Lauren 4th year

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Spring cleaning, a little late . . .

. . . as usual. But it is so nice to clean out cubbards and re-arrange stuff. No photos to accompany this post (as I just realized that I don't always have to post pictures), since everything's crazy in organized little piles all over the house, but I think I'll post some "after" pics.

Update on our family: we just got back from NY, visiting my best friend and her beautiful family. I want to be there again already so bad!!! Went to D.C. to visit my cousins and the temple, where my brother David got his endowments in preparation for his mission to Frankfurt, Germany next month. Very cool experience to be with him in holy places.

Justin's working hard, doing 12 hour shifts. On his days off, he works in people's yards for extra $, but I think it's really so that he can have an outlet for all his gardening passion, since he can't really do much in our little yard.

Lauren just got accepted to 4-K for the coming school year! She's extatic, and wants to know all about her new teachers and friends, and if she gets to ride the big bus.

She's also very excited about having a new baby SISTER in November!!! Baby girl is doing great, right on schedule for the 20th, and Momma's feeling fine. I'm a little slow and clumsy at times, and actually cat nap occasionally, but other than that, pregnancy is going great for me. Well, I have to keep reminding myself not to turn sideways to fit through tight spaces -- I keep getting stuck! It's lots of fun to plan for a new little girl, and Lauren's already decided she's going to get a bunk bed for the two of them, and she gets the top one!

Anyway, we're doing great. Wish we could sell our little 2-bedroom house and get something bigger with a larger yard for Justin, but no one's biting right now. Guess we have to wait, and we'll appreciate it when we get there.

Well, this was nice to have a little rant about our family. I should do this more often!!! ;)

Lauren 3rd year

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Birthday girls

Woo-hoo! It hasn't been months, or even weeks! Now don't get too excited, this is still a work in progess for me! We had such a busy month. My parent's anniversary, our anniversary, Mother's Day, our sweet girl's birthday, then my own birthday. *pant, pant* And we still have money left! Here's some pics for this month's festivities (forgive the backward order, I'm too lazy right now to turn it around):

My birthday, taken at Kanpai


Our 4 year old's birthday, in our backyard (we had a big cookout, and a big cake - Thanks, Grandma!)


Her birthday at preschool


Riding a horse at a church activity


Mother's Day - she "hand"-made me an apron at preschool!


So it was a busy month, but very happy and very rewarding. I especially had a great Mother's Day, and felt so many happy feelings and just love being a mom. I am so blessed to have such a great family.

I'm not too much of a blogger, am I?

I love that people have an outlet like a blog to post their feelings and let others see what they're up to, but for some reason, I just haven't really gotten into it yet. I'm like a "once every 6 months" kind of blogger, when it's been forever or I just really love a picture that I took. I want people to know how we're doing, but I let life get in the way, and I feel really bad that people are missing my little girl grow up. Now that our family is expanding, I want to share more. I'm 12 weeks pregnant, and slowly getting over the "morning" sickness, although I haven't actually been sick once. Our sweet little girl will be 4 this week! My dear husband is doing great at work, although he comes home with a new little cut or burn or splinter almost every day. We're trying to sell our small 2-bedroom house and find something, ANYthing bigger. That's us. Here's a few recent pics, so you can see what we look like now:

Christmas 2009


Daddy-daughter sledding


Our little snow Angel


Daddy's birthday (we surprised him at work)


She just loves bounce houses!


At the park (Milliken)(have I mentioned how much I LOVE my camera?)


Okay, just a taste of our family. Hopefully it won't be another 6 months before I add pictures of our sweet 4 year old this week!

Such a cute girl!

Some of my favorite pics from the last month:

. . . Compared to Rocks and Mountains

Okay, so I haven't been much of a blogger lately. I'm not going to recap everything right now. Instead, I'm starting from recent events, so you can see what me and mine are up to right now. (I think I make it too complicated)

We had a great time in the mountains for David's birthday. The colors were fabulous, crisp, and vibrant -- I LOVE FALL!!! Here are some of my favorite pics from our hike to Caesar's Head, overlooking Table Rock, SC.


This girl LOVES flowers!!!


And this was actually a huge chunk of rock we were standing on, and it had a massive gash in it! We climbed down some stairs and went through it. It is tilted, so you pretty much have to hold your hand out and feel your way through it. Way cool.


This shows the rock we were standing on, and the incredible view it affords. Breathtaking when you're up there, and each tree was a different color underneath you.


Mom and Dad had to trade off, so he's in the last one, and she's in this one. We had fun, can you tell?


See? I told you! Breathtaking.


This is just a corner of the rock we were standing on, and it shows just how lovely the colorful trees are.


Just a good picture. She loves her uncles!