Only in Virginia Beach...

Where else can you spend 4 hours at the beach, have clear sky's, get fried....

And then have a thunder and rain storm on your way home...

It was the perfect day of playing in the Sun all day and then listening to the rain all night. This is why we LOVE Virginia Beach!

Watch out all you Arizonan's....6 more days!!!

A Father Indeed

We had a great Father's day yesterday. Let me back up to a week ago...

Last Sunday I was asked to speak at our Stake Conference!! If you know me well, you know that I get REALLY REALLY nervous when having to speak in front of groups. And this is not just any group...it's about 500plus people! I was dying and had pretty much the worst week ever. I had the biggest pit in my stomach all week and could not think about a single thing but my talk. I will say, I had a great topic, Fathers. I have so many influential Fathers in my life so I was very honored to get to speak on such a topic. Yesterday morning, I woke up and for some reason I was so ready to speak and actually a little excited. All those prayers really payed off. The talk went well and I was able to say everything that I wanted to say. I felt like a million bucks afterward, for accomplishing something that is one of my biggest fears! So, needless to say, the rest of my day went so great! I was so happy to have that over with.
It was fun to have Noah home with us all day (normally he has church meetings most of the day) and celebrate the amazing Father he is. We watched UP, napped, ate a yummy dinner, went on a walk, and went on a drive to a fun beach that I'm hoping to go to this week.
I have the best Dad, Father in Law, Grandpa's, Father to my kids. I am so lucky to have them in my life.
Happy Father's day.

Noah was needing some new tie's. So he got not one...

Not two...

But three new ties! One from each kid.

Ronan wasn't too happy at this point..

Our church comes out with the most heartfelt videos I have ever seen. Yesterday I watched this one and loved every second of it. It made me so proud that I have a wonderful Dad in my life. You might need a kleenex...

Just us girls...

Last weekend Noah and the boys went to a Father and Sons camp out with our Church. I was so excited to spend the weekend with just Sadie. I can't recall a time when it has just been us two so we were super excited to do some fun girly stuff!
It was the perfect weekend with my fun little gal...

Stayed up super late watching Barbie Thumbelina
Ate lots and lots of junk food till we were both sick
Ward party
Primary breakfast
Pedicures
Visited my friend Tabbi in the hospital who just had a baby
And lunch at Chic fil a

I love her so much and am so lucky to be her Mom!

What's been going on?

Not too much is going on these days but I manage to feel like we are so busy. Hmm...maybe it's my two year old that keeps me insanely busy!

Noah- Is now a 2L!! 2nd year law student that is. He finished up his first year about two weeks ago. Finals were rough this second semester! I don't know what it was but it seemed to drag on forever! He is still waiting on his grades...crossing our fingers. I'm sure he did great. We were able to have a few days of him home which is so great! We worked on house projects, went to the beach, gym, and just played. So, if you know Noah, this next sentence may be a teeny tiny bit funny. Noah is turning into a gym rat! I know. But seriously, he has been every day except Sun. the past two weeks!! He says he is gonna be ripped by the time we hit the lake in July! If Noah's family is reading this, I'm sure they are rolling on the ground by now!...haha! Anyway, he started summer classes this past Monday. Mon.-Thur. nights 6-9...kill me now. I just keep telling myself, it's only for 6 weeks! He also is doing an externship for a non profit firm so he is right back to being busy busy.
(1 yr. worth of Law books)

Me-I had a great Birthday thanks to the best husband ever, great friends, and our families. I went out with some friends to Uno's and it was such a fun night! My friend Amber made the most amazing strawberry cake from scratch...I'm still thinking about it! I don't know what I would do without my group of friends...it makes living here so worth it! I have also been trying to work on my fitness (as Fergie says it). My goal has been to get to the gym at least 5 days a week. I've been doing pretty good...some days it just doesn't happen. Mothers day was great. Noah and the kids made Cafe rio burritos for dinner...I would have paid $20 for mine! Noah had the kids make videos for me telling me what they loved most about me...it was sweet. A few weeks ago I threw my friend Tabbi a little baby shower. She just had her baby on Fri. and I was the chosen one to be on call...which I headed over to her house at 5a.m. so they could head to the hospital. It's the second time someone has asked me to be "on call" and it really makes me feel so special!


