We're getting there :)

I just wanted to share some of our house updates. We are slowly working on things here and there to make our house a little more beautiful. Here is our fireplace and computer nook...

Before.

and

After

In the end we decided against keeping the cat food container

and screw organizer on the mantel ;)

Loveless Family Party

The end of July has been a whirlwind of activity. We enjoyed some time with the Loveless family on the 11th at our family reunion. We met at Matt and Lori's home here in Kaysville . It was so fun to visit. I feel lucky to have married into such an awesome family.

Here is Lucy enjoying a siesta on Grandma MaryAnn's lap.

Our niece Heidi...the little ones enjoyed hiding in the entry table cabinet.

Lucy, awake, playing with her cousin Valerie.

Just visiting.

I can't wait until I'm 8!

The day finally came for Hannah to be baptised on Saturday the 11th. She has been looking forward to this day for the past 6 months or so. We love her so much and are very proud of her for making the decision to become a member of the church.Being our first child, Hannah has always had to deal with our fumbling attempts to get it right. There were a few important things that we forgot to bring to the baptism. Thankfully Vera drove back to our home and rummaged around for some towels. Also, we were positive that we brought an extra shirt for John to wear after the baptism, and have no idea how it ended up spending the whole morning lying peacefully on our bed.

Happily these aren't the only memories that we will have of Hannah's baptism day. I will always remember the sweet sentimental feelings of seeing her in the water in the arms of her dad getting ready to go down into the water. I will remember unexpectedly feeling the strong desire to be with Hannah, her dad, brother and sisters forever. I will remember helping her change before her confirmation, and explaining again what it means to receive the Holy Ghost. I will remember the hope that she would always seek after and recognize the witnesses of the Holy Ghost throughout her life, and most of all that she would be happy.

We are so happy for you Hannah, we love you!

*you'd never know just by looking, but John has a soaking wet arm around me in this picture.

Johnny's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Silly putty in the hair and an extreme haircut, all before breakfast. Friday didn't start out to be Johnny's best day, and it didn't end up that way either. Soon after his haircut and bath, he tripped over the drawers that John was installing in our computer nook and skinned up his ankle. Then later that evening, after we thought all was well, we decided to have an evening swim and a picnic at the pool with Grandma Ackerman. Wouldn't you know it, Johnny tripped on the cement and skinned the left side of his newly shaved head pretty badly, His left hand and his left shin. He cried for a long time and earned a wagon ride home for that one. Luckily they had a first Aid kit at the pool, so we were able to put some bandaids on the gushers. As we were looking him over that night, John said that he looked like a traumatized cancer patient. We asked Johnny how he felt the next morning, and he said "I'm okay with it now." but everytime he remembered the bandaid on his shin he started limping again.

Happy, Happy Birthday Hannah dear.

Hannah turned 8 years old on July 9th. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is turning into such a beautiful, fun little girl, and we are so happy to have her in our family. She wanted to to make a white longhaired cat for her birthday cake this year. She had plenty of help making the cake, as you can tell from this picture. After the cake was cut and frosted, I let her go to town with the decorating. She had a ball covering the cake with coconut and hearts. She made the nose out of a melted pink tootsie rool and the eyes out of blue decorating gel and chocolate chips.

She did a great job!

Her favorite gift was a big red "ruby" that Johnny picked up for her at the craft store. She was very excited about that.

*Here is another little piece of trivia. See the purple mouth shaped spot on Hannah's upper arm, she has a matching one on the other side. She is the only girl I know who will be getting baptised with hickies. Luckily they were self inflicted, and we have a long sleeved sweater to put over her dress.

Just planning ahead

John has been busy networking our computers and getting all the important wires to the right places. The wall plate had a few extra spaces that he didn't need, so he decided to be prepared for technologies that might be available in the future ;) He's such a joker.

Locks of Love

I wish that I could say that all of my intentions were charitable today, but I am not sure if that would be the complete truth. About six months ago after making Hannah cry during her daily hair brushing, I talked to her about possibly getting her hair cut when she turned eight. Then the thought came to me that it was probably long enough to donate. I told Hannah about Locks of Love and showed her a few pictures of children who had lost their hair. She told me that it would be okay to cut it then, and we have reminded her quite frequently of her commitment to do this. I took this picture on Sunday, knowing that it would probably be the last time we curled her long locks. Her hair is so beautiful that it makes my mouth water, when I take the time to do it. The problem is that her hair is only really done about once a week--combed and curled that is. Who has the time and patience to comb and style miles of thick tangly hair while listening to a wailing 7 year old once a day? I don't. I felt like I was doing pretty good if I could just get the snarls out and keep her hair out of her eyes. The funny thing is, that no matter how much it hurt to have me comb her hair, she still wanted to grow it to her waist.

Today while driving to the salon, she was actually excited about the hair cut. But as she stylist started snipping away, I could tell that she was starting to think twice about the whole thing. By the end, even a lollipop couldn't make her smile. Although as soon as we stepped out of the salon and made a wig for Lucy she felt much better.

She plans on growing her hair out again this year. She is still a little self conscious about her haircut, so if you see her, please only mention her beauty--not her hair.

