family, isn’t it great to love people this much

I was so excited to have my family come visit last week.  Their flight was delayed six hours because of the snow, but we were finally able to see them Friday.  It was so great to see them and the time just flew by.  Here are some of the things we did:I have been wanting a runner to go under my TV instead of the dish towel that was currently there.  Real classy.  My mom made this for me and I love it.  I had seen a quilt like this on Pinterest. I love the pleated edge.  Thanks, Mom, you are so talented!

She brought all the stuff to make dresden plates.  It went perfectly under my chunky candlestick.  I’m excited to make more. 

Jacoby was so excited to see Grandpa Mike.  He loved all the attention he got that week.  On Friday we met at a really fun park.  Jacoby and Annie had fun riding on the train there.  Then we hit the outlets afterword.

As much as Jacoby loves to play football, he can sure throw it, but catching it is pretty disastrous.  He was so funny to watch. 

Aunt Olivia was being silly looking through our pictures and kept saying wrong names of the people in the pictures to make Jacoby laugh. 

My dad is just the best.  He is always doing so many thoughtful things for everyone.  I love being around him.  He is such a great example to me.

A place that we all love to go, In-N-Out.  Yummy!

We love croquet, so we went to the park to play a game.  The balls went lots further than normal because of the short, crunchy grass.  Have a mentioned I miss the grass at home? Ha ha.  That is kind of a funny thing to miss.

Jacoby loved having someone to sleep on the trundle next to him. 

I’m really glad Thomas was able to come for the weekend.  It was fun to have him see where we live.  I wish him and my dad could’ve stayed longer, and with the delay in their flight, it made the weekend way too short.

Olivia was craving chocolate-dipped bananas so she made a bunch.  We had quite a few for breakfast over the next couple days. 

Since Annie and Olivia had to miss some school, Annie had to make these yummy cookies for her cooking class and take pictures to show her teacher.  They were so yummy with these mini Reeses Pieces.  We spent lots of time swimming, eating good food, and playing games.  My dad grilled some yummy salmon for dinner one night too. 

We went shopping a lot and found some fun things.  By the end of the week, Jacoby was pretty sick of it.  Dangit!

Ice cream from Ikea.  They had a little play area for Jacoby so we were able to really roam around Ikea and take our sweet time while Jacoby had a blast.

We had a yummy lunch at Olive Garden and pigged out. 

I am so grateful my family was able to come visit for a week.  I feel so blessed to have been born into this wonderful family.  I love them all and miss seeing them so often.  I had such a great time shopping, eating good food, baking, working and projects, and watching movies.  You guys are the best.  I love you so much!

Idaho and 3 years old

We were so happy to go to Idaho for a couple weeks last month.  It was a great time to escape Arizona’s heat from Heck and spend time with our families.  One of the first things I did when we got there was walk outside and take off my shoes and walk in the grass.  The grass is so soft in Idaho.  Arizona only ever has crunchy, yellow grass.  Ha ha.  We were even able to celebrate Jacoby’s third birthday while we were home.  I’m glad we could celebrate with all of his cousins!  We did a little celebrating in Arizona.  Jacoby was really excited to finally get a train track and some more trains.He loves puzzles and games right now so this puzzle has been fun for him to put together.  We celebrated with the Long’s the night before his birthday.  We did a train party.  Olivia helped me with the cute freight cars.   Jacoby got so many nice presents from his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Thank you!

This picture is pretty blurry but I thought it was so funny because Eden looked like she was telling Jacoby something pretty important.  Maybe some sneaky plan she had.

Cupcakes at Grandma and Grandpa Roe’s.  Jacoby had a great couple days and loved all the cupcakes and presents he received.  One really fun thing I was able to do while we were home is go to the temple with all my siblings and parents.  I sure love all of them and was happy we could all do this together.  Thanks for planning that, Mom!

Tyler and his family were able to float the Hoback a couple times, too.  They were so nice to invite Annie and my parents to go.  They loved it.  Jacoby and I got some fun pictures of them going through some huge rapids.

The kids loved to play in Grandpa Mike’s garden.  They helped themselves to peas and carrots.  One day when Becca’s family came over, Jacoby wasn’t wearing a shirt and neither was Trey so Johnny took his right off so he could be just like them.  I had to get some pictures of the studs.  Trey and Johnny are showing their big muscles.

We had a lot of things we wanted to do and because we split our time with out families we had to make a schedule of everything we wanted to do.  My dad gave me a hard time that he had to ask me to go to the bathroom because of my schedule.    We went to Reed’s Dairy a couple times, did famly pictures with both families, bike rides, yummy fresh raspberry milkshakes, Love at First Bite cupcakes, my good friend, Jason’s wedding, camping at Rigby Lake, bbq with my dad’s amazing French fries, volleyball, Portrayal, snow cones, Leo’s a couple times, Rexburg Rapids, ramekin round-up, boating, staying at the Parry cabin, Pinterest party, pedicures, Eden’s 4th birthday party, croquet, Olive Garden Dinner, seeing Lyndsi and Maecie, visiting Jess at her school, and my birthday party.  My parents were so nice to ask me if I wanted to have a party for my birthday before we left. They asked what I wanted and I couldn’t help but request my mom’s peach cheesecake.  It is the best.  My dad made salmon and it was amazing.  I feel so lucky and blessed for my wonderful family. 

Unfortunately our trip had to come to an end, but we sure loved every minute of it.  We were so happy that Tyler was able to come with us the whole time.  Thanks to our families for everything and for putting up with all of the things I wanted to do.

Tyler started school right after we got home.  Here is a picture on his first day.

A picture with my little buddy on my birthday.  I love this sweet boy and can’t believe he is three.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.  I realize that more than ever.

One last then and now picture of the kids over two years ago that I snapped.  Look how much they’ve changed.  I’m so glad Jacoby could spend so much time with his cousins.  It makes me really sad that he doesn’t get to see them very often.  We love you guys!

Jacoby the Fish

Today Jacoby wanted to try swimming without his water wings so Tyler let him give it a try. He did really well. He just loves to swim/doggie paddle!

Jacoby, you are funny part II

Awhile back I did a post on some funny things Jacoby is doing.  Here is a part II to that post and a scrapbook page I did of some of the pictures.  He sure keeps us smiling!  We love you, Jacoby and are so happy you are in our family.

He said his trains wanted some carrots, grapes, and Teddy Grahams. 

Here he is tucking his teddy bear in and giving him a kiss.

He loves keys like most kids.  I washed some keys for him and put some keychains on a ring so he felt like he had some real keys.  Our locks are the really easy kind to unlock and he figured out that if he puts his key in and turns it, it will unlock. Pretty clever, huh?