her once again to the pediatrician. I saw a different doctor and she said it was too swollen and she didn't want to do anything because she wasn't able to get an x-ray so she referred me to the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) ER. Maelie and I went there and got in fairly quickly. They gave her a room and she had a good time watching movies. She got an x-ray and then we waited some more. She told me she wanted to see her bones so the lady let her see the x-ray. In the room, Maelie asked, "mommy, do I have an arm infection?" I thought that was cute. Every time the doctors and nurses came in to check her, she would start shaking a lot like she was freezing and then when they would leave, she would stop shaking. I think she got really nervous around them. She probably thought they were going to pop her arm again. OUCH! Not once did she cry even when you could tell in her face that she was in pain. (she didn't cry until the last of her 4 shots a couple months ago either). When it comes to pain, she's very tolerant. The dr. came in and told me that it wasn't nurse maids arm and that it looked to her like a small fracture, but she wasn't positive. She told me to make an appt. with the orthopedic surgeon next week. The nurse put it in a splint and then they gave her a birthday present. She got a camera! She was so excited. I think getting the splint and the present made her day. She was so excited to show daddy and Garrett. We got home around 10pm and she conked out. I don't think this was a birthday she, nor I, will ever forget.

A Party!

So because Maelie was turning the big 5, I let her invite a few friends over to decorate their own little cakes and to just play. They had a ball and the whole time, Maelie was grinning from ear to ear.
Maelie and her masterpiece.

Memorial day weekend

So our big plans to go camping Memorial day weekend got postponed due to studies. DJ is incessantly studying for his National Board Exam he plans on taking in 2 weeks. So I invited some young women over to spend the night Sunday and play with me on Monday. Jazmine and Javon (sisters) came and I had a ball. We started with a delicious dinner made by my one and only. Then a walk to see the horses. Then a game of trouble. The kids went to bed and we got crazy! The girls taught us how to do some Philly dances. One in particular was 'crank that lion king'. I'm pretty good at it I think. We proceeded into the evening by recording a fashion show. We used my hallway as the runway. I was laughing so hard. We finally ended the night at 11:00. The next day we were lazy in the morning and played some wii. Then we went to visit a YW leader who had her baby the previous day. Then we headed to our cookout where we had delicious burgers, watermelon, juice and chips. I ate 2 hamburgers they were so good. After that we just hung out. I taught Jazmine a hand dance that we hope to do for the camp talent show. We had family home evening and then I took the girls home. I'm glad I had some company so I wouldn't go ballistic on a holiday! Walking up our street toward the agricultural school where the horses are kept.

A nice Sunday stroll with the family.

Our two thumb suckers!

A great thanks to all those who have served our country in the military! It doesn't go unnoticed! Happy Memorial day...yesterday~