Remembering Dad

so my dad would have been 82 today. a year older than adams grandma GG. sometimes when i think of him i shed a tear. sometimes when i look at old pictures of him i can't help but smile. he had an infectious smile and a beautiful soul. every so often i get a note from someone who knew him when & can't say enough about how he influenced their lives. i only wish i could make that big a impact on someone's life. i wish he was here today to play with his grandchildren. he was so fun before he got really sick. Our stupid scanner isn't working so I took a picture of the pictures. (not so great)
he's holding me in the first pic i was 1- in the second pic i am 2 standing next to my mom

My bro eric laying on my dads lap (he loved photography) & my sis michele at my grandma blairs (elsa) second pic- sis lisa on his lap with me in the yellow i heart ny t-shirt- little sis andrea to the left- eric in the back ground

this was our last family picture- i think it was 1989

i've almost lived as many years without my father as i did with him. he past away when i was only 20- the weekend before my very first professional ballet performance with ballet iowa (my favorite company i danced for) he was suppose to come see me with my mom. man what a crazy week that was. rehearsal till late monday- flew home for the viewing & funeral tues & wed flew home to make it to perform thurs through the weekend. my mom & my sister heather came out to see me. i'm usually a nervous reck before a show- i don't even remember being nervous i had so much adrenaline going from everything that went on.

Oh My

this kid is officially a deacon! he passed the sacrament for the 3rd time this past week & he was amazing. i'm always impressed with the little dudes keeping track of who's already had the bread or water. GOOD JOB K!
my tweenager (typical right?)

rarely seen smile

Birthday Pics

How cute is the hat elsa's wearing. Eliz made cute little birthday hats for the girls. check out ciels in the last picture. We celebrated everyones birthday on Valentines day at our house which was nice but we really do need a basement. It's hard to have everyone in the same room for hours.

12 This Means I'm Really Old!

happy Birthday!
What can I say about Kaleb! He's pretty much a tweeny bopper. Already getting himself into all kinds of trouble.
He makes his sisters laugh daily.
Loves playing football at recess (maybe starting on a team this summer)
loves the ladies
hates walking to school
loves scouts
hates doing chores
loves church basketball
looks forward to becoming a deacon
can't stop whistling around the house (drives us crazy)

he's going to challenge us like crazy this year but we love him to death.

Elsa's 2 Where has the time gone!

it really doesn't feel like little pookie came into our lives 2 years ago already. she came into this world a little beaten up but oh my what a beauty she is now !
she is chatty & loves to dance
she thinks a tail or a hole at the bottom of any toy or stuffed animal is called poop
when she says she loves me- my heart melts
she's a total daddy's girl when he's in the room
she loves to feed ida (which scares me to death)
she's still such a little squirt!

Things Are Happening

smiley (ida's newest nickname) is pretty much crawling



kaleb won't stop growing- he'll be 12 in a couple of weeks
mouth art by k-man- pizza crust turned into a dog



her new killer glasses from the gap


little pookie is pretty much a ballerina- check out her arabesque- i didn't teach her that- but we were watching PNB's Midsummer- i love how she wants me to dance with her at the end
p.s. don't mind the toilet paper role- i've been sick all week!

Soooo Bummed

my oldest 2 sisters where in town this past weekend & i totally failed to break out the camera! totally sucks. Anyhow we had a blast shopping at our local antique stores & eating at some local restaurants.



Some of the local antique stores we shopped.
Abode/ blog
Second Hand Chic/ blog
Now & Again/ blog

7 Months Today

I can't even believe Ida is already 7 months

she is soooo delightful. here are a few little updates

LOVES her baby food
does a sit up every time I change her diaper (started about 3 weeks ago) check out video below
still super smiley
makes lots of loud noises
struggles with sleeping through the night (we are struggling more...)
loves to put everything in her mouth
rocks on her knees
can fit into elsa's diaper
loves her high chair
scootches backwards & always ends up under our t.v. console





Upon some you tube investigation- it looks like a lot of baby's can do sit ups. (we thought our little gal was bam bam reincarnated)

i promise we don't work ida like this guy is working his little guy- i love the way he counts his fingers