Things to Remember Week of 9-14-14

LIVING IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD
We started having the Mia Maids teach one of our lessons each month.  This Sunday was Annie and Emily.  They did such an amazing job!!!  It's so cool to witness the blessings of the Come Follow Me program first hand.  It really is an inspired program!  I've never felt more strongly about a new program in the church. It's just incredible.  They did so great.  Everyone participated, there was so much discussion, felt like everyone was involved, it was just so neat!  Amy and I said almost nothing the entire time :).  I couldn't believe I'd almost missed it because I wanted to sleep :).  I'm so glad I went to church this week.  Although, I will say, I don't think I realized how sick I still was until I was there.  I felt like a zombie.  I hate feeling like I LOOK sick.  If that makes sense.  I'm looking forward to the next time the girls teach... that was just awesome. 9-14-14

FHE
Nate taught the lesson this week.  He did the ol' eggs and sugar (threw in a few nectarines this time :) ) fitting in the jar lesson about priorities and putting the Lord first in our lives.  I love this lesson.  It always works so well to point us all in the right direction.  And Nate is so engaging with the kids.  I realized tonight that I am just going to have to let Nate be better at those things.  It's one of his roles, one of his strengths, and a major asset that he brings to this family.  I had the reminder that Heavenly Mother is not the one that stands out, she's not the one that takes all the credit for things, and that's okay.  I'd like to follow her example and just work the backstage and do it happily without expecting a lot of fanfare or credit even.  I want to be part of my kids' lives and be there for them, don't get me wrong, I just realized that it's okay if I'm not the best at everything when it comes to parenting our children.  That's why there's two of us anyway :).  Good reminder.  We had yummy apples and caramel courtesy of Kelly and played Sardines for our activity.  I'm going to get all cheesy on you now and say that as we were playing Sardines, getting excited to find the hider, then hiding with them and waiting and listening for the next person to find us, getting all happy to see them and making room for them to hide too... I couldn't help but feel like that's how it will be as we (hopefully) reach the Celestial Kingdom.  Waiting and getting so excited as each person joins us. I know there's not a lot about that analogy that works, but those feelings came to me as I was laying in my closet next to Kelly, Bradley, Charity, Luke, and Erika, just the anticipation of Noah finally finding us and joining us in the closet :).  I know it's cheesy.... anyway.  I loved it :).  It made me smile.  9-15-14

RAIN GUTTER REGATTA
Bradley and Luke got to race their awesome catamaran boats this Wednesday at the Scout Rain gutter Regatta.  It was pretty exciting.  I wish I'd been feeling better and that my brain had been there enough to remember the camera... I think I'm failing as a mom with this pneumonia.  We were bummed that Nate had to miss it.  The boys had a few ups and downs of emotion, but came out alright in the end :).  It was a fun activity.  Good times.  9-17-14

VOLLEYBALL
Charity got to start YW Volleyball this week, that was a lot of fun for her!  9-18-14

FRIDAY
Friday was an interesting day.  Started out great, I was feeling good enough to prepare the week's meals, did a few loads of laundry that had been piling up, even went to play group!  Then when we got home, we were surprised with a clean living room, clean kitchen, and most of the dishes in the sink had been washed!!  There was a purse on the couch, someone else's, and Erika and I tried to solve the mystery of whose bag it was, not sure if they were going to come back to get it or if they had been trying to surprise us :).  We weren't very good detectives, but Jen came shortly after, with bags of groceries, cinnmaon rolls, paper products (so we don't have to dirty more dishes), bouquet of flowers, candy bouquet, and then finished washing all of the dishes.  It was amazing!!  I don't even know how to express my gratitude to her.  She is amazing.  I have really been so blessed by so many neighbors, family and friends.  Listening ears, texts and phone calls, meals, watching my kids!  It's been so amazing.  And while I still feel guilty accepting the help, it's been such a blessing.  After a little visiting with Jen, I had to rush off to take Charity to the doctor for her knee.  I felt cool when the doc announced that it was Oslatter's disease, just as I had predicted the night before :).  Another point for me :).  Oh, and we know what to do for her hurt knee!!  We picked up a knee band for her and hopefully that will help.  It's nice to feel some resolve there.  Then I went to the doctor for myself  I was finally able to lay down when I got home and ended up sleeping through dinner.  Thankfully Nate pulled off my French Dip Sandwiches without me :).  That was a relief.  I got to sit around for the rest of the evening while the front door revolved with kids coming and going with friends and everything.  It's always a little chaotic on Friday evenings, but at least everyone's happy :).  I also got to sit and visit with Kenni for a little while.  That's always nice.  I am so grateful for friends these days.  It's been such a blessing this last year or so to actually have some :).  This was a big day... looking forward to some rest.  9-19-14

