Full Week

 This last week has been full of....you know, stuff? :) Monday we went with our friends, the Potters and the Weights, to visit a cheese factory here in town and we got to learn all about how they make cheese. I think the kids enjoyed it, if only for the first ten minutes while they looked at all the equipment.

 This is quality time spent with our favorite people, Jake and Stacey. We were really sad to have to say goodbye to these two as they headed off today for their new adventure and job in California.

 The kids have really been enjoying our new concrete and I love that now I can say no riding on the road! Amy has even gotten brave enough to start riding on her Strider - yay!!

 Little man ready for his first week at church (last week). I had tried my hand at making the onesies with ties for a friend, but they didn't turn out great, so my kids get to have them :)

 Amy's hair last week for church. She has been blessed with her mother's hair that only slightly curls even when you try and put gel, hairspray, etc. in it. Oh well.

 Last week this little guy wouldn't settle down, so he and I watched a movie during naptime instead. Of course he finally fell asleep, but by then it was too late for Mommy to nap. But I did get some good bonding time with him. It's funny how you spend so much time with these little ones feeding, changing and burping them but you rarely actually get to just hold and enjoy them. At least that is what I am finding with #3, so it was good to have some time to just sit and hold and enjoy him alone.

 Amy is quite the animated little girl these days. She has also had a language explosion, so she is getting really good at saying things. This is her "Ugh, stinky" face. I think it looks perfect in black and white!

 Other things we did this week included the free lunch with the Potters each day, some Potter playtime one day, Rigby Lake another, and the last soccer game of the season on another.

 It is amazing how quickly these kids are growing up! Josh, Lilly, Sam, and Johnny

Mark's first intentional tummy time. It didn't really faze him, he just took a nap. I remember Sam HATING tummy time (and on this exact blanket, too!)

 Here's a snapshot of the kids at Rigby Lake.

 Growing so big!

 It's awesome having a big brother to lend you his sweatshirt when you are cold!

 Sam still really enjoys getting to hold Mark and most of the time is my great helper!

 The kids all ready to go see our neighbor (Sam's only buddy on our street) get baptized. This was the first one Sam has been to and it really got him excited to be baptized himself. It was worth the tremendous effort of getting all three kids up and ready and taking them by myself.

Then yesterday was our seventh anniversary. This year I wanted to do something that was fun for Robert. He has been making a huge effort to support me and help me more with the new addition and I wanted to be able to show him how grateful I am for him. The inspiration came when we went for our tour of the cheese factory and I saw a place that fixes ATV's, motorcycles, etc. Without him knowing, I arranged to rent a Razor out at the sand dunes for four hours and asked my friend to watch all three kids so we could go ride together. This guy was soo excited when I told him the night before, I knew it was a great idea! We had a blast riding on the sand dunes, although the ups and downs got to both of us (me more than him and I ended up leaving a contribution out there on the sand dunes) and we only lasted two hours before we were both done. But it was a lot of fun and something we both had wanted to try. We got really yummy snow cones afterwards to cut the heat and then headed back for the kids. We then met up with Jake and Stacey at Big Judd's for one last meal together before they moved to California for Jake's new job. We are so excited for them and their new adventure, but also sad that we will be losing our "hangout peeps" and will miss the arrival of their little guy, but we wish them the best and can always Facetime!

So that's it - our week in a nutshell! This week we start swimming lessons, which will be a challenge to get up and going and to Rexburg on time, but thankfully we opted to do it with the Potters, so we will have some help! Only one more month before school starts, crazy! And Amy is more than ready for potty training, so that will be happening around the same time, if this mommy can get things together enough to add one more thing to the mix.