The last couple days according to me...

Forgive some journalling for a moment.  Realistically, I know I won't get to scrapbooking this anytime soon, and I'm afraid I'll forget the little details, so don't feel like you have to read it all :)  Summary:  This week, I have had a lot of really neat, fun experiences.  

Jake and Emberly and their kids...I borrowed their picture she posted this morning on Facebook, since shockingly, I had not brought my camera that day.  

On Thursday, I got to see my cousin, Jake, and his wife, Emberly, receive their endowments in the Logan Temple.  Jake was then sealed to his parents, Tresa and Tony.  Tresa was the bone marrow donor for my dad.  She has always had a special place in my heart because of that selfless act.  An act that bought my dad a few more months so he could be at my wedding.  Monday marked 11 years since my dad passed away, it's hard to believe it's been that long.  But what a gift to be able to see some of the fruits of his labors since he left.  A few minutes after that sealing, Jake and Emberly were sealed, and then they were sealed to their 3 little kids.  To see the gospel come full circle like that, to see this little unit of people become a forever family, as well as some other experiences that are too sacred to write about, it was one of the highlights of my life up to this point.  I was SO glad I was able to make it!  My mom and sister were able to be to the sealings which was even better since we were the only ones able to be there from Dad's side of the family.

Yesterday, my little niece, Addie, was blessed.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of her in her beautiful little blessing dress.  Just know, she was adorable :)  Now granted, I'm pregnant, and so yes I cry at everything, but that is one special little girl.  During her blessing, I couldn't help but feel very humbled to be in the same room as her.  It was another one of those powerful moments where you recognize you are sitting in the midst of the 'noble and great ones.'  The Spirit was very strong, and just left me feeling a lot of peace.  

Coming down a couple of notches, before the blessing, we took the kids to the 4th of July (or should I say 2nd of July) parade in Centerville.  To explain how sweet my husband is, without ANY prodding from me, he went and saved us places the night before on the parade route, and then left early to make sure they would still be there by the time I was able to make it with the two littles.  It's been the other way around for the last couple of years, so of course I was crying by the time I got there I felt so grateful...that and my stupid contractions that wouldn't quit.  I say stupid because they don't do anything other than make me miserable :)  I think I could almost pleasantly tolerate them if I knew they were moving things along, but for now we remain on not the best of terms.

Belen sat in her little pink barbie chair most of the time, which I know was nothing shy of a miracle.  She kept dancing in her chair because we were right across the street from the announcers stand, and they were playing all sorts of music in between floats.  She doesn't have a lot of natural talent when it comes to rhythm, but she makes up for it with flair :)  Two floats went by with temples, and I thought she'd pass out she was so excited yelling 'Temple!  Temple!"  When one of the float riders threw her a popcicle, I knew at that moment, she could die happy :)

Zerin played it cool, but when he saw the Utah Jazz car, all discretion went out the window and he was 5 again.  Last year, Liah got a 'glass' slipper from a local dress store in the parade.  Well, they gave her another one this year, and you should have seen her little grin when she realized she now had a matching pair!  Aeden was more excited than I've seen him since Christmas and the Cabin....he wore a permagrin until after the parade was over.  I think all of that exuberant happiness wore him out, however, because he was pretty emotional as the day wore on :)  On more of a logistics note, I decided to give the kids ziplocs instead of grocery bags for their candy, and it's amazing how much happier and grateful they seemed.  Ziplocs fill up much faster than grocery sacks, and when you are a kid 6 and under, as long as it's full, it doesn't matter how big it is :)   Why didn't I think of that before???  

Afterwards we went to the little booths they had for a couple of games, and then Bryan took the kids for snowcones at a little Sno Shack by DI.  He was smart and  paid $1 each and got to choose from like 50 flavors, rather than the $4 each they were charging at the booths with only a 2 flavor variety.  Smart, smart boy! :)

Family was around on and off a lot of the day, so the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins in Grandpa's tree.  Asher had to spice things up a bit by skinning his  knee pretty good the first hour, and then his head the next.  Poor Uncle Dallin was a little traumatized from how bad his head was bleeding, and probably ruined a really nice shirt from carrying him back to our house.  But it ended up being a very small little cut...so no stitches needed.  Head stuff just likes to be a little dramatic :)  It has been cute how much Asher has taken to Dallin since he has been here this week.  He has been asking for him and wants to know in the mornings when he wakes up how soon we are going to see him again.  The funny thing is he asks for Dallin now more than he is asking where his little cousins are to play with.

Bryan and some of his siblings (and Zerin) went to a used book store to look around while I took my 3rd nap of the day.  They only came back with one treasure, and it was free because Bryan had a credit there...score!  One of the best parts of this house is living so close to the used book store...although we now need to seriously look at building more bookshelves at some point!  Bryan also took Zerin to a local sporting goods store that is closing where their stuff was all 50% off.  Zerin got some really nice batting gloves he'd been wanting for a LONG time with his own money, and Bryan got a really nice camping chair to replace the one we broke last year for only $5.  He has proved he is a much better shopper than I am, that's for sure :)

   

Then at night, I was feeling better than I had been most of the day, so I took the 3 olders to the fireworks.  We were a little late leaving, so there was no parking anywhere where I wouldn't have to trek uphill for a mile, so we went by the temple and even though they were smaller, we were able to see them great AND sit right outside our van, so no walking for me!!! :).  I promised the kids I'd make it up to them next year by getting to the place early so we could feel the booms rattle our insides.