Life

Life is good. Just went to the relief society broadcast. Funny how the inspired words shared at those meetings can make everything seem fine that you might have just previously boobed about. Those meetings are such great reminders of who we are and how we should be. I just loved it and the ladies there. I love our ward and am so grateful we are here getting to know so many wonderful people... Anyway... here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

 Little Kaisley is 9 1/2 months old. Here is is playing at the play area at the mall. At her 9 month apt on Monday she weighed in at 20#12oz and 28.5 inches. About the 76th percentile for both. Big healthy girl! Love her so much. Her new thing is that she loves pointing at things now. It is so cute.

 Made these (fake) canvas pics... thanks to my sis and her brilliance!

 The girls all ready to take bridal photos with our friend Morgan.. Malli was asked to be the flower girl and Kaisley somehow ended up with a white dress too... They are so cute all dressed up.

 My sassy 3 year old. She is acting so much more mature. I don't know if it is her going off to school and dance on her own all the time or what. She is so much fun though. Love her to pieces.

 My 28th b-day "cake". Thanks Mallory for insisting I have a cake on my b-day. It was a nice day... not fun to get older though :)

 Malli's new best friend Sammy has been over a lot lately. They love to play...so sad they are moving in January.

 A few of the bridals with Morgan. Precious!

 They had their little dog Eleanor there that Mallory absolutely loves so we had to take a few pics with her and the dog. You would think it is her dog the way she is smiling so big but I am sad to say we have not buckled yet... Poor girl needs a dog but I don't want to deal with one!

Malli and Morgan. Morgan and their family have been such wonderful friends to our family. Just like family here in Texas. Pretty much adopted our children in!

9 months old

Well, these are the only 2 pictures I can get to upload so this post will be a post just for my little Kaisley. She is 9 months old now and such a big, happy girl. We love her. She can say Mama and stands really well with support. She is just finally starting to pull herself up on things and lurch forward as if she might crawl. We are convinced she might be a bumb scooter again like her older sis. She loves to sit and can move around a bit from there. We like to call her Kais and Kaiser and Grandpa Dayton has given her the name "Kicker". She sure is a fun girl! love you! Oh, love little Malli too... see that sly look in the picture. She often times likes to tease her sis but most the time is a great big sister and helper.

Jinxed

Well, I think I jinxed myself saying I am feeling more ambitious and signing myself up for all sort of extra things. This past week has ended up being awful and I have felt like I spin in circles trying to deal with one issue before I can fix the first one. I am just grateful nothing is life threatening and am still so blessed in so many ways. I only am hoping for things to settle down soon!!! Please!!!!!

On a lighter note this little girl has had a great week. She absolutely loves all of her new activities. First day of Ballet and Joy School were this week and she loves them both.

End of Snowflake Summer and Taylor and Natalie's Wedding up in Idaho

Well, our what seemed like was going to be forever summer in Snowflake has come and gone so quickly. We had so much fun there and loved seeing our families and friends more but are happy to be back home. Malli is even happy to be back at her own house which is a bit of a relief. She had so much fun in AZ I was worried she wouldn't like home anymore but she does luckily. The journey back home was eventful to say the least. We were having trouble with our car starting (on and off) for the few days leading up to the time for us to head off for Taylor's wedding and then drive the long drive back to Texas. We could not get the problem resolved and had some fun mornings being stranded (the most fun one was at 4 AM when we needed to get to the airport). We just have to feel blessed that the car started on the 2 days we made the long trip back her to San Angelo and then on the next day it wouldn't start again. I felt silly but I could see the tender mercies of the Lord so many times on that trip home. Our AC has been acting up as well. When we left Mesa and headed toward Tucson in the 112 degree heat our AC just could not keep up. We were all miserable and the kids (and I) were getting fussy :) I kept praying that somehow everything would cool down because there was no way we could handle a 12 hour drive like that. Within about 30 minutes a small cluster of clowds formed and it rained for just long enough to drop the temperature outside and our AC felt so much better. We made it through that first day and the second day was an extremely cool day for Texas weather. I was so grateful for the Lord looking out for us on those two big travel days that I was so worried about.

Anyway, enough about that... we are now back in San Angelo and busy as ever... (and loving it!)  I finally feel ambitious again and love it! Since my pregnancy with Kaisley was so difficult I started to wonder if that was just the new me.. sick, lazy, and worthless. And then after having a newborn I felt better but was tired and busy with two little ones but finally I feel like I am back to my old self... evidenced by the fact that just this week I interviewed for a nutrition consultant job for a shelter here in San Angelo, signed up for a half marathon in October, am going to be teaching Joy School for Mallory with a few other Mom's, and I am soooooo excited to be busy again and on the go.

Porter has enjoyed his first week in his affiliation at Shannon hospital. He is gone all day and has some assignments in the evenings but likes the hands on experience he is getting.

Overall, we are just so grateful for the blessings we have and for our health. We are so grateful our families let us bum off them for a few months and make so many fun memories. Here's to another year in San Angelo!

 Last day in Snowflake we took Callie to the park. Kaisley really liked Callie. I just love Callie and look up to her so much. We have so many fun memories together.

 The kids at the airport at 4 AM getting ready to leave for Idaho

 Kaisley showing off her curves at the splash pad in Rexburg.

 At the Falls in Idaho Falls and the temple in the background

 Mallory liked the falls.

 With Grandma Zona and Grandpa Gary

My handsome loves!

 All ready to go to the Temple for the wedding!

 Waiting for the bride and groom.

 Yay! Married at last! They were so cute!

 Dayton clan.

 Kaisley at the reception. It was so beautiful. Natalie and her family did a great job decorating.

 At the reception.

 3 Generations of love birds.

Grandma Zona got to meet Kaisley for the first time. Love Grandma so much! (and Grandpa too of course :)

 The next day we went to Bear World there in Idaho. Mallory loved sitting in the front seat with her Daddy and being the co-captain as we looked at the animals.

 Daddy bear was sleeping. It was pretty cool all the bears we saw.

 All the kids that went to Bear World. The Dayton cousins and my cousin Mindy's kids came too.

 The cubs.

And all the kids loved the rides!