SICK OF BEING SICK
I'm not really sure what has happened this week.  I feel like a zombie and I'm so consumed with how I feel that I am afraid I can't even think about what's happened at our house this week.  Sad.  I'm sure some stuff will come to me... I hope.  I feel like I've cancelled any and all responsibilities I had, and left everyone hanging with all of my jobs.  I called the Doc on Wednesday to tell him I was still not feeling well and he wasn't there.  The nurse and another doctor discussed my symptoms and decided to tell me that it was viral and I should just wait it out.  I tried to wrap my head around the idea of having these symptoms for "possibly another week or so" and pretty much just called it quits on life.  Luckily my Doc came back Friday, got the message about me and called me to come back in.  He said the fluid in my lungs was worse, and that I probably have a sinus infection as well... surprise surprise.  I was bugged to find out that he could in fact prescribe me a stronger antibiotic, when I'd just gone two more days (that's after a few of realizing I wasn't getting better), but it is nice to feel like this could be gone in three days.  I'm supposed to be down to a 6 (if what I'm feeling now is a 10) by Sunday.  Relief.  Hopefully it works.  I can't afford (mentally/emotionally/mom-ally) to be hospitalized.  I'm hopeful.  Although, I have to admit, I don't look forward to the side effects of something that is the strongest I can get NOT in a hospital.  It's going to wipe out all of the bacteria in my body.  That's never good for me.  Anyway.  That's probably enough of my whining for one post.  I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, it's a good thing.  9-20-14

Things to Remember Week of 9-7-14

TESTIMONIES
I keep meaning to beat my kids- up to the pulpit one of these Sundays to bear my testimony before them.  But I keep chickening out.  I was glad that Nate got up this week though.  I really enjoy hearing him bear his testimony.  He had to make it quick because time was running out, but it was still really nice.  There were a lot of really great testimonies this month that I felt were for me.  Once specifically about prayer that I still keep thinking about and wishing I could be better at praying and relying on my Heavenly Father first and not waiting until I am desperate.  It's nice to know that He really is there and really can bless us.  9-7-14

SUNDAY EVENING
I had started feeling a little sick Saturday night.  I wasn't sure if it was from staying up all night or what, but I was feeling really achy all evening.  That was a bummer.  Then Sunday I was not feeling a whole lot better and started getting chills on the way home from church.  It got progressively worse all evening.  I couldn't believe how hard I was being hit with whatever it was.  I was all curled up on the couch when the Empey's stopped by to give us a cool Superman costume and check out our little kittens :).  I felt bad that I probably looked like garbage.  I love when people stop by to visit.  It was a nice time.  9-7-14

WHITE DRESS
I got to go dress shopping with Heidi!  I'm so glad I didn't cancel just because I was feeling crappy.  I definitely wish I'd been all the way there, but what a fun time that was!  Heidi found the perfect dress and it just happens to be one of the ones she can get for $150 online.  So a $1500 dress for a tenth of the price... wahoo!  She looked SO gorgeous in every dress she tried on- I'm glad she's so particular because that could have been a REALLY tough decision from my perspective!  I loved seeing her smile and get so excited about the ones she really liked.  It really was a neat time.  One I've looked forward to for years.  9-8-14

