dress up

Being the youngest isn't for the weak.
It takes courage.
Perseverance.
And hopefully a good sense of humor when you get older and find pictures like these :)




Just remember your siblings love you.

Christmas Performance

Tonight was the girls' Christmas Performance.
Our wonderful neighbor N'Lice came to watch (and hold John, of course!)


At the end they had a Dad's drill down.
It was a lot of fun to see the dads attempt to do what the girls do so well.
Kempe got second, after falling to our good friend, James Derrick.
We are all so proud of him.

startin' 'em early

We want him texting before he can walk. :)

festival of trees

Tonight the girls performed at the Festival of Trees.
It's so fun to watch them up on stage.
{Too bad we didn't take very many pictures}

{Emma far right}
{Riley on top}

fall at the park

one killer weekend

This past weekend we tried to pack as much as we could possibly handle in 72 hours.
I'm relieved to say it's over and yes, we survived, but only because my mom was here to get me through.

A couple of weeks ago my brother and his family, who live in Indiana, received a job transfer to Oregon, requiring them to move in 2 weeks. My mom immediately flew out to help my 7-month pregnant sister-in-law and 1- and 2- year old boys pack up, while my brother finished getting the house ready to sell. A week later, my dad flew out and the next day they all headed out west. They were quite the sight. (I should've taken a picture!) My brother and his family in their truck, pulling their Ford Focus behind. Followed by my parents driving the largest Budget rental truck, pulling a trailer, loaded with a Volkswagon van. Two and a half days from Indiana to Utah.
So glad it wasn't me.

Tuesday night the weary travelers stayed the night. First time in two years that all of my parents' grandkids were together in one place.


The sword-wielding 2 year old didn't want to cooperate,


so we took the sword and he wasn't happy with us.


The moving party was gone bright and early the next morning, but leaving my mom here with us.
Having Grandma here means fun, cases of Diet Coke, and fancy shoes.


So skip ahead a couple of days.

FRIDAY:
My sweet Emma turned six. SIX!
She was only 4.5 months old when we moved here.

We started the morning with presents.


Once we got the kids off to school, we watched the Today Show to find my aunt and cousins. {awesome picture, by the way}


Then we went to the school to celebrate with Emma's class.


Home again to decorate the cake and finish party preparations.
{Use your imagination - it's a Rapunzel's tower}


Emma's sweet cousin Cami called to wish Emma a Happy Birthday.
They share the same birthday day - just 17 years apart.


Tangled party time.


Emma's dinner choice: Chuck-a-rama {of course!}


SATURDAY:
Football in West Jordan


My newly-married brother and his wife arrived from Idaho Friday night. My new sister-in-law is awesome! My kids all adore her ~ especially KJ. It was nice to have someone to entertain the kids during the game.


As soon as the game was over we made our way through the horrendous construction and traffic, to my grandparents' house. Ten minutes in and out we had the girls changed, make-up on, hair done, and back in the van heading to their dance performance at Thanksgiving Point.
Amazingly, we made it {barely}.
So worth it!


John was such a good sport through it all.


As soon as the performance was over, we hurried our way back to my Grandpa's 90th birthday party.


SUNDAY:
Today John was blessed in Sacrament meeting.
Everyone came over for food afterwards.
Our sweet John:


John with his namesake, Grandpa John Cleveland Nicoll.
Three generations of Nicolls.


Then I went crazy with the photo shoot of John in his blessing outfit:


Now I can relax.

Or maybe not.
But at least things can get back to normal.