Right before we took off to Georgia, we managed to squeeze in one last week-end trip to Utah to see my very first Nephew's wedding.  Josh and Kelsey tied the knot at the Mount Timpanogos temple.  It was fun to be for their big day. 

During the reception, it was a great time to gather together a bunch of my nieces.  These girls are all so wonderful, each with such a different personality.  While we were in Nevada, we really got the opportunity to watch them grow a little bit.  

Now half of them are starting to break free of their little girl status and join the ranks of young women.  They are smart, kind and just really, really good girls.  I'm really going to miss our random trips to visit with them.

This is not the best picture...but just look at these three.  Lucy and Yve are now both taller than I am.  (Alaina is still hoping...)  I love watching the three of them talk and laugh together.  Alaina wishes she could move right in.  I can't imagine how the next year will change them.

Here are just a couple more random pictures before we moved.

Robert with all his boys at Costco.

Alaina, Austin and Ethan with their church group, visiting the temple.  Look how respectful they all looks.  :)  (Those boys crack me up the most.  I've never seen any of them look so still.)

The twins turned 13!!!

I can't believe my little babies are in their last year of middle school!  (spoiler alert...😃)  I just spent a week down in Florida with Lora and her twin baby girls and it makes me remember just how far these two kids have come.  Trying to get pregnant was miserable.  The pregnancy was hard and scary.  Their birth was touch and go for a minute and their month in the NICU was difficult to say the least.  Every early milestone was such an achievement.  And now I look at them.  Both of these wonderful kids are kind, empathetic, and smart.  They shine in their talents.  They are kind and thoughtful to their older and younger brothers.  They have such a strong bond (that magical ESP-ish communication they have!) and I can't imagine my life without them.

We had several different little parties to celebrate their birthday.  The first one was a week before their big day, during my Mom's visit.  We had a special dinner and a yummy cheesecake.

This year was a little different than most of their birthdays.  Because of scheduling problems between the kids' friends, we ended up having two small parties for the kids, separately.  The first one was Alaina and she had a swim party with her friends Kylie and Taylor Utley.  The girls swam, ate and for dessert we had a giant ice-cream bar.

Alaina loved the chance to have a laid-back, silly swim day with the girls before we packed up to move.

We may have been a little excessive with the ice-cream selection.  However, we used the same set-up for Austin's party and we managed to get through all that ice-cream in about a week or two.  (p.s.  I'm now looking for a good gym here in Georgia...I've no idea how I managed to grow out of my pants before we left Nevada!)

The little boys were the only boys allowed to the party.  They were the entertainment. 

Then came Austin's party.  He invited his best friends, Ryan Boring and Park Van Alfen to his ice-cream/hang-out party.   Unlike the girls, these clowns would not sit still for any real good picture.

(what was left of the ice-cream by then)

Those boys had a great time together.  Austin really misses them!

And finally!  Their actual Birthday!  We had a lovely fruit salad (I was partied out by then...)

And here they are.  13 and fabulous.

And a little strange...

And a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday, Twinnies!!

Hello world.  

It's been awhile. 

I've been busy.

But, we'll get to that in a few posts.  For now, I'll skip back to May and catch you up.

The last week of May, Mom came to visit for a few days.  I love impromptu visits and this was no exception.  After church on Sunday, we decided to take a few fun pictures of everyone.  We tried to go to the wetland Park, but it was so bright (Darn that Nevada blistering sun!) that we couldn't get a good picture.  It's just like Las Vegas to offer a huge wetland park that doesn't have one bit of good shade.  We finally decided to take pictures under the main building.  By then everyone was getting a bit grumpy, but after a good tongue-lashing I got everyone to give me some good fake smiles.  (By then, even I was in a cranky mood.)  We did get some good shot, nonetheless.  Here they are.

This guy spent his time exploring through the rocks like a desert nomad.

Once we coaxed him close enough, we got these two silly shots.

Jason tried to get a decent smile in, but wasn't completely successful.

These two, however, were perfectly photogenic.  All their pictures turned out pretty.

But this one is my favorite.  The light made a little halo around Alaina.

And a couple of final pictures and we could all go home and eat lunch!  Phew.