A Float of Our Own

For the 24th of July our ward always has a breakfast and a children's parade. This year the Primary chorister decided we should be the "royalty" in our very own "primary float".
We drove around the neighborhood in the back of this truck throwing candy, shooting water out of water guns and of course, waving "elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist". Jasmine was truly in character as she wore her crown and sash for most of the rest of the day.

p.s. check out how Shay and Jazzie are holding hands while they listen to the fireman presentation!!! how cute is that! I noticed that after I posted this and had to add it :)

Jasmine turns 3!

Jasmine had a birthday on Monday!
It was Shayden's year to have a big party but Sunday night we had a family celebration for her and her aunt Li who shares her birthday month. I attempted to make a pony cake and the result was, well quite scary.
Good thing she could care less.
Fortunately for us, my sister's neighbors have 2 beautiful horses! And given Jasmine's previously mentioned obsession, this was the perfect addition to her party~


As you can see, she was LOVIN' it!

Then on the actual day (Monday) we took her to the float preview party. It's where you get to see firsthand and vote for your favorite floats before the Pioneer Day Parade the next day. Guess which float got her vote? I had to vote for a different float and I'll explain that later...


This was my favorite picture of her birthday! And these cupcakes turned out much better than that hideous cake I made on Sunday. We sang to her and she opened presents.

Horse Parade and Girl Stuff

My girl is obsessed with horses! So to further feed that infatuation, I decided to take her to the all horse parade in Sandy a couple of weeks ago. This isn't the best picture but it captures the essence of her excitement. She kept saying "another horsie!?" She loved it!

Then afterwards we went shopping at the mall. It worked out well since, well, her other obsession is fashion and being a princess, naturally! We had dinner in the food court, rode the carousel of course, and then played in the playland for a few minutes. DH took Shay to Chuck E Cheese but I don't have pictures of that. I really like the idea of one on one dates and this night was a good preview of what is to come! (oh boy)

cutie sleepers

I couldn't resist this picture of Jasmine sleeping the other day in the early am,
then later (after a long day of fun playing with our friends the Hunts) I parked in the driveway, and turned around and this is what I saw!


Shay had taken off his seat belt when we got there 2 seconds before and landed on the seat
in front of him! It was hilarious!

"summer afternoon, summer afternoon...the two most beautiful words in the english language"
-henry james {1843-1916}

The triple Baptism!

The baptism of my nieces and nephew. Wow. What a spiritual experience. We were late and rushed but as soon as we sat down and started singing the opening song, I started crying because time seemed to slow down and I knew the reason that we had all sacrificed to be together was worthwhile. It was amazing.

I felt so honored that they asked me to give the "Primary Welcome" message since I am a newly called primary president and none of their individual presidents were there to see them. I had prepared what I was going to say and give them for a long time before they came, I just planned on doing it privately, not in front of the 50 people there. But it was just as well and I think they loved the teddy bears that I gave them to remember some of the promises that they made on that special day.

I love you K, B, and C!

Hightlights from the Family Reunion 2007

It has taken me too long to get this up and instead of giving a detailed itinerary of what we did, I just want to post about the overall feelings that I had during my family's visit.
Note:
If I need to remember more detailed events, I can just go to my sil's blog, where thankfully she gives a very detailed account of our 4th of July festivities, and other madness. (And she even drove home from Utah to Texas, so I have no excuse!)

Cousin Time

I think the most memorable thing that happened for me this trip (other than the actual Baptisms) was the cousin bonding that went on. Each day was filled to the brim with play, play, and more play. They were inseperable!

It was just so fun to see them get to know each other so much better, see who's personalities meshed more, see who had inherited what traits from our side of the family, etc.

We spent an afternoon (and night) making them all matching shirts (13), each had their name on the back. One of my nieces made the comment "I'm gonna keep this shirt for a very long time!" It was so sweet!

And it was literally heartbreaking to see them say goodbye to each other. As hard as it was on me as it was, seeing how sad the kids got compounded it so much more!

Siblings...

I have such a different relationship with each of my siblings. We are very far apart in age but somehow that doesn't really matter anymore. I was a little bit sad to be the only one not staying under the same roof with them, but I can say I took every opportunity to be there when I could. It was so good to all be together at once. I dream of my kids someday being as close to each other as I am with my brothers and sister.

And what a blessing for my parents to be together with all of their kids and grandkids!!!

This will definately be the highlight of my Summer 2007!!!

All of my siblings together again after about 8 years!

The occasion?

My 2 nieces and nephew were all baptised on the same day 7/7/07!

It was such a great day...