Brody- Is doing so great in Kindergarten. Every time they get progress reports back, his teacher right the most sweetest things about him and tells us how she loves having him in her class and he is a leader for the class. He is such a good kid! He is getting to excited about 1st grade and going all day. His class had a little Mothers day party for all the Moms. It was so cute to see how excited all the kids were to have their Moms there! Then they sang about 5 songs for us. Brody's allergies have been acting up quite a bit lately. But luckily his inhaler does the job pretty quick. This past weekend, the boys went up to Father and sons. Brody had been looking forward to this for weeks! He is such a camper and loved spending time with Noah and Ronan (and his best friend Kellen).


Sadie- Finished up her year of pre-school. She did so great and loves to learn! I taught the last class so we made Mothers day gifts and cards. She is sooooo excited for Kindergarten!! She talks about it non-stop. Mainly for riding the bus. She tells everyone "I'm going to AZ in July and when we get back, I'm going to Kindergarten!!!" She continues to be our little pistol but she has some tender sweet moments too...sometimes. She has so many friends and is usually out playing till dinner time.

Ronan-We are learning so many meanings behind the phrase "terrible 2's". Ronan is by far more active then my other two were at this age and gets into and destroys everything in sight! (I think I have mentioned it a time or two). We had to put up a baby gate to block of the kitchen because the TWO locks on the fridge were not cutting it. It's the first time I have ever needed a gate. He thinks he is soooo big. He is starting to ride bicycles and scooters and HAS to go everywhere the older two go. He loves to swing and would sit and be pushed for hours. He is talking much more lately and just starting to put two words together. He still HATES to go into nursery but now loves to go the gym...we take what we can get!

mezmorized by a lady bug..

This dang post has taken me almost two weeks to finish! I already need to update!
6 more weeks till AZ!...but who's counting???

Signs of SUMMER: scabbed knees

28 big ones!!!

I hijacked the blog...but I had to since it's Jill's Birthday today. For some reason the 'birthday' doesn't seem as cool??? I asked her how the day was going and she replied...



By the way, the last pic is of Rone on his trike with a helmet, I guess he thought he could take a hard fall going .5 feet per second and from 18 off the ground, hmmm. Man I love the kid! So here are a few things I love about my wife...


1. She never complains.
2. She never nags.
3. She always puts up with me (and that's asking alot).
4. When I act goofy she acts like it's not cool and that I'm a total nerd (she's probably right) but then all of a sudden she'll do the same thing back at me.
5. She hot!
6. Actually sticks with things and finishes (unlike myself, but she's taught me a lot).
7. The best mom in the world to our kids.
8. Is an awesome cook.
9. Keeps the kids in check.
10. Works hard in her church callings.
11. Buys a new shirt just because.
12. Lets me do the clean dishes.
13. She's the glue in our home.
14. She tells me when my outfit is wak.
15. She's my favorite barber on the planet.
16. Her smile, I mean, seriously, the best I've ever seen!

I guess I'll stop there. I'm buried in the library right now and probably ought to study. I love you.



I had planned on making a cake for Jill tonight but all we had in the pantry was chocolate, not her favorite. I told her and she said, "Na, I'll just buy one while I'm here at the store." Ok...so she comes home with a chocolate cake...I guess I'm not as good a chef as I thought?? Just kidding, she wanted a "real one." Hmmm...Sadie wanted in the pic also, unfortunately, she put the balloon in front of her face.



Here is her birthday pancake--it's a J if you can't tell. Next to the 'average' J is an 'above average' cursive J. A couple of weeks ago she came home with a pancake pen so we could do our birthday letter pancakes better? It's hard to explain but it's awesome...basically it gives control to draw with the batter. This was after waking up at 5:30 to go to the gym! Now that's dedication. You are the best, really!!!

Love,

Noah

More Birthday fun!