Fun Run... & a fun day!

We signed Emily up for a fun run today and it was so much fun to watch her go! I was surprised at her endurance, and also her competitive nature. She talked the whole way there about wanting to win. Although she did well, she did not win a bobble-head trophy (they were seriously cute)! But, luckily Justin has been playing a lot of soccer with her lately and she adopted the saying from him, "you win some- you lose some"! What a cute daddy!
Anyway, after 2 1/2 hours of fun run fun, and all the bouncy toys and stuff going on there, we dropped the boys off at home for naps and CPA studying (sorry honey). Emily and I headed to the farmer's market, and since she had so much fun snapping beans with Grandma Davenport for an 8 hour canning marathon, we decided to pick up 6 dozen corn and a box of peaches. We had a blast figuring out freezer corn, it was easy and fun to do together as a family.
We were thinking about heading out yet again but felt a little tired at that point. To our delight some great friends offered to babysit Emily for a couple of hours and we got to go on a date with Griffin. It was so much fun to be just with him for a bit. And Justin, too. Love days like this. No worries! Too much fun.

Never Alone

I loved this message. What a great comparison to our lives. I absolutely agree that it is so important to have friends and family who love and support us, when we can't find the strength on our own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrGKB5nRKE

The grass is always greener.....

So, I've had some "great" conversations with Emily this week. For lack of a good journal-writing habit lately, I chose to post a few of them here tonight.

Emily-Mom, we had the best burritos ever at Kim's house. They had chicken in them!

I'm thinking mine have chicken in them, and can't resist saying, Really? Better than mine?

Emily looks really confused as to what she 'should' say, and starts saying, umm, well mom, I mean- not as good as yours.

In an attempt to correct my coercing her tell me that mine are better, I explained that it is awesome to find people that do things better than us because then we can learn from them.

She smiles and admits, "oh, they are better than yours mom. I just didn't want to make you feel bad."

So, long story- but it prefaces today's conversation. Now that Emily has learned not to have to much concern over the way that I feel....

Emily- Can I please have one more icee pop?

Me- You sure can have one more and then we'll be done.

Emily-Mom you are the best parent ever. Well not as good as Kim,(cute little 4 year old laugh), you know that right!

Seriously, did she just say all that out loud?!?
Well, at least I take a close second, I think...and Kim lives right behind us so I can learn from her amazingness!
By the way, it has been confirmed that the burritos came from the freezer, so all your kids can experience their goodness also!

She's a cute kid, and sure makes a day fun. She is getting to be a good little babysitter, too. I love that I can be getting dinner ready and my kids will be watching each other! Seriously, my most favorite thing to watch is sibling interaction. It is amazing the sweet little bond that is there.

I know, give me a few months, right! I wouldn't trade it though, I know that.

So sweet

We couldn't let the day go by without sharing this sweet video. It was put together by Paul Cardall, a musician, husband and father who is currently waiting for a heart transplant. It is beautiful and we feel so humbled to know the families of some of these sweet little ones.
If there is one thing our experience with Ian has taught us, there are so many wonderful people in this world. What a special tribute and a thoughtful thing for Paul to do in the midst of his own huge trial.
Thank you so much for your great effort to raise awareness and honor all these sweet little ones.

Girl Camp!

Justin and I decided last week to take advantage of an opportunity to get 3 of Emily's closest in age cousins here for the week, and we are having a blast. 4 girls together day and night.... some good times!





This isn't actually Emily's cousin, but her neighbor that she has decided is her sister, so she was definitely invited to our camp-in! They spilled the strawberry nesquick and decided to use teamwork to sweep it up! It was so cute! They were about to put it back in the box, and I saw them just then. I said oh, you don't have to put it back in. Gracie smiled and said, we thought you were gonna be mad, Jenn. I told them I wasn't mad and they said oh, thanks! So cute



We got to meet one of my friends at the zoo on Monday, and they had a lot of fun with her kids. And, as you can see, Griffin is getting some extra attention this week. He loves these girls, and we are all having so much fun sharing the house with them! What a fun bunch of little ones.

Too much fun!

We have had a great week! We got to go to Pocatello for a morning while Justin took the first of his CPA exams. I know we had a lot more fun than he did- but we are proud of his determination to pass all these tests! Emily and I were both excited to see our friends in the neighborhood. She was sporting a new haircut that were compliments of herself... and my talented neighbor who had us straightened out in no time!

We had so much fun, and were happy to go back again a couple days later when Emily's crown fell out. We could have gone to a dentist here, but she has already made it through and trusted the office in Pocatello, so we took the easy way out and headed back down to do that. We hit up the petting zoo with the little cousins while we were there and had fun doing that.


Besides our adventures compiments of Emily, we've had fun with the slip 'n slide, Tauphtus Park, and of course our yard work. It's fun to sit down at the end of the day and be proud of a hard days work. We used a sod cutter to help cut out a plot for our neighbors garden, and they let us use the grass to patch up some serious problem areas in our yard! It turned out really well, and the kids had so much fun playing back and forth all day while we had so much work to do!

Remember

We had the opportunity to attend a memorial service at Primary Children's Hospital this weekend in honor of all those little ones who passed away last year. Since we missed the tribute last year, they invited us to attend this past Sunday.
It was a timely opportunity to go back to the place where our Ian was so gently cared for. Our hearts were touched as we were able to remember so many sweet memories that we made as a family there. For something that I have deemed as such a trying experience that can easily get the better of me, we sat in the hospital, and it was so easy to remember feeling so much love and peace while we were there. Not that we didn't feel other things, too!
But, it helped me realize how important it is to remember. Not only the tough parts, the wonderful amazing parts that can influence us to do better and to try harder.
To remember
why I want to show my children love each day.
why the daily endless tasks of being a mother are my favorite things in the world.
To remember I was not created to be perfect. To remember that is okay.
To remember why I am here, and why I am so grateful for a Savior who loves and died for me.
To remember the family and friends we have been given to help share our grief and our peace.
and that my little one who smiled so sweetly will smile again.