Weekend Pet

Last Friday afternoon we were having a great August monsoon with lots of rain, lightning and thunder. I was sitting at the kitchen table and noticed some movement on the back patio. This little turtle was crawling across our back porch. I freaked and called for the kids to come and see. They were so excited so we grabbed a bucket and put this little gal inside. The kids were thrilled and obsessed with the turtle. We did some research and found that turtles LOVE to eat anything red. Our turtle chowed down on quite a few tomatoes. Allen and I were in a quandary about what to do with Luna (what the kids named the turtle). It was clearly a pet turtle that had either been abandoned or escaped from some one's yard. We asked several of our neighbors but no one was missing a turtle. Some friends in our ward and neighborhood have pet turtles so I picked her brain about turtle habitats. We realized that turtles are really easy pets - they will live in your backyard and hibernate for 6 months of the year as long as they have a place to burrow. They can find their own food but will eat if you leave food for them. The only thing we would have to do is provide water, shade and enclose the backyard. Al and I are totally NOT pet people but this seemed pretty doable and our friends had us pretty convinced at the low-maintenance of turtles. Our only issue is that we have an all-dirt backyard with no landscaping and no shade (never mind that the home owners have been promising us landscaping for 2 years). In the end we decided to take the turtle to live in our friends turtle habitat in their yard (she was their 5th turtle). The kids were quite sad but we promised that we can take her with us when we move and build our own habitat.

I got some cute pictures of the kids with Luna:

This was as we were walking up to our friends house to drop her off. Everyone wanted to carry her so they ended up doing it together.

The kids were sad but we were really proud that they realized that it wasn't fair to the turtle to try to keep her in our yard for now. Our neighbors have a great set up for their turtles and the kids realized she would be happier there. And mine and Al's hearts have softened considerably to someday having a pet of our own.

6 Months

Well, here we are. Half way through Miss Emery's first year. The last 6 months have just flown by and sadly, I'm not expecting time to slow down. I am in serious denial that her babyhood is just zipping by. I had a serious breakdown last week as I was boxing up more baby clothes that she has outgrown. Part of me wishes I had the capability to have just one more baby but I know I could not handle another pregnancy. And Allen is completely DONE (funny how our roles have completely reversed since having Emery). I also realize you can't just keep having babies just to have a baby around but it sure is tempting! Now it is time to get busy raising the kiddos we have been blessed with! We are sure appreciating her babyness and drinking in every moment and milestone! - Ems is still HUGE. She weighed in at 20 lbs. 10 oz. and 28 inches at her last appointment. She is off the chart for both height and weight. She only weighs about 6 lbs. less than Addison!

- Emery is doing great sitting up on her own. She loves it and will sit and play with her toys or anything on the floor for a long time.

- Totally rolling over on her own but she's still unsure how to get from her tummy back to her back. She has done it before but usually gets frustrated being on her tummy so she cries.

- Starting to push up on her hands and tries to pull herself forward. I am so NOT ready for her to be mobile yet!

- Loves to look at herself in the mirror and cracks herself up all the time.

- Loves to play with anything crinkly. Wrappers, paper, etc. She is also SUPER grabby and we have to be really careful with anything within reaching distance because it will get pulled or knocked over. We have broken a few glasses by accidentally putting them too close to her.

- Doing better with solids. She still doesn't LOVE to eat them but we can tell she is getting more hungry and needs the solids. She does this funny low growl when she gets fed and tries to spit out the food. She really loves drinking water from a sippy cup.

- Still a good sleeper, waking up 1 time per night half the time and sleeping straight through the other half. She does this funny thing where she curls up into a ball, rolls to her left side and pulls her blanket over her head when she is ready for bed/nap.

- Loves to laugh. She loves having her belly kissed and will laugh her head off.

- Has a few favorite toys: crinkly board books, Sophie the giraffe, plastic keys, rubber spatulas and measuring cups

She is just such a happy, happy baby and very chill. She is such a little ray of sunshine in our home and I cannot get enough of watching my big kids interact with her.

Back-to-School 2011

The kids went back to school last week! Where did the summer go?! Since the school Carter and Makenna go to has every Friday off (which we absolutely love), school starts a bit early here. We are slowly adjusting to having a schedule again and tweaking the routine to make sure everything runs smoothly again. Other than being on a more strict sleep schedule, the adjustment to being back in school has been pretty smooth. I'm still getting used to the drive and trying to adjust my little girls nap schedule so I'm not always waking them up to do pickup.

The night before school started we got supplies organized, school bags packed and paperwork filled out:


Allen gave the 3 oldest kids fathers blessings:


We made fancy caramel apples to give to the teachers on the first day (and a few extra to have as an after school snack). This is for sure my new go-to BTS teacher gift - they were a big hit!:



On Monday morning the kids were up and ready bright and early. We had a fun breakfast, took pictures and were out the door.


Carter wouldn't even let me come to his classroom with him. I dropped Makenna in her classroom with her bags of supplies and asked her if she wanted me to stay. I thought there might be some tears but she bopped right in, found her friends and waved goodbye. Just like that they were settled into school. Sigh. When did they get so old and independent?! After school drop-off I got together with some girlfriends and went to breakfast. I was surprised at how EASY everything felt having only two kids with me!