STILL SICK
Monday, was the day I think I really hit bottom with my bug.  I was trying so hard to keep up and not get taken down by it, but it was a doozie!  I had such bad chills that night and it was so sweet because all of my kids kept doing things to help me and make me more comfortable.  And without me even asking!  One of them gets me a pillow, another one a blanket, then the heating pad all heated up, lots of hugs and loves... I felt like a princess, being pampered, it was so nice.  I sure have awesome kids.  9-8-14

KELLY AND NOAH
I feel like I've made a post with this title before.  Kelly and Noah have something really special.  I'm not sure why or what it is, but I love it!  They are just kindred spirits I think.  They enjoy the same feelings :).  So the other day Kelly was busy making something, like she often is, with paper, and tape and markers... just a busy little bee, and I didn't even think to ask her what she was doing, but a little while later in the day (or possibly the next day) I saw what it was.  She had made a cute little treasure hunt for Noah.  Not everyone, JUST Noah.  With cute little clues that had him doing different super hero moves and stuff.... I wish I could remember it all.  I don't think I'll be able to express how enchanting that was for Noah :).  The look on his face was just complete and udder happiness.  I love that Kelly can do that for Noah.  That she knows just how to make his day.  He's been struggling a lot with school lately and has needed a little extra care, so it's nice that he's getting that from more than just Nate and I.  Kelly is really in tune to other's needs.  It's one of her greatest qualities.  I'm glad she responds to the promptings to help out.  I just love this family of ours.  9-9-14

NOAH'S NOTE
During Kelly's Treasure hunt, one of the tasks Noah had to perform was doing a service for someone.  He chose me and ended up writing me the sweetest little note as a service :).  It said, "Mom you are the nicest mom I ever had" (in cute Noah handwriting and grammar :) ).  I LOVED it!  Made me smile.  9-9-14

KICKING THE BALL
Cute little Jack learned how to kick his big ball this week.  We all were in the living room waiting to read scriptures one night and Jack just ran up, jumped and kicked the ball, perfectly!  It was so cute!  We all loved it, of course, and had him do it over and over and over again, for our entertainment :).  It's those times when I can't help but think how cool it is that these kids have such a great audience.  Such great little cheerleaders, and so many.  I makes me so happy that they have each other to get excited about these tiny little successes together.  I mean how fun is it that Jack kicking a ball is so thrilling to these eight other people and that he gets made to feel like such a star in the process.  I really do just love it.  9-9-14

A BLESSING THIS TIME
So, I had been sick all week, getting worse each day, trying so hard to keep up with my daily routine, but just falling short and pretty much calling it quits pretty early every evening.  But come Wednesday, I was starting to really wonder what it was I was feeling.  I had had chills so much and then the hot sweats, but hardly any other symptoms.  To be honest, I felt a little like I was pregnant.  So when I read in my old Pregnancy posts as I was working on my 2012 blog, that chills were a major symptom of that pregnancy I started thinking I might really, actually, be... pregnant!!  I got all excited about it!  I almost didn't care about the symptoms if that was the case!  I only waited a few more minutes before giving into the temptation to take a pregnancy test even though my period was four days away.  I ran upstairs and right as I sat down, there it was... my period.  Four days early.  As bummed as I was, it felt like such a blessing just to know!  To not sit and wonder.  If I'd gotten a negative test, I'm pretty sure I still would have wondered, and gotten my hopes up even more.  So that was actually, oddly enough, a blessing.  I was sad that I was not pregnant.  Confused about what it is that I was feeling, but glad that Heavenly Father had given me the tender mercy of not wondering longer than I needed to.  I appreciate the times when it's early really.  So anyway.  Looking on the bright side I guess :).  Not that I don't still wish I was... and will keep hoping... I just know my Heavenly Father knows me and knew what I needed in that moment.  9-10-14

