Baptism dress!

A few months ago my Mom told me about an idea that she had heard from a friend and I loved it!!  It was to take my wedding dress and turn it into a baptism dress for Rylynn.  I immediately thought of my amazingly talented friend Jessica who used to make wedding dresses.  Luckily she moved to Layton so she was able to turn my dress into the most amazing dress for Rylynn in time to surprise her for her birthday.  

I picked up a bookmark with the poem "My Three White Dresses" and had her read it.  Then Garrett came out with the dress behind her.  She was so excited!!  Then I explained to her that it was my wedding dress turned into a baptism dress for her and she was totally amazed. It was so much fun for me to see a miniature version of my dress on my daughter.

She tried it on and said she felt like a princess.  Then I had to send it back up to Layton for the finishing touches.

Then Jessica came down for the baptism and we had so much fun taking pictures of Rylynn in her dress.

 This was one of the ones we had on display at the baptism.  It is my favorite!  It was Rylynn's idea to take some pictures of her twirling.  They turned out so beautifully!

I love how well you can see the detail on the front in this one.

This was another one on display.  I love it!

I had to include this one with Samantha:)  Eden and Maya brought a white dress and shoes for Samantha so she could match Rylynn on her baptism day.  She even got to attend the baptism!

This one was on the table as you first walked into the baptism room.  I love Rylynn's expression in this one because it is so her.  

 This was the last one on display.  She was a really good sport about all the picture taking but she is not a fan of modeling!  I am not so sad that my daughter has no interest in a modeling career:)  I love the flowers in this one!  

Here is Jessica working her magic.  She is amazing.  My sister in law Danielle has always wanted to do this for her daughter too so she brought her dress down to the baptism so Jessica could look at it.  Thais is getting baptized next year and she can't wait to see what Jess comes up with for her dress.

Rylynn on her baptism day with the dressmaker!  We loved having the Albrechts here for the special weekend and the dress was so special for Rylynn and me.  It was such a fun way to pass on a dress full of so much meaning to my daughter on such a meaningful day in her life.

We're getting excited...

It's Great to be Eight

For the past year Rylynn has been asking to have a pottery painting birthday party.  I didn't even know if they had a place like that in Saint George but I promised her I would try to make it happen.  Luckily they did have a place and it turned out to be such a fun birthday party!

 Each of the kids got to pick one larger figurine to paint or a few little ones.  They all did a great job painting!

Rylynn is my vanilla girl.  She is not so into chocolate so originally I was just going to make a vanilla cake but then I saw this oreo cookies and cream cake in Food Network Magazine and I had to make it for her.  I added the paint brush and pallet to go along with her art theme.  My tips are all in storage still so the writing turned out pretty terrible but she didn't seem to mind.  It had white chocolate buttercream frosting and crushed oreos in the middle too.  It was pretty delicious.

 Rylynn has made so many great friends here and they all knew exactly what Rylynn loves: Art projects!  She got tons of art stuff and has loved having fun projects to do all month long.

 Dallas is such a huge hit with little girls:)  They all had to take turns holding him during the party.

 We decided to play truth or dare while we were waiting for the parents to come pick up.  All the dares seemed to include drawing mustaches on faces.  These girls are so goofy.  

On Sunday we had a family party with Rylynn's favorite dinner.  She chose crispy lemon butter tilapia, mashed potatoes, peas, corn, rolls, and jello salad made by Great Grandma.  Then we had a chocolate pudding cake with raspberries and blackberries for dessert.  We had a great time celebrating with my cousin Sarah and her family and my Grandma.  This was such a huge birthday for Rylynn.  She had been counting down the days since she turned 7.  I still can't believe she is already 8.  She is such a great example to her little brothers.  She adores holding Dallas and is a big helper to me.  Her favorite colors right now are aquamarine blue, purple, and green.  She loves to read but doesn't love math so much.  She has been singing in a primary choir and is getting so good at piano.  Most importantly, she has such a strong testimony and takes every opportunity to be a missionary like her Nana and Papa.

