4th of July

This summer Uncle Trev came to visit us and stayed for the 4th of July!  We had such a great time with him and all the Stevens Family as well over the holiday.  We spent alot of time at the parks, went to the DuPont festival, and watched the fireworks being shot off over the Puget Sound from Chris and Linda's backyard.

All the cousin babies had on their adorable 4th of July gear so of course we had to get a group shot! The  Fantastic Four all together! :)

Car Museum

This was a random trip to the car museum.  It was a great time for Dave.  It was an opportunity to take pictures for me.  It was semi boring for the girls. lol.  The other day we were headed to the Children's Museum and Lizzie asked me, "Are we going to the museum with all the cars?"  Me: "No, not this time!"  Lizzie: "Good. That place is boring!"  

Easter

The older girls were so excited for Easter this year and just reveled in the excitement of egg hunts, coloring eggs, finding hidden baskets, and of course lots and lots of candy!!  Penny slept through the egg hunt part and was mostly unaware of the day's events, but she sure did look cute!  Wish she hadn't napped through the pictures part!  It was fun having our friends join us for the festivities!  

 One of my favorite aspects of this year's Easter celebration was celebrating for a whole week!  It's a tradition started a couple years ago and we discuss the life of Christ and the events that occurred during the week of Easter. The picture above was a lesson and dinner centered around learning about the Passover.  Hopefully the true meaning of Easter sticks with these girls!

Catch up for 2014

I am so behind in my blogging and it's time to catch up!  The year 2014 has been too amazing to let it slip by without note!  And THAT is precisely the trouble.  It has been completely FILLED to the brim with activities, family time, vacations, and church work that there is absolutely no time left to blog!!  One of the fun family vacays was DISNEYLAND!!  The girls were pumped about it for months beforehand....we really had the greatest time there. We did 4 days in the Disney Resort. The BEST part though was visiting family there!  Liz and Julie still talk all the time about visiting Dane and Grant and how much fun they had.  We always love seeing Steph and Blake!

Grandmas are the Best

Grandma = Celebrity in our home.  It is just the GREATEST when we get to see her.  Her visits are always much anticipated and she never lets us down.  We had the best time.  It's really too bad that we can't see Grandma every day so when she comes we savor every moment!!  

 We got special permission for Grandma to go to preschool with Lizzie and spend the day on her special day.

 Julie, Penny, and I got to join in on some of the fun too!  The circle time at preschool is so cute.  Each person takes a turn saying something they like about Lizzie and she gets to bring something for show and tell.  She gets to really bask in alot of attention on her special day!

 I LOVE doing sewing projects with my Mom when she comes to visit!  We get to sit and talk plus pump out amazingly cute gifts for friends and family.  She is the most giving woman i know. It was so fun and nice of my mom to sit and sew SO many bibs with me.  We were really on a roll.

Penny's Baby Blessing

The day of Penny's baby blessing was a joyful one.  You can see the joy in Penny's eyes.  She's excited about it. Haha.  It actually took alot of doing to get her to smile for the picture because she was worn out at this point-no nap!  She was actually very happy throughout the blessing which was nice. Dave blessed her and gave her a beautiful blessing.  I wished I had written down all of it because I am forgetting already but I do remember him mentioning that she would be a peacemaker and a good missionary.  

She wore the traditional dress that my Mom made and had me blessed in!  We are getting alot of use out of that dress!

It was an extra special day because my Dad flew into town from UT to be there with us.  He came all the way out despite the fact he just opened a fledgling business that needs constant care and time. I love my Daddy! :)  It was so nice to get to spend time with him and the girls felt the same way!  They played and played with Grandpa til he was all worn out.  He taught them this UBER fun game that they beg to play all the time now- The Seat Game.  

Me and my newest baby girl!  This tiny little person makes me incredibly happy.  There are great things in store for this little girl.  One of the enchanting characteristics of babies for me is that they are so full of potential.  She is just starting this amazing journey we call LIFE. <3 get="" her="" i="" me="" nbsp="" p="" show="" that="" the="" to="" ucky="" way.="">

 

After the blessing we had dinner with family at Chris and Linda's house.  This is definitely the favorite place to be on a Sunday afternoon.  Not just because there is a gorgeous view of the ocean beyond the meticulously cared for garden in the backyard (although it is definitely a bonus), but because it means we are together with the large extended family here in WA.  It's always a good time and Linda is one amazing hostess.

The cousins (and Aunts) love holding this little baby!  It's very cute to see the cousins playing together.  

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Our Valentine's Day celebration started about mid January.  We had a family home evening about showing love to others.  Afterwards, we decorated little mailboxes and explained that they were for giving little notes, gifts, and surprises to each other. The girls were SO excited about this that they probably gave Dave and I about 50 surprises within the week. (their toys, drawings, crafts)  Dave and I slipped little pieces of candy and Valentines in theirs about once a day. Later, we made a "14 Acts of Love Jar".  Each day the girls picked out a heart that had some kind of service written on it like, "Set the table today."  This pinterest idea was definitely a success- they got so excited about doing these little acts of love.  

Dave and I celebrated Valentine's Day early by getting out of town and heading to Seattle for some sweet Brazilian food- Rodizio style!  After Ipanema we head over to the Columbia Tower to gaze out over the city of Seattle.  And what did we see?  ALOT of blue and green!  You could tell the Seahawks just won the super bowl by all the green and blue lights everywhere!  It was a great night out..even with our little third wheel-Penny.