Brown-haired baby.....

Jiles Dunn

Our little guy growing so quickly, and almost everyday I think of his name. Jiles. No one really liked the name when I picked it, they all thought it was maybe just a tad to strange. Too last name-ish. I don't know. I remember looking at him in the hospital under all the wires and tubes with beeping going on in the background and just knowing that needed to be his name. It fit.

After the first name was finished we needed to come up with a "D" middle name, this I left up to the daddy, Dunn is what he decided on. I always have to tell people the spelling, D.U.N.N., not D.O.N.E. - that is what J.D. would have people believe "you know, it fits, we are done" he will say...and as for me, that is something that I am not willing to commit to quite yet, time will tell.

On to the real reason of my post, the name Dunn means "brown-haired man", my little brown-haired man. I have never had one of these. All of my other babies have been blondies or baldies. Mostly blondies, though. I just get get a giggle every once in a while that names might really mean something in a childs life. Who knows if he will stay my 'brown-haired man', but for now he sure is.

Happy Birthday Ella!.....

For Ellas birthday - wow number 5 - I took her to Build-a-Bear. She has been wanting to go there for months now. She was so cute choosing the 'perfect' bear.

J.D. was out of town for the week of her birthday, so we had a small celebration at home with a birthday cake and candles. She got some gifts that day from a few of her friends in the neighborhood and so all in all it was a pretty good day for her. I am not a birthday party mom, never have been, most likely, never will be. I would much rather take the birthday girl or boy to do something that they really want to do, get the the gift that they really want and spend the day with them. I like things less confusing, less chaotic. I want to spend quality time with my kids whenever I can have the chance.

Singing Happy Birthday to you.....

Blowing out the candles, (this took much longer than any of us thought) I think she tried six or seven times to do it. You can see the look of frustration on her face.

Finally, one of the big sisters, either Morgan or Brenna told her to hold her hair back and get closer. Ta-da! It worked. She is now officially 5.

I let her cut her own cake. Look at the smile. This girl loves to help in the kitchen, so what better than cutting and serving your own birthday cake. This was as fun to her as the presents I think.

Five.5. This means you are big, no longer the little girl in the house. A new door opens when you turn 5 it seems. You start school. You loose teeth. Most of the baby fat has all but disappeared. I am sad. But I am also happy. She has been the 'baby girl', I don't know if that will ever change though.

She makes me proud, she makes me smile and laugh. She is sunshine in my life.

Ella, your mom and dad love you more than you know.

Seriously, another dance??.....

Tall, Mohawk and Handsome.....

I know, I know, another dance?? This one was Bingham Ball. Girls choice and Morgan took a boy that lives by us, his name is Eric. He is a really nice kid and has a great family. They had a good time together (I think). The dance was not at the school it was in Salt Lake at the Union Pacific Train Station.
All I can say is thank heaven this is the last of the formal dances for a while. They cause alot of stress, what dress, what shoes, how to do the hair, and they cost alot of money. It will be nice to have a few months of not thinking about the next big dance....
It is always fun to watch her go and hear about it the next day. Having her as my teenage daughter has been a joy to experience. I have learned that as much as I dread the next stage of life in each on of my children (because I hate to have them grow so quickly), they are also very fun and rewarding. They all make me proud in so many ways.

It's a wrap (literally).....

Last week was Drews Championship Football Game, Alta vs. Bingham. This is the way it goes nearly every year. The turnout is also always the same, our little Alta boys coming up short. They lost on Saturday 14-6. Dang. Another year without a championship. I told Drew that 2nd place is not bad....and he quickly replied "they are a bunch of fags" - whoa!! I laughed and let him rant and rave for a bit about the Bingham team. He got over it and we ended up having a nice and very snowy Saturday.
This is Jiles in the stroller on the sidelines - I know all of you may scream abuse that my 7 month old was out in the snow like that, but believe me he was as toasty, warm and as dry as he would have been at home.

When I opened up the many layers to give him his binky it was like a sauna in there. He was happy and sleeping and cozy.
I can't say the same for the rest of us though. We all FROOOZE!! Morgan, Brenna, Jensen and Ella - who really wanted to come to be supportive, and by the way, on the way out to the game there were blue skies, all ended up in the car by half time.
I headed to the car just a few minutes before the game ended, because I knew there was probably not a chance that we would win. I got to the car, with frozen hands and ice in my hair, started to cry. I am a little embarassed, but I honestly can't remember the last time I cried because I was so cold. Brenna laughed, and the rest just stared, Morgan tried to help.
Maybe the tears were from being cold, and maybe a few of them were for the loss of the football game. It is an emotional game and another season in our football lives is over.

