PICTURES!!!

Jonas on the stilts in Nauvoo - pioneer games

we got diamond rings at the blacksmith in Nauvoo

cute little pioneer girls - they didn't wanna leave this place!!!

oxen ride!

Yeehaw! Kyla playing at the Independence Visitor's Center

cutie Jaxon

in front of Wilford Woodruff's home in Nauvoo... sad sad story, Maelie puked all over Wilford Woodruff's upstairs floor, I felt sooo bad! For Maelie and for the historic home!!

a cool spot, this is where the pioneer's crossed the Mississippi on their trek west.

an original sun stone from the Nauvoo temple

Jonas and Maelie in Brigham Young's house in Nauvoo

the fam at Carthage jail

Maelie and Kyla after the Shedd Aquarium... the Chicago skyscrapers and Lake Michigan!

Chicago temple, look how tired the fam looks :)

Jaxon's dirty face, he had been eating the steering wheel

the beautiful valley of Adam-ondi Ahman

Maelie got called up on stage during the Anna Amanda show in Nauvoo... she did so awesome, she shouted out her name to the audience!

Maelie and Kyla's favorite spot in Nauvoo, playing the pioneer games!

BRICKS in Nauvoo

see the little bunny we found in Nauvoo (top right corner)

Chicago, IL

Wow! We are now in Chicago! Saturday we went to Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Haun's Mill. All these sites were very cool to see, my favorite was probably Far West. It was the temple site, it was so beautiful and peaceful there. The weather has been so beautiful our whole trip, always like 75* and not even any humidity that has bothered us like we heard about. Nauvoo was awesome! We so loved that beautiful little city! The Mississippi river is crazy huge!!! The Nauvoo temple is gorgeous! Carthage was quite the experience! Maelie and Kyla had fun in Nauvoo! Today we drove to Chicago and went to the Shedd Aquarium and saw Lake Michigan, that is the first great lake we have ever seen - so amazingly HUGE!!! It looks like the ocean!

what a beautiful little boy

I got a pic of my new nephew! Here he is! It's hard to beleive that he was born 8 weeks early!!!

Independence, MO

Here we are in Independence! We saw the weird sea shell lookin' Community of Christ temple and heard all about that church with absolutely no testimony involved, it was kinda weird. We saw the temple lot dedicated by Joseph Smith, that was very cool. And we went to the LDS visitor's center where the girls had a blast playing in the cabin and with the horse and wagon. Oh, and we also had 2 emotional break downs, 1 from Maelie and then 1 from Kyla... last night we stayed in Oklahoma City, amazing place! hehehe... the drive today was beautiful, so green! And when we went to find the OK city temple, we drove thru a flood! It was awesome! This part of the country is so different! I love all the green scenery out my window. Maelie hasn't been carsick since the first morning which is WONDERFUL!!! I have managed to get about 150 or so pages into Breaking Dawn, between feeding everyone in the car, changing DVD's, and breaking up fights. We are now watching the Olympic opening ceremonies.. tomorrow is the drive to Nauvoo, stopping at Liberty Jail, Far West, Haun's Mill, and Adam-ondi-Ahman. Better go before the girls tear the hotel room apart. pix will come later. Oh, and Jason and his wife Katrina are the parents of a baby boy born today on 8/8/8, about 8 weeks early at 5 pounds and 6 ounces, and that's all I know, someone please send me a pic! Good night!

Albuquerque, NM

We made it to our first stop! The kids did great! Maelie threw up twice and that was kinda rough and I felt real bad for her. But we are here in the hotel and everyone is doing fine. We are off to see the temple!

still here in AZ

We were supposed to leave yesterday for our moving trip across the country, first going thru San Antonio to see Jonas' little sister's family, but sad day, her kids are sick. So we are still at my parent's house in AZ. We are heading out tomorrow morning thru Albuquerque instead!

almost done packing and cleaning... halleluyah!