PNEUMONIA
So Nate had had enough of my whining :).  Just kidding.  But he lovingly called around and made a doctor appointment for me on Thursday morning, we rushed out and then sat in the Doctor's office for a good hour and a half before finding out the verdict.  It was awesome that I had predicted it, and had even suggested that to the Doctor when mentioning my symptoms (even though meningitis was really what kept hanging in my head), so for some sick reason I was happy to hear it at first.  But since then things have just gone down hill.  I don't have the chills and sweats anymore, but the body aches, sore throat, even some coughing and this ridiculous headache are still hanging around.  I hate feeling like this.  My chest feels like someone is sitting on it, and getting up and doing things is SO hard because of it!  I am out of breath after a few minutes.  So it really stinks.  I'm trying to get better.  Trying to be positive and have a better attitude about it so that it can go away quicker... hopefully that works :)  All the prayers the kids keep praying for me and the hugs and loves are helping too, I can tell :) 9-11-14

Things to Remember week of 8-31-14

THREE MINUTES
We had THE MOST INSANE little leadership training meeting for the Young Women (everyone combined) on Sunday.  I'm still wondering what we were thinking.  We each got three minutes (all of the leaders) to teach a different section on leadership.  Three minutes is NOT very long.  Even having prepared and timed what I was going to say I still had to talk really fast and felt SO RUSHED with Amy timing me on her phone :).  It was NUTS!  I asked a few of the girls if they got anything out of it and there were some chuckles.  It was weird.  Hopefully we can get them the information a little at a time in our separate Presidency Meetings.  8-31-14

LABOR DAY
We had a really fun Labor Day.  I'm still kicking myself for not having my camera!  I had it on my shoulder as I was gathering things to go, and then must have set it down.  Didn't realize it til we were there!!  So sad.  Anyway.  We were in charge of the Maynes Family Party so we planned a little lunch thing at Murray Park.  I was relieved to not have it at our house even though that is sometimes nicer.  There are just too many people to clean up after when it's over though.  So we got there extra early to get a pavillion, luckily we didn't need a reservation that day :).  We had TONS of chicken wings that Nate had been slaving over for two days in the warmers.  We had our frisbee, kickball, and happy faces :).  Everyone came and we sat around and waited for Lynn's family, ate, and then the kids all just disappeared!  It was funny.  They had SO MUCH FUN!  We didn't feel like stopping them to play kickball or Ultimate as planned, so we just let them play.  The adults talked.  It was fun to talk a little with Austin, he left on his mission the next day!  Jen surprised Jack with a little birthday gift.  We got the frisbee stuck up in the tree a few times, the kids caught a few snakes, and everyone threw bread to the ducks- I would say fed them, but they were not eating it... kinda gross looking water after we were done.  Not sure where the bread came from... anyway.  It was a lot of fun.  On our way home we stopped to get Kelly some new running shoes and some gelato for everyone else.  It was a really nice day.  For FHE Charity taught us a lesson about saving money, and needs and wants.  We ate some of Nate's homemade pear ice cream and played Rook.  It was a fun night.

MENU

I did really good at planning my menu this week- just have to brag for a minute. I made a VERY detailed menu for the next two weeks, did all the shopping, and I've been sticking with it really well, and preparing meals ahead of time! It's been fantastic! I love having dinner almost made before the kids get home. It's been a source feelings of accomplishment. It's nice to be able to relax a little in the evenings and help kids with homework, then eat a healthy meal. As opposed to how it sometimes go when I have to rush. Anyway- makes me happy :) 9-4-14

PROJECT
Erika and I had been needing some Mom and Erika time, so we picked out a project on my Pinterest board for she and I to do together.  Friday morning, we hurried out to buy the supplies and then went to playgroup.  I should have known better than to think she would want to do anything else with this project looming in her mind, but we went anyway.  She wasn't okay with it and begged to go home the whole time :).  I was glad she was so excited to do our project together, less glad that I didn't get to hang out with my friends :), but it's all good.  We did such a great job!  I need to post pictures, but they turned out so good and it was SO much fun to have that time together.  It always surprises me how grown up she is.  More mature than I ever give her credit.  I love our grown up conversations that we have in those quiet times when it's just she and I.  So much fun.  Need to do that more often.  9-5-14

STUDENT COUNCIL
Kelly ran for Student Council this week!  She did such a great job!  I loved the poster that she made all on her own, it said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, Kelly Maynes is the best candidate of them all?"  And had a picture of her on it.  I thought it was really clever.  I loved hearing her speech over and over again, she worked SO hard!  It was a bummer that she didn't make it, but we are so proud of her for trying and for doing so well.  She did get put on the Newsletter committee though!  That's pretty exciting!  9-5-14

