Rachel & Jordan Go to the Chapel

Last weekend my brother got married!  It was a fun weekend with lots of activities.  We're so happy for Jordan and Rachel!  June 18th was the big day.  Hudson and Cooper were ring bearers during the ceremony and I read scripture.  It was a beautiful ceremony and an amazing reception.

See their blog at ...

Rachel and Jordan Go to the Chapel  

This picture pretty much sums up Cooper the night of the rehearsal.  Man was that kid funny.  He walked in the sanctuary and immediately was "on."  He was giving out hi-fives and being Mr. Social.  When he got on stage he was waving at people and giving a thumbs-up to anyone looking his way.  He made faces and at one point starting poking Uncle Jordan in the leg.  It didn't help that he had me and Jeff and LiLi and GT in stitches egging him on.  The pastor was having trouble concentrating because he was laughing too!  Jeff went up to the stage to tell Cooper to fold his hands - we were hoping this would help him stand still.  It worked for about 2 seconds then Cooper started using his folded hands like a hammer on the floor.  It was a riot!  I couldn't stop laughing!  Hudson was doing his best to stand still and kept telling Cooper to stand on the tape on the floor (their place markers).  It was classic Hudson and Cooper.

The troublemaker

The rule follower

The first video below shows the boys at rehearsal.  They were having so much fun and being goofs!  The second video is from the wedding and is super short (don't blink!).  I messed up while I was filming it and cut it off.  Then by the time I realized what I had done I had to stop videoing and start parenting.  Cooper did great, walked down the aisle oblivious to all the people around.  Hudson made it about halfway and realized there were 500 people watching him.  He slowed down to a snail's pace and looked like he was about to lose it.  I did what I could to coax him the rest of the way.  He made it to our seat and didn't want to go up to the stage so we didn't make him.  Cooper did just what he was supposed to, but kept inching farther and farther away from his marker until he was dead center in the middle of the aisle.  Uncle Jordan decided it was probably best if he just sat down with us (which we totally agreed with after all the shenanigans from the night before) so he picked him up and carried him to our seat.  Poor Cooper started crying - he wanted to stay up there and thought he had done something wrong.  Thankfully both boys calmed down and we were able to enjoy the rest of the wedding!

This sweet girl was a huge help to us! Julie babysat the boys for most of the events we attended prior to the wedding then came to the wedding and reception with us.  She was practically our nanny for the weekend!  It was so great having an extra set of hands and someone to keep Garrett for us during the ceremony!

Backyard Update

We've made some major progress on our backyard lately.  We have new gates, new posts on the porch, the whole outside was painted, the grass is growing and we have a new water feature!  Jeff also added a fan and lights to our porch which was recently decked.  It's looking so nice and we are enjoying it!  We hope to keep whittling away at the projects out there.

All of it is even more impressive considering where it all started!  Here's a few pictures from when we bought the house ... its unrecognizable! 

The grass is growing nicely!  There are still some spots that are sparse, but we hope this year they will all fill in.  We're so excited about the large section that is so thick and lush!

Here's what it looked like a year ago when we first planted the plugs ...

Last, but certainly not least, is our new water feature.  It's so fun to walk outside and hear water splashing! :)

It was quite the project!  First Jeff had a big hole to dig ... the boys loved helping with this part!

Then came running wire and water over to the hole.  I'm still in awe of the amount of forethought Jeff put into all of this.  We've had a master plan that we've been working from that Lee Petty created for us.  So, as we've had time and money we've done projects.  One of these days we'll actually be completely done. (slow and steady wins the race, right?)

Before the concrete was poured last year Jeff ran conduit underneath everything so that we could get water and electricity to different parts of the yard.  I knew he had done all that but hadn't really realized what it was all for.  So now there's electrical wire running from the power box in our side yard to the shed so that we can eventually have lights and electricity for our outdoor kitchen.  From there it goes under the concrete to the hole where the water feature goes, then continues on under the concrete to the rest of the yard so that we can have lights in our trees and (future) flower beds.  Wow!

Fishing all that wire through underground pipes was hard work!  Jeff worked so hard to get it all where it needed to be then covered it all up so everything now looks nice and tidy.  Next was to fill the water basin and place the bubbling rock.

And voila! A nice, new water feature in our backyard!

We'll get to use it for 1 more week, then due to new water restrictions we'll have to turn it off ... figures!

Best Invention Ever!

This is my sweet baby boy asleep in his bed.  I'm in the kitchen making lunch for the big boys and I can check on that cute baby whenever I want!  I love this baby monitor!  It's seriously the best invention ever!  I still like to sneak in his room for peek every now and then, but when I'm busy it's so nice to just see him as I walk by.  When he starts to cry I can instantly see if there's a problem.  The camera in his room has night vision, it will zoom in, and I can pan the room with the remote on the monitor.  It's awesome! 

Garrett in Pictures

Garrett is 11 weeks old today.  Man the time has flown by!  He is getting so big!  At his 8 week appointment he weighed in at 13 lbs 10 oz.  He's a big kid!  He's also really strong!  He loves to "stand" and has great head control.  He's been giving us sweet smiles for a few weeks now, but here recently they are a lot more frequent.  Within in the past week he has really started "talking" too.  He makes the sweetest gurgles, coos, and grunts.  It's so fun to see him starting to interact with us!  His brothers still love him and have nicknamed him, "hippopotamus." Here's some pictures from the past few weeks ...

5 weeks old

Hanging out with Daddy!

5 weeks old and so strong!  Look at him holding himself up!

8 weeks old and looking huge in his bouncer

Sweet smiles!  He's smiling a lot more these days, but they're still hard to capture with the camera!

He loves his swing!

9 weeks old

11 weeks

Garrett's Baby Shower

A few weeks after Garrett was born my sweet friends put together a baby shower for me.  It was such a fun time to hang out with friends and show off little baby Garrett.  Thanks friends!

The Hostesses

All the girl talk wore the little guy out - He decided to take a little nap on Aunt Shannon's knee :)

Beautiful decorations and yummy food!

Hooray for Hudson!

Back in May, Hudson finished his first year of Cubbies!  He memorized a lot of verses and we're so proud of him!  He was so excited to go to the AWANA Awards Ceremony (or the 'lords as he called it). I can't believe that I forgot to bring my camera along, thank goodness for my phone!