The truck is coming today! We are having a family reunion this weekend, my nephew is getting baptized, my brother's fam is in town, and we are heading out on Monday!!!

so grateful for good friends

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have such awesome friends! I had 5 of my good friends come over and clean my house this morning. I had another friend bring us lunch and another friend bring us dinner! And then, Jonas and I hadn't even really thought about it, but one of the friend's who helped us clean offered to watch our kids tonight so we can go on a last date before the move! I am so grateful right now, and a little sad to leave behind such amazing people! Thanks for all you have done today and I hope we always keep in touch!

Kyla

Kyla can be quite stong willed so I was worried about taking her to the dentist, but she was amazing! I was almost in shock! haha! She didn't talk at all, she was really quiet, it was kinda funny. But she kept smiling the whole time and did everything she was supposed to. She was so happy when she got all her little prizes at the end! Phew!

check ups

Yesterday I took Maelie to her first dentist appt and she did great! It was so cute to see her laying there on the big chair with her sunglasses on and her mouth wide open, I wish I had brought the camera. =) No cavities! I am taking Kyla to her first dentist appt in a bit, that should be interesting... Maelie also had her 4 year well check this morning and she did great. She had to get 5 shots! But then she got 5 suckers and 5 stickers and the good news is that those are her last shots until she's 10!!! YEAH!!! She is 38 pounds which I think is about the 75th percentile, where she has been since she was a baby. And I forgot her height! And she has perfect vision, it was funny because I was standing with her down the hallway and the nurse was asking her to look at the pictures and name them. Well, I couldn't tell what any of them were but Maelie knew them all!

a new camera, some last times, and a first time

We got a new camera and I think I like it better than the one we broke, too bad we had to pay money we should be saving!

This week has been a crazy whirlwind. Our garage is now full of boxes and we are living fine without all of it. So it makes me wonder what is in all those boxes that we need so badly?!?! Throughout this week full of packing, I had my last little get together with my VT companion and the girls we VT. I went to my last playgroup in the ward I have totally loved! I should have taken the girls to their last dance class and gone to my last tap class but was in the packing groove and didn't break away in time to get to the other side of town! We had a last get together for home teaching with a couple families and that same night I went to a last hang out with some of my high school friends. And on Friday, Jonas had a goodbye BBQ for work. I'm going to miss you all! But can I just say that we are getting really excited and ready to move on to the next chapter of life! I can't believe it is nearly here!!!

Along with all those lasts, I had a first. Traffic school this morning... it was intense and very exciting! Let's just say, I hope that was also my last time!

Oh, and thanks so much, Taani, for taking the girls all day on Friday! They had fun and I got a LOT done!!!

keep your blog

K, I blog more than I scrapbook, write in my journal, write in the baby books, or anything else that might keep memories. Well, what if something happened to my blog??? My sister, Taani found this cool site where you can make your blog into a book! Here it is, check it out!

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook

couple of videos

the last pix our Canon ever took

Well, it turns out our camera will cost as much to fix as it is worth, maybe more. No more picture taking for the girls I guess. Altho, I think I dropped and broke the camera we had 2 cameras ago... it might be good to get them one of those kid cameras... they sure like taking pix. Here are a few of the pix on our broken camera. We have our new camera all picked out and are going to buy it tonight or tomorrow! - another one of a few purchases we weren't planning on! Why is it that life gets really expensive all at once?!?!?!

Maelie and her purple heart pancake on her bday

Maelie took this pic, can you tell? IHOP on Maelie's bday

packing...

and my camera is broken :(

I'm not old enough to have a 4 YEAR OLD!!!