CHIVALRY
Since Kelly had to take her poster to school on Friday, she couldn't ride her bike so she had to walk home.  But her sweet big/little brother offered her his bike and even offered to carry her poster as HE walked home!  What a cool kid.  Who says chivalry is dead!  Makes me proud.  9-5-14

DADDY-DAUGHTER CAMPOUT
The girls and Nate have looked forward to this campout since last year's :).  It's such a fun thing for them.  I think I'm going to try to get them to write something for me about it, since I wasn't there :).

MOM AND THE BOYS
While Dad and the girls were out, the boys and I had some fun of our own!  We mowed Grandma's lawn (aka: Bradley works his little patootie off, sweating like a crazy person, and the rest of us sit inside and get pampered and fed unlimited snacks), grabbed some Dairy Queen on our way up to Boondocks and then the boys just played their hearts out!  It was a lot of fun to watch them go from machine to machine, blowing all the money on the ones that feed you the most tickets.  I was impressed with how well they did this time though.  I have a picture of Bradley's Jack pot that he won TWICE!  Jack was a little angel the whole time, I was so surprised, he just kind of hung out by me most of the time.  I let him pretend to play a bunch of the games, and we watched the big boys a lot, but he was just so good!  We ran into Emily and Josh, which wasn't too much of a surprise since we had gotten the Boondocks idea from them :).  It was fun to see them though.  I'm always surprised when the kids don't want to play with each other out in public places like that... just at home I guess :).  Once Luke's card was empty I let he and Jack go play in the big jungle gym.  They had a lot of fun in there.  I wasn't right there over by them (where I should have been), but I kept my eye on them, and loved every minute of Luke's giggles and his cute little shadow that tagged along.  Noah had a great time on the racing games and even did the snow machine game!  He was cute with the shooting game too, that rifle was twice his size, but he still managed to make it fun :).  So once everyone used up their cards, I let everyone go play in the jungle gym for a few minutes before cashing in our tickets.  I sat down and for about two minutes all was calm and relaxed and I was supervising my littles in the playground as I should have been the whole time.  That turned out to be a huge blessing because once that two minutes was over Jack started coming down to exit the playground and right as he was about to step out, he tripped on his own foot and face planted it, knocking his poor little forehead right on the padded pole of the doorway.  It was so sad!  I rushed over and had to throw down the boys' neatly separated tickets, completely mixing them all up, grabbed Jack in my arms, and with pressure on his forehead frantically attempted to get my boys' attentions to come out.  This nice lady offered to help them out so that I could hurry and clean Jack up, so as soon as I had their attention I ran to the bathroom.  I was really calm, as usual, but anxious to get it looked at.  So I hurried and cleaned him up a little, the best that I could with paper towels and water.  A nice employee came and helped a little too (with no gloves I might add... totally drove me nuts even though I know for a fact that Jack's blood is completely safe for someone to touch, I guess that's just one of the things I got from working blood services).  When we were done there, the first nice lady (found out her name was Hannah :) ), had been helping the boys cash in their tickets.  I thought that was cool and I was glad they got to do that.  I decided to give in and fill out the stupid incident report since we were standing there waiting anyway.  I hate that they make you feel like you can't leave and take care of the problem without the paperwork.  Drives me nuts really.  But whatever.  Turned out to be even more annoying to me when I found out that all the instacares were closing as we were leaving- if we'd just left like 15 minutes sooner we could have gotten into one right there on Main in Kaysville.  Still bugs me.  So anyway.  I hated Davis Hospital so much and decided Lakeview was the better choice of the two, so I made the trek down there.  Since we were headed that way, I figured we might as well impose on Grandpa and Steve and drop the boys off there.  Turned out to be an okay evening for the boys, they all went to the store with Grandpa, Steve and Jauslin, and then out for ice cream as I had been promising them all night :).  So that was a relief.  I hate it when things have to end ubruptly and we've had such bad luck with our Mom and Son activities in the past.  So I was glad things were okay for them.  They were so cute talking about Jack getting hurt and knowing that of course I had to set down the tickets to pick up Jack, "you wouldn't not pick him up just because of tickets!"  I thought that was cool.
As for Jack, he did so great at the ER!  We got the same nurse, nurse Eric, that Grandpa had had, so that was fun, like an old friend :).  They got us right in there!  I couldn't believe how quickly they got us in!  I was loving that!  Then gave us a quick option or a slow option and I chose the quick one- we wrapped Jack up like a mummy and let him cry it out while they gave him the shots of Lidocaine directly into the wound.  Then a couple minutes later he was all stitched up and completely relaxed with two purple popsicles, one in each hand, he was totally eating them at the same time :).  It was adorable.  He sure handled everything so well.  I was glad.  We hurried home, finished watching a little of Jumanji with Grandpa and then watched the rest of it when we got home.  What a night that turned out to be!  I kept wishing Nate was around to do it all with me, I couldn't even call him because his phone was supposedly dead, but it all worked out.  I was proud of myself for handling it all, and I was glad I got to spend it with my boys though :). 9-5-14

