Whirlwind July!

Where have we been? Whew- it's been an exhausting month, let me tell you. . . .

Most of July was spent preparing for our move to the old homestead. I can't believe how much stuff we've accumulated over our 6 years of marriage- and why is it so hard to whittle down to what you really need?

Here's all the awesome hair bows Ariel Jones made Gemma. She worked really hard on those- thanks Ariel. They make Gemma SO cute!

Could we just love this little sweetheart any more?? This is one of our favorite outfits she wears- we definitely think purple is her color.

On the morning of the 4th of July we woke up at 5:30 and took the kids down to EAC to get on the fire trucks that ride through town and wake everybody up.

Jaxon and Kodee LOVED it- Kodee does a great impression of a fire engine siren.

Of course Gemma came along for the ride and we dolled her up in a cute Old Navy 4th of July number.

Good morning Sunshine! Ari was a trooper and took camera footage of the whole sunrise event. :)

There we are on top of the truck.

Jax was so excited to tell mom all about it.

Gemma didn't know what to think of all this early morning nonsense. She wanted her beddy bidy booski.

Of course: The classic watermelon 4th pictures. . .

After the "way- too- long" morning presentation, the firetrucks sprayed the kids off, I jumped in there with them and we got soaked and muddy. Best day ever for the boys. You can see way behind us in the field that they're still spraying everyone off.

Our best friend/adopted family the Jones' went on a cruise to Mexico and Beliz and brought us back some awesome souvenirs. Here is my great Mexico (I call it chlorine green) and a real live taxi-dermied- Louisiana gator.

They got Gemma this wonderful authentic Mexican gown- now where to wear it to???

Ari made a Bee-utiful 4th of July fruit pizza. . .yum yum

The boys just can't get enough of this girl. Jaxon especially is so good with her, and sometimes can be the only one to get her to laugh or stop crying.

When everyone else was settling down for a great 4th of July nap- I thought it would be a great day to go get Gemma's ears pierced. She was such a brave little trooper. If it werent for the gun jamming on her left ear and not being able to be pulled off she would have been just fine.

This is probably how one would feel after having sharp metal poked through your skin. . .

But the ending result is oh so cute! We love the little gems in Gemma's ears. :)

Cutest little girl EVER!

She looked so cute dolled up on Sunday. Love this dress Nancy let us have. Thanks Nance.

In mid July we had the 2nd Annual Camp Glee WannaBe- it was a great time had by all:) The kids did an outstanding job of putting together a great one hour performance in just two days. This year we upgraded to providing lunch (Little Caesars and subs from Bashas) and we also had shirts provided by one of the parents.

Felt kind of funny rehearsing this in the old relief society room, but rest assured this building is no longer a functioning LDS church.

Painting of the Banners. . . The Careers, Dazzling Divas, and the Shining Stars

Another one of Gemma in her cute octopus outfit, with a matching bow by Ariel.

Best buddies. . .

Moving time has begun. . .sheesh, this was a doozy! This is the longest we've lived in one place since we've been married. We've been here for 3 years. We were counting up that we've moved 7 times in our short family's lifetime so far. Wow- and only more moves to come. Can't wait till we can settle down somewhere.

Don't I look thrilled to move? Gemma was loving the baby carrier, this is what we had to do with her while we were bustling around.

The boys LOVED making things out of all the moving boxes.

Mom was there too!

Gemma looking a lot like Jaxon used to, on our sad ripped up couch cushion. . . decided to call it good with this cushion and send it on to it's next life.

One of my favorite pictures of her to date! Smiley Gemmers!!!!!

The day after settling into our new place- we were all exhausted and ALL the kids wanted to nap with their mama. Best mom in the world that's for sure.

Kodee ENTRANCED in watching Alice and Wonderland (the Tim Burton version) their favorite movie as of late.

Things are starting to come together. . . our favorite IKEA shelf

Gemma propping up her head with her little fist. So cute. . .wonder how many pics we'll have of her in this little baby rocker. :)

Janeen came over to assess our progress. Popsicle anyone??

Jaxon doesn't miss a beat in his Mario Bros. game but he takes Gemma along for the ride.

Kodee is definitely our little challenge as of late. Can we say middle child syndrome? He's doing everything he can to get noticed.

Our new living room! Ahh- so much space and room!

This is where I'll now be teaching lessons.

We took Jaxon swimming yesterday. He loves jumping off the high dive, but yesterday this 4 year old decided to do a front flip! WHAT!???

He's so brave! Took me till I was 16 to try that. When he was done I had to go up and do it just to say I could, but I slapped me bum hard. Didn't quite rotate enough. Probably not the best idea to do while I'm still recovering from strep. That's right. I got hit HARD with strep on Friday- right before school starts. Was a bad bout too. Knocked me on my back for 3 days, and I'm having a hard time recuperating from it. When I tried the back flip on the high dive my sense of balance was so off, Ari said I turned around up there ridiculously slow.

But back to our daredevil four year old! How bout that fearlessness?

Since I'm on a little break from teaching this week I decided it would be a great time to follow around Doctor Lunt and learn the art of tuning pianos. Hopefully this will be a profession I can sink my teeth into on the side of teaching. Boy is it hard and mentally draining- but strangely satisfying. I find myself already starting to crave tuning. . . huh???
Here comes school!!!! We'll see how it goes wish me luck in starting my 5th year of teaching- 4th at Safford. 80 kids in the Middle School choir- yikes!