Maelie's bday was yesterday and it's official, Jonas and I are parents of a 4 year old! WEIRD, where did the time go? We had a fun day, for breakfast she wanted purple heart pancakes so that's what we had. And then after Jonas got home from work, we asked her where she wanted her birthday dinner and she said IHOP, you think she likes pancakes? Either that or that is the only name of a restaurant she knows because first she said "at the store." =) Well, the girls love taking pictures and I usually let them. Well, last night at IHOP, Kyla dropped and broke our camera, AH MAN! I am very sad! Hopefully it doesn't cost too much to fix or isn't broken entirely! I have a pic of the purple pancakes on the camera as well as some IHOP pix... after IHOP we went to Golfland because that is where Maelie wanted to go. She loves the castle! We went goofy golfing and played around a bit and then we went to a dollar store and got each of the girls a red heart balloon. Happy Birthday sweet Maelie!

Jaxon's 4 month stats

I know this may be boring to some but those who are interested...

weight: 18 lbs 2 oz - 95th %
height: 25" - 40th %
head: 17" - 75th %

and HEALTHY!

He really really really REALLY didn't like the shots!

another bro to Florida!

Jonas' little brother got his mission call to the Florida, Tampa mission! He leaves on October 8th! CONGRATULATIONS! We will have 3 brothers on missions! Nephi is in Ogden, Trevon is in Jacksonville, and Leland will be in Tampa!!! We just might have to make a trip to Florida and see if we can take 2 of them out to lunch! =)

bday footage :)

Maelie's Birthday Party

Finally! The time Maelie has been waiting for since last July! Seriously, she has been wishing and hoping and thinking and yes, even praying (seriously every prayer she mentions her birthday, just ask her sunbeam teacher!) for this birthday to come! We had a lot of fun! We started this morning with a few of her little friends... played outside in the water, dug for treasure, played the pull string pinata, came inside to color the castle, eat cake, open presents, put the shoe on Cinderella, and just play and have fun!

Ta da! The cake! - this was last night, I made sure to get pic of it before it got destroyed!

Maelie and her friend Ty who came over later this afternoon (his mom sorta spaced the party hehe)

candle time!

Kailin and Maelie - opening presents

so funny, I was telling Ty to kiss Maelie on the cheek and he wasn't so Maelie kinda shrugged her shoulders like "I'll do it then" and gave him one! These are the 2 who kissed smack on the lips in the middle of sacrament meeting!

Maelie and Bianca

opening presents

playing outside

pinata goodies

pinata!!!

dressing up - after her little friend party, the family came over!

Bianca, Maelie, and Anna playing in the pool

coloring the castle

Anna, Bianca, Kailin, and Maelie playing in the castle

Kyla, Kailin, and Bianca digging for treasure

Maelie has been wanting this dress for a long time!

It was a fun day! Thanks for all who came and helped make it great! We love you, Maelie, our beautiful little 4 year old!!

Leave a Memory!!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops

So, after leaving playgroup this morning, I was on my way to pick up a double umbrella stroller that I had found on craigslist, I was highly annoyed by all the construction in southern Chandler!!! And does anyone actually go the posted speed limits in construction zones?!?! I usually don't, I know I should feel bad about that, especially now! That speed thing was flashing 52 at me and I was like, wow, I should probably slow down!... well the stop light was coming up so I was about to when lo, and behold, in my rear view mirror was a motorcycle cop! Ah man! He got me at 53 in a 25! 25?!?! I thought construction zones were usually 35! Anyway, atleast I get to go to traffic school, and he said I can even do it online... oh, Yippety Skippety!

dance class and 4 months

Kyla is taking dance class this summer, this is a pic of her right after dance class last night. She is doing great! She is in a class with Maelie and I even take tap after the girls' class. It's so fun to be dancing again!

Jaxon is 4 months old today!

He normally takes a good long nap during the day but lately he has been taking little cat naps, here he is passed out on the ground for one of his little naps. I can't complain because he is an amazing night sleeper!

Yeah for a place to live!

We got accepted into a tax credit town home in PA! 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms! Yippee!

Jacksonville

Trevon is leaving for Jacksonville, Florida tomorrow from the MTC! He had to get an MRI last week because he hurt his back playing basketball so we were a little worried for a minute there. But since the herniated disk (sp?) is very small he will be able to head out on the mission field tomorrow! Yeah Trevon, we love you!