Good-Bye Again

So we are off again for 8 days this time. Our plane leaves from Vegas tomorrow afternoon and we are heading to the lovely lakes of Minnesota. We are having a family reunion with Bob's family. I am not joking when I say that Bob is so excited he could hardly sleep this week. I feel like I just got home from my parents and unpacked washed and ironed clothes (thanks Andrea) and re-packed. Also I weaned my baby in the 5 days we were home and also fought with a nasty summer cold. I feel like I have been running since our car stopped at our home Sunday night. I didn't even talk to some of my buddies in SG to say hello and good bye...sorry Sarah W. I hope to come back with great tales and awesome pictures. I hope that Gwyn and Ella get to know each other...I also hope that we won't get everyone sick with that nasty cold we have been enjoying. We are so excited to meet our new cousin and nephew Caleb. My kids keep talking about riding on an airplane, and hoping that they get to see fireflies for the first time. The boys already have some plans about catching them. Probably Brooke will have her baby while I am gone, I am guessing that Sara L will too. We will also be missing our beloved hot air balloons in Provo on the 4Th....I haven't missed that in 15 years.. But we think it will be well worth it. Here we come Minnesota! I check back in about 10 days!!!!

a litttle gem.....

Andrea sent this to me last night on my email. She took this of Gwyn a little while ago while our kids were playing at the park. Love Andrea, all of my sisters now do too. She is a great friend who has introduced me to some bad habits.....ironing(everything), shopping at expensive stores, and trying to get me to be crafty. I love and hate her for all of those reasons. It is not abnormal for us to talk like 10 times a day even if it is for 2 minutes or 2 hours. Who does that besides sisters? I guess we can adopt her in to our sisterhood. She is a great friend.

my obession...

Is it so wrong that I loved this book? I was talking to some friends (okay maybe gushing) about how much I loved this book and how much they needed to read it when one of them (Sara, who had read it and is a English professor) finally stops me and says..."it's not THAT great". So if you haven't read it and the sequel New Moon I think you should! I was up at my mom's all last week and she was a bit unhappy with my OCD behavior towards reading these books. I am the first to admit that I am the biggest sucker for a romance and an escape book! So if you want to no why I haven't been blogging well here it is.

When Sandi comes to town

The last couple of days at my moms my beloved Aunt Sandi and her beautiful kids/my cousins came to visit. It has been 2 years since I have seen them and that is just way to long. This is my cousin Jordan who is 12 almost 13 years old, and is stunningly beautiful. The babies loved her.
Sandi and Jordan with the babies!
Brooke said on her blog that she would no longer post any pictures of herself, so I will help her out. She is 38 weeks pregnant and she looks great. She was feeling particularly hot this evening so she was airing out. Where in the hell are her stretch marks? We may have to disown her! Do you see the resemblance of my Aunt and my sister? We tease Brooke all the time that she is Sandi, she always says "Why thank you". I look at my cousin Jordan and I can't believe she is that old....My junior year of High School she was born, I have pictures of my self holding her...I feel so old. P.S. As it turns out Aunt Sandi never got stretch marks....What?
Granny has been staying at my mom's until she heads to Minnesota in July. She was so cute with the kids, every morning she would come out and say hello and kiss their hands repeatedly. I will always remember that. She is was so thrilled to have her two of her three daughters with her. Oh, and see that porch she is sitting on? This is her permanent spot at my mom's.

mom-to-be

On the 14th I flew up to SLC to help throw a baby shower for my beautiful little sister Brooke. It was really fun to fly up there with just Gilbert and then spend the afternoon and evening with my mom and sisters...we missed Paige. My mom of course did a great job of putting things together and here are few pictures from the evening....
We can't wait for the little darling to get here!

Do you think that it is mean that Kennan and I keep telling Brooke she can't have this baby until she gets a few stretch marks? Because really we should just tell her how great she looks and how we are so glad that she has only gained 25lbs. Pretty much, we hate her:) Some gals have all the luck!

The Watkins Farm....

My really good friend Amber (she would also be categorized in the OLD friend genre)invited us up to her parents great house for a swim and play around there little farm. My boys LOVE to play with Ben and they LOVE his grandpa' house and barns..... This is a picture of cute Halle (Ambers daughter) and Gwyn in the pool.
This is Gwyn and Savannah

Savannah is a friend from High schools daughter and I really wanted to gobble her up or just take her home with me.
Sorry Amber, it's not the greatest picture but I have to document you!

Old oLD oLd FriENds

One afternoon while at my parents I went out to lunch with some OLD friends, some of them dating back to the early eighties. We also went to our favorite restaurant growing up, OSAKA. This is Ally and Alicia....
Summer (from college) and Holly H....
Stephy J and myself in a great self photo....
Ummmm the girls....

Seven Peaks

Yes ,that is my strange brother law, Dustin. Auntie Brooke loving Gwynnie.
Aunt Sarah with all three of d'boys.
Tootsie Pop
Yes ,that is sadly me in a swimsuit but how could I pass up this photo op with my sweet boys?

