The Temple

We've taken all of our kids to our temple before they've turned one.  I was so excited that we were going to be able to keep up this tradition with Finn.  The Portland temple now has a small, beautiful visitor's center.  We loved the beautiful Christus statue. It's always so special revisiting the place where our family officially began.














We tried to recreate a photo we did with Liam when he was Finn's age. Finn wasn't too thrilled. :)

Reunited!

At the end of August, we headed to Washington with Finn for Wes's friend from high school and the best man in our wedding's wedding! The big kids stayed with Nana. Finn did awesome on his first flight. He slept through the landing even! The first day, Finn and I headed to my 'twin' Jana's house. I was so excited to meet her little boy Darien who was born in March. We had a wonderful time together. The only bummer was that Liam and Addy weren't with me to play with Ellie, but the little boys had a lot of fun together. We did some shopping and some crafts and watched a movie, just fun stuff. I'm so thankful for the time we were able to spend together!
 
 The humidity really brought out the curl in Finn's hair that we didn't know existed. SO SO cute!

A Second Grader!

A great word to describe my Liam is 'enthusiastic.' He was SO excited about second grade that he was up and dressed, including his backpack, before 6:30am on his first day of school. We were so thrilled because he got the teacher we were hoping for. A few days before school started we popped our heads into her classroom to say hello and she had already told her all of her plans for Liam. Mrs. Sparks had given her a full report of how to challenge him and help him continue to grow. We had gotten his gifted and talented testing done over the summer, so he was all set to begin the GT club and next year be a part of the SWAS program. He was also excited because he had a lot of his friends from last year in his class again. We all walked him to school together. He wasn't nervous in the least, in fact, he was just EXCITED to be there. Addy, on the other hand, wasn't thrilled that her big brother was going to school without her. It's tough being little sometimes. We are looking forward to a fantastic second grade year!

A new member of the family!

Chris, my in-laws foster son, officially became our brother, brother-in-law, uncle! Bill and Judy's adoption of Chris was finalized. We are so thrilled to have him be officially part of our family. We all adore him. He's such an awesome kid.  We love you, Chris!

10 months

Oh my Mr. Finn. You are something else! His tenth month of live was filled with all sorts moving, moving, moving. This kiddo can crawl and crawl FAST. Everyone is amazed at what a fast little guy he is!  And he's not really that little. He was approx 19 lbs at a sick appt.  He just had a little cold.  He's very tall. He loves to pull up on anything and everything and he loves to squeal and smile. We just love this guy!

Train Boy

Liam has LOVED trains for approximately that last 5 years, at least. Every Christmas, Birthday, special event, he'll get a Thomas die cast train. No questions.  One day he and Addy lined them all up and he has over 60. The thing is, these trains and sets are constantly played with and by far his favorite toys, so I really don't mind buying them.  I love that he uses his imagination and has found something he loves. He has consistently said he wants to be a train conductor when he grows up too.  :)  It's so cute.  A lot of people have mentioned to me that they have never seen a child who has had the same interest for so long.  I'm pretty sure he'll be playing trains until he's 19.

SEVEN years old!

I really can't believe my baby is seven years old. For some reason this birthday really seemed like he was a big kid to me. :( He's such an awesome, kind, loving, sweet, thoughtful, smart, amazing, talented boy. I love him so much! Some of his favorite things at seven years old are: pizza, power rangers, apples, his baby brother, his little sister, school, riding his bike, playing Biggest Loser, reading Harry Potter with Daddy, facetiming with Grandma, going to Yerington and shooting with Papa, writing comics, reading comics, Magic Treehouse and Diary of a Wimpy kids books, going to the movies, swimming and just about anything he does he finds joy in. :)

 For his birthday, he requested a Power Rangers cake. I had a hard time with that one because I'm just not 'into' Power Rangers (even though Liam still truly believes I'm the purple ranger in my spare time). Titi and I pulled off a pretty great cake though! He wanted a Morpher for his birthday. Titi and Uncle Shaawn got him that gift and he was thrilled. Grandma and Grandpa got him a power ranger and a bike bell. Nana and Papa surprised him with his very own big kid fishing pole- even in his favorite color. And me and Daddy surprised him with a brand new big kid bike! He was shocked and loves it!

 This year he decided to have his birthday at coconut bowl. We decided we're only going to do big birthday parties every other year and this year he wanted to do it somewhere 'fun'. ;) Uncle Beannie and Grandma and Grandpa were even able to come to town for the event.  The kids had a BLAST though and I have to say it was pretty darn nice to not have to do any setup or clean up. It was definitely a successful seventh birthday! I love you, Mr. Liam.