Feeling the Love

Valentine's day started off with a bang this year!  Garrett surprised us all with heart shaped eggs and strawberry pancakes in bed.  They were so delicious!

The kids had lots of fun at their v-day parties at school and they came home stuffed full of candy!  After school we gave them their valentine gifts and cards.  

Beckett has been wanting more stuffed animals lately because his collection is much smaller than his big sister and brother.  He was so thrilled to get this little monkey!

Carter wasn't quite as excited about his tie:)  Luckily it wasn't his only gift.

I made the kids the traditional heart shaped sugar cookies for dessert.  It kinda stinks that they get so full of crappy candy at school because the cookies aren't quite as exciting after a day full of sugar.  Oh well.  I found a recipe on pinterest this year that is by far my favorite of all time!  I'm so thankful for all my darling valentines in my life.  I am so blessed!!

The Anasazi Trail

Garrett is working with the 11 year-old boys in our ward here so he got to go on a hike with them a few weeks ago.  He told the kids all about it and we decided to go check it out on Sunday evening.  The woman who showed the boy scouts around wasn't there on Sunday unfortunately, so we didn't get to go inside the teepees and huts but we could see them pretty close up.  They were really cool.

 You can see the stick hut really well in this picture.  A little ways down there was a mud hut about the same size with a chimney sticking out of the top.  Garrett said that they got to go inside and it was amazing because the mud keeps the hut warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  Who would have thought a house made out of mud would have great insulation?

 We went about an hour before sunset so the whole hike up the trail the red rocks looked like they were on fire.  It was so beautiful!

 The kids found some really cool sticks and rocks along the trail but we didn't want to bring any of them home.  Well I should rephrase that, I didn't want to bring any of them home:) They kept begging!

 We couldn't resist taking lots of pictures with my Mom's awesome camera and with the light looking so beautiful.

 We had to have a goofy one!  I love how Carter is staring at me and Dallas is staring at him:)

 This little man was such a trooper all the way up the trail.  He got so paranoid that every hole in the dirt was a snake hole.  We have been talking a lot about snakes lately.  Carter is obsessed with them and got a book about them for Christmas.  It is kind of creepy that we live in a place that has rattle snakes!

 We had to take a picture by this little cactus.  This desert landscape is all very new to us but I have to say I find it really beautiful.

 These bush things looked so cool to me so I had to take a picture of them.  I wonder what they look like when they have leaves on them.

 We saw a hawk flying over the teepees.  It was all very Dances with Wolves.  

 Doesn't the sun on those rocks look amazing?  I couldn't get enough of it!

 This little guy was pretty cold at the top of the hill.  It was a beautiful day but it got a little windy at the top.  He was a bit of a snotty mess:)

 Here is a rare picture of me on my blog.  I loved the red rocks behind me.  Rylynn actually took this picture for me.  She is becoming quite the little photographer since she practices with her 3DS.  She has a million pictures of Dallas on there:)

 We didn't have a blanket for Dallas so Garrett zipped him in his jacket.  Rylynn thought it was pretty funny.  Garrett's jacket got slimed in record time!

 These bushes were so cool and I loved the little tiny leaves so I had to take some pictures up close.  At the top of the trail there is a little monument.  A few years ago BYU students came and excavated 9 rooms out of the dirt up there.  They were used for storing crops in the winter.  You can still see the outline of the storage rooms and pictures of some of the artifacts they found.  It was a perfect Sunday hike.  I love being in a place we can enjoy the beauty of the earth year round!

On the way home Garrett and I were commenting that there is something so great about getting our family away from the house and the DS and TV and just exploring the world together.  It really makes everyone so happy and magically no one seems to fight while we are together in nature.  Rylynn commented to me that night that she felt closer to Heavenly Father while we were on our hike.  I love that girl and I totally agree!

Basketball Madness

We caught the Bball bug here in our house!  Rylynn and Carter really wanted to sign up for teams this winter so we gave that to them as one of their Christmas gifts.  They were both really excited!  Garrett got to coach Rylynn's team which was really fun for everyone.  

Beckett of course had to be included so he would frequently steal Sissy's ball until we finally gave in and bought him one of his own.  I love the Michael Jordan tongue action in this pic:)

We would frequently have dribbling drills in the kitchen.  Gotta love hardwood floors.  The funny thing is this totally reminded me of my house growing up.  Jordan was always dribbling through the kitchen.

Rylynn had to be number 8 since she is turning 8 soon and since it is the best age, according to her, since that's when you can get baptized.  Her really good friend Annie was also on the team and she made another friend, Ruth.  They were the only girls on the team.  She did such a good job of learning the basics and improved so much each game.  The last game of the season she took 4 shots (2 of them were free throws) and they were so close.  She also got lots of rebounds and stole the ball.  She was so much more aggressive.  After the first game I had to explain to her that she was allowed to go up and just take the ball away from someone when they were dribbling.  She looked at me and said, "Mom that is not allowed!"  It was so fun for me to be able to explain the game and tell her stories of my bball days.  I did tell her that I hated my first team I played on (when I was 6) because it was co-ed too and the boys never passed to the girls.  She had the same annoyance.  We are going to find an all girls league next year so she can really get into the game.  

These two little guys were the team cheerleaders!  This picture cracks me up because Beckett insisted on wearing a jersey like Sissy and Carter but we didn't have another one so he got this old football jersey of Garrett's out of the dress ups:)  He looked so funny, but he felt like one of the team members so it was worth it. He usually had to sit through back to back games every Saturday and he was such a good sport about it.

Carter is number 1.  I loved watching the little guys play:)  They were so clueless half of the time.  Carter had already played a lot at recess so he had the shooting and dribbling ideas down but it took awhile to figure out the switching off between offense and defense.  Towards the end of the first game he clearly got bored and started skipping back and forth down the court:)  Garrett had to explain to him nicely that skipping was not allowed in bball!  He got it figured out pretty quickly once we gave him incentives like a dollar for every basket he made or an in and out burger if he took at least 2 shots.  He is totally our reward driven child.  The last game of the season he made a key shot and his team one by one basket!  It was so exciting!

Carter loved practicing with Rylynn's team throughout the season since Garrett was the coach.  He is warming up with her team in this picture.

Meanwhile throughout January and February this little man kept growing like a weed.  The above picture is when he is 4 months old and the bottom is 5 months.  Rylynn adores her baby brother and he gives her the best giggles.

I seriously love this boys blue eyes!  I think he is going to keep them because Carter's were the same vibrant blue and he is my only blue eyed child.  The other two had that dull blue that every baby has and then they both changed to green.  We shall see but I'm hoping he keeps them.

Carter is taking more and more of an interest in this little man too.  Dallas loves his siblings and it is so fun to see him smile and laugh at them.  

My little bookworm reading to Dallas!  He was totally enthralled.  Unfortunately it always ends with him wanting to eat the book:)

On his 5 month birthday we decided to give in and buy another exersaucer.  Ours got destroyed in one of the past 4 moves so we left it in Spokane.  Danielle let me borrow her jumperoo but the doorways are so high in my parent's house that it is more like a sailing swing for him.  His legs never touch the ground and I had to have something in the kitchen that would entertain him while I cook.  

You can tell he was a big fan of the new toy!  He is such a happy little baby.  He laughs and squeals all day long.  This past week he came down with RSV and an ear infection and I knew he was really sick but I almost didn't take him in because through it all he was still smiling and laughing throughout the day.  I finally gave in when he basically could not breath and it was very good that I did.  He had to get all suctioned out at the respiratory clinic which was soooo sad but he slept so well and has been getting better so quickly.  The doctor gave him antibiotics for his ear infection too but after three days he had a really bad night and in the morning there was tons of junk all over his ear and side of his face.  So I'm pretty positive his ear drum burst even with the antibiotics.  All of my kids have had at least one rupture.  It is no surprise to me since mine burst several times as a kid, but it makes me so sad when it happens to my babies.  All I know is this kid has a very high tolerance for pain because this sickness barely fazed him.  He is one happy boy!