Toddlers and Tiaras.....

Behind the scenes.....Brenna is such a fun big sister. She really enjoys feeding into Ellas desire to "look beautiful" - are we creating a monster?? Maybe, but they sure do like playing dress-up.

Ella had just gotten her very first dance recital outfit and she wanted to show it off....

The dance recital is coming in December, and hopefully she will be as willing then to smile and strut her stuff when she is on a stage with hundreds of people watching. She is really quite shy when she is around other people, but for us at home, she never stops performing!!

LOL.....

Ella, Ella, Ella - such a funny girl, the other day out of no where she informs me....

"Mom, I feel like crack."

Ella is also suddenly very interested in knowing where we are when we are driving in the car.

"Mom, is this ours town?"
The girl pluralizes so many words. Especially 'ours', it's always 'ours baby', 'ours family', 'ours house' etc....

Sundays are very lazy around our house. We go to church at 9, so we have the whole day to do pretty much nothing. With the time change yesterday, it seemed like we had a really long night. (This is such a hard thing for us all to get used to).

All of us came home and napped of course, J.D. grilled steaks and baked potatoes for dinner, we got caught up on our scripture reading (we are trying to read one chapter a day, it is actually going quite well), sat in the hot tub as a family, and then made shakes - another one of J.D.'s many talents.....cute Drew then says.....

"This has been the ultimate Sunday."

Have I said it too many times???

I LOVE MY PEOPLE!!!!

Happy Birthday to Drew, J.D. and Jenn.....

Happy Halloween!!

We all decided to be traditional Halloweenies this year, the idea started with Morgan half-joking saying that she wanted to be a pumpkin. The idea stuck, so we ended up with a vampire, a scarecrow, a mummy, a black cat, a pumpkin and the cutest witch ever - Baby Ji-ji is our skeleton. (Poor kid, sleeping when it was time to take pictures)

Me and my best girls!! How I love my sisters and my mom....I am so thankful that we can all be such good friends and enjoy being around each other. I don't think those kind of relationships come along all the time. They are all such blessings in my life.

Morgan, and one of the MANY boys that come around. I urge her each and every day not to get too serious with one over another.....a hard and fast rule at my house is NO BOYFRIENDS!! Okay, maybe not a rule, but a strong suggestion. She is happy with that situation because she does have lots of opportunities to know and meet lots of cuties...

(ah, to be a teenager again,....NOT)

One of the rules of our annual Halloween party is that we don't tell each other what we are coming dressed up as. The surprise at the front door when you see grown-ups dressed up is most of the fun. We always have such a good time laughing at what everyone comes up with - I have to say, the last 4 years of this tradition has been one of the highlights of our year. The thought of getting ready for the party is full of dread, but during the party there is nothing but fun.

I guess great minds think alike, because this year Corey and J.D. both came as vampires.

Leah and Ella-Bella - cute little cousins.

Unfortunately I don't get nearly as many pictures of the little ones as I probably should. I don't know if it because they all disperse so quickly when they get to my house or if it is that I am too focused on all the adults that I get side tracked. Either way, I must try harder next year....

Happy Birthday to Drew!! I now am the proud mother of 3 teenagers....how handsome is he??
He is the reason for our strange and silly Halloween tradition. I figured if I am going to have a birthday party we may as well make it interesting.

As most of you know, Drew and I share the same special day. He was the best birthday gift that I ever received 13 years ago!! I tell him that all the time and I am pretty sure that he doesn't mind sharing his day with his mom. I love you Drew. You are an amazing example to your family. He has the kindest and one softest hearts of anyone I know. He is a big strong boy that thankfully still needs his mom and dad and I pray everyday that he will continue to need me as much as I need him.

We had a small family birthday party with cake and presents earlier in the week for J.D.'s birthday (October 21) - he had been out of town all day so our party started at 9:00p.m. that night. Ella and I went birthday shopping for our dad and she picked out one of his gifts all by herself. No joke, she went up to a rack, pulled down a shirt and brought it over to me. It was his size and I knew the minute I saw it that he would love it. Obviously she did too.

We came home later that afternoon and 'built' him a cake, wrapped his gifts, bought his balloons and made a 'happy birthday' banner that we all signed. Hopefully he had a nice day - after all, most of it was spent in Minnesota and on a plane, but we did what we could.

We love you J.D. thanks for being the best dad and hubby a family could want!! You rule!