Kendra's Wedding

September 15, 2012
Kendra and Robert Wilson

Got a new addition to my family last month. Not another baby - though there are two on the way.  I got a new brother(-in-law). I finally got to meet him two weeks before the wedding when we made a trip to Vegas to see family - he's pretty great and I am very happy for him and my sister. I wish them lots of love and happiness. 
Congrats, Kendra and Rob!

(Most of these pictures are my own. But some of them I downloaded from my sister's wedding album. They were taken by Kelsie Rae Photography. She did a beautiful job!)

Getting ready

Flower girls and junior bridesmaid

The flowers were done by my sister-in-law's mom and they were gorgeous!

Kendra and Mom

Matt ran a marathon earlier this day and traveled back in time for the wedding. He's in charge of posting about his accomplishment. So proud of him!

Maya and Luke were a junior bridesmaid and groomsmen. So cute! Proud mommy moment.

My dad got to walk her down the aisle AND marry them. 

Wedding Party - I love how Luke is snuggled up right next to Rob in the middle

Kendra and our brothers (all but one)

My brothers welcoming Rob to the family

Sisters (all but one)

This is my family (minus two siblings and their spouses and children) Mom and Dad (center) surrounded by 9 of their children and their spouses and children. And we're still growing! I wonder if the missionaries who baptized my mom and dad about 45 years ago knew how many lives they would effect.

Becky and the flower girls!

My brother Jared and his family - Tiffany, Brayden, Ashlyn and Brinley

Enjoying treats from the candy bar

My brother Justin and his family - Rachel, Caden, Julia, and Ryan

My brother Jason and his family - Tiffany, Tyler, Andrew, Bethany, and Blaine

Signing the wedding papers

My niece and nephew - Cameo and Dawson

My sister Rachel and my Mom

My brother Justin and my Dad

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Labor Day Weekend in Vegas

Labor Day weekend we made a trip to my brother Justin's house in Vegas. His oldest, Caden was getting baptized. Luke's birthday was the next day and lots of family was gonna be there, so we made the drive. And had a BLAST! I wish my family lived closer together. We always have such a great time.

Brayden, Luke, and Caden

Maya and Julia

Brinley

Ashlyn and Brinley

Kendra!!

Me and Kendra - or is it Kendra and I?

What kid doesn't love the Wii?

Adam and his baby boy Carson

Good times
Left to right - Mom, Jared, Tiffany, Ashlyn, and Rob

Hi, Dad!

Trampoline fun!

Love these guys! They got married 2 weeks after this picture was shot. A post about that event will follow soon.

No frosting will go to waste.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

My birthday boy

Luke turned 7 back on September 2nd.
At first he wasn't so sure about traveling on his birthday weekend, but once he was hanging with his cousins, all doubt was gone and I'm pretty sure he had a fantastic time.
(His cousin, Caden was baptized on September 1st in Las Vegas, so we made the trip down to see family and be a part of that special day - that will be the next post. For now, we'll focus on Luke)

We love our Luke! He is a ball of energy, so smart, and loving, and a boy through and through.

Some of his favorites right now are; Ninjagos, playing Wii, soccer, building things, and doing pretty much anything with dad. He loves chocolate. For his birthday cake he wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream on the side. His favorite dinner is spaghetti and meatballs. He loves telling jokes. He asks to wrestle about 5 times a day (like I said - ball of energy). His favorite primary song is "Army of Helaman" - sometimes it's "I love to see the Temple". His favorite scripture story is about the 2,000 stripling warriors.  At night before bed he likes to do his exercises - about 7 or 8 pull-ups, depending on the night, followed by 20 push-ups. He learned to ride his bike this past summer and now loves riding his bike to school when we have time. At bedtime he loves giving "to infinity and beyond hugs and kisses" for Matt and I, which is a super big kiss blown through the air at us to knock us back as we walk out of the room. He loves to snuggle as he falls asleep. He's become a really good reader, but is especially great at math. When he puts his mind to doing something, he is all in and works really hard at it until he succeeds. He loves growing things in the garden and picking our veggies when I need something fresh from our garden for dinner. Sometimes, the only explanation I have for his actions or words are "You are such a boy". It's my only explanation and way for my girl brain to process what this boy of mine has done. I love him like crazy and am so blessed and proud and excited as I watch him grow up.
Luke - you are pretty amazing!

