half a year!

i can't believe that it has been 6 months since that wintery blizzard during which our special boy came into the world.  i suppose we should believe it because we are all melting here in colorado. as i drove home from the gym last night at 9pm, it was still 86 degrees!

anyway, back to the man of the hour....i took a few pictures of him with his special biggest brother this time.  caleb loves to look after him.  he is sometimes a little over-confident in his abilities but he has a heart of gold and is growing to be such a phenomenal big brother to these little guys!

adam is almost sitting....actually he will sit for a while but then topple over.  he is a dynamic roller and really gets around.  he gets in the mood to talk and just goes on and on very expressively.  and best of all, he is so soft and squishy and getting chubbier everyday! he makes my heart sing.

lucky me!

sending out a distress call!

deep in conversation

i think i will call him 'squishy' and he will be mine. 

summers eve snapshot

I admittedly have been a poor record keeper of late. Life has been busy and full. Joyful and hard. Loud and obnoxious in the day. Quiet and still in the wee hours and the morning. It's filled with the usual craziness but for the most part it's a joyful life. 

I am sitting on the porch enjoying a warm summers evening...really the only time of day to sit outside comfortably as the days triple digit temperatures start to wain. I am watching Eric water the garden and the intruding children as they tease feeling so grateful to have him home and to ourselves for the day. Taz stays close to Eric who he adores and the chickens wonder around foraging and clucking.

 The children are on the trampoline pushing cars back and forth and making up games. The odd spat arises but mostly inventive play and tricks. Caleb added a backflip to his repertoire of trampoline tricks today and he couldn't be more proud inviting us all to ticketed shows to watch his tricks.

 Adam is lounging on my lap comfortably smelling like his dad's cologne. One hand opens and closes over and over practicing what will eventually become a wave and the other wrestles his pacifier in and out of his mouth as he talks and talks in his croaky little baby voice. 

The sun is setting over the mountains. Bright pinks and oranges shine vibrantly behind the hazy blue mountains.  They are beautiful and really feel like home but the haze over them reminds of fires blazing not too far away and people evacuating their homes tonight as we sit here comfortably. It's just a moment...but it feels pretty close to perfection....

watching a movie on the trampoline

summering

summer is in full swing over here.  we are getting nothing done. but having a lot of fun.  i have a lllooooonnnnngggg to-do list that is sitting waiting for me but in the mean time, we are chillin' with family, eating (because that's what we do), swimming, water-skiing, and making lip sync videos.  the days are long but flying by and i'm just happy that the kids are living it up!  hopefully we can make up for last summer's disaster with me puking and moaning and groaning all summer long.

in the mean time, here are a few pictures from a little hayride with our visitors mary and rachel who came for maryn's baptism and bryn and sierra who are sticking around until their family reunion....

love this one.

5 happy months

this sweet little boy is 5 months old....i can't believe it.  he is getting delightfully pudgey and still so easy-going as sweet.  he loves being in the middle of all the action going on in the house.  he loves noise and sleeps best when the house is noisy.  he loves his sister and brothers and they make him giggle.  he is getting more sturdy now and i can see the kids growing in confidence marching around the house with him....maybe a little too confident:)

he is rolling all over now which changes where we can lay him down and he is getting to more places he wants to be.   he tends to get big frights from the most random things and almost jumps out of his skin! the other night eric and i were in hysterics as i was playing with him and i did a low but fairly soft "roaarr" his eyes got big and he let out this high pitched, terrified scream of horror! we couldn't help busting up.  poor boy with such unsympathetic parents:)

we have also been battling a little asthma with mr. adam this month which has meant a seemingly endless string of breathing treatments but he finally seems to be improving.  it is a relief.

we are still enjoying his sweet nature and eating him up.  here is a little {very amateur} video of adam at 5 months maryn and i made...
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baptism day

in the midst of a very rushed weekend, we enjoyed the beautiful and sweet baptism of miss maryn jean.  grandma mary and aunt rachael came all the way from idaho and uncle bryn, aunt sierra, wyatt and miles are also visiting.

i was off shooting a wedding in the morning and so rachael helped maryn getting ready and doing her hair in pretty curls.  she was so excited.  it was a great occasion.  so much so that maryn came out wearing some stunning ruby red lip gloss.  i loved it and took her picture with her wearing it because i thought she was so cute all dolled up to the nines for her special day.

we arrived at the church early to get her into her white jumpsuit and practice her song and set up chairs.  she got baptized on the same day as jake and his family was there getting ready too. we set up over a hundred chairs.  about 5 minutes before the start of the baptism, people started to flow into the room....a lot of family from both of the children and many precious friends showed up to show their support.  the spirit filled the room and the best way that i can describe it was a feeling of love.  there was standing room only.

julia (jake's sister) gave the opening prayer and bishop gibb welcomed everyone.  we sang "baptism" as the opening song that the jake's grandfather, terry keller gave a sweet talk on baptism.  the message of his talk was that jesus is a personal savior to maryn and jake and no matter what they do, he will forgive them if they repent.  then, maryn, maiya and eric sang "come into the water"...a pretty song about inviting all to be baptized following jesus' example.  they sang beautifully.

next, we had the baptisms of maryn and jake by their fathers.  maryn told be as she was getting changed that she felt warm and good inside.  we hurried to get ready and rachael quickly braided her hair again and we beat all the boys getting ready.

then, grandma jean gave a beautiful talk on the gift of the holy ghost.  she told a story of when she was a young girl on a field trip and a wheel of their bus shredded to pieces and the bus began to swerve all over the road.  the girls on the bus began to scream but the spirit told her that everything was going to be okay and she was calm and helped to calm the other girls.  she talked about the different roles of the spirit in our lives.

then maryn and jake were confirmed by their fathers and we sang 'i am a child of god' as the closing song and grandma mary gave the closing prayer.

the spirit was strong and sweet.  the room was warm.  but outside, a thunderstorm with lightening, thunder and rain, was going on.  we could hear the the crashing thunder from in our little room.  i couldn't help but think of the crazy, unpredictable and often angry world that we live in.  but there in that room, we felt such peace and love and comfort....much like we do living in the safe arms of the gospel of jesus christ.  it is where we find love, peace and joy despite terrible things going around us.

maryn, i am so proud of you.  you are such a special little girl and i hope that this record will one day bring to your memory things about this special day that you would otherwise forget.  you have taken this first, very important step to returning back to your heavenly father.  i know he loves you and is proud of you too.  all my love.

p.s. i was so disappointed to realize we didn't get any pictures of maryn with her family and special guests that came:(