Abby is 6

Dear Abby, 

You are 6! You were so excited to be six. You always say "Now I am Six so I can do ______". You have been all sorts of brave and confident lately. You are so sweet and kind. Your little sisters are the luckiest. You look out for them, and are very patient with them. Even when baby godzilla wants to play with your legos. You always include Juliet in whatever you are doing. You are so helpful to me. There are many times I  couldn't get through everything I am doing if I didn't have you to help me. You are so goofy and love to make people laugh. You are so amazingly creative. I love all the pictures you draw, and the books you make. Your memory is also incredible. The things you can remember from the past few years is amazing to me! You are like me in a lot of ways. You feel things really strongly. Sometimes those feelings are too big to handle and they come out in not the best way. Watching you learn how to handle that when you start to feel so frustrated or upset has been amazing. You really try hard to handle a situation the best that you can, and you are awesome at recovering if you get really upset. You have an amazing attitude and are very grateful for things. You blow us away with your responsibility and your capability. 

Now that you are six you can swim! Apparently you had to wait until you were six to put your head under water. Now you are super excited to get baptized in only two years! You were afraid to put your head under the water. Now you're not!! You aren't hardly scared of anything. Except the dark. You have the coolest space nightlight you bought with your birthday money. We take it everywhere with us. Your favorite things in the whole world are Star Wars and Legos. Those two things could keep you going for days. You love to eat popsicles and all kinds of vegetables. You have the sweetest voice. You love to sing and "play" the piano. You start piano lessons soon and I can't wait to see where it takes you! 

You are the sweetest person. You have my back, you are darling with your sisters. You love to golf with your dad! We are all just the luckiest to have you. Thank you for being you. You are the best! 

The rest of July

The rest of July was awesome! Here is the photo dump: 

4th of July Sunday. I only coordinate my family three Sundays of the year. Easter, Christmas and the 4th of July. I love it! 

Next year we need a little more red. Whoops. 

Lunch with daddy! When he covered a lot of extra hours we would come visit him for lunch. It was very fun. 

I just love her. She has come out of a tough stage. There was awhile there that she just cried. All. the time. It was rough. Now we still have our moments, but she is so happy. So creative, so talkative and hilarious. She is always giving hugs, she is obsessed with her sisters. She does everything they do. She loves to play "dance dance" (just dance on the apple TV). She is always hungry and usually just helps herself to whatever she wants. #messy 

We could just freeze her as she is right now. We love you Jane baby! 

This girl!! Oh my gosh this girl. She is amazing. Her confidence and her amazing attitude is beyond amazing. She is so helpful and doesn't see anything that she can't do. She has my back. If she sees something that needs to be done, she does it! She can now buckle and unbuckle everyone in their carseats. Its amazing. She is obsessed with Starwars. She wants to wear he Star Wars shirt on the daily. She still does her own hair and gets more and more creative. She eats so well. Every time I make dinner she comes in and asks what it is and says "I love that!!" Makes me feel so good. She is very ready for school to start again. She loves being with her sisters, but she misses the constant activity of school. She told me yesterday that she really doesn't like quiet time. I told her when she starts school she doesn't have to do it anymore. She was very happy about that. Kyle and I wonder all the time how we got so lucky with her. She is seriously incredible. 

Lacee came and hung out with us after I got back from girls camp. We all missed her! 

The day I got back from girls camp was Brinley's birthday. The girls happened to be staying at the Cordner's while Sean and Angell were out of town. So we made Brinley a birthday cake and headed over to swim and have dinner together. 

One Monday we headed up to the aquarium again. We are loving those passes. The girls all had a great time again! Jane keeps asking every day to go back. I loved when she got up and snuggled up on Jules. And Jules didn't even hesitate to wrap her up and teach her about what they were seeing. Please always be like this girls! You all need each other and work so well together. 

Jane was pooped out after the aquarium! 

Eating spaghetti for dinner. One person got to keep their shirt on... for obvious reasons. 

