3rd & 4th

 Of course you already know what we did for the 4th of July this year... because it's always the same, and we love it.  But it was even better this year, because that was the day that Elder Jenkins returned from Tampa, Florida!  We had our usual dinner at the park and dessert at my parents with fireworks on the 3rd.  Then sleepover, parade, breakfast with everyone, 1 hour of downtime, drove in a large caravan to S.L. to pick up Blake, big dinner party back at my parents house with lots of friends and family, then lots of fireworks.  It was an awesome day!

 Abigail is really a fan of pictures of herself lately.  Especially goofy ones

 She always says, "goofy, then smile ones"  Here's the smile one

 she is pretty darn cute

 Little besties (Hailey's clothes were soaked with orange soda, so out comes the big t shirt)

 Oh ya!  An adult got on the tramp.  That's the kids' favorite thing, they're always begging someone to bounce them all

 Getting ready for her first parade appearance.  She was so excited to dance on the float!

 Waiting for the parade to start

 There's Grandpa

 Next comes Uncle Scott

 Very pleased with the delicious candy selection thrown her way

 Hanging with his boys

My little cutie shakin her booty (which she asked me if that was ok, she didn't know if it was allowed)

 Hanging with the newlyweds

 probably already sick of my picture taking, but they smiled anyway

 Just waiting to go pick up Blake!

 We made shirts for all the little kids that said, "welcome home uncle Blake, Tampa, Florida mission

 waiting...

 waiting....

 waiting....

 waiting... it seemed like we were waiting for forever

 He's here!

 It was so good to have the family all in one piece again

 more hugs for Mom, I don't think my Dad could let go

 meeting little Kael for the first time

 talking to Cars

 Handsome guy

 Abigail is always begging to take pictures

 talking about guy stuff I'm sure

 Hailey got herself a bag of chips, her blanket and lounged in a chair for a while

 Beau and Luke have already stripped down to play super heros

Lisa and her sister, Michelle. 

 It's so great to have Blake back.  My kids talk about him non-stop, and ask when we're going to see him next.  This is not the end of our party time together... we partied hard for the rest of the week.  I will post pictures soon.

Birthday Girl

This is what we wake up to every morning... the happiest girl in the world.  She is always smiling and galloping (like a little pony) around.  Everybody argues over who gets to get her out of her crib in the morning.  It's a rare occasion when I let one of the kids get her, because it's my favorite part of the day.  She's smiling before she even opens her eyes.  She's a little doted upon, being the baby and all.  The kids love her and they're always trying to take care of her.  Sometimes she loves it and other times, she just wants to be a big girl.
Some of Hailey's favorite things...
her bem (blanket)  I don't know why she calls it that, just always has
wearing dresses
any of her cabbage patch cutie dolls
cottage cheese and mandarin oranges
playing outside
going for walks
smiling (she's always smiling)
and reading

Everybody was overly excited on her bday.  All the kids ran in her room singing to her that morning.  She seemed to know it was a special day because of all the extra attention.  She kept pointing to herself saying "birthday girl"  Or something that sounded like that.  

Hailey loves hearts.  She likes to  bring me her magna doodle and request for me to draw little hearts.  So we decided to do a heart theme for her bday

Pancake hearts... which she loved and squealed about.

blowing out her breakfast candle

Later that night we had our usual grandparent party.  She got lots of her favorite things, she has the best grandparents.

Hailey loved her doll, chair, squinkies, books, outfits, and swimming pool.  

I had a hard time thinking of something to get her, because I feel like we have every girl toddler toy there is after having two older sisters.  So we got her a big swimming pool, which I had wanted to get for all of the kids so it was convienient.  She loves the pool, and they've had lots of fun swimming so far this summer.

She also squealed over her heart shaped cake.  It didn't even matter to her that it was a bit lopsided ;)

blowing out the candles

Playing with some squinkies.

I thought how funny these two pictures are, because all our bday pictures are the same.  Men in one corner...

And the women in the other

Daddy's girl

Me and my sweeties.  

Two other important events happened this day, or didn't happen I should say...

