Happy Birthday Lauren!

Yesterday my baby girl turned 8!! I still can't believe it. 8 seems so big. We had a great day. Our sweet little neighbor has the same birthday as Lauren, but she turned 3. We took the girls out for breakfast to celebrate. Last night Greg took Lauren out for a Daddy/daughter dinner and then we had cake and opened a couple presents when they got home. We actually changed Lauren's bedroom for her birthday. She spent the weekend with Gramma and Papa and then she came home and we surprised her. She loves it. I was a little concerned about changing the walls from lavender to green-she loves purple-but it went over great. I have to share the sweetest thing about Joshua. He has been telling me for months that he wanted to get Lauren Barbie Mariposa for her birthday. I didn't even know what that was. Well-we found it on clearance at Target and he was ecstatic. Look at the picture where he was watching her open the present. He is staring right at her just about ready to burst with excitement! It was so precious and he was just sooo happy. It was a sweet moment. Now-Brennan couldn't wait to give her the Cinderella crown that he picked out for her...but as you can see in the picture-he wanted to wear it more than anything. That kid cracks us up. That picture is hilarious. We are so blessed to have such a loving little girl. God has blessed us beyond measure. Oh-if you click on the slide show up on the right you can see the pics larger. There are 88 pics!

Sweet Cousins.

Joshua loves babies and is so good with them. The cousins came over last week and it was just so sweet to see him interact with C. He was helping her with the toys and just talking so sweetly to her.

Thank you God!!!

OK-so the other day I was at a science coop that we do with the kids. I was teaching it that morning, so Greg met me there after a Dr's appt to watch Brennan. Afterwards we switched cars, he took the kids home and I took his car so that I could run some errands. While I was getting off the freeway I heard kind of a weird noise, so I went a found a parking spot. When I tried to reverse (it is a stick) to fix my parking job-the stick just flopped all around. I couldn't get it into any gear. The car sort of rolled back and then rolled back into the spot. I got out and tried to push it into the spot all the way. Then I tried to put the parking brake on, but OH YEAH-that was broken! This is a 12 year old car and it is slowly starting to fall apart-except the engine which right now is all we really care about. We are thankful to have a car that is paid for and Greg just uses it to take to the airport and leave there during trips. Someday we will get something different, but for now-it's CALL THE TOW TRUCK! Greg came and met me, we called the tow truck and the rest is history. Everything is fixed now-well-the stick and the brake. The kids thought the tow truck was the coolest thing! I am so thankful that the stick did not go out while I was getting off the freeway. The exit is on an incline and I would have started rolling back and then just had to sit there with my foot on the brake until the tow truck came, because I couldn't put it into 1st and I couldn't put the emergency brake on. Thank you God!!

Husband's Blessing

OK-so for those who don't know. Greg surprised me and is sending me to England for my cousin's wedding!!! I can't believe I am getting to go. I had no idea, but he has been planning this since June. My cousin is getting married on October 17th in England and I sooooo wanted to be there, but I knew that there was NO WAY we could all afford to go over there and I didn't know if Greg would have the time off. Anyways-Greg surprised me a few weeks ago and told me that I am going-by myself!!! Well-my parents are there and are going to pick me up and I am going to spend the week with them and my other family there. Greg is going to stay with the kids! I still can't believe it. We are so thankful to have traveling benefits (it still costs!, just not as much) so that I can do this. I am so thankful to have an amazing husband who is blessing me so much with this gift. I am hoping to post pics while I am there, but I am not sure how it will all work.

South Mountain

Greg had to work this weekend, so Saturday I decided to take the kids to do something fun. We drove to the top of South Mountain where you can overlook the valley. The weather was beautiful-finally-so it was a perfect time. They had a blast and could have stayed there all day. Yes-it was totally windy which is why I look like I have an extra chunk of hair on the top of my head.

Treasured Friends.

2 weeks ago one of my dear friends came to visit us with her 3 precious kiddos. I met Jen while we were living in Oklahoma. We were in the same Sunday school class together and the first memory I have of her was sitting outside in the hall nursing our newborn boys. They were only 4 days apart. Well-we just developed a great friendship after that. Although we are across the country from each other now-they will always be like family. It was total craziness with all the kids, but they had a blast together and it was so much fun being able to just do normal friend things like we could if we lived next to each other. I cannot tell you how fun it was to hold her baby girl! She is actually almost 22 months and is 19 lbs! It is insane how much food that child can eat too! It is crazy, because she is a little tiny thing, but BOUNDS around the house like a big girl! Thanks Jen!

We love ASU football!

We are so excited that this year my Dad purchased season tickets to the ASU football games for us. The big kids have come to 1 game with us and will get to come another one later this month.

Brother's weekend

A couple weeks ago Greg and his 2 brother's Jeff and Matthew met up in New York to go to one of the last games played in Yankee Stadium(the current one). A new one is being built after this season. They are all actually Cubbies fans, but Jeff''s good friend is playing now for the Yankees, so it gave them a good reason to go! I am really thankful they got to go and share that together. Yes-that is Matthew for those of you who haven't seen him since he was 10! He is almost 22 now. Crazy.