Labor Day

We had a make-shift get together for Labor Day this year. We had Mr. Adorable Baby Boy and his family come over along with Sarah and her family (Minus Jerry. Party Pooper. :) ).

We had hot dogs roasted over the fire pit and all sorts of other yummy goodness! The Shurtz's  brought fixin's for s'mores and, besides the strong wind blowing smoke into all of our faces, we had a lot of fun!

And, yes, those would be jackets you are seeing on the children. I love that it actually starts to cool off here when fall is approaching.

I didn't have that growing up in Texas. :)

Bundle of Joy

Today was the day our good friends welcomed a new addition to their family. I'm only using this picture because with all of the events of the day, this was the only one I had!
I have edited it a bit so he looks a little less clear - for privacy reasons. :)
Also - I won't say his name.
This is a public blog and he isn't my child.
We'll just call him Adorable Baby Boy. :)

We got the call around 2am that they were headed to the hospital and the kids were coming. We set up a slumber area in the living room for Celeste and Dalton and even though they were super excited, they somehow managed to fall asleep rather quickly!
Morning came and as the boys were getting ready for school, we got the call from Thomas that the new little guy had arrived! This is the (edited) version of the pic he sent to John's phone to show the kids.

They were so excited!
Dalton said, "I hope he likes Phineas and Ferb!"

He is adorable and we are so happy for them!!

RIP Glasses

Emma has a thing for destroying glasses. She has broken 3 or 4 pairs of my sunglasses this summer alone. She is the Glasses Destroyer.
Jayden left his real glasses on the coffee table this evening and about 5 minutes later, Riya says, "Oh no! Jayden's glasses!"
This is what I saw. GRR!
I guess he's getting a new pair!

Ruined?

This is one of Riya's shirts. It is one of my favorite of her shirts. I think it's ruined. When we went to the hot springs in Idaho, I packed the wet towels in with the rest of the dirty clothes just to get back to the Birds' house. Apparently, the water from the springs has something red in it. It showed up on a few of our white clothes. I  have washed them several times and it is stained. Today, I tried again with Riya's shirt - stain remover and bleach in the wash. Nothing. Boo.
Any suggestions?  John suggested soaking it in bleach... which I haven't tried yet.

Goodbye Birds - Hello Castle!

Today was the day we'd been dreading since we left Indiana. Our vacation with family is over. We left Wyoming today around 1pm after we finally made ourselves leave. We never like these days each year.
We drove to Omaha and after trying to figure out the crazy streets around there, we arrived at our castle hotel. Seriously - it was a castle! This was the corner of it - the front looked like it as well!
We didn't pay very much for this room but we couldn't tell - it was such a fun hotel! It had a castle theme throughout and our room was super nice! It felt clean and that's what I think matters the most! The breakfast was great and I was a little bummed we couldn't stay another night...
We are home bound!

The Foot Game

I realize this shot is extremely blurry but it was an action shot so I couldn't really help it. :)

This is John (in back) and his brother Joseph trying to step on each others feet while being the last two in the Foot Game. I have never played this game until tonight. It is a Roylance family classic game and pretty fun to play but even more fun to watch!

We made it to Bear Lake today for the start of the Roylance family reunion (although, this part is not officially part of the reunion) and we were shocked with how gorgeous our "cabin" was when we arrived. We had no idea what to expect so we were definitely surprised!

I will post a picture tomorrow...

Our Silly Girls

Lately, Emma thinks it's hilarious to lick John and I on the cheek. She also likes to nibble on my cheekbone or my jaw when I'm not expecting it. I will usually say, "Nooooo!" in a high pitched voice and act like I can't get her to stop and she giggles and keeps trying. She's so silly sometimes!

Today, during one of these very wet attacks on my cheek, Riya decided to try it on my other cheek. I decided to grab my camera and snap some action shots with my free hand (Emma lost interest once Riya joined in). I love this picture because it captures how hard she was laughing and she had no idea that I was taking her picture until after she heard the click. Perfect, candid moment. Look at that giant smile!