You've come a long way baby

This morning, Johnny asked if he could feed Lucy breakfast, he has done this more than once with Lucy but I am still amazed by it. Let me tell you why... Johnny loves babies. When Maddie was a newborn, Johnny couldn't get enough of her. I remember that he was constantly wanting to hold her and touch her. That gradually changed as she got older. When I asked Johnny what had happened to all of the love he once felt for Maddie, he told me that he only liked babies who don't eat. Trying to reason with him that all babies eat didn't work. He would sit at the table across from Maddie and cry that she was being too gross and plead with us to make her eat in the basement. Of course we didn't make her eat in the basement, we just told Johnny not to look. I don't know what changed in the past two years; Not only is he staring his worst fear right in the eyes now, but he his feeding her lumpy oatmeal and doesn't even think twice when it drips down her slimy little chin. Maddie, on the other hand, came though all of this with her confidence unscathed. She is still as happy as ever, but is really working hard on her etiquette. She still makes a mess, but she tried to make up for it today by dressing up for breakfast and wearing her nicest necklace and tiara. Maybe she is hoping that if she wears enough flashy accessories, nobody will notice the lumpy oatmeal dripping down her own chin.

Our perfectly imperfect 4th of July

Happy birthday America! To celebrate this glorious day, we headed to the Kaysville 4th of July parade around 11:00 last Saturday. As soon as we found a nice spot of grass to sit, a boy started passing out Popsicles. Of course we couldn't pass them up, and they were as good and as sticky as I remember...and it all went downhill from there...(Thanks, Karen, for taking these pictures. We are so glad you came.)

After lunch we headed to a nearby swimming pool for a nice 4th of July swim. Well, John, Hannah, Johnny and Madeline that is--Lucy and I were content to watch.

After dinner, we braved the mosquitos and headed out to light some of our fireworks. Most of them were as entertaining as home fireworks can be, but after a few of them Maddie would say "Borrriiiing." This is the first year that she would remember fireworks of any kind, so I don't think she meant it, I am not even sure she knows what the word means.

Strictly business

Here are a few pictures of John's recent business trip. He not only traveled to Taiwan and Japan, but he also traveled into the future! Apparently this is what Japan and Taiwan will look like in the year 2038. I love that he can have the experience of traveling around the world, and I hope that someday I will be able to go with them. Though this trip was a grueling trip for him, he worked very hard and slept very little--so I am sure I wouldn't have had a lot of fun on this one. He was able to get away one day and do some sightseeing around Okinawa, and he had an eight hour layover in Taipei, Taiwan where he was able to go and experience Taipei 101.
This is a picture of one of the suicide bomber shelters

John in Taiwan near Taipei 101, he got really good at taking self portraits.

Having a meal in Okinawa

Surfing the web with a tomato in the Taiwan airport.

Little Lucy

Here are a couple of pictures that I have taken of Lucy these past few days. She is really starting to show a little personality of her own. She has very distinct likes and dislikes. She loves squealing with Maddie, tackling Johnny and having Hannah help her walk around the house. She loves cheese and has started spitting out her fruits and vegetables with a disgusted look on her face every time I try to feed them to her. She only likes being touched when it is her idea and will push you away if it is not. She is definitely turning into a toddler and I am curious to see the little girl she will become.

Tumbling

I have thought a lot about helping our kids develop some physical talents lately. We are hoping that they will have a little coordination even though they are cursed with our genes, especially mine. I decided to give them a try at tumbling because it isn't super competitive at this age, it helps them learn how to use their bodies, and it doesn't involve water (for Johnny's sake). The first class was too hard because the instructor didn't quite know where to place them, it was a miserable experience for both of them. But the second class was much better. They are in the very beginning class and are loving it now.

When I had Johnny put his tumbling outfit on, he said that the shirt looked weird. I told him it was supposed to look like that, with a puzzled look on his face he said "it's supposed to look embarassing?" Their instructor gave them a hundred dollar bill in play money. It was to help teach them how to do sumersaults while keeping their knees together. They put the money in between their knees and try to keep it there. I can't believe how fast they are learning.

Father's day...continued.

Well, I am not quite private yet, but I'm still working on it. In the mean time, here are some more fun pictures of our Father's day. We didn't actually celebrate until today because John returned home from his business trip this morning. He was away for about 12 days. It felt like such a long time this time, and it's so nice to have him home again. This is a picture that we took after church on Father's day. He spent most of his time in Okinawa, Japan this time with a lay-over in Taipei, Taiwan. He picked up some shi-shi for the kids. They are statuettes that look like a cross between a dragon and a dog. They are used for luck. There is a smiling shi-shi and an angry shi-shi. Johnny got the angry one, this is his attempt at looking angry.

He also brought home some pens from a handicapped lady who was selling them on the streets in Taiwan. We really skipped the middle man there :)

I asked Hannah what she thought dad would like for Father's day, she suggested a bouquet of flowers. When I told her that dad wasn't really a fan of flowers, she decided that maybe he would like them if they were made out of candy. She was right, dad is a big fan of candy! Welcome home again John, we love you!