Family Picture

We were able to head up to Mesa for a quick trip the other Sunday and finally got a semi-decent family picture at the Christus statue at the Mesa LDS Temple Visitor's Center. Don't mind the no shoes or the crying child, I did mention previously that it is a "SEMI-decent" family picture :)

We had a great day. We got to visit the Olive Ward in Mesa, listen to a missionary homecoming talk, visit great friends (shout out to Logan and Mary Blau for letting us drop in and hang for a couple of hours :), and then visit, BBQ, and swim with Becky and Scott (you guys are awesome!!)

It was a great day, and so worth shoving four kids into a van and forgoing naps, snacks and sanity for one fun filled day.

Fun in the Arizona Sun!!

We've discovered that the best time to run through the sprinklers is in the evenings. What fun girls we have :)

Avery, Leah, Grace, and Libby

Hey! Libby turned 3!!

The stars aligned!

It is rare that I get a good picture of my girls - either I do a bad job with the camera, or I am too slow, or they just make weird faces. Yesterday the stars aligned!! They were playing so nicely in our backyard and everyone was happy and still fairly clean, so I got out there with my camera (actually, my phone camera) and snapped a few.

This is the best group shot of the three older girls (Libby, Grace, and Leah)

Grace standing not too happily for a picture- but doesn't she look good in pink?

Pretty Leah in her "ooshes" (shoes as she calls them)

A great shot of Libby - eye contact and smile and everything!! The stars were truly aligned for this picture!! She sure make my life wonderful :)

7 weeks old

Here are some of Avery's 7 week photos, as well as a collage of all four girls at 7 weeks, just to compare what they all looked like then... I think they are all so cute, and each really seems to have their own look!

More Pictures :)

Here are more pictures - do you have picture overload yet?

Libby's first day of Pre-School

Happy Happy Leah!! She thinks the world was made just for her! :)
Avery on her way home from the hospital

Two good friends :)

Cool Dude!!
Leah feeling pretty with her necklace

Pictures!!!

How terribly I am behind!!

I am so behind in posting our news! We have had so much happening, and so much on the horizon that I feel I can hardly keep up with myself, let alone the blog. Guess which one gets neglected? Umm... here's a hint... it's not me :) So here is a short list of recent wonderful events!

1) Baby Avery Mary Beach arrived on Sept 6th, at 7lbs 5 oz and 19 inches. She is beautiful - pictures to be posted soon.

2) Libby is getting ready to start pre-school - three days a week, and she will learn lots of stuff and we are excited.

3) We are so so so close to getting all her therapies on board - with in the next month, we should be in full swing of an additional 20-30 hours a week of in home therapy - just for her! It will be such a great thing and help her learn all the things she needs to learn.

4) Leah's first word (other than Mom) is "Oosh" which translates to "Shoe" :) She is a cutie. She'll bring a shoe to you, say "oosh" and want you to put a shoe on her. She is such a girl :)

5) Grace is growing up up up! She is such a great sister, and is glad that the baby is out of Mommy's tummy. She has been LOVING having my mom here! They are great friends.

6) My mom is here! Hooray - I joke that I need to have a baby every 18 months, just to make her come down and spend two weeks with us! Actually, we just need to get our act in gear and make the trek to Wyo and see her and everyone else up there :)

7).... lots more, but it'll have to wait for a later time - the children are calling.

And I promise to get some pictures up of Avery (can you tell she is the fourth and not the first? lol)

Eleventy...

I have been trying to correct Grace's counting lately. She can count up to twenty, but keeps adding "eleven-ty" to the mix. 1,2,3,... 10, 11, 12,13,14,15,16, eleventy, 18,19, 20, 100!" How exciting to count so high :)

I'll glad (and so proud of her) when she can do it right, but I'll be a little sad in hindsight, too. So much of her baby-hood is behind her. Logan and I were reminiscing about little conversations we would have with her and funny things she would say when she was first learning to talk and notice things. I've got to write more of these things down!

Here is a funny picture of our growing girl! (and a messy Leah to her right :)

Baby names???

Help!! I can't believe it is coming to this, but I can't decide on a stinkin' name! Here is my problem. It has to be one that both Logan and I like, we don't have to be in LOVE with it, just both be in agreement that it is OK. Here is our other criteria: we would like it to be an old fashioned name that is also current. We have a Grace, a Claire (but we call her Libby), and a Leah. Oh, and it cannot start with an 'L.' Another thing to consider is that her middle name will be Mary. So - if you have any ideas - please put your two cents in.

PS - We have tentatively chosen Avery, in case we don't come up with something different in the meantime. But it really is more of a "current" name.... aargh!