M&M's and Applesauce

The other night we told the kids they could choose something for dessert. The boys wanted some M&M's, and Ally chose applesauce. She is so funny about always wanting to chose "healthy" things to eat. Whenever I give her choices of what she wants to eat she always asks "Well, what is the healthiest?". The other night for Family Home Evening we wanted to get take-out and come home and watch a movie. Jonathan and I have been wanting to try Fat Burger. When Ally heard the name of the restaraunt, she informed us that she DID NOT want a "fat burger"! We tried explaining it all to her, but she was not having it. She remembered that there was a Subway close by and said she wanted that instead. We normally don't let the kids pick and choose...but I'd probably rather them have a fresh sandwich than a greasy hamburger anyway. So there we all sat, Jonathan and I with our big burgers and Ally, Isaac and Austin with their healthy sandwiches. She cracks me up!

Hey Dad Look! It's a real PIRATE!!

We were in Target today in the checkout when Isaac says, "Hey Dad, look! It's a real pirate!". Of course it was in a very loud voice and his finger pointed high in the air. When we looked at what he was pointing at...we saw a man who looked similar to this! I guess to a 4 yr. old a "durag" (yes, I looked up the spelling) looks an awful lot like a pirate bandanna. Luckily the man had a kid of his own that he was too busy attending to and didn't notice ours! Apparently Isaac just noticed that we live in Phoenix where "pirates" like those are a dime a dozen.

Pool Fun

We've been having tons of fun in our pool this summer!! We go swimming just about every day..and love it! There is no other way to beat this hot Arizona sun than by being in the pool! Our favorite days are the ones Jonathan has off and can come play with us. The mom in our house just isn't as much fun!! She can't do chicken fights... or aerials! I also had to post these videos of our kids swimming and doing their tricks! Austin is hilarious in that he refuses to wear his floaties...he thinks he is just one of the big kids! It's so funny to watch his little body just bail off the side and swim!!

A fun Visit!

When we first moved to Arizona 5 years ago, Jonathan's cousin Salina, her husband Clay and their triplets lived in Mesa. We would try to get to get together at least once a month-sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. We LOVED having them so close and getting together often-it made being away from our own families a little more bearable. It was a sad day when they moved to Boise for work and to be a little closer to their families (we're still trying to get them to come back). They came to visit last week-it's been over a year since we'd last seen them! It was so much fun to see them and meet their 2 newest little ones. We met at some of thier really good friends house and AWESOME pool. Our kids had such a fun time jumping off the cliffs and playing in the waterfalls! I'm so mad that I didn't take any pictures of their family, but I did manage to get a picture of our kids on the rocks. It was such a fun night!

2 Months Already!!

It's hard to believe Isabel is already 2 months old!! And true to form of our kids she is chubbing right up! I guess she fits the mold! She is very alert, smiles and coos all the time, is starting to really hold her head up and is still just a very easy, content baby! Here are her stats:

Height: 22 inches (50th%)
Weight: 11 lbs. 14 oz. (75th%)
Head: 15 1/2 (50th%)

The Nighttime Cruiser

Austin seriously cracks me up all day-I think this age is hilarious! He's finally figured out how to get out of his crib-I'm just glad it took him as long as it did!! At first it wasn't really a big deal, but lately when it's bedtime he gets out all the time! Even as I'm writing this post, I've already had to put him back to bed twice!! And every time he gets in a little more trouble. But for some reason every time he gets out he thinks that if he just acts like nothing is wrong that I'm not going to notice. Sometimes he comes out wearing sunglasses or like just now he had put his shoes on and was just cruising around without a worry in the world. He doesn't even really try to hide it-he'll just try to walk right pass me without even a smirk. Every time I put him back in bed and have to get after him I have to go in the other room and laugh a little. Usually the past few nights or so have ended with him screaming in his crib until he finally gives up and goes to sleep (it's like he's a tiny baby again!). However last night this is how I found him in my bed when Jonathan and I finally went to bed. It was so, so precious!! I love watching my kids sleep and even more, I love it when they are snuggled up next to me sleeping-so it was really hard for me to put this little guy back in his own bed! What a funny little boy he is!

Isabel Eva's Namesake

We always knew that if we ever had another little girl we wanted to use the name "Eva". Jonathan's grandmother on his dad's side is Eva Capson Manwaring. She has always been such a huge influence in his life. Although I haven't known her for as long..I know she is an amazing person and example. When Jonathan was younger she would have "Cousin's Week" where all the cousins in a certain age group would get to come and stay at thier grandparents house all week with tons of activities that she had planned. Every morning they were in charge of a devotional...what great memories he has from those! She also would take every grandchild to General Conference once they turned eight-which is truly something since she has over 50!! We find ourselves often talking about Grandma Eva and asking..."what would she do?" whenever we may not have an answer. She is such a strong and righteous woman.