Her sense of style kills me. If her shorts aren't up over belly button then they are "falling off". So she took the massive belt off of her Elena dress and put it through the loops on her regular shorts. Then tucked her shirt in and was good to go. She went out in public like this. But seriously there is no stopping her. She knows what she likes and thats how its going to be. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, so I've gotten really good at rolling with it. I love that she is confident in her own skin and I want to encourage that. I want her to be Abby because the person she is, is amazing! 

The girls have really loved playing Just Dance. Its the perfect way to wiggle and be active together while we are stuck inside! Summer is brutal. 

Poor Jane and her hair. She comes in every morning pulling her hair off her face asking me to pull it up. I really don't want to cut bangs, we're trying to train her hair to go to the side. It really isn't working. 

Abby's friend Olivia came over to play one last time. She moved to Sacramento at the end of July. Abby is going to miss that friend like crazy. They were so cute together. 

Jane came walking upstairs like this. She had clothes on, took them off and dressed herself. I seriously love how her personality is coming through these days! 

These are the pictures Kyle sent me while I was at girls camp. I loved that they all got to have that bonding time together. Kyle is the best at supporting me in whatever it is I need to do. I'm so grateful for that! 

Park City trip 2017

We had the funnest family trip up to Utah! We left Saturday afternoon to drive to flagstaff. We were planning on leaving as soon as Kyle got home from work at 2:00. I had everything packed and the car half loaded. Kyle got home and helped me finishing loading the car. Everyone went to the bathroom and we were loading the girls in, when we realized the battery on our car had died!! It was a bummer it happened, but if it had to happen we are so grateful it happened at our house where we have help! My grandpy came right over and helped us jump it. Then Kyle went and got a new battery and we hit the road a little later than we were planning. But it ended up working out perfect. We got into flagstaff just in time for dinner. They had the biggest storm that we caught the tail end of. The most beautiful double rainbow I have ever seen!! And it was so cold! We ate dinner and headed over to the hotel. We stayed at The Little America, which was so fun. They have the best trail right out back of the hotel. We went on a little walk and then back to the hotel to get ready for bed. The girls slept great and we had a fun night. 

The next day was a long drive!! We stopped for lunch in panquitch at a gastation subway. I want to throw up just typing about it. So gross. I didn't eat anything. The girls did great even though it was a long day. The worst thing that happened (other than the gas station subway) was Juliet and her slime. I made the bad choice of letting Jules pick out slime for her "toy" in the car. She wanted it to make fart noises. Classy. I handed it to her and said "don't make a mess". About an hour later she says "sorry mom, I made a mess". I turn around and there is green slime EVERYWHERE!!! All over her clothes (which ruined them), all over her car seat and in. her. hair!!!! I had to sit back there with a comb and comb out  the slime for half an hour. It was the worst. My Juliet. She keeps me on my toes. 

We got into Pleasant Grove around 4 and visited with Grandma and Grandpa Call. That was so fun. Tara and sweet little Ezra came! That was my first time meeting Ezra and he was so sweet. The girls were so cute for Grandma and Grandpa Call. Then we headed over to Kevin and Denise's house to see all of them. We were able to meet Nate and Chelsea and see Ashley and will after almost 9 years!! So crazy! The girls had a blast running around their backyard. 

Then we did some grocery shopping and headed up to Park City. The girls were very excited about the hotel. Our room was beyond amazing!! Top floor, beautiful view and plenty of space. We loved it! 

The girls all loved sleeping in the same room together again. They are so cute together. 

Day 1. 

I got up and went "running". It was a lot of walking. Hills and elevation did me in. But I found a beautiful path that ran along a creek. It was amazing! Then I headed back, we got ready and headed out to have the best day ever! 

