Here's a Josha update for those who care to know! He had another physical therapy session last Thursday. This was the first time he showed his therapist his "true colors." Usually he cries and pretends to be shy, but this time he Mowgli crawled all over the place with her. She was very pleased...Then yesterday, Joshua decided it would be a good day to stand by himself. He doesn't need any help to stand up and then can do it for quite a while. I was cleaning my room yesterday and he kept standing to impress me. Then I thought he fell down straight onto his belly. But he kept doing it...he was like a frog. He'd get up and dive immediately onto his belly. I think he thought he was trying to walk. He did it across my whole room. It was hysterical! What a sweet, silly little boy I have!

And I quote..."This is the yuckiest dinner."

Aaron got a new calling last Sunday. He's the new...Ward Mission Leader! I think this means we'll be feeding the missionaries a lot!! They came over on Saturday night, and then played on the trampoline after dinner with the kids. Here's Arwen's sweetest jump...
Noah got quite a bit of air...He also got jumped on by the big missionary. He did one of those cries where he didn't breath for like 30 seconds. I thought he was dead! He's fine today he informed me!

The kids and I had a fun time preparing to celebrate Aaron's birthday this year. We spent the say shopping for things to decorate with. We decided on a candy theme this year.
We had quiznos and jamba juice for dinner...after all our running around all day and making little cakes, we didn't find much time to cook dinner! Sorry Aaron.
We bought lots and lots of suckers. This one was Noah's favorite!
Arwen really needed the pink one, of course!
Joshua had a blast with this sucker...it's had a foot long stick that he usually insisted on holding at the bottom. Then he would swing it around until it got lucky enough to get in his mouth...he had sticky candy everywhere!!

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

Arwen loves you because:



Sheloves to play with you


You jump on the trampoline with her


You play ring around the rosies with her


She loves to hug you and play with you


You draw pictures with her






Noah loves you because:



You letted him go in the car


You bring him on the trip and bring him back home


You just did magical things


You give him wands


I just love him







I love you because:



You are a handy man


You are so spiritual and make this family a happier one


You're cute


You help a lot around the house


You make me a better person







We love you lots! Happy Birthday!!

We had a fun Labor Day weekend. We went to our new Ikea on Saturday to get the kids new dressers for their bedrooms. How great will it be to not have to hang EVERYTHING up now! We also got a new book shelf as the kids have outgrown their little one. Then, on Monday, we went into Portland to play. But first we stopped by Noah's bagels for yummy breakfast. Then we went to the park by the zoo. The kids LOVE this park because it has a huge sand area!
Josh loves to play in the sand!
Here's Josh trying to scoot off a 6 foot drop-off...crazy little boy!
He loved riding on this sea horse. It was so funny to see him shaking his body to make it move.
Next we went to the mall and had Hot Dog on a Stick. Then we walked next door to let the kids play in the fountains. Here is Josh just doing his thing! People are always asking about Josh's crawl...like, is that really how he crawls...No...you're just imagining it! A little kid told me does a monkey crawl and some lady told Aaron he looked like a lion. Anyways, people LOVE his crawl! Arwen loves to play in the fountains. She soaked herself, but when some kid threw a cup of water on her, she was devastated that she was wet!!
Little Noah runs around in his bathing suit with his bum falling out the whole time. I can't get any pants to stay on him...unless Aaron gets him dressed and he puts him in Josh's shorts! Josh would laugh and cry while splashing in the water. I guess sometimes it got to be too much! Then we came home and made yummy hot fudge sauce (it's so good, that sometimes I'm tempted to just eat it with a spoon!) carmel topping, and jersey topping to make yummy ice cream dessert! What a terrific day!

My friend Jen did a photo shoot with my kids while we were visiting her in Utah. Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Yes...Arwen did lose her first tooth. It happened in Denver at our family reunion. The tooth fairy brought her a silver dollar, which she immediately lost. (Good thing I'm friends with the tooth fairy and was able to get another to bring home safely with us!)

Sorry for not posting in forever...the kids and I took an extended vacation. We drove through Idaho to Utah. We stayed in Utah for a couple of days with my friend Jen, who used to live here by us. Thanks Jen for letting us live in your house!! We had 7 kids there between the two of us and it was a mad house! It was sooo fun though! Then we drove to Denver to visit my family. We did lots of fun things with my parents. First off, we went fishing at this little stocked pond up in the mountains.

Arwen pretty much thought fishing was boring. She spent most of her time running between her pole (laying on the ground) and grandma.
Noah thought fishing was great...that and throwing our lunch into the lake to "feed the fish!"
Noah was the only one who got a fish. He was so excited about this!
He really needed to hold his fish in his little net...until he realized the fish was squirmy and he immediately dropped it.
Noah was scared to death of his fish...which he named Bruno. This is a before shot...I didn't manage to get the after and it's probably better that way. The kids threw dirt, grass, flowers, grapes, worms, salmon eggs and lots of other junk into the bucket with the fish in it. Then they took their nets and tried to "wake Bruno up." And Aaron wonders why I didn't want to eat it!


We got to go to the annual family reunion at the park this year. It's with my mom's side of the family. We had a Mexican Fiesta with lots of yummy Mexican food.
Here's Arwen ready for the sack races.
The poor girl was in dead last...but like grandma said, "Everyone gets a prize." Arwen loved that part!
What a silly little girl!
Arwen had fun whacking the pinata!
Josh managed to crawl in and get his share of treats once the pinata was broken!

My mom invited all of my Dad's side of the family to Chuck E. Cheese to help celebrate her birthday while we were there. It was so much fun. The kids had so much fun chasing and dancing with Chuck E. and playing all of the games to win lame prizes! Then, instead of everyone giving her presents, she gave all the little grandkids and cousins gifts. It was so fun.
Here's Josh with my Grandma Suzanne.

Utah is building these really fun "splash parks" for all the kids to play at in the summer time. Our kids had so much fun playing in the water on the hundred degree days!

Josh Mowgli crawled around and had 6 or 7 kids copying him by the time we left. It was pretty funny.