After school we had a little visit from the Back-to-School fairy. She brought Harry Potter Legos for Carter and new dresses for the girls with matching dresses for their American Girl dolls. Everything was a big hit! For dinner the kids chose to eat at Red Robin for a little BTS celebration and we talked about their first day! Everything seemed to go off without a hitch and they both seem very happy in their classes.

Miss Addison starts preschool (!!!!) after Labor Day and I just can't believe she is already old enough to go. She is anxious to start and asks me every day when it will be her turn for school!

Here are my BTS decorations.
My jars have crayons, rulers, apples and wooden letter magnets in them.

Dining room table:
(shhh... I just might be counting down the days until September when I can pull out my FALL home decor!!)

New Orleans

After the reunion, we decided to drive to New Orleans to spend the day. It was on our way home and we had no idea when we would ever be back with our entire family. Big thanks to my sister-in-law Meghan who had all the information we needed to have a great, quick trip. It was extremely hot and humid and our kids did not last long in the steamy heat but we hit the highlights of the city. We did the French Quarter first.

Saint Louis Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in N. America. It was founded in 1720:
The park in Jackson square: There were a ton of artists and vendors painting and drawing right outside this park.

Of course, if you go to New Orleans you HAVE to get the food. We got beignets at the famous Cafe du Monde:

And an awesome Muffuletta at Central Grocery (no pic of the actual sandwich but Al and I LOVED it):

We walked along the Mississippi River and saw the river boats:

By this point our kids were very hot and tired. We planned to catch a trolley car and ride up through the garden district but knew it would be a disaster for the kiddos. So, we jumped back in the car (after buying popsicles from a street vendor - this saved the day, for sure) and drove ourselves through the incredibly gorgeous garden district. We were in awe at the beautiful, southern homes.

The most fascinating parts of NO was seeing the hurricane Katrina damage throughout the city. It was amazing that 6 years after the hurricane there was still plenty of damage to see to the area. As we drove through many of the residential areas there were beautifully restored homes with trashed, water damaged homes in the same neighborhood. It was really stunning and very sad.

Both Allen and I read the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers earlier this year. It is a true story of a man who stayed behind in NO during the hurricane. We both loved the book and Allen was dead set on finding Zeitoun's house and driving by. It was kind of stalkerish but the address had been published in the book so we decided to do it. It was super interesting to see the neighborhood after reading all about it in the book.

Our other favorite part of NO was seeing the above ground graveyards. Some of them were really old and the graves were packed in there. It reminded me a lot of the graveyards we saw last year in Puerto Rico.

We only spent a few hours in the city but we loved seeing an area of the country with such a unique and rich cultural history. The French Quarter wasn't our favorite (it was dirty and kind of trashy) but we loved seeing the rest of the city. Driving out of the city was also interesting seeing the enormous Lake Pontchartrain and driving on a freeway built for miles over swamplands. Overall we totally loved our time in the south!

Florida Trip - Misc. Pictures

A few more misc. pictures from our reunion. I still need to get the family beach pictures we took but they are on Allen's computer so it may be awhile before I get that post up.

Grandma & the girls after church:

And what happens when you get the crazy big brother involved :)

Nightly talent shows and dance parties:

A morning spent in Seaside, FL. Probably the most quaint town I've EVER been in. Fabulous homes, restaurants/shops and town square. The kids got ice cream and Allen and I shared a piece of chocolate dipped key lime pie (a little piece of heaven):

They had food trucks all along the main drag and one of them was called "Frost Bites":

LOTS of babies:

Dottie (born 1 day after Emery), Ems, and Hyrum (born 10 days after Emery)

LAZY post-beach afternoon naps:

Destin is one of our all-time favorite vacation destinations and we hope we get to go back soon. We loved our time there and time with the Frost family!

Florida Reunion - Beach Pictures

{yes, everyone on the beach looked at me like I was crazy when I was gathering dried, nasty seaweed to make this - it was worth it}

The best part of our Florida trip was the time we spent at the beach. We usually hit the beach right after breakfast and stayed for a few hours and then went back after dinner. I have always heard the gulf coast has the best beaches and was so happy to finally find out for myself that it is TRUE. The sand is white and the water is crystal clear and the perfect temperature! Here's an illustration of the incredible water:{see that parachute way out there? Those were two of my nephews trying parasailing for the first time!}

Another thing that made this beach great were the lack of waves most of the time. It was perfect for our family full of young kids. However, on our last day, we had some decent waves and Allen taught Carter how to boogie board. He LOVED it and got quite good. I know Allen can't wait for Carter to get a bit older so they can enjoy even more of these kinds of things together!





{Emery SERIOUSLY hated the sand. We took her down to the beach in the stroller and she sat there almost the entire time. She took her morning naps there when we realized she would sleep if we draped this sheet over her stroller. She was a total champ on the trip!}

{There was a sandbar a ways out in the water that some of the older kids loved swimming out to every day. They had to swim and then dive about 10 feet deep to collect sand dollars off the bar. Carter amassed a huge collection that we brought home with us.}

{Night beach pics}

My best tip if you're planning a beach vacation: EVERYONE in your family should take a swim shirt. And each family member should have a different color. It was so easy to find my kids on the beach/ocean because of their different colored swimshirts. Everyone should also have a hat!

{More posts to come. Blogger is so insanely slow lately and will only let me upload 1 picture at a time. I'm not sure if it is because of my file size, my computer or blogger. This post took me almost 3 hours to put together!}