Sweet with Chocolates...and Roses

 He makes me happy.

Best 11 years I've ever had.

I fell in love over a decade ago and it's crazy to me how much I adore this guy.  On our anniversary, as soon as I woke up, still in bed in our jammies, he read me a letter he wrote.

 It gave me the flutters.

Answers

 There were a series of inspired events that happened very quickly that led me to a Doctor.  A Doctor in Utah.

I had a series of tests ran here and all the results were faxed to him.

Justin got off work and was able to stay with the boys while my mom and I flew hanging by a thread of hope.

We arrived around the noon hour, and not being totally familiar with the streets of Salt Lake, we could see the temple and continued to go towards it.  It felt good to reach temple square and a feeling of peace and hunger swept over us.

We opted to go to the Lion House and had the best lunch.  It was healthy and gave us energy to continue.

The next morning, I was nervous.  What if the Doctor had no answers?  What if he could find nothing?

What came next was a miracle to me.  I sat in the Doctors office with my mom for nearly 4 hours as he poured out answers.

I feel so, so grateful to start my healing journey.  There are no coincidences in this life.

Encore!

 "I want to go in the tent with everybody again....for my birthday!" -Kendall 4 years old

"It's summertime, the best time of the year.  Cousins are visiting and so is GG.  And little Camryn is so cute. We all love being together.  And Mikey always says what I say." -Nathan age 7

Shirts!

 GG brought up a brilliant surprise in her suitcase this trip.  Shirts.  One for each caramel colored boy to decorate.

It was a hit!  They worked for hours tie dyeing them, creating little master pieces of color.

Water Ballooooooons!

 The summer wouldn't be complete until we had our annual cousin water balloon fight. 

The main objective? To soak Papa!

Mission completed!

 Tanner threw a water balloon at Doug.  To everyone's amazement...He caught it!  After that, everyone wanted to be on Doug's team...except Tanner.

Random Fun

At the park, playing checkers, and picking out rocks and shells from Papa's collection.

Another Year Older....

 Justin's birthday came right on schedule this year.... It was on a Sunday, which made it perfect conditions for a celebration after church.

He had his own accompanist Tanner, who played the birthday song while everyone sang.  There was no shortage of helpers.  Some to spit blow out the candles and some to help with the gifts.

Justin requested a Jello cake and Mammy had the perfect peach candle to adorn the top...whoops!

July 4th

 The 4th of July could not have come sooner this year!  A favorite holiday of many in our family! 

It started with a ward breakfast and then a relaxing afternoon of swimming and a barbecue.  The guys played basketball, the kids swam and played in the hot tub and the ladies visited and ate.

After, we all hung out in Mammy and Papa's backyard...

Cousin Rules:

Play games of giant checkers and have water balloon fights.

Eat popcorn and watch movies during quiet time.

Color the shed with Papa's permission.

Eat tons of Popsicles and pudding pops.

Have gunny sack races.

Make big messes together

 Go swimming and eat watermelon weekly.

Tell lots of jokes.

Always say, "I'm hungry".

Make each other laugh.

Spend endless hours in the sand.

Attack each other with hugs and squeals when ever you see one another.

Always have Mikey sing his heart out.

Go out for pancakes with GG.

Always share with each other.
Play in the raspberry patch and eat raspberries until your sick.

 When they leave, tell them you can't wait until next time.

The Princess Arrives

Camryn truly is a dream boat.  She is absolutely delicious in every way.

 I love how sweet her personality is.  I love her full body smiles.  I love it watching her kick in the tub.  I love her rollie little legs.  I love that she comes shopping with "the girls".  I love taking naps with her.  I love that she stops smiling when the camera comes out cuz she can't see you, I love seeing what outfit she is going to be wearing for the day and all of her accessories to match,  I love bouncing her to sleep, I love when she looks at me because I feel like she knows who I am, I love watching how gentle all the boys are with her, I love how good and easy she is at restaurants, I love watching her devour her fingers.and I love that I crave her.

Camryn Melissa

I have been waiting forever to kiss this baby girl.  She is the first niece on my side of the family and my current obsession. 

Creamy Pudding Pops

The Lollipop kids quickly turned into the Popsicle boys and downed dozens of them by the end of the day.  A favorite  treat they daily enjoyed on the back wall: Homemade Pudding Pops.  I highly recommend them.

Pudding Pops

1 large box chocolate pudding
3 cups cold milk
2 cups frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip)

Put into small cups, insert Popsicle stick and freeze.  

To remove, place under warm water for a few seconds and remove plastic cup.

Work Hard, Play Hard

The boys had a serious job to complete: 

Remove all bark from Papa's truck and spread it onto flower beds.

Did they do it?

Totally.

Was it messy?

You bet.

Was Papa probably wanting to change his mind about the helpers he choose?

Maybe.

Were the boys sweaty and stinky?

Oh yea.

 After the job was done, out came the hose and a teeny tiny bit of fun.