Group Dates & Double Dates

We love hanging out with friends and all of the kids but sometimes it's extra fun to go on "adults only" dates. We've gotten to hang with Steve and Mandi a lot since we are living the dream of being neighbors (sort of!).

Here we are for her big 3-0 birthday dinner! 

Cheesy?? A little - but honestly and truly - this girl is a gift to the world. Love her. 

And I'm so glad she has Steve who is so good to her.

I sure love this guy. 

We had some pretty epic dates with Emily and Matt before they so rudely left us for Florida. We miss them. 

 Here we are on our last date - we saw The Dark Knight rises and then laughed and laughed while eating sonic blasts in the car. =) 

WAY WAY WAY back in February we played laser tag with some super cool people.

Sydney and Steven (Rey) never fail to make us laugh! They are hilarious! They've since left us for Georgia. Hmmmm. Are we scaring people away?! 

I love this one of Matt and Emily!

I'm so grateful that I'm so photogenic otherwise I might never post pictures of myself! *snort*! Haha!

And we've got a creeper. 

Sydney is trying her darndest to find us but we blend into everything with our camo. Where are we?! 

Catelin and Micajah made it in time for our awesome group pics. 

BJ's pizookies afterwards. YUM!

We like to go out with Carol and Gary when they come to visit. One of our favorite places with them is Texas Roadhouse. 

Keslie's Ballet Recital

Here is my little dancer! She has all the right moves and is just so beautiful. I sure love my Bodess. This time around they got to wear super cute outfits!! 

I love this picture because Papa kept telling her all weekend that he was practicing his maraca shaking so that he could hop up on the stage with her. Keslie would dissolve into giggles at the thought of it but I think she was a teensy bit nervous that he was actually going to do it! Haha!

She was so happy that Granana and Papa were there to see her dance. 

And us - looking awesome, as usual. =)

We Bought a House!

 It's true! We have finally graduated from the renting phase of our lives! Here is the front of our new home:

We love it so much and are having so much fun working on projects to make it "ours". I am painting my way around the house - the builders painted everything - trim, walls, moldings, and ceiling the same flat color. So, I've started with the floorboards and the moldings and will get to the walls next! I HATE painting doors. Haha! We are on 3/4 of an acre which is actually on the small side for where we are but still HUGE if you are trying to use a push mower. It took Nathan 4 hours to mow the front and back lawns so we quickly decided that a riding mower was a necessity. Nathan loves it. He likes to drive it around the yard even when it doesn't need to be mowed! =) He's been studying 24/7 since July for his upcoming oral boards but is looking forward to tackling our lawn! I have to admit - I will be sad to hand over the keys. It's pretty fun to mow the yard now! I bet I look goofy riding around with a big grin on my face! 

Anyway, we feel very blessed to be where we are. It's such a beautiful area, we got an awesome deal on the house, we love our neighborhood and new ward at church, the girls go to an excellent school, we've met so many wonderful people...we couldn't ask for more. =)

A Trip to the Zoo!

I was able to go with Keslie on her end of the year field trip and she was pretty darn excited about it! I loved that they just let me take her and do our own thing. It's a good thing I wasn't having to hang around with anyone else - I had my worst allergy attack since living in TX. It was horrible and super embarrassing! I was mopping up my snot with Sawyer's burp rag and my eyes were all wonkified. I'll have to go again when it's not smack in the middle of spring! It sure was cute seeing Kes and Bren get excited about all the animals though! We loved the gorillas and the elephants. 

A Sawyer Post

This sweet, little girl. These past 9 months have been heavenly! 

She's been sleeping through the night since she was 4 months - right when we started her on solids. She's in bed by 7 and doesn't wake up until 7/8. Maybe she does and I just don't know it! Since school has started and I've been heading upstairs at 6am I'll hear her talking away. Maybe she is just super patient!! She is a great nap taker too. A good 2.5 hour one in the morning and at least 3 hours in the afternoon. 

 She has been such a fun baby! She is all over the place! My other kids took their time doing things, but not her. There are rooms to explore and food to eat off the floor. Haha! We have our very own puppy! We love it when she does this with her binkie. It's even more funny looking when she sticks her tongue out! 

Her first time sitting -  5 months. She's been a rolling maniac since she was 1.5 months!

6 month photo shoot and she did not want to cooperate! 