We got the girls day passes so they could do all the fun things. We started out at the ropes course. Juliet needed a lot of help, but she was so cute and positive. She kept cheering Abby on. Abby didn't need any help! She was so strong and so brave. I couldn't believe it! Then they went and did the kids zip line. I thought we were really going to have to talk them into it. But they both hopped right up and had the best time. Both saying "wheeeee" the whole time. They did it again and again and again. Juliet was so friendly with all the workers. She kept telling everyone our life story! At one point one of the workers asked me how long we had been living in Arizona. All I could think is why is he asking me that? I don't even know him!! Ha ha! I love that friendly little girl. 

Then we did some panning for pretty rocks, miniature golf and the alpine slide! I went up with Abby and we had so much fun. The lift up was a blast. She talked my ear off the whole time. I loved it. At one point she tells me "thank you for bringing me to this fun place". We got to the top and cruised over to the slide. We had so much fun flying down the mountain! Such a fun memory with my girl. Then we switched places with Juliet and Kyle and had some lunch. I stayed up in the room while Jane took a nap. Kyle took Abby and Jules back down to do the zip line and rock wall. Then they did the jumping trampoline thing. I watched Abby from the window and I was so proud of her! She kept trying to do a backflip and it didn't look like she was going to be able to get it. I was so proud of her for even trying. And then she got it! She did backflip after backflip! I was so blown away. She is so strong and brave. I have loved seeing her confidence just blossom this past year. 

Then Carson and Andi came up to spend the night with us. We had dinner at the yummiest Mexican restaurant right outside the hotel. It was so much fun getting to spend time with them. They are the cutest couple. I'm so grateful my girls have another awesome aunt to look up to. 

Tuesday morning I got up early and hit the gym at the hotel. I really dislike gyms no matter how big or small. I like working out all by myself, ha ha! Then Kyle and Carson went golfing together. They had a great time. While they were gone the girls and I went exploring. The hotel had the coolest kids/family area. We colored pictures, played connect four and built cool stuff with giant legos. It was really fun! That afternoon after Kyle got back I headed out to the park city outlets to spend my birthday money! It was so fun. I went a little crazy in the carters outlet. So much cute stuff! 

That night we went and explored main street park city. We had the best pizza! It was a fun environment and everything was super fresh and yummy. Then we went and explored the family history center right there on main street that was super cool. Then we had some really yummy ice cream and headed to a park to play. They were re-mulching the park so we had to leave earlier than we wanted. 

The next morning we went back over to the park to take pictures by the stream. I hadn't taken her 6 year pictures yet and I found the cutest dress at carters. So we had to take advantage of the awesome scenery and get some pictures. I love that girl. 

Then we all wanted to ride the alpine slide again. Jules and I headed up first. We rode the lift the whole way up and were sitting on the slide, the next ones to go. When they called in a rain stop!! Juliet was so sad. She cried and cried. We rode the lift back down again which was fun. Then we had to wait forever for them to open it back up again!! Luckily we were finally able to go on it and had the funnest time. Then Kyle and Abby went and then we headed out to Salt Lake. We spent a couple hours on temple square. We went and saw the angel Moroni, the conference center and the beautiful statue of Christ. After temple square we went and had dinner with the Rowers! It was so much fun! They make the best food and it was so fun to spend the evening catching up with them. We miss our Colorado friends. 

Then we headed home and crashed in bed. The next day was driving home. It was the longest day ever. We were all dying. It was so nice to be home!! 

 It was such an amazing trip, I'm so grateful for Kyle. He always plans the best trips for us. He puts a lot of thought and planning into them and they are the best. It is so fun to build these memories as a family. I seriously love my crew. 

We collected a lot of pinecones on our hike. 

The gorgeous view from our room. 

The girls have been really into rock collecting lately, so this little activity was so fun for them. They gave them a big bag of dirt and then they sifted it to reveal a bunch of really fun rocks. 

Waiting for daddy and Jules to come down. 

Mini golf! 

Carson and Andi got lots and lots of love. 

These girls and their sweet relationship. Love them! 

We really love ice cream!