Kindergarten

Yep! She turned 5 just in time to start kindergarten! I'm still in shock! I can't believe she's old enough to go to school! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a kid in school! She was SOOOOO excited!

Our proud little kindergartner!

She really took the day like a champ! No tears (from either of us!) Just pure joy and excitement!

And she already loves her teacher! It'll be a great year!

Ladybug party

So, Maggie LOVES ladybugs! She is always on the hunt for ladybugs in our backyard and loves to delicately hold them. Cory suggested it was only fitting for us to celebrate her birthday in ladybug style!

One of our friends sent Maggie this DARLING ladybug tutu. It literally arrived 30 minutes before her party! How perfect!

The highlight of the party was the arrival of 6000 ladybugs that Cory spread out all over the table for the kids to play with!

The ladybugs immediately started to fly everywhere and landing all over us! It was a hoot!

We had the kids make these cute bug jars so that they could catch and take home their own ladybugs.

It was pretty easy to find ladybugs in our backyard, cousin Laura just took a seat to pick them out of the grass.

Uncle Casey made his famous Red Velvet cupcakes and I decorated them... ladybugs, of course!

Aren't they cute?

(M is for Maggie, by the way!)

The ladybug table in all it's glory!

Mmmm... they tasted as good as they looked!

Even Zoey dressed up for the occasion!

(Thanks for holding Zoey for us Sarah!)

We had a great time!

(And yes, we are still finding ladybugs all over the house!)

Thanks everyone for coming!

Birthday girl!

I seriously don't know how this happened!?? She was born yesterday and then the next day she turned FIVE!!!

Birthday girl on her 5th birthday!

Oh, presents galore!

Her big present was a new Barbie bike!

And she got her very first Barbie!

Happy Birthday, dear Maggie! Happy Birthday to you!

RM

This week, my aunt and her family allowed us to join them in welcoming home my cousin Reiley back from his 2 year mission for our church in Thailand. Can I just say, it was an amazing experience! I knew it would be exciting, but I didn't expect it to be so awesome! There's just something about knowing this guy since he was 2 years old and then seeing him emerge as a full grown man, rich with incredible experiences and growth and testimony. It was such an honor to welcome and be in the presence of a man who grew so close to our Heavenly Father and tenderly shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Thailand every day for 2 years. Every week, my aunt would forward his emails from Thailand and he had an incredible mission experience. I will surely miss this weekly boost.

Here's an excerpt from one of his letters. It's my favorite story that he shared with us:

...remember that guy Gas that I mentioned? Well I did call him on Monday. He was so excited to get a book of scripture that he left his work, drove an hour, and spent another twenty minutes on the phone with us trying to find our church. We had a chance to teach him a little bit about the Book of Mormon, but before we began we explained a little bit about prayer and how it was the way we could communicate with God. As we offered the opponeing prayer, Gas later told us that he was thinking to himself, "Will this prayer really reach God? Can He really hear us?" He said that that's all that was going through his head as we prayed, but after we had said the prayer and he said amen, he explained that immediately he felt a comfort in his heart. He was unsure what it was or why he felt that way, and so when I asked him how he explained how he felt and asked for an explanation. We very briefly explained that we pray to our Heavenly Father, through the medium of His Son, Jesus Christ, hence the reason why we end our prayer in His name. After that we said that the connection doesn't end there, but Heavenly Father then answers our prayers through the medium of the Holy Ghost which communicates to our spirits through such feelings as he had just experienced. He seemed so excited and after that he was more than willing to come to church so that he could learn more about his Heavenly Father and seek to draw even closer to Him. At the end we asked Gas to pray, and in my mind I imagined our Heavenly Father sitting above us smiling because on that day He was able to talk to his son for the first time since he had sent him down to dwell on this Earth. I can only imagine the joy a father would experience at such a reunion, but in my imagination it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. That night I was particularly grateful for the medium of prayer as a means of communication with my Heavenly Father and I have tried to remember that feeling from then on.

Earlier this spring, my sister in law Amber also returned from her mission in Chile. She also had a great experience. We've been so glad to have her home since May and now she is returning back to school to finish her education. We'll miss her!

Ahhh... missionary work is so awesome! All these returned missionaries are making me wish I had served a mission... maybe someday!

blondie

She was born with dark hair.

Now it's gone blonde.

I was hoping for at least one dark haired baby.

But, it won't be Zoey.

Maggie's primary talk

Maggie gave a talk in Primary last Sunday. The theme was "Temples unite families". She talked about going to the Oquirrh Temple Open House while we were on vacation in Utah and how she got to go in to see how beautiful it is before it is dedicated. She ended her talk by saying that she can have a family forever because of the temple. We took a picture of our family so that she could hold up a picture of her family. I can't believe it, but this is the first picture of the 5 of us together since Zoey was born in the hospital.

You did a great job, Maggie!

Grant... out!

We've been playing so hard around here, it wears Grant out before he even gets to bed!