CUTEST NEPHEW!

Congratulations Julie and Broc (along with Quin, Jakey, and Travy)... I know it's been a long, heartbreaking road, but finally you have YOUR baby. We love you, Tyler!

Haillie's First Day!

Well, it's already time to head back (I am excited that it's just Haillie and NOT me also). It has been really fun having Haillie around this summer... she is a HUGE help with Taryn, and it's fun to see her playing and I've loved being able to chat with her any time during the day, but it sure is exciting to send her off... especially when she has a smile on her face and she is soooo excited to go! She gets to carpool with Madison (her best friend) everyday, they are in the same class, and they sit next to each other (we'll see how long that lasts - Trent gave them one hour) so I think her excitement doesn't come so much from SCHooL, as much as it comes from WHo is in that school with her. So without further delay... here is our DARLING 3rd grader, attending C.S. Lewis Academy...

Happy Birthday BABY!

It is with mixed emotions that I post this entry. I have LOVED more than words can say, watching my baby grow and have laughed and cried more than ever before in my life as I watch her eat her first bowl of rice cereal, make funny faces to get everyone to laugh, fall and get hurt, watch a nurse put an IV in her baby hand, cuddle up to her big sister, try to sit in Jesse's water bowl, climb over corrals meant to contain her, and SO ON AND SO ON. She is one of my greatest blessings and joys and has brought so much depth to our family. I feel like having Taryn has made me a better mother to Haillie (the kind of mother she has needed) in the way that I no longer approaching mothering from a teacher's perspective but from a MOTHER'S (not that I beat myself up for it, most of the time, because I did the best I knew how to do and that's all I can ask of myself). I constantly have a quote in my head that "I am going to clean house less, and play house more" now that I can see first- hand how fast these little ones grow and become NOT-SO LITTLE (Haillie especially good gosh)! It breaks my heart a little to have a one-year old, yet at the same time I am filled with gratitude for her and am so excited for all the joys I get to experience with her in years to come.



Our darling little TROLL!
Some of the on-lookers... Denise, Julie, Duane, Mom and Daddy (Trent).
Taryn's first birthday cake... not too elaborate considering the destruction that would soon come to it.

Quincy, Jakey, and Travy wishing Taryn happy birthday!
Sweet Sisters!


Here comes the mess...
Wait for it...
There it is!

We love you Taryn! You have brought an unmeasurable amount of joy to our lives. You are truly loved! Happy First Birthday my baby!