Fathers Day at Papa Lyles

As it turns out, I didn't really take any pictuers of the dads in my life.....so these are few picts of the ways we celebrated our awesome dad's and husbands. Oh, yes and Gwyn discovered corn on the cob!
Laura and Gage
Some of the Lamoreaux women just hangin out!

Zie Germans

Tucker and Abe are on the swim team this summer and this is their attire!!! After we giggled for awhile we took these pictures. When Tucker tried them on he said, "um, I think they're to tight"....

your love is better than ice cream....

Daddy giving Gil tastes of his ice cream.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Nick is trying to clean him up a bit.

This is Nick my neighbor and Tucker's buddy. I love him. I would adopt him. Gwyn has a crush on him, maybe I do to. He is the nicest kid ever. He is 9 and 2 years older than Tuck, but they play EVERYDAY. He is so sweet to all of my babies. This night at his Dad's ice cream parlor Blue Bunny he sat with Gil the whole night and fed and played with him. Love him!

Remember when.....

I looked like this? I am pretty much all lips....and Chinese.
Remember when I weighed less than a buck?
Or when I was in a beauty pageant? I think I was 5 or 6..thats my boys age, wierd. I swear I remember begging my mom to let me do this and she tried to get me to not want to...but I persisted and I am sad to say my career as a pagent queen ended very quickly.
Remember when mom made made all of our halloween costumes...

Remember when my mom was a teenager and didn't have all the resposibilites that she does now....I don't.

Remember when Sandi and
Brooke weren't the same people?


Or when that big empty field didn't have Mt. Timpanogos Temple on it?
When Bryce use to look like this...(is he holding scriptures?)
Yes! Girls camp, Steph and I loved girls camp more than anything we even went back as camp leaders while in college.
Remember when Steph had a round face? Where did that girl go?
Remember when Ally would sneak out of her house in her brothers clothes?

Look at Kennan and her hair...I love it...It is slick and straight. When I am up at mom's this weekend I am going to find some great one's of her....she is what got me on this kick thinking of some of her awesome stages;P
Ohhhh, my first real romance...and none the less it started in Germany while being an exchange student. Fun days!
My mom and her baby girls...yes that is my room in the background! I may have been obsessed with Ballet.
Remember when my mom and dad had all 6 of us children in one house?

My challenge is for any of you to join in on the remembering!!!! Post pictures of some great stages and moments. Kennan bring it on! I know you can put me to shame.

Saftey Town

Abe and his friend Skylar have attended a city program called safety town for the last 2 weeks. Abe has really enjoyed it. They sing a lot of songs from the Safety Kids that I grew up singing. When you go to pick up your child at the end of the class there is a police officer that sits and tells everyone good bye and gives them five...he really is cute with the kids. Well, one day when I went to pick him up he was having a very serious conversation with the police man. I went and signed him out and as we began to walk out I asked him what he said...(our conversation)

Me: Abe, what were you talking to the police man about?

Abe: I just told him how dad threw Tucker against the wall last night.

M: What?

A: I told him how dad threw Tucker against the wall and he got really hurt.

M: WHAT?

A: Mom, I told you already.

M: Dad didn't throw Tucker against the wall!!!!

A: Yes he did.

M: Abe, they were wrestling and daddy threw him on the couch...his foot hit the wall and knocked down a picture.

A: No, he knocked down two pictures.

M: Honey, Tucker is just fine..they were just playing.

A: He cried for a minute.

M: Because I was mad and told them "NO MORE WRESTLING". Tucker wanted to wrestle some more.

A: Ohhhh.....

So after this I had to go talk to the officer and make it clear that their dad is not abusive LOL and that Tucker who was standing there was fine. He kind of chuckled and said that Abe had raised his hand when the EMT asked if they had ever seen anyone get really hurt....Abe told them "Yes, last night my dad threw my brother against the wall". Oh, Abraham....what are we going to do with him?

baby boy

I have nothing profound to say....I just really liked this picture of Gil I took tonight.

Gwyneth

Do you see how proud I am of my little Hawaiian baby!!! Brooke called today and asked where she came from. All that dark hair and and dark skin?
When they put Gwyn in my arms I was so surprised at the sudden feeling of being complete, not that she was the end of my children but at the fact that I had my hearts desire. I was also so surprised at the way she looked. I always thought my daughter would be bald and fair. Imagine my surprise when she was so dark, and even had dark eyebrows...anyone who really knows me, knows I would kill to have darker features.....instead I have white eyebrows (thanks to makeup they look dark) and lighter skin. I am pretty much very Scandinavian.
I was so smitten with her from the moment I saw her. The day we found out she was a girl, My perma smile and glow of extreme happiness started. I think I must have smiled for the next four months, and every few days I would take out her ultrasound pictures just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
I love my boys so much, but I was a GIRLY GIRL! I have three younger sisters that I cuddled until the day I got married. This little girl has made my complete. My amazing Aunt Eilleen Crochet this blessing gown for the happy princess.
Gwyn has a cousin Ella who is three months older than her. This was there first meeting.