HEIDI AND JOHN
We got to have Heidi and John over for real (we'd missed the fake one on Wednesday so much that we rescheduled for real :) ).  They came over and we all went to the park to play Ultimate Frisbee, that was a LOT of fun!  It's such a good game for us, the kids are really getting it!  Then we remembered Lasagna in the oven and hurried home for dinner.  We watched the BYU game after dinner and then everyone got tired :).  It was a lot of fun though.  It's always fun when Heidi and John come :).  9-6-14

SHE'S ENGAGED!!! IT'S OFFICIAL!!

My cute little sister came over Wednesday night to announce that she and John are officially engaged!!  She wanted Brent and Steve there and Mom had been tending my kids so she was there, so we tricked everyone into coming over.  It wasn't intentional tricking, but for some reason I do get a kick out of Brent grabbing his kids out of the tub and planning on bringing them nude because he thought this was a real, serious emergency :).  What a great brother I have.  It is nice to know that if there ever IS an emergency, he will be ready and willing :).  And fast apparently.  

So, everyone piled into our living room and waited at 10 minute intervals for the next person to get here.  Unfortunately, Nate didn't make the cut for the wait list.  He missed it all :(.  So sad.  He was working and didn't get off til 10:00 so he walked in around 10:20 just as everyone was saying goodbye.  

ANYWAY- we all sat and listened to the cute story of how John tricked Heidi into believing that they were going to hang out with us, and that the ring wasn't going to be ready when they thought, and that they were just taking some dogs on a hike... the list of lies goes on :), but it's SUCH A CUTE STORY!!  He went to some pretty great lengths.  Even having Tom Obray call and leave a message about the ring.... pretty awesome.  He gets major points for that.  John and Tom for that matter :).  

Heidi is SO beyond happy!  I love that they are official now, and I am SO glad they have each other.  They really are the perfect couple.  I loved reading what John said to her before he proposed.  Makes me happy to know how much he loves her and waited for her and worked to have her.  Now that's love!  They are going to be so happy together!  

So somehow the hang out turned into a photo shoot... everyone needed a picture with the happy couple :)

Look how cute they are together!!  FINALLY!!

Her ring is gorgeous!  I love that John showed it to us at the park on Monday.  That was cool :).  The perks of having smoked meat to share :).

Steve = entertainment.

I'm pretty sure one of the kids had the camera at this point... getting pictures of Steve as he's standing at the door... funny stuff.

I can't wait til November!!!!!  It can't come soon enough!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack Jack!

