Kanab UT

Some pictures from the park in Kanab UT. We stayed here on our way home. We have never stayed in Kanab before and I highly recommend it. The town is just so stinkin cute!! I just love the red rock and the pictures turned out so nice.

Summer in Idaho

Babies at play. Spencer always has an audience....he is the baby, but just as big as the older ones! Here is Hendrix (Tina's youngest.) He turned 2 and I made him a sorry excuse for a Teenage mutant ninja cake. The kids loved it.

Here is Aubrey as one of the Ninja turtles. Her and Weston are obsessed with these cartoons now.

This is just one of my long lost brothers that I miss so much. Cute Tayne...single as well. Here we are at one of the luncheons for my cousins wedding.

Weston tubing!

I am water skiing...haven't done it in 10 years!

Weston wake boarding.... he was so cute, but serious.

Aubrey just loved tubing. Loved it! She cried when we left.
Wake boarding. I am not that good, but had so much fun!

There will be lots of pictures to come. The kids and I came to good ol' Idaho the first of July and plan on being here all month. Jake is working hard at home and will join us on the 23rd. Here are some pictures of recent happenings.

Pulling teeth!
Doing projects with cousins!!
Staying with my parents!
Loving the farm.

Samantha Dresses

Samantha's birthday rolls around this every year. I usually dread it because regardless of how I think I am doing, I seem to fall apart remembering her passing and all the emotions that go with it. However, time has helped heal wounds and my other children have filled my life with so much joy and love. This birthday was definitely the best one so far. We had already talked a lot about Sammy at memorial day and it was harder on the kids than I wanted it to be. So we just kept it really simple. Last week we sent balloons up in the air with notes and drawings from the kids....so sweet. Aubrey and Weston watched as they "flew to Heaven." We were going to do this on her birthday but had some extra balloons from something and just did it then. So, for Samantha's birthday I wanted to do a service or project that just reminded me of her. Aubrey picked the fabric and we decided to make sun dresses for Aubrey and her cousins on the Watkins side. (I wish now that I would have bought more material, