That Smile...

During my little pity parties right now this little face always turns my frown right up-side-down and smiles that frown away (as the Primary children say). Man we love this little red head. She's so very very darling with an amazing spirit. The Lord knew she belonged to us. Good thing He's in charge.

Dear Grandpa

Grandpa, you have always been amazing. My memories of you are unparalleled to any experience any little girl has. They stem from running from the waves together on my first trip to the beach, wearing my freshly purchased Minnie Mouse sweatshirt to listening to Julio Iglesias and Karen Carpenter while driving to Truckee all while playing the ABC game. You protected me (at least that's what you claim... I think you were trying to beat me into the house) from the B.B.D. I remember the smell of your laundry room in Los Gatos and our annual trips up there to visit you. Kelly and I always looked so forward to them. It was partially because we were able to hog you and Grandma completely to ourselves, and partially because we knew we would be spoiled far more than we ever deserved.
As I grew, my memories of you changed. You became that fun, cool grandpa who would slip me some cash to buy some new jeans. I knew it wasn't about the money. It was your way of telling me that you loved me. You were always sure to recognize my achievements, always there to support me. It always put a smile on my face to hear stories about me. They made you laugh that high pitch laugh EVERY time!!
You finally lived closer to us. How fun!! Every time I came home from college I came to visit you. I watched you hopelessly flirt with my friends or the pretty waitress. All the while, Grandma would roll her eyes and laugh at you. You always offered your sound advise... whether solicited or not. :) And, my goodness, it was your way or the wrong way. So stubborn you always were!! Believe it or not, it was one of the endearing thing about you.
When Bryan came into my life my respect for you grew even more. You loved him like he was your own. You were just as proud of him as I was and that meant SO much to me. You bragged on him to your friends and always made sure to tell me how much you admired him. I will NEVER forget walking into that sealing room at the temple that rainy day in March and seeing you and Grandma there. That moment is what made me cry. Before we walked in the sealer asked if I was ready to start my eternity. Most brides would say yes, as long as their future husband was there waiting. I said yes as long as my Grandparents were there. And you were. In the front row. Right where I could see you.
Now, don't get me wrong, you definitely pissed me off from time to time. But, again, that's what makes you so awesome. You want only the best for me and you spoke your mind until you thought I was convinced on doing it your way.... well, I guess now would be a great time to tell you, I usually ignored it. Not always... just sometimes... :) I never did end up earning that $100 from Uncle Cory... maybe in the next life.
My love for you changed yet again when I became a mother. Oh my goodness, how you LOVE my children!!! I am COMPLETELY convinced you love them the most! You adored them. You laughed at their silliness. They could even get you snorting. You would sit on the hearth at my parents house and just beg them to come to you. To sit by you and play with you. You bought them things. Thoughtful things. Things they loved. Carter still carries around the wallet Granky gave him.
It happened so much faster than I thought it would. You told us all not to cry when you left but I can't help it. You mean so much to me and I love you more than you could ever imagine. It hurts having you gone. I know you're happier now but you were suppose to stay long enough for me to trick out your walker, remember? I hate watching Grandma be sad. I hate laying in bed and crying because I know it will be a long time before I see you again. I hate that you won't be serenading me again. I hate that all I have are memories now. Nothing new. I won't see you when I am in town anymore. I already have a Christmas present for you.
I hope I always made it clear how much I love you. Above all else, I love you. And so does Bryan. And so do my kids. I am eternally grateful they know you. I'm so happy Preslee got a chance to meet you in this life. I bet she knew what was coming before the rest of us. I promise we'll take care of Grandma for you. She's really sad but claims she'll be okay. I'll call her more often. Maybe we can get her out here to visit every now and then.
I miss you Grandpa. One plus, now you and Violet get LOTS of one on one time!! Is she still as ugly as ever? I love you Granky. Watch over us, ok? And stay close to Grandma. We all miss you but she misses you the most.
Love, Jennifer

I'm so Lame

I don't have anything to blog about. I'm taking so many pictures of other people I haven't been picking up my camera at home. Between that, fighting off colds and coughs, and just going about our business, we're pretty boring. But with family coming to town next week I should be back soon.
One cute thing: Addilyn adds "all day" to something she feels passionate about. It's always in a very dramatic tone, too. Some examples:
"I hungwy ALL DAY!"
"I want to coal (color) ALL DAY!"
"Play Ice Game (Don't Break the Ice) ALL DAY!"
I love it and I completely know it's not NEARLY as cute to those of you who aren't my childrens grandparents/great grandparents. But lets face it. My kids are cuter than yours. So take that! :)

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone had an eventful, candy-filled Halloween! We sure did!
Love, The "Andstronaut", Snow White, and the little Pink Bunny

This is what Addi was when she was a baby. I love it. It's so soft and, while way too big for P, beyond adorable on her.

This was the ONLY helmet we could find. I think he looks like Homer Simpson in space. Not real sure why the maker-people made it so tall but whatever. He LOVED it!!

"Carter, give me your toughest astronaut face."

I have known since Addilyn was a baby that I wanted her to be Snow White. She has the pale skin, blue eyes, and dark hair. I also knew it was my last year to pick. That being said, we haven't been able to peel this "pitess" costume off her. A big thank you to her sweet cousin Abby for letting her have it.

Every Halloween we get together with all the people on our street and have a pot luck (sans dessert of course) before filling the kids with candy. They love it because they all get to see each other dressed up and burn off some steam.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Snow White. She wanted to wear one of the neighbor kids' masks. I love that you can see her eyeball.

The Pumpkin Patch

For Family Home Evening before Halloween we headed to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin and play with all the fun things they had there. The kids enjoyed themselves to pieces with all the cousins. We were even lucky enough to have Daddy along for the ride. We love spending time with him.
Blake, Tyler, Carter, Olivia, and Addilyn. No one was big enough to hold Preslee so we just let her sleep in her stroller.

I THINK Carter was excited for the little train ride they had.... but I could be wrong.

Addilyn LOVES the swings... any swing, anywhere, any time... it gets old. :) Blowing kisses.

Another amazing sunset.

Schnepf Farms

Last week I went to Schnepf Farms with the kids, Bryan's mom and Natalie and Nicole and their kids. It was so much fun. I wish we had had more time to spend there. The kids got their faces painted, we went on a train ride, some other fun rides, petted some super smelly animals, and went on a roller coaster that looked much funner to my kids than it actually was. They were NOT entertained with it and we went around THREE times before the kid stopped it. Fun times.

Happy little guy. :)

Grammie and Carter going on the train.

Needless to say, Carter was really excited to ride the airplane. It was fun watching my kids go on a ride alone. They're getting so big!

And... we're done. (That's Addi's hand.)