A new start

After the party we all got ready and headed out to Phoenix for my sister in laws baptism. That's right! My sister in law, Lupe decided to join our church and I am so happy for her. Nothing (and I mean nothing) makes my life better/easier/ more peaceful than the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope it brings the same kind of light to her life and I know it will if she lets it. Here are a couple of my other sister in laws. Oh, and Sam. Russ lookin' good in his new suit.

My brother Kent and two if his little guys.

My parents with my niece and nephew.

Gracie singing along to the spanish hymns.

Ashley put Sam's hands on his bottle and he kept them there. He is getting so big.

Lupe with my Dad and the missionaries after the baptism. And here is Lupita

This is a happy face. I think she wanted to eat my camera. I wanted to eat her.

This after we got home, Russ trying to make Sam smile.

Nothing is better than a smiling baby.

Gracie found her dolly with a "happy face".

And she wanted to have some more tea before bed, so we did.

It was one of those days where you are going all-day-long, but it is so happy and so fun. I love days like these.

Birthday Tea Party

Gracie turned 3!

When I asked her what she wanted for her party she said, "pink!"

In fact, that is what she said when I asked what she wanted for her birthday.

Good morning to the birthday girl. I made this birthday crown for her and had it sitting on her bed for when she woke up. We also hung a canopy above her bed while she was sleeping, but I forgot to take a picture of that.She had her favorite sugar cereal for breakfast.
Then I realized that I needed to go pick some stuff up from Connie and that she lives pretty close to a Krispy Kreme so we went and got Connie and then went and got some doughnuts. Here she is with her beloved strawberry milk.

Birthday kisses.

She was so happy all day. Later that afternoon we had some friends come over and swim and then have a little tea party with cake. Nothing big, but lovely for the little girls.

She loved pouring her own tea (crystal light).

Helping all the girls put their gloves on.

I don't think Gracie minded one bit that her gloves were too big.

I thought that maybe the boys would go watch a movie, but they wanted tea and gloves even.

The first gift Gracie opened was a handmade doll that she sleeps with every night. Thanks Rachel.

Then a bag of makeup!

She unloaded it...

and started putting it on.

She did not want to open any more presents she just wanted to paint her nails. I painted one and then tried to get her to move on.

Here she is pouting about having to open more presents.

These are stickers and a book that came a long with Connie's mixed cd for Gracie. It is full of princess songs and she loves it so much. She just wants to sit in the car so she can listen to it.

I love this picture because it is capturing one (of the many) moments where I had to tell William to back up and chill out. He was driving me crazy.

I loved this posed picture Gracie did.

The boys riding Gracie's princess bike. She wasn't that excited about it because she saw me buy it weeks ago, I have just been hiding it from her. She also still needs to learn how to ride it.

Now Daddy is bringing out the cake.

I love these smiles. All I want for their birthdays is for them to be so happy. And she was.

Here is the cake. It is supposed to be checkered. It kinda is.

We measured her a day later and saw that she actually has grown over three inches this year. She is getting bigger and it seems that just this week I have noticed more grown up conversations coming from her. Now she just needs to get potty trained and get rid of her passey. Maybe after the baby comes:)

The rest of camping

To the creek!

The guys getting in the freezing water.

Oh man, he is so cold.

William trying to climb Russ to get out of the cold water.

Look at these guys. I love them so much.

William started to drop, can you see the panic on his face?

Mark told William he would take him to "the door". I don't think William was ready for the cold.

Relaxing in the ice water

Explaining to William that he is going to have to get back in the water to get back to us.

Russ showing him how it is done.

William was fine to just play on the rocks.

Trying to catch a football midair.

Actually doing it this time.

William getting ready to jump.

He did it!

And he was out of that water faster than he was in.

Way to go buddy.

Just another picture of my awesome husband.

Back at camp there was this cute guy.

Everyone loved to play with him and try and get him to smile.

William sat very patiently outside the gopher whole and coaxed him out with a leaf! Soon he was doing it with bread and sun chips and Russ had to join in the fun. I kept telling William not to touch it because I didn't want him to get bit. Later he came up and whispered to me that he did pet it and it didn't bite him. Apparently he is Dr. Doolittle like his Dad.

On Sunday we had a little church meeting and William bore his testimony unasked and unprompted. It was a very sweet moment for me. I loved hearing every ones thoughts and testimonies there in the woods. I want to thank my parents for giving us such a wonderful family experience. Going to girls camp, the Christensen family reunion, and this camping trip has taught me that there is something special about spending a lot of time with others. We all live close by so we see each other a lot, but there is something different about spending days together at a time. I think we all let a little more of our guard down. I am not sure what it is, but I am grateful for it and can't wait until next year. But we will probably have to invite a friend for William to bring next year.

And the Happy Camper award goes to...

SAM!

He really was such a good little guy. And props to Mark and Ashley for going even though they had this little guy.

It wouldn't have been the same without them.