Gotta Love 'Em!

I'm so glad we had two boys first, two little buddies, followed by a little princess baby sister. It's fun, they're gonna be her body-guards in a few years.

& I love her face in this photo!

My Future Missionaries

Elder Telford and Elder Telford. They dressed up for family night in their missionary clothes and badges, holding their scriptures and wearing big smiles. Daddy wasn't aware of their adorable little surprise until the doorbell rang and they were standing on the porch. I had rehearsed with them what to say, and they fumbled through it. "Hi, my name is Elder Telford & this is my companion, Elder Telford." "We are missionaries." Anthony asked them what church they were from & they told him. Then Joseph said "We have a message for you, can we sit down?" "Yeah" Josh piped in, "About Joseph Smith." "We need to tell you about Joseph Smith." We had a good scriptural discussion on their level, and it was flippin adorable. Mainly, it makes me happy to see my sons embrace gospel truths that we teach on a daily basis, remember the things they hear, and ask me questions all the time. They have perfect faith at this age, and no pride, either. They are so comfortable talking about things of a spiritual nature, angels, the Holy Ghost, Jesus, and Heavenly Father, as if they were friends with them. "Mom, when is Jesus coming down? When can we see Heavenly Father again? Did the spirit tell you that, Mom? Does that make Heavenly Father sad?" etc. And Joseph goes around singing that primary song "Listen to the still small voice, Listen, listen, If you have to make a choice, He will guide you, Always."

Cool Bros

These little dudes are soooo much fun. I love them to death. Love every little detail, things that often go unnoticed by adults. I love the way they think and the things they say. I try to see things from their perspective. That actually helps me a lot in parenting, teaching, and disciplining. These little guys have a great life. A Dad and Mom that love them and spend lots of time with them, and who are often strict and stern; we take the job of raising young men seriously! But we are goofy and fun too. It's a blast.

Kayla is changing a lot in her personality lately. She’s 8 months old now, and acts more grown up. I’ve noticed a little difference in her intelligence, physical abilities, and attitude. It’s cute. Last night she screamed very loudly, just for fun, just to hear her own voice, but it startles us and we always say “Kayla! No-no, be quiet”. Well, anth did that again but this time he said it in a more stern sounding voice (although just teasing) and swatted her diapered bum. Gently, of course, he was being cute with her but 8 month olds don’t understand teasing and if the voice doesn’t sound soft and sweet and cooing at them, they interpret it as negative emotion. So, she took offense and got angry. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. She lifted both of her hands up, clenched her fists and kept them raised towards Anthony, who was standing above her, while making a “mad” sound and very mad face. We both watched her wide-eyed and chuckling because it was such a grown up baby thing to do, and seemed so advanced for our little Kayla. Our sweet little girl got my calm, content, happy traits, but she also inherited daddy’s temper, I think.
Hmm. We’ll have to keep an eye on this…

Happy 4th

This year celebrated a happy 4th for Independence Day, of course, but also for Joshie's birthday. Joshua turned 4 years old on the 4th of July, and he enjoyed celebrating both events.

We woke him up with a blueberry muffin with a lit candle in it singing happy birthday to you while he was in the top bunk. Rancho Murieta has a cute parade & carnival at Lake Clementia each year, and of course a spectacular fireworks show once it's dark out. Although it was super hot and Kayla got cranky at the end, we enjoyed swimming at the lake and all of the carnival activities, including free lunch and an awesome slip-n-slide. We also went to Uncle Ned & Aunt Karen's house for a bbq and more swimming later on in the afternoon. Good food and company, and we sang to Joshua again with cupcakes and a few presents from his cousins. Lucky boy got very cool toys: SpiderMan on a motorcycle, Ninja Turtle on a motorcycle, a StarWars Transformer (spaceship into ObiWan) and Transformer's Optimus Prime. We got home just in time to change into our pj's, grab a few things and load it into the back of mom & dad's golf cart which we were able to borrow because they were out of town. It was a perfect way to end the day. The night air feels so nice cruising along in a golf cart on a warm summer night with your little kids piled around you. It was simple and happy. We loved the 10 min. "drive" over to the new bridge that crosses over to the North side where we found a place to park and enjoy the show, which started about 5 min. after we found a spot on the lawn that surrounds the lake. It was fun to see the awesome fireworks. Kayla did well considering the cannons were so loud and she was trying to sleep. I love the 4th of July; one of these years I'm going to throw a patriotic party for Joshua's birthday while he's still young enough that he doesn't care about it not being 'cool'. Maybe we're past that point already, though. I couldn't do it this year but I have such cute ideas, and I love Patriotic Americana stuff (decorations, crafts, activities, treats, trivia, quotes, games) Even the invitations are going to be adorable -- popsicle sticks painted red & white, a couple of them half blue with tiny silver stars, all bundled up tied with ribbon, so that when you untie it and lay it out you make the flag and read the party info (written with permanent marker) I love it! Anyway...one of these years.