Not only was it the first day of school, but it was Jack Jack's birthday as well!  We spoiled him by letting him do pretty much whatever he wanted all day :).  It was cute to watch him come down the streamer covered stairs almost annoyed at first, but then getting into the fun of it after cheers from the sibs.  I love his attitude, he is really good at looking at things differently and changing his mood right away.  He got to watch his "wee wee" (movie :) ) on Nate's phone.  He spent a lot of time on the counter watching me make his airplane cake, so that was fun for us :).  Right when I finished his cake, he poked his cute little fingers through the sides!!  Funny kid :).  I was happy that he was interested in it though and that he was happy it was his :).  He was so adorable all day.  We made sure to spoil him.
We had his little party (combined with Savannah's first birthday) at Rocket Park.  We had a small turn out, but still had a great time!  He got lots of fun presents that he just loved and made everyone feel like they'd gotten him his favorite :).  I loved watching him just playing on the playground.  He just looked older that day!!

I made Jack an AIRPLANE cake!  Mostly because I love how excited he gets every time he sees an airplane up in the sky.  He's usually the first one to point them out and he always screams, "WHOA!!!!"  And then keeps saying your name until you notice it and have some spectacular reaction to match his :).  I wasn't sure he would even know what the little toy airplane was, but sure enough, it was "whoa!" every time he looked at it!  That was fun.  I only wish I'd been able to get a deeper, more manly orange.  Next time.  I LOVED this cake.

 I think the highlight of the day was when he blew out his candles!!  I didn't know he would even know what to do and he seemed to be getting overwhelmed with the extra-loud rendition of "Happy Birthday" until the very end when he just looked down at the candles and blew them right out!  Right on cue!  What a cutie.

Sarah made Savannah a cake and she got to smash it in her face :)

The great thing about not making the airplane with fondant was the added bonus of a new toy airplane :)

He loved it.

Kelly had been dying to get someone to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, so whatyaknow Steve consented!!  Surprise surprise :)

So we all got a good laugh (then and now every time we watch the slow motion replay video :) ).  Kelly did perfectly!  And even surprised him with a second shot, right in the face, when he wasn't ready for it!

Steve truly is the entertainment around here.

I was so happy that he went back for seconds on his cake :).  He made my day :)

I just love my little Jack.  He is so fun and such a sweet little Spirit to have in our lives.  He brings such a different energy.  I love that he is himself and doesn't let a lot sway him from his plan.  He is very persuasive.  We all get a kick out of his persistence :).  He has started saying the prayer at mealtimes.  It's SO fun for everyone.  He really doesn't talk much, so most of the repeated words (we coach him still of course) are mumblings, but he is slowly trying new words.  A little at a time :).  He is not big on performing for other people and is usually pretty quiet around strangers, but here at home we all know what he is thinking and what he needs :).  It's pretty amazing how well he can communicate with such a small vocabulary.  His little head nods and shakes, and his eyes kinda tell all.  He is a sweetheart to his brothers and sisters.  Kisses with Erika, tackling with Noah, poking eyes out with Luke, piggy back rides with Bradley, dancing in the car with Kelly, and letting Charity change his diaper so patiently :).  It's fun to watch them interact with him.  I love the different sides of his personality that they all bring out.  He is extremely busy.  He is always working on something.  There is no project too mundane, or too unnecessary for Jack.  He is always doing something :).  He doesn't love getting in water.  Bath time is not a treat.  He doesn't enjoy the swimming pool, big or in the backyard.  He will brave the sprinklers a little and on the last day of the summer enjoyed a little walk through the splash park :).  He's more than happy to tell you what is his.  He likes to eat just about everything now.  He was a veggies only kind of guy for a while there, but recently has moved on to fruit and sweets.  It's funny how that went.  Unlike anyone else.  He doesn't love bread, so sandwiches are not his favorite.  And he is not a big fan of cheese for some reason.  But other than that.  He likes to be with people.  I'm so grateful for Jack and who he is in my life.  I love him so much!!  He still loves his Daddy most, but that's okay :).  When Dad is gone he will give me kisses and hugs and cuddle with me as much as I want :).  I love that he loves Nate and wants to do EVERYTHING with Nate AND like Nate.  He really looks up to him so much!  I really can't wait to see what Jack does with his big personality in life.  I hope he always knows how much I love him.  8-25-14

The cake must have been good if Brent's having seconds too :)  That makes my day too :)

Steve getting Grandma all wet

Grandma still smiling... wow.

Everyone watching the ice bucket challenge over and over again!