The Fourth of July

(Sorry, John - I had to use this picture.)

We had a great time this year celebrating Independence Day! I forgot to mention that we went to a fun Ward activity on Saturday, fireworks yesterday (Sunday) and then today we had a great cookout with more friends!

We were too busy talking and eating to get very many pictures (dang it!) but I managed to get three pictures of the whole day. John thinks he looks funny here but I think it's fine. This picture captures the day better than the other two do.

This is about how excited Emma was about the fireworks. They scare her a bit. She plopped down on John's lap and got her hands in their usual positions and cautiously looked up as they were going off - ever so slightly flinching from the sound. John is squinting a little too because it was still pretty light outside during the fireworks. Too bad the sun decides to become a night owl in the summer - it makes for really late firework shows!

We drove home to the sounds and sights of fireworks going off everywhere around us - it was great!

I hope you had a great time celebrating our independence as well! Happy 4th!

Curly Sue

This is one of my favorite pictures at the moment. I love how it turned out! No editing here - just a setting on my phone.
The girls and I went outside so they could play in their new water toy and I took some pics of them playing. At this point, Emma was only in a swim diaper but standing on the steps of our deck. She was staring at something and wasn't moving. I love everything about this picture - especially how it shows her pretty little curls!

This and That

I finally got around to doing laundry today and this is what I emptied out of our pockets before I washed. Can you tell we moved?

More Packing

I've been having a hard time getting myself to go pack up Jayden's room. I just miss him so much that I didn't want to go into his room and see everything just how he left it. I have a hard time with things like this. The day he left, I cried when I found his Bakugans around the house. It hasn't even been a week yet.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday so we Skyped with her on the computer in Jay's room. I began packing up while we were Skyping because everyone was in there with me and it was somehow not as hard.
This gave me the strength to finish it today. This is one corner of his room ready to go - the other side is boxes. I did it!

Packing

Oh the joys of packing! Here is most of the stuff that was being stored in our master closet - my progress so far. I told you it was huge!

And so it begins...

Memorial Day

Today was such a fun family day! Jayden didn't have school today so we really just enjoyed being together and not having any definite plans to do anything or go anywhere.
We had the thought that we should go to the parade by a park not too far from our house but we didn't want to have it set in stone. We decided to go towards the end so we found a spot near where the parade would end and we got to see almost all of it! Pretty great for not planning to go! Then we decided to hop on over to the zoo that is right across the street from the park. It is a small zoo and it is free so the occasional visit is fun - and this was the first time we'd gone since they reopened for the summer. The kids had a great time! John and I did too - we felt a little bit like kids, I think. :) This picture is just outside of the butterfly tent/room.
Then, we decided to go try some custard at a local restaurant. Yum! We opted to eat it outside at an umbrella covered table but it was so hot, we soon had custard soup! It was still delicious!
It was such a calm yet fun day, it makes me look forward to summer even more!
Happy Memorial Day!

Shoes and Shakin' It

One of Jay's jobs in cleaning up the living room this evening was to gather all the shoes and put them in the entry way. This is what the pile ended up looking like. We gather shoes nearly everyday and this is how it looks. Hmmm... I'm noticing something here - 4 of those pairs are mine. Oops. Maybe I'm the shoe slob.


I have a treat for you today. I thought of using this as my picture but since it's technically not a picture - I just decided to add it as a bonus. Watch Emma dance...

 Seriously - that girl can shake it!

**Please excuse our popcorn covered carpet. We like popcorn and it's one of the few things I let the kids eat in the living room. It always ends up on the carpet afterwards. Oh well.

