grace kessler

meet my new niece~ gracie.

oh, how we (already) love her so!

props to her mom who birthed her at home, all natural.

frankie has bronchiolitis, an ear infection, and a viral rash.

poor guy.

yw's broadcast

i had the oppurtunity to go with baylee (one last time) to the young women's general broadcast for our church.

the talks were focused on being honest, true, benevolent and virtuous.

the highlight of the night ended up being at dinner afterwards when we got "lectured" from another yw's group for saving a table at cafe rio! apparently, "we didn't hear the same talks they did."

the whole thing was pretty comical especially when you are with baylee.

driving

griffin got his drivers license today.

he also got asked out on his first date.

it was a big day for him.

life

we attended a funeral this past weekend as a family.

jason's cousin, paul canova, was only 28.

sadly, he struggled with depression and took his own life.

jason lived next to paul for 3 years as little boys

and has good memories of him.

he left behind many siblings and family members

saddened by his death.

later that day, i went to a baby shower for my friend tiffany.

tiffany married one of my best guy friends from high school.

katie did too.

they are both expecting girls!

life is a precious thing.

i'm so {lucky}

another tooth lost

avaree lost her front tooth.

she was so brave.

it's been loose for months.

jason finally just tugged and tugged until it came out.

she looks and sounds different to me.

i'm holding back tears because she is growing up.

she couldn't be more excited about it!

st. george trip.

avaree & ruby

me, jackie, & baby rosa

lookin good (he has lost 40 lbs)!

griffin is cute

and so is nelly in the corner of this picture!

i didn't get any pictures of her.

simon'

the doc gave jason the okay to swim and jacquzzi, so we packed our swimsuits, shorts, and sandals and headed to st. george. the weather was perfect. our first night we stayed in a hotel. franklin missed his bed and cried almost all night. it was rough. the next day we met up with our friends, the cantarero's, to stay in their vacation home for the rest of the weekend. franklin did better having his own closet to sleep in. my kids were in heaven playing outside non stop~ swimming, riding scooters, playing at the park, making sand castles, eating popsicles, chasing lizards, buring a dead bird, going on walks and on a (mild) hike. at the top of the hike was the most beautiful sand i've ever seen. if you dug a foot down there was water. it was amazing. there was a steep hill of sand that we raced going up. i took third. avaree face planted in the sand on her way down. the last day we were there, we went to the historic jacob hamlin home. jacob was a local pioneer who made peace with the indians. avaree let everyone know that she was part indian. our family needed this get away. it was low key. we had a great time with great company! thanks cantarero's! xoxo