1.  Luke lost his tooth.  It had been flappin in the wind, and so Grandpa Larry pinned him down and got it out.  He has also since lost the other front tooth, which was also pulled out by Grandpa Larry per Luke's request.

2.  This is the first time that I've had a 2 year old birthday, and I didn't have a new baby.  Yay!  I had my kids close, and that's how we wanted it, but it feels nice to have a break.  My kids are all about the exact same apart...

Luke and Ab- 20 1/2 mos.

Ab and Carly- 21 1/2 mos.

Carly and Hayes- 20 mos.

So I feel a little liberated to have more freedom and be over the baby stage.   Not that I don't have a little sadness creep over me when I see baby pictures of my kids... but I love seeing them grow up.  The older they get the better, which I never would have thought possible considering how much I loved having my babies.  I love having a family of little people.

Abigail's preschool graduation

 Yea!  She has graduated!  Abigail LOVED preschool,  She LOVED her teachers,  and she LOVED her friends. She's a little sad that it's all over.  Now she is looking forward to Kindergarten.  She was also a little sad when I told her that Kindergarten wouldn't start immediately after preschool.  She can't wait to get on the school bus with Luke each day.  Luke also pipes in when she talks about going to school together with, "ya and then if someone teases Ab, I will punch them in the face!"  Ben told Luke then only time he could ever hit someone is if they're hurting one of his sisters.  I think he might be a little too excited for this.

Usually every time I take Abigail to the store with me on a school day,  some cashier will ask why she doesn't have school that day.  I always explain that she's in preschool, she just looks like she's older because she's so tall.  I then tell them that her Daddy is 6'6, and then they understand.  It will be nice next year when she'll actually be in school, so no more questioning.

Her preschool graduation was at the Kangaroo zoo in Ogden.  It's just a massive building with tons of jumpy things.  It was so much fun for all the kids.

 With her teachers, Mrs. Shelly and Mrs. Amy.  They are the best!

The next few pictures are of my sweaty kids.  That's the only negative thing about the Kangaroo zoo.  It was SO hot and the kids were SO sweaty!

DInner and Reception

 The Dinner and the reception were so beautiful!  They had them both at the Castle in Layton.  The grounds were beautiful and had a big pond and waterfall.  It was hard to get pictures of the kids, because they were all running around having a great time trying to get wet.

The four Jenkins granddaughters

 My handsome boy.  I didn't get one of all the grandsons... they were having too much fun.

 

Abigail was in love with everything at the reception.  She thought it was all so beautiful, and she kept posing for pictures

 The best parents a girl could ask for

little miss sass

 Shelley with all her sisters

L-R-  Shannon, Lisa, Shelley, Lauren (Shelley's actual sister), Me, Jess

 

 Matt, Jess, Adam, and Emma

 

 Jed, Shannon, Beau, and Kael

My little family

Shelley with all of her flower girls.  The little girl on the very left is Lauren's daughter, Emma

 Brothers

 Grandma and little Kael

  

 handsome couple

 

Luke and Lisa

Carly said it was double great... meaning Brent and Shelley got married, and Luke and Lisa were in town

 Us

 

And the couple of the hour

So happy Brent and Shelley found one another!  we love our new sister/aunt, and it's fun seeing Brent so giddy in love.  

Brent and Shelley's wedding!

What a beautiful couple! 

Coming out of the Temple (Bountiful) for the first time as man and wife

I think Brent looks just like Grandpa Donald in this picture :)

My favorite one of them

Shelley's dress, hair, and bouquet were all so pretty

Me and my love

My oldest brother with his lovely wife

 My baby sister with handsome husband

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of Luke and Lisa together, I would have titled it.... My second oldest brother with lovely wife :)  So this picture will have to do.  It seems as though they may be having a deep discussion.         We are all so happy for the newest Jenkins family.  Congrats Brent and Shelley!

Also... you'll notice we didn't have our kids at the temple.  Well, it's because Ben's parents are the best.  They took them during the ceremony and the dinner, then brought them to the reception.   Sharla even painted the girls toenails to match their dresses, and covered up Carly's huge bruise on her forehead with a bit of makeup!   I love them, they are so wonderful!