Lauren

Lauren is amazing! She finally decided she was going to be potty trained and guess what...she is. Now that it is her idea instead of ours she is having success. She has one issue which she seems to have a solution for. She thinks the bathroom stinks so she has to spray Lysol each time before she goes in or she gags. Silly girl. She has doubled her my little pony collection because of her efforts and seems to be very happy about it. Her swim teacher says she can definitely move up a level if she does any more session of swim lessons. She has such a hard time staying out of the water...restraining herself from jumping in because the other kids in the class our just getting used to the water. She has done well though and is liking it. She does almost everything herself. She gets dressed on her own, combs her hair, makes her bed and brushes her teeth. She is a great helper and loves to clean. She likes to vacuum the stairs and of course use pledge or Windex.....she loves to spray chemicals. When she wakes up in the morning she throws her baby over the upstairs rail just so we know she is on her way down. Yes, she still has baby and we are wondering how long she will last. She is not looking like she used to over two years ago when she got her from Mimi and Poppy. Lauren loves to dance. Her favorite song right now is "Our Song" by Taylor Swift. She loves to dress up in princess dresses and loves lip gloss. She puts on her "make ups" she got from Aunt Lindsay every morning. Aunt Lindsay actually saw her using the lip gloss she had and then quickly gave it to her as a gift. Aunt Lindsay just has this thing about germs. She is very loving and fun to be around. She has lots of energy and is very smart. She is learning so much from Landon. She is slow to warm up to people but wins them over with her amazing smile and her dimple. She is a shining star in our home. We love her so much!

Avery

She is almost six months old! We can't believe how fast time is flying by. She is a beautiful baby and it is so fun to see her personality emerging. She is LOVED (almost to death) by her big brother and sister. Whenever I bring her down from her bed they run as fast as they can and grab her feet and immediately start telling her how much they miss her and love her. She did roll over last week and has discovered her toes. She is having some teething issues (incessant drooling, gnawing on everything she can get in her mouth and a fever) but seems to be managing ok. She loves to smile and stand on her legs as much as she can. She plays in her exersaucer which she can stay in for quite a while. She is eating rice and oatmeal cereal and also drinking water from her sippy. We are planning to start solids this weekend. She is sleeping in her crib...we finally rid ourselves of the swing and seems to be adjusting well. She goes to sleep with her pottery barn blanket and her little pink piggie and of course her binky. She really is a good baby and has those awesome chubby legs we all love to squeeze. She also has a little bald spot on the back of her strawberry blonde hair and beautiful big blue eyes. We love her!

Grandma Faye

Today is my Mom's birthday. She is turning 71. She and my Dad went on a trip to West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole to celebrate. We have always loved going to the Playmill as a family. As I have had my own children I have realized so much more all the sacrifices my Mom made for her family. She has been my closest friend and greatest supporter throughout my life. We are so grateful for her and all she does for her family. She is a rock and gives all of us encouragement and love continually. My kids absolutely LOVE her and we are so glad she is part of our lives. We love you Mom!

Swim Lessons

I took this picture of Avery who has become my little poser. She is so fun and smiley. She has been a good sport waiting patiently while Landon and Lauren have their swim lessons. Jerry came with us on the first day to watch the kids. Lauren's teacher said she is "daring." I think she is a bit advanced for her class but she is using lots of restraint and seems to actually be listening to her teacher quite well. Landon is doing great. It is fun to see him actually swimming. We go everyday for the next few weeks and may do another session at the end of summer. We have a new community center close to us which we are so excited about. When I went to drive the kids to swimming today Landon said, "Well Mom is looks like you don't know the way!" He had been giving me a bad time all morning about only Dad knowing how to get there. We had to drop something off to Jerry so we were going a different way and he had to be sure and point it out. Isn't it great to be a Mom? We met some friends at the library splash park yesterday and Lauren actually used the potty! Things are looking up.....

Weekend

We had a really good weekend. We were treated to an amazing dinner on the golf course at Entrada thanks to Jacobsen on Friday night. We had a babysitter stay with the older two kids and took Avery to our friend, Sue. The event was a fundraiser to allow the hospital to purchase a life flight helicopter which would be based here. We actually saw some friends from the ward and also other work colleagues of Jerry's. On Saturday we got up and went to breakfast as a family. They we hit a park, Costco and other errands. I went to do the rest of my grocery shopping in the afternoon with a friend. Jerry and I have been loving the Redbox lately so we watched a few movies as well. On Sunday we had the Rogers over for dinner. We had such a good time visiting and hearing about their trip to Germany and Austria. We would love to do that someday.

Snow White

Lauren got this dress up from her Grandma and Papa North. She absolutely LOVES it. It came in the mail as a belated birthday gift. She was so excited and now is learning all about all the princesses.

Lauren

We have been "potty training" for several months. It has been a long, rough road which started with complete and total refusal to use the potty. Things have improved or so I thought. Today after Lauren had an "accident" in the carpet she started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I don't want to go on the potty anymore!" I asked her why and she said,"I'm just going to pee in my pants forever!" I guess we are not making as much progress as I thought.

Loss

I found out that Molly and Vic lost their little girl Lucy. She had a tragic accident and passed away on Thursday. My heart aches for them. Death is so difficult and it is hard to put into words how they are feeling. It brought back feelings from the losses we have experienced in our own family. It makes you grateful for each day you have with those you love. Our thoughts and prayers are with this family.