Utah and Birthday

I got to take a last minute trip to Utah last week. My dad had to have two surgeries recently and I wanted to be with him and help my mom out during this time that my dad is recovering from surgery. I flew out with Daphne so she could meet grandpa (finally!).  I was also lucky to be home with my family on my birthday :) It's been a while since I got to celebrate with them.

Here we are on my birthday with my dad. We partied it up at the care center that he is staying at this month...

Mom :)

The crew (and Brandon's precious Dr. Pepper)...

Daphne loved everyone! It was a perfect time to take her to meet everyone. She isn't nervous with new people yet.

My nieces loved Daphne, and Daphne loved having kids play with her. I really think she missed Evan and Makiah while we were gone. We Skyped a couple of times with Dallas, Evan and Makiah. Daphne got SOOO excited to see them. It was so cute.  

Sophie took good care of Daph, she was so sweet to her!

Demi :) I love this girl! She wouldn't come near me last summer... but this year she warmed up to me quick and even ran and gave me a hug on my birthday :)

The kids insisted on celebrating when I got home. They were sweet and had presents, cake and ice cream all ready for me. (Do you like how I have empty frames on my wall? I really need to get some more prints :))

It's good to be home, it was hard being away from my family. Luckily next time I go to Utah they will be coming with me!

Lark's Visit

Dallas' sister Lark came to see us during her spring break! It is always so exciting when we have family come to see us. We had a good time while she was here. The kids love her and talk about visiting her again in Utah. Here are some of the things we did while she was here...

Tour around Purdue (we were oh so lucky to run into the Zombie War going on that day... crazy).

Celery Bog.

Tapawingo park, pedestrian bridge, train station and down town Lafayette.

Clegg Botanical Gardens

Something I love about Indiana is the fact that we don't have to drive far to get to places like this. We may not have mountains, but we have woods everywhere and so many pretty places to walk!

Campfire in our backyard :)

Lark brought the kids books and they loved them, they also loved having Lark read to them (lots and lots!).

Lark's birthday was this month, so we got to celebrate with her :)

We miss you Lark!

Daphne's blessing day

Daphne was blessed by her Father on November 27th. I am very grateful that we had family here with us for Daphne's blessing day. Daphne looked so beautiful and her dad gave her a sweet blessing. I am grateful for the gospel and how it blesses our life. I am grateful for a husband who is able to give our children blessings through the priesthood.

Thanksgiving

Dallas' parent came for Thanksgiving and to see baby Daphne. They stayed for a week and the kids LOVED having them here. I love seeing the kids interact with their grandparents, especially since we live so far away. It's great that the kids are old enough to remember family and that they get so excited to see them. 

Cooking was a great way to start the holiday, of course...

It was fun to spend Thanksgiving with family... it's been awhile!

We had a great visit with grandma and grandpa! We had fun relaxing, going on walks, watching Christmas movies, shopping and playing games. It has been really cold lately (though it was warm to grandma and grandpa, coming from Wyoming) so we stayed inside and took it easy.

Just for fun

So, we had a little fun with the camera while Cami and Mom were here...

A glimpse of Daphne's blessing dress...

My Grandma found this beautiful dress for Daphne. I love it, it was just what I wanted for her blessing.

Visitors :)

Having a baby is a great excuse to get visitors :) Haha... now you know my secret mom :) My mom and sister Cami came on the 9th and stayed for a week. I loved having them here. It was nice to have them here to talk to while I was not feeling up to doing much. They cooked, cleaned and watched the kids for me... ahhh. It was great. 

They got here really late, so the kids were in bed. But the next morning the kids were sure excited to see them! Makiah ran to Grandma and gave her a hug. Then they ran into the living room and jumped on Cami to wake her up. The kids LOVED having them here. 

My mom kept commenting on how sweet Evan was being with her. He usually keeps to himself, but this time he was always giving hugs and sitting on Grandma's lap. It was fun to see him that way with her. He has been that way a lot lately, so ready and willing to give hugs. I love it. 

Dallas and I even got to go on a date last Saturday. It was an early celebration for our anniversary that was actually yesterday. It was GREAT to get out of the house, be alone with Dallas, and to have a night with no kids (as much as I love them). Mom and Cami are the greatest babysitters :)

We stayed home most of the time they were here.... but they claim that was ok. I hope it was :) I know I enjoyed staying home and relaxing. We did some fun things though... my mom helped me make a cute nightgown for Makiah that I love so much. We watched movies, played Quiddler and of course Sorry for Evan. They brought the game Go Fish for the kids and they love it. They took the kids walking around the ponds in our neighborhood... we went to the library and Malones Gym (a gymnastics place close by).... we hid in the bathroom during a tornado warning... and took lots of pictures of Daphne in her blessing dress. Oh and we went to Walmart multiple times :) Haha... for some reason we couldn't get enough of that place and had to keep going back to get random things. I am sure we did many other things, but really the best part was having them here to talk to. It was a blast. 

Cami and Kiah did each other's hair... :) They looked so pretty!

I have more pictures to post... stay tuned :)