Liam's Baptism

I can't believe my nephew, Liam, is 8!  Time flies so quickly!  I swear it was just yesterday that he was a tiny newborn who didn't quite fit into his adorable wrinkly skin!  Either way, and whether we like it or not, Liam is 8 and old enough to be baptized!  On Saturday, June 4th, we went up north to be with family for his special day.  We had family in town from New York (Omie and Grandpa) and up from Las Vegas (Heather and Amaia--we missed you, Tayton!) so we had family pictures done.  It was hot and everyone was hungry by the time we were done so Darwin and I took our kids to one of my favorite pizza places for bread sticks near my old high school stomping grounds and went to the city park to eat before joining back up with my family for the baptism.

Miss Aurora

Miss Savannah

Mommy and handsome little Talmage!

To cool off, we shared a yummy Oreo milk shake!
(P.S. I just have to say how happy I am that Aurora can actually eat real ice cream now!  Getting over her dairy allergy has opened a whole new world for her! A world she is thoroughly enjoying, I might add.)

After our pre-lunch, we met up with my family at the church for a luncheon before the baptism.  The church was locked when we first got there so we found things to do while we waited for someone with a key to come open it up for us.
Silly Grampsie :)

Rori and Amaia playing on someone's phone.

Liam asked Grampsie to baptize him.
I can remember practicing in our living room with my dad before I was baptized so that I would know what to do when we got in the font.  It brought back good memories for me when I saw my dad practicing with Liam :)


Grampsie and Liam on Liam's special baptism day!

Photo bomb by big sister, Hannah!

Liam with his mom and dad.

Liam asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost.  I pretty much cried through the whole thing.  I can't help the tears though, and apparently it's genetic because my mom and Omie have a hard time holding back the tears too :)

Congratulations, Liam!  We're so proud of you for making the right decision to be baptized.  That choice will bless you throughout your life and on into eternity!  We love you, buddy!

Soaking in summertime!

There are lots of things to love about living where we are right now.  One great thing is the porch swing on the front porch and the hammock in the back yard.  Those are two of our favorite places to be when we come to Grandma and Grandpa's, so they're an extra bonus that we're enjoying while we live here for a little while.

Our cute little man!

Beautiful Savannah Belle!

She LOVES rolly-poley (sp?) bugs :)

She usually names every one of them "Rainbow" and I generally have to remind her that they're happier out in the grass rather than in the house.

Later in the day, Daddy had to do irrigation, which is always a fun time for the girls.  They LOVE playing in the irrigation water even though it's ice cold!


Talmage and I ventured out to the back to check things out too.

We love Aunt Georgiana!

Splashing to her heart's delight.

I LOVE Savannah's curls in this picture.  So jealous! ;)

Collecting sticks.

Using a stick to measure how deep the water is.

Stomping and splashing!

Later that evening, Grandma and Grandpa came back home to join us for the weekend.  It was so nice to have them back for a couple of days!  We gave a picture of the kids to all of their grandma's for Mother's Day.

It's been so nice enjoying the warm weather and great company!  Bring on the rest of summertime!

Aunt Georgiana in town!

Along with my grandparents being in town from New York, Aunt Georgiana was able to come into town too!  The girls LOVE when Aunt Georgiana is in town.  The kids and I were able to go pick her up at the front runner station.  They loved watching her train come in and waiting to see her get off the train.  They're pretty much in heaven when she's here.

I love this shot of our beautiful Savannah Belle!

We love how silly she is :)

Love this little munchkin!

So glad to have you in town, Aunt Geo!

Happy Birthday to US!

May 31, 2016
Our Early Birthday Present

We've been talking for quite a while now about getting a new camera.  The one we've had we bought used from Darwin's brother back in 2006.  Needless to say, we were in great need of an upgrade.  So, as an early birthday present to each other (and we included it as an anniversary gift to each other also) we bought a new camera and tripod!  Can't wait to be using our new little beauty!
Darwin opening the box!

Checking out the tripod.

Aurora thought the Styrofoam was pretty fun :)

And apparently I didn't get a picture of the actual camera, but I'm sure you'll be able to see the difference in our pictures once I start posting them :)

Wrapping up May

We always seem to have some random pictures left over from random moments during the month so this seems like a good place to post them.

One bonus of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house right now is being able to run through the sprinklers so much.  The girls are loving it!

Cutie Aurora

I found Rori sleeping with her baby on her face :)

We plan to use the grill a lot this summer.  It's always fun to have our Aussies over to enjoy a fun meal with us!

This is one of Savannah's favorite napping places :)

Practicing t-ball with Daddy

Happy girl!

So cute sleeping in her new, big bed!

And we'll end on that note :)

Special Visitors

May 29, 2016
Visiting Omie and Grandpa Lape!

We have special visitors in town for some special events this weekend!  Liam is getting baptized and Talmage is getting a special blessing at church!  My Omie and Grandpa were able to fly in from New York!  It's been several years since we last saw them, and we're so excited to have them here with us!  They flew in last weekend so we went up to my parent's house to see them.  It was so great to be with them after being apart for so long!  Thank goodness for Skype and FaceTime so we can see them in between our long separations.

Talmage meeting Omie and Grandpa Lape (his great-grandparents)

 Munching on Dad's thumb

Eating Dad's nose :)

The kids got to check out the new baby chicks.

Savy loved being able to feed the chicks out of her hand.  She thought it was pretty cool!

And fun to pet the goat (which kept trying to butt her with its horns but Daddy protected her)

Feeding the goat a blade of grass from the other side of the fence :)

Lovely Ladies

May 28, 2016
Practicing Makeup

Like most little girls, our girls like to practice putting on makeup.  I think our girls do it with their own flare and style though.  Love it!

 I think Aurora was going for a look more along the lines of Daddy's face than Mommy's :)

Little sweeties.

And they'll never let us be done taking pictures until they can do a silly face shot :)

Beautiful girls.  Just beautiful!

Preschool Graduation

May 26, 2016
Preschool Graduation

Our pictures didn't turn out very well because of our old camera and the poor lighting in the room, but at least we got some pictures of Aurora's preschool graduation!  She loved preschool this year!  It was music based and she learned a lot of really fun songs to help her get ready for kindergarten.

As part of the graduation program each kid had to pick a solo to sing.
Aurora chose "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".  She did awesome!

Our cute little preschool graduate! :)

Savannah was so proud of her big sister!

Oh, how we love these two little munchkins!

A few things to remember about Aurora's graduation program:
*I loved that during the program Savannah kept cheering on the kids, especially Aurora.  She was "wooting" for Rori and dancing in the isles as the kids sang their songs.  It was extremely adorable. :)

*The kids sang one alphabet song that Darwin said was longer than "The Twelve Days of Christmas", but it was cute to watch Aurora sing it anyway.

*I felt a little silly that I didn't think to put Aurora in a dress.  She was the only girl wearing jeans, but she looked very cute regardless.  I didn't know so many parents went all out for their kids to graduate from preschool!  One girl was even given a Hawaiian lei from her family! What the?!  It's preschool graduation, people!

*Watching Aurora slam dunk her solo made her parents and little sister so proud.

Congratulations on making it through a year of preschool.
We're so proud of you!
Way to go, Miss Aurora Nicole!