The other Grandma Eva who Isabel is named after is my mother's grandma on her mother's side, Eva Ruth Stephenson Johnson. Although she passed away before I was born and so I never got to meet her, I know she was an equally amazing woman. She was one of my mom's very favorite people and she often would tell us stories about her. She was such a strong influence in my mom's life. Every summer my mother would go and spend a lot of time on her grandparent's farm. I'm sure that this is where my mom developed her STRONG love for animals and her work ethic along with her desire for knowledge. While she would spend time on the farm her grandmother was constantly teaching her how take care of animals and also the value of hard work. My mom would always talk about her grandmother and how much she loved spending time with her.

We love the name Eva and the significance that the name has to us. We hope that one day Isabel Eva will possess many of the same characteristics of her great and great/great grandmothers!

The picture is of Isabel meeting her Great Grandma Eva for the first time-what a sweet picture to have! And the video is just a cute one of her cooing and wiggling-so I posted it also!

4th of July Fun

The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite times of year..I LOVE it!! For both Jonathan's and my families-it's some of our favorite childhood memories. It's also the day that I knew I was going to marry Jonathan when we watched fireworks together for the first time. I love having a day that we celebrate our independence and able to reflect on how blessed we are to live in this country! It's also the one time of year I LOVE being in Idaho! But of course now that we're in residency-that can't happen. So we decided to try and make the best of it and have as much fun as we could in 112 degree weather, no parades and no lighting our own fireworks! Jonathan got off early on the 3rd and had the 4th completely off, so we decided to stay at an awesome resort only about 10 minutes from our house. We were so glad that my sister Jess, her husband Brad and baby Tanner came with us. We had so much fun swimming all night and all day, eating yummy poolside food and sleeping in a hotel! It was hot, but we were able to stay a little bit cooler by being in the pool. Uncle Brad brought his underwater camera and we even got video of Isabel going under-and she didn't even cry! After we were done swimming we all got ready and went to a Diamondbacks baseball game. It was so much fun! You can't get much more "All-American" than watching a baseball game on the 4th of July. Austin kept saying that he didn't want to watch...he wanted to play-it was so cute. The best part of the game (for me at least) was when it ended they retracted to roof of the ballpark and had an amazing firework show-it was seriously AWESOME! We really all had the best time-what a great 4th of July! We had such a fun vacation-and we only had to go 10 minutes away!!

Photo Shoot

I have been the worst blogger ever!! We've just been having a really fun, low key summer and LOVING every minute of it! Lots of swimming, reading (to the kids), eating yummy food and just being together. We just recently had all the kids pictures taken.


Isabel is 1 month old in these...today she just turned 7 weeks-time really does FLY by! She is still a super easy baby and we are all loving her. She still just sleeps a lot during the day but has 4 sets of eyes that just watch for the slightest sign of her waking so we can get her up and play with her. She has started to smile a TON-she especially smiles and talks to her dad whenever he holds her-she makes me work a little harder for a smile. She is so sweet!! We still think she looks a lot like Isaac. I don't have my camera, so I can't post any recent pics...but hopefully soon.


Austin seems to have grown up so much these past few weeks! He can now swim without his floaties and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Literally 5 days ago he went from never wanting to take his floaties off to barreling off the side without them. It is the most hilarious thing you've ever seen. As soon as I get my camera I'll post a video. He still has to figure out how to take a breath-but that will come. He also just went to the bathroom in the toilet for the 1st time today-WHOOO HOO!! He just has his own little mind and ideas of when he wants to do things and when he makes up his mind-watch out!! He keeps us all laughing for sure!


Isaac also seems extra grow-up lately too. He is such a funny little boy. He is such a tender little boy. Just today a bird flew into our window-he was so worried about it and just could not stop thinking about it-I think he's said 3 prayers that it would be OK. He's not loving swimming lessons because he says the water is too cold-but he never complains or says he doesn't want to go. Yesterday he informed me that there was a boy-girl in his class. When I asked him what he meant he told me that there was a kid in his class that was part boy and part girl. When I asked him why he said it was because it was a girl who was wearing a spiderman swimsuit. Finally I saw who he was talking about-I thought I would die laughing (not at the little kid, but just at Isaac's perception). A little boy with VERY long hair and a "pretty" face was wearing a spiderman swimsuit-probably confusing for a little 4 yr old! Although he didn't act confused at all, he was perfectly content with his explanation that it was a boy-girl-so funny!


Ally has been the BIGGEST help and best little second mother. She still just loves helping with house chores. Every morning she gets up and is so excited to do her assigned chores and always has them all done before I get up-she also always helps remind Isaac-it's soooo nice!! She is LOVING swimming lessons and is really pretty good. She won the back float competition and the little races in her class. She makes the comment to Isaac when he says the water is too cold, "Isaac, the water is cold for me too, but don't you like learning new things?". She just loves it. She is also loving reading time and NEVER lets me forget. She keeps us all doing just what we should and somehow manages to do it all with being so sweet and kind! We love these sweet little kids-how blessed we are!!

Also, big news in our house..JONATHAN IS NO LONGER AN INTERN!! I guess that really just means that he's done with his first year of residency..but we are excited! The next 2 years are suppose to be a lot easier-we'll see?? Today was his first day as a "second year" resident and he left at 6am for a 30hr shift-not the best way to start off, but we know it will get better! Hopefully I'll be better at blogging the rest of the summer and not fall victim of the "lazy days"!