Luke, 1 day old, 9lbs 12oz

Birthday celebration with family in Vegas

 The next weekend we had a birthday party with his friends. Ninja theme. We had a ninja training skills course, threw darts at balloons to find all the pieces of a map that led to the fang blades, attacked the evil Lord Garmadon when he tried to steal the fang blades, and a good old balloon stomp and pinata. We wore those boys out!

"Green Ninja" Ninjago birthday cake

First real true birthday party Luke had. Afterward, he said it was the best day of his life.

I think he liked his presents

Champion

 (Catching up little by little)

Last spring Maya played her first season of softball. She loved it! We got lucky - her coaches were amazing! Great girls on her team and even her best friend.  Wouldn't you know it - her team went undefeated for the whole season and won the championship game! What a way to start your softball experience. She played outfield behind first base most of the time (and had a few great plays in that position) and sometimes covered 3rd base. 

She was pretty good up to bat. With young pitchers she got walked a lot, but she was pretty good at getting a hit. 

If she got on base, her coaches were really great at signaling when to steal and getting her home, which is exactly what was happening in the picture below.

Here she is with her teammates waiting for the closing ceremonies and trophies.

Congrats, Big Blue Wrecking Crew!!!

First Day of School 2012

It's that time of year again. It seems to come faster and faster all the time. But this year is much happier compared to last year in the fact that we are all together as a family. So grateful to start this school year with my husband in the country. As a matter of fact, Matt got to be home in the morning on the first day of school.  So we all got ready together and rode bikes/jogged to school bright and early on a crisp, cool August morning - hence the coats. By the time we got to school it was already too warm for coats.

Luke learned to ride his bike sans training wheels this past summer (a big milestone in every kid's life) and is very excited to ride his bike to school like a big kid as often as we can.

Maya started 5th grade this year. This is the first year I requested a teacher for any of my kids and I'm so relieved that my request was granted. She has a fantastic teacher who will challenge this bright girl of mine. She is also so excited to have her best friend finally in her class. They've gone to school together since kindergarten (with 1 year apart during 3rd) and this year they finally get to spend together. Maya said her friend even sits right in front of her, but they don't talk. Don't want to get into trouble and ruin a good thing. It was so hilarious to see their reaction when we went to the school the day before to find out who their teachers were. They ran ahead, and so I listened as I walked knowing that if I heard screaming it was a good thing. If I heard nothing, then they weren't together and maybe Maya didn't get the teacher I wanted for her. (I felt so strongly about her NOT having a specific teacher that I even had dreams about it)

But all is right in the world of Maya.

My Luke started 2nd grade this year. The school put him in a combination 2nd/3rd grade class. I asked the office about this and they said I should be proud because it means the teachers who know Luke think he is strong enough of a student and independent enough to handle the combo class. Ok. But my main worry is, is Luke going to miss out on any of his curriculum because his teacher has to teach 2 of them. But I guess 2nd and 3rd grade learning has a lot of overlap. We'll see how it goes, but I am impressed with Luke's teacher so far (and it did put me at ease when I was told she has 4 boys of her own - if she raised 4 boys, she'll understand Luke and know how to handle him just fine). My other issue for Luke is his ears. He's been dealing with hearing loss all summer. We had an audiology appointment after the 2nd day of school and met with ENT on day 3. Looks like Luke will be getting tubes in his ears, again. This will hopefully happen by the end of September. I can't wait until he can hear us speak in regular volumes again.

Now, we can't leave out Seth. As you can see from the picture below, he was very excited to ride bikes to school as well. He was supposed to ride in the bike trailer, but Matt gave in and offered to ride slowly next to Seth while Seth rode his little spiderman bike the mile to the school.

 

Well - here goes the 2012-2013 school year!

Paradise

Bellows Beach

I will eventually catch up on our family happenings soon - hopefully before school starts next week. But for now, enjoy this picture from my favorite beach on Oahu. A lot more pictures of our vacation will follow soon.