Flashback to Meeting Phoebe

These first two pictures are courtesy of Cindy...  On December 31, 2011, we were so excited to welcome a new cousin, Phoebe Anne.  Even though we live relatively close, the first opportunity that we had to meet her was when she was about three weeks old. 

Even though I really wanted to see Phoebe and Cindy while they were still in the hospital, I think it worked out better for everyone to have the older kids have a little bigger space than a hospital room to visit in, and I'm sure it made for a longer, less stresful visit.  They always love seeing Lyla and she was so nice to share her things with them.

Kaci loves to pull her shy personality out whenever we are around people she hasn't seen in awhile.  She is getting quicker and quicker at warming up though and letting them see her true personality. 

We had an extra treat of having Grandma there who was helping with Phoebe.  She wasted no time in giving all her grandkids love and even had jello jigglers waiting for the older ones because she knows it's one of their favorites.  Just a few days ago, 8 months later, Carter asked me, "remember when we saw Lyla and Phoebe and Grandma had Jello Jigglers?"  They obviously made quite the impression.

Makynzie and Phoebe first time meeting on earth.  Phoebe was born a month early and so was extra tiny.  It is fun to see the difference in size of these two. 

These cousins were dressed in the same onsie, definitely a sign of their shared good taste.  :)  Kynzie's was a newborn size and Phoebe's was a preemie.

In this picture, I was asking Makynzie if she was talking to her soon to be born cousins, Scarlett and Jack.  She would just flash this huge smile and keep cooing and staring at the sky.  I think she was!  :)

One Advantage of Living in Utah..

...Is that we get an extra holiday!  July 24th is a Utah Holiday where we celebrate the day the Mormon pioneers first entered the valley.  I was so excited to find out that, unlike last year, David had the entire day off, so he was able to come and enjoy the festivities.  This is the only picture I got of the fair at the park.  I guess we were having too much fun?  

Carter decided to make it a tradition to get lost...DESPITE the huge talk we had in the car on the way over about staying close and what to do when you get lost.  I tried so hard to keep an extra close watch on everyone because that was the worst feeling not knowing where he was in that big park last year.....Well, somehow he managed to slip away again.  It was AGAIN the worst feeling. 

I kept imagining kidnappers who come to those things looking for an opportunity and I was so worried.  It was better this year though because David was there and he was able to search everywhere while I stayed with the others in the last place we saw Carter, hoping he would return.   David finally found him at the information booth...someone had found him and brought him there.  This is one tradition I would NOT like to continue!

So for the 4th of July, we didn't do much to celebrate 'cuz David was working that night  :( and I didn't feel like taking all the kids some where with no help and staying out til really late and then packing them all again.  We did get some fireworks and did them in front of our house, but I was still sad that we couldn't see fireworks.  When I found out that we would have a second chance to do it on the 24th, I was so excited!  We have season tickets to the minor league team, the Owlz that play in Orem.  We found out that there would be fireworks at the game that night and so decided to take the kids to see the game and the fireworks.  That's where most of these pictures are from.

Aside from about 10 minutes of rain, it was a great night for baseball.  We even saw a double rainbow.  I was nursing Kynzie at the time so I didn't get a picture though.    The big scab on Mason's nose is from the family reunion the previous week where he got a rug burn from sliding head first down the stairs.

This is how Makynzie watched the fireworks.  :)  We were close enough that we felt the need to be covering our little ones' ears.  She seemed to like them though. 

I was so glad that we got to see some fireworks and a baseball game all in the same night!  It helped that there was a big play area that the kids played in when they got bored of watching the game.