Girls Weekend at Disney Land

First Day of School

Abbey's first day of Kindergarden and Amelia's first day of big girl pre-school. They are growing up! They both look so happy.

Summer of 2011

Trip to the Shore

Gibbs Reunion New Hampshire

What is Your Calling In Life?

I ran across this article in BYU Magazine. Abbey liked the art and begged me to read it. After the first page she was board and confused but I couldn't put it down. I'm still feeling like I am waking up from a long winter of postpartum. Marian turned a year in March but every day feels like a beautiful new beginning. It is as if I say to myself, "yesterday I must have been depressed because today I feel so much better." This article was inspiring and helped me see more meaning in the small, small, mundane, meaningless (did I say mundane? Maybe I should have capitalized it) things I do everyday. As a mother, I don't have a 9-5 as we all hear on Mother's Day, "a mother's work is never done." but the reason I work so hard is because what I do has real meaning. At least I feel that way today after having read "What Is Your Calling In Life" by Jeffery A Thompson.

Guess where we were!

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Making Cookies with Daddy!

It is the last chance to home teach this month and so the girls helped their dad fulfill his duty. They had so much fun. My favorite was the matching red aprons.

Abbey's favorite part was
dumping in the sugar and flour. (And yes Beth that is your mixer)

Amelia's favorite part was
eating the dough, we made her wait until the cookies were all mixed together before she got to taste, hence the sad face.

And Marian,
she was feeling left out. In the end we put and apron on her and she got to "mix" the dough too.

$1 FLIP FLOPS

Thanks to Emily Lybbert I was able to remember to go to the Old Navy $1 Flip Flop Sale on Saturday. I thought I was going to be the first one there since I was arriving at 8:45 am, 15 minutes before the store was supposed to open. I was very excited. When I got there, I was a bit disappointed to see people already coming out of the store with large shopping bags in hand. It had opened at 7 for the special event. I rushed in and found flip flops in all colors and sizes. It wasn't too crowded yet. After buying 15 pair for myself and putting the bags in the car, I realized, I hadn't gotten any for anyone else in my family. So I went back into the store at 9:15 and the masses were beginning to scramble for the last few pairs of kid sizes and colors. I got there just in time to find 6 or 7 pair for each girl. And the line was already starting to grow. I got out just in time!

Bringing these home was better than Christmas. The girls didn't stop shrieking. It was so fun. So many flip flops! So many colors!

And then there was Ben...pretending to have free time. Pretending not to care about the one pair of flip flops I got for him.
He still refuses to wear them, even after seeing me go through 3 pair yesterday. The girls already have several pair outside and around the house. It's fun to have so many colors of shoes. And for only a dollar each! Thanks again Emily. Can't wait to have you here in Utah!

I love oliver + s

My friend Anita told me about these cute patterns. Oliver + S is my favorite place to get sewing ideas and spend lots of money on a pattern. Her patterns have very helpful instructions. They tend to be wordy because she doesn't use sewing terms without explaining them. They are totally worth it. I've made a few cute little dresses and many, many kid pajamas. So when this book came out I just had to have it. I've been hanging on to it for a few months trying to decide which project to do first. With high ambition, I told one of Abbey's friends we could make tutus next time she came. So every play date after that she asked if we were going to make tutus. Kids don't forget promises very easily. And I am the queen of broken promises-my only weakness (besides pride).....
So with Abbey's friend's sweet smile haunting me for a few weeks, I finally broke down and ran to the store hours before the next play date.... and ....

Cute skirt tutus and no more sad faces appearing in my dreams. I must say, I do like the way they turned out. And they were much easier to make than I thought. Well, at first when I looked at them I thought to myself, "this is going to be easy!" The I started reading the directions and the project suddenly became daunting, I took a two month break and dove into them out of guilt. Turned out, easy like I first thought.

With the left overs I made one for the baby too. She only liked it because her sisters had them on too.





And yes, there is an orange extension cord in the background. Ben loves his orange extension cords. My family likes to tease him because he uses them like rope. He has been known to tie things on the tops of cars with them and use them as a clothes line while camping.....

Tubing at Soldier Hollow with Cousins!

Melinda came to town for a week a bit ago. Our kids have a bond. We shared some wonderful memories in Ohio while there were babies. We love them and Cherish the moments we have with them. They now live in Oklahoma and we are trying desperately to get them to move to Utah. Before the snow melted we took them to Soldier Hollow for a good time.

Marian doesn't love the snow as much as the other kids but maybe that's because she doesn't like being called a cow.

Amelia, Alayna and Abbey had so much fun. They are about the same age. It was so fun to watch them play and get a long so well.

While we were up there we drove by the Tate Barn at Soldier Hollow. It is a historic barn that was rebuilt for the Olympics 2002 and symbolizes the rich history of Midway. Ben's family has some major ties to Midway. Ben's Aunt Cynthia, who lives in Vermont did some beautiful paintings of this barn. She sent them to us to display since we are the only family in Utah. I can't wait to get them framed and hung.