I want to see Jesus Christ...

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to take our family to the Gila Valley temple. We were so excited and the kids had somewhat of an idea of what a temple is like from Avery's sealing last year. On the way down we read the conference talks aloud in the car. I love the talk about Mother's and Daughter's it was so good. We asked Hunter what he really wanted to see at the temple. He told us he was excited to see the baptismal font. He has been asking a lot of questions about baptism lately. When we asked Ave what she wanted to see she said, "Ummmm, I would like to see Jesus Christ." Nothing like high expectations :)Deke and I tried to contain ourselves as we explained to her that she would probably see pictures of Jesus and would feel his spirit but that she probably wouldn't actually get to see him in the temple. It was so cute and it made us smile. I love how simple life is in the mind of a child. The temple was of course beautiful. I have never seen such beautiful light fixtures, they were gorgeous. The kids were so reverent and it was such a neat experience. Hunter quietly observed everything with a content little smile on his face. Avery asked questions every five seconds and continued to be intrigued by the fact that they had put slippers over her shoes. Emma of course slept the whole time and we ended up burning her little face. Duh mom and dad for not covering her with a blanket as we waited out in the sun. Thank goodness it turned or she would have looked like a perfectly round faced cherry tomato for her blessing day. Not only was seeing the temple neat but the discussions that it provoked were also neat. As we drove away from the temple we asked the kids if they had any questions. Hunter asked, "Why is it important that we get married at the temple and no where else?" This question led to a great gospel discussion with him. They had many other questions and it was a special parenting time for Deke and I to get to discuss these things with our children in more detail. By the way I love this picture of Deke and the girls it is just so candid and cute. He is so awesome with Emma it never ceases to amaze me how great he is with the kids always, especially though when they are so tiny and brand new. Our babies have all been pretty little and yet he always knows just how to care for them. I am not exactly a huge fan of car trips but I have to admit I love the quiet time in the car without TV or telephones or other distractors to sit and visit or sing or play road games. I also love the scenery you get to see as you drive. I look forward to taking the kids to the Phoenix and Gilbert temples as well.

So beautiful Miss E.

I have to start off by apologizing for the amount of pictures I included in this post but it was too hard to choose just a few to show. I promise that eventually I will post about something else besides this little bunch of sweetness so bear with me. A few weeks ago we took Emma over and Holly did a photo shoot with her. Holly is so talented and the photos turned out adorable. Not to mention we had fun doing it :) Okay look at those cute little ruffle diaper covers and her little bum up in the air. I love when they sleep in that position they always look so content. Isn't that background and flooring cool? Then we put her in the little scale, I love the feather heabands!! We also took some cute pictures of the kids and our family, I found Ave's headband at Forever 21 for $1.00...gotta love that especially when it is a stinkin cute one. I love this picture of Emma with Hunter. He is getting so big I just can't believe it and he is such a good big brother for his sisters. Everyone always says he looks like me but has Deke's personality and it is true. Ave is a great big sister. Since she is only three sometimes she can be overly helpful but she loves Emma and is always right there whenever she makes even a little squak. I think that this is such a cute picture of their little sisterhood. When we went outside to take some shots I couldn't believe how cool the sun was shining through the trees. It looked so cool in some of the shots. I absolutely love this vintage babay carriage. I love vintage things, the pictures with it are so sweet. Miss E was so amazing, I couldn't believe how relaxed she was being totally in the buff. She let us put all kinds of different hats and bows on her and put her in and on all sorts of different props. I had so much fun watching her during the shoot. Holly does such beautiful photography and has such fun backgrounds, props, and heabands. I love how chubby Emma's little cheeks are. I love that Holly was able to capture her pucker lips. She does the cutest little puckered up lips all the time that look like she is just waiting for a great big kiss. It was really special for me to get these photographs of her, she is so beautiful. Holly made this headband it had such a cute vintage look to it. Those litttle fabric flowers are getting so popular I am sure they are easy I need to learn how to make them. Cute little highchair, so fun, so precious. Thank you Holly for the beautiful pictures we appreciate it so much.

Mother-Daughter Night

This last week the girls and I went to a RS Enrichment night that was a Mother-Daughter night. The theme was "My Three White Dresses." I was so excited about this night for two reasons. First because this is my first Mother Daughter activity to attend as a mom. Second with Emma's baby blessing right around the corner this theme seemed so perfect. Hopefully I will finish getting it sewed before next week :) I got the girls all dressed up in matching outfits which I love to do. I try to even find them matching headbands and bows if I can. They had the tables set up with lit topiaries and tea cups and saucers and beaded necklaces just like a tea party. One side of the cultural hall had blessing dresses, baptism dresses and wedding dresses displayed all along the wall as well as pictures. The other side of the hall had the food. All kinds of yummy small sandwiches, bite sized brownies, mini cookies and lemonade. Perfect kind of tea party foods :) My neighbor who is the enrichment leader and also a vinyl guru had taken a whole bunch of clear plastic cups and put an adorable pink crown on each one for every girl. Avery could not believe it. "Mom there is a princess crown on my cup...and it's pink!!" First we started out with dinner then some get to know you games. Then they had a very cute fashion show with girls modeling the various three dresses. We then watched a video montage of my three white dresses of pictures of girls in the ward. I of course got emotional looking over at my two cute little girls imagining them on their baptism day and as beautiful brides. At the end of the night they gave each girl a vinyl saying to put on a wall or mirror that had a pink crown and said. "Have eyes to see what heaven sees in you." It was such a fun night and so special to have some fun just the girls. I look forward to many more "girls only" nights ahead. Love you Ave and Emma.

So in love...

It's true. We are absolutely smitten with Miss Emma. She is such a good baby. I still find myself breaking out in tears multiple times a day just picking her up or looking at her I am so grateful to have her. Her precious little countenance has already brought so much peace and joy to our home. Deke and I continue to feel that she is going to be our little peacemaker. She has already brought our family so much peace and contentment. She is an angel. She is really vocal and makes these cute little growly noises when she needs something. She turns quite vicious however when it comes time to eat and will latch on to the closest item. Recent victims have included the lace trim on her bassinett, a fabric flower on one of her outfits and my earlobe. She has the deepest beautiful blue eyes and we are enjoying how much she is staying awake these days. She is really starting to focus better on objects including her favorites: the air vents in the ceiling and of course any fan. She saw her own hand for the first time the other day which cracked us up as she went cross eyed multiple times trying to focus on it. Every night when Deke gets home the first thing he wants to do is hold and cuddle her even before he changes or eats it is so cute. I am having so much fun taking cute shots of her. It is fun to have one that will actually hold still to be photographed. Hunter is her protector and meets to her every need. He is absolutely sweet with her. Avery love to experiment with her and see just exactly what she can and can't do. I included some close up pictures of some of her cute little parts to remember how cute her little hands and ears are and how chubby and delicious her little cheeks are. We are enjoying her so much...she is so adorable :) :)