Ella's Prayer

Ella is usually not a fan of saying the prayer at bedtime or over dinner, but last night she volunteered.  It was the cutest thing.  First of all, Amelia repeated her every word in her little way.  And second, this was part of her prayer, "And Bless us that we can make lots of money and be really rich so we can buy things."  Shaun and I couldn't hold the laugh in.  Becometh as a child, right?  We need Ella to say the prayer more often!!  Too funny:)

Cousins, then and now

With all this talk of cousins, I thought it would be nice to pay a little tribute to my own cousins, not just Ella's and Amelia's.  That seems to be very fitting because in the last week or two, I've been able to have mini reunions with some of my favorite cousins on both my mom's and dad's side of the family.

For the 4th of July, my beautiful cousin Amy (short for Amelia) came up to visit with her husband and two cute kids similar in age to my own.  We had a nice visit and I couldn't help but pull up old photos of reunions and compare then and now.  I think we were pretty dang cute then, but even now Miss Amy is gorgeous with that thick red hair.  If you met her you'd see her personality is just as beautiful!  I'm so fortunate to have her for a cousin!

Here we are with my mom and our daughters, 2012

 Amy with her Lyla and my Amelia

And here we are circa 1983-84 at one of the family reunions.  Amy's dad, my uncle Ed, is in the background.  And of course that's my mom giving us the look of... disapproval?  Not sure.  But we were cute no matter how you slice it, eh?

And the yummy fruit and berry parfait I made for the 4th!  Thank you Pinterest for the recipe!

 

Then this past weekend I got to visit with my cousins, Michael and Randy, on my dad's side of the family.  No matter how much they teased me growing up, they have turned out to be top notch guys with beautiful families.  Here we are in the 1980's, along with my brother and our other cousin, Larry.

And here we are in 2004 at one of the family reunions in Floyd, VA.

And again, most recently this past week, with our spouses and children.  It would have been fun to have John Paul there too, just like old times, minus the teasing... or maybe not.

So love to my cousins!  You all are dear to my heart and always will be:)

Cousins and pool time

We enjoyed a surprise visit from our cousins, The Millers.  After they left Ella told me, 

"my cousins are my best friends, mommy."

It was the sweetest thing.  She hasn't even met all of her cousins, but if you tell her she's going to visit a cousin she gets very excited!

Amelia playing with Jackie

 Amelia ready for pool time at the Millers

 She is such a precious pumpkin.  I fall more and more in love with this kid every day!

Yikes!

Little Amelia had to be like her big sister and go off the diving board.  They both have been doing really well with swimming this summer.

 More shots of Amelia enjoying the pool and diving board.

Ella was loving the water.  She thinks she's the best swimmer already and "doesn't need swim lessons."  She insisted she didn't need lessons, but she's in them despite her protests:)

 Aunt Michelle enjoying the pool and sharing words of wisdom, her favorite thing to do when she comes to visit:)

 Amelia proves the m&m slogan to be false.  Melt in your mouth, not your hand?  What about around your mouth?

 Papa playing games with Amelia

 My tenacious Ella enjoying the diving board

Ella's "dive"... it's a good start

 Love these sidewards jumps. 

 Ella and Nathan, the king and queen are ready for the ball

 Amelia and Ella fought over Nathan while he was there

 Ella usually won

 She was literally attached at the hip to him.  Can you blame her though?  He's so cute, and he's so sweet to his little cousin.  

Happiness

Question 5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

I like dwelling on the positive, or at least I think I do, so I decided to tackle this question first.

1.  As I am typing, my husband is putting my four year old to bed.  Not only does that alone make me happy (we rotate or sometimes do together, but when it's his turn, I get me time:), but to top it off they are singing church songs.  Ella is singing, "Nephi's courage" so loudly it's the cutest thing in the world. We've started trying to read scriptures with her.  We're only in 1Nephi, chapter 3, but it's wonderful to see her asking questions and learning to hopefully love the scriptures.  Such a sweet thing to eavesdrop on.

2.  It's summer!  What's not to be happy about?  I only work a few days in July and I'm enjoying more time at home with my girls, and more time focusing on being healthy and spending time with those that mean so much to me like friends and family.

3.  I'm happy to have a job.  I'm happy to have a good job.  I'm happy my husband has employment and is on his way to a really good career.  In this difficult economy, it's not a small thing to be happy about.

4.  I just bought a swim suit I actually like:)  Don't necessarily love my hips, but love the suit!

5.  Pinterest makes me happy.  It's where I go to dream, and it keeps me from on line shopping.  Instead, I dream of traveling to Budapest, Provence, or living at the beach.  I've also started downloading recipes from Pinterest and cooking more:)  That's always a good thing.

30 Things:

30 Things:

I love this idea for a date night, long car drive,
or party night with close friends.  Those who
have known me long enough to have experienced
"The QUESTION Ball" may see some similarities.
I figured, why not alsodo it for the ole' blog?  The
idea being to record different parts of my personality
for my posterity, and I guessyou get to know me
better by default.  I'll tackle these slowly as my mood
sees fit.  I'm not crazy enough to think I could blog
daily about these items, but over time I think these
are great questions to write about here on my blog.
 I think this could be super fun and I invite you to
play along! I would LOVE to read what you have
to say about yourself in regards to these questions,
and get to know you better, too.  This could
 potentially be very hilarious. 

THE LIST:

1. List 20 random facts about yourself.
2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.
3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrasing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. Describe 5 weaknesses you have.
14. Describe 5 strengths you have.
15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.
24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What is your love language?
29. What do you think people misundertand most about you?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

Power Outage= Impromptu Vacation

When the power went out on us last Friday at 10:30pm due to a huge storm blowing through the region, we spent a sleepless night in extreme heat, before checking our phones to see that the power outage was widespread.  Knowing that it could be days before it came back, we decided to ditch our weekend plans and head to see nana and papa at Smith Mountain Lake.  We checked in with them and they still had their power, so off we went at about 10am Saturday morning.  Impromptu vacations turn out to be some of the best ever!  We had a great time and Ella can't wait to go back next week!

 The girls enjoyed snuggling in the hammock on the porch at the condo.

I absolutely ADORE this photo of my two sweet babies!

 Amelia enjoyed playing with the wind chimes

 Sometimes I forget to take a photo of myself and document I was actually there. I tried this time, and the result is this less than lovely cheese self-portrait

 Melia and Nana enjoying the boat

 Ella, ready for full speed ahead!

 Oh my little Miss and her binkies.  Gotta kick that habit this summer.

 Boating with my sweet Elle

 Pool time with Nana, with retro editing effects.  Looks like the photos of Nana and me in 1982

 The girls couldn't get enough of playing with daddy in the water, whether the lake or the pool, he was the most fun!

 Nap time

 Yippee!

 And to top it off, our cousins from Texas drove in and surprised us!  They got there Monday morning, and we left Monday evening (assured by our neighbor the power was back on, and in time for Shaun to get back to work).  Ella with her big cousins, Katie and Jackie.

 Ella with her other big, but not quite as big, cousins, Nathan and Lacy

 Another favorite photo from the trip.  

Shaun jumping off the boat with Ella and Lacy.

 Papa with Amelia, enjoying some rays

 Nathan in mid-jump.  Uncle Shaun gave him a boost.

 Look who's driving the boat!

Handsome hunk a burnin' love!

We really enjoyed playing in the water.  Ella slept the whole way home she was so worn out.  Amelia, not so much.  But they both had such a good time.  Thanks nana and papa for a great impromptu weekend!  And thanks cousins for coming and making it that much more special!