She started crawling at 6 months. Slow down baby!!

And immediately right after she started crawling she figured out how to pull herself up to the couch!

Look at those pudgy fingers! I love squishy baby hands!

She is so happy and just waits for someone to look at her so that she can unleash her smile and maybe do her excited screech!

We switched over to the bottle at 7 months. Sad day for me. 

Today was her 9 month check up. It's not fair that time goes so quickly! Isn't she pretty?

Growth record:

At birth: 9 lbs 8 oz 20 inches long

2 weeks: 10 lbs 5 oz 21.5 inches long

2 months: 12 lbs 10.5 oz 24.5 inches long

4 months: I've gotta find my paper!

6 months: I've gotta find my paper!

9 months: 18 lbs 10 oz 28.3 inches long.

At 9 months she waves, dances to music, has ZERO teeth, loves to eat everything but green beans or any bean for that matter, loves her family - she gets super excited to see Nathan and the kids after they've been gone, tries crawling up the stairs (we've had one fall), has had 2 ear infections but other than that she's been very healthy. We all love her so much!

Last Day of School!!

During the last week of school we were smack in the middle of moving. The girls had fun sleeping in their clothes and making tents out of their mattresses!

 Keslie with her Kindergarten teacher - Mrs. Manske

 Anika with her 2nd grade teacher - Mrs. Ingram

During that last week of school I went and ate lunch with Kes. This is the board that has a picture of her and the ONE other person in the school that got enough paws to earn recognition! Isn't she awesome? 

We were so excited for summer to start and to not have any schedule to follow. To sleep in, play "stories" all day, swim, vacation, and stay up late! =) 

10 Years!

Nathan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on May 17! It's been a wonderful 10 years with so many great memories. I love him so much and feel so blessed that he is mine. 

Here we are 10 years ago on our honeymoon. 

We haven't changed too much - just have a few extra pounds(on ME!), gray hairs, and wrinkles but at least we got them together! Isn't he handsome?!

 I feel so grateful to be this happy and in love 10 years later! I'm excited to see what the next 10 years will bring! 

Brenan's Surgery

Our little dude had quite the rough week and a half following his surgery to get his tonsils and adenoids removed. I actually started to wonder if he'd ever get back to the normal, happy kid we were used to. He went in fasting on a Friday morning in May and got to wear the cutest, little hospital gown ever. He had a great time playing on Dad's ipad while he waited. It took forever for the sedation meds to kick in but once they did he was hilarious!

Here we are waiting:

 Playing games on the ipad:

 Here is a look into Bren's mouth and at his huge tonsils!

He was not very happy when he was brought out to me. We weren't able to leave until he ate a popsicle or drank some water or juice. He didn't want anything! They finally let us go and he got the royal treatment - a ride in a radio flyer wagon! Look how pathetic he looks! He could hardly stay sitting up! 

 At home he slept a lot., puked a couple times, sweat profusely and was happy to eat on day one - his first choice was doritos! Weird! 

We thought recovery would be a breeze because he was doing so well that first day home but after that it was not so fun. He hated the medicine so Nathan would mix it with Hershey's syrup. After that he took it ok. One of the biggest problems we had was that he didn't want to swallow anything so he would sit there and let drool and anything else that went into his mouth pool up in his cheeks until it finally came dribbling out. by the end of the 10 days he was skin and bones. I don't know if it was the medicine or just being dehydrated/hungry but he slept and slept and slept and had no energy for several days. My only advice coming out of this is to STAY ON TOP OF THE MEDS for at least the first 2-3 days. We missed a dose one time by 2 hours the first night and it was HORRIBLE! Poor little guy. Also, don't buy a ton of food. Wait until after the surgery and see what they want. He didn't eat any of the fun things we bought beforehand. His speech has definitely improved and I know he is sleeping better so I'm very glad we did it and even more glad that it's in the past and that my sweet boy is back (with a much higher voice - it's SOOO cute!).

Swimming on the Rooftop

In May we visited San Antonio again because Nathan had some continuing education courses to do. I hardly took any pictures! We saw old friends, visited Seaworld (I was much more prepared this time and it was a lot more fun!), played at the park, and went swimming in the rooftop pool of our hotel. The kids were in heaven! Can't wait to have a pool in our own backyard someday!