Naptime

John will love me for this. :)
Actually - I think he doesn't care.
He came home early today because he didn't feel too great and while he was on his way home, Emma took a face dive right on the kitchen floor. She cried and cried and snuggled and cried. Just before he got home, she fell asleep on me. I needed to get dinner ready so John joyfully took our sleeping babe and joined her in sleepy land. I saw them and couldn't help but capture the moment.
Emma doesn't nap anywhere except her bed for the most part so we savor these moments when she is all snuggles.
Seriously - she's out! John woke to the sound of the shutter on the camera but just smiled and closed his eyes again.
We tried to wake her up for dinner but she wasn't having it. I finally offered her some milk and that worked. Poor girl.
Then she thought she got to stay up with us because she had such a late nap. That was fun. She is so entertaining/funny and she knows it. Silly little Emma. 

Shirt Contest

I'm entering a Spring Shirt Sew Along contest and this is my creation. One of the rules is that it has to be completely made by you (with a few exceptions). I took a size XL shirt and turned it into a S/M and only kept the neck and bottom hem. The rest was completely my constructing. I love my new shirt!
What do you think?

Riya's Rash

This morning, as I was getting Riya dressed, I noticed a few little red patches on her skin but didn't think much of them because she has somewhat sensitive skin and usually it's nothing. By this evening, she was showing signs on her neck, legs and arms. I quickly lifted her shirt and saw this - and there was more on her other side. It looks to me like the reaction she sometimes has from bug bites but it didn't make sense because it wasn't there (like that!) this morning - when I first saw red.
She wasn't complaining of itching or anything but she did think the rash was fascinating! She stood on the chair by the sink, topless just staring at her rash... turning and twisting so she could see it all.
We decided to give her a bath and change her bedding and see how she did. The bath seemed to help - the rash was already fading by the time she got pajamas on.
Who knows - but if there is a rash to get, Riya will probably get it. She got them often when she was an infant and they are so hard to diagnose that I usually don't even take her in unless it becomes more than just a rash. She seems fine for now!

Symmetry

I have always had a thing for symmetry. In decorating my house, I have tried to let myself not have perfect balance but it is very hard for me. Things have to line up just perfectly - and this branches into many areas of my life. I blame it on the Libra in me. You know, the whole scales thing....
Today, Riya was interrupted from her playing to go have a snack and when she left, I noticed this.
Nearly a mirror image - the bottom almost looks like the top's reflection. Hmmm... is she destined to a life of balance just like me?? It's not always a bad thing!

Funny thing - these toys are all things I've posted about this year... see my Halloween post from earlier this week, my little people post from January and the green thing is a jelly bean shaped egg from the egg hunt posted here.

A Visit from Great Grandparents

We love to have visitors! We were lucky to have my grandparents stop by from Ohio on their way to Iowa today. This is my Grandpa with Emma. She was a little unsure about our company - even when my mom came a few hours later. She was pretty distant to all of them most of the time. At one point, while Grandpa was talking, she climbed up on the couch and stared at him. I tried to get a picture of it but she was moving back off of the couch by the time I snapped it. Oh well - proof that she did go within a foot of great-Grandpa! :)
It was a lot of fun and we even got in a great game of Yahtzee on the Wii.
However, Grandpa was sending a text last night and he asks, "How do you spell 'boring'?"
Thanks, Grandpa. Glad to know you were having so much fun with us! Haha. We laughed about it when he asked and he just laughed along. Not denying anything. :)
Oh, G-pa. Funny guy!
Grandma and Grandpa stayed in a nearby hotel because they could - haha. My mom stayed at our house and slept in Jayden's room with Riya in her bed with her. :) Riya sure loves Grandma!

Seriously?

I spent $60 to fill up our van's tank today. Really? That is ridiculous. I'm going to start walking everywhere. :)
I even picked the cheaper of the 3 gas stations.
I guess it's a good thing I'm not having to drive to Dallas every other weekend like I used to do. One tank usually lasts close to two weeks now... I think.
And, yes - I took a picture at the gas station. I might have looked a little crazy but I really couldn't believe it. It had to be my picture for today! :)
Please stop going up. Please? Pretty please? (My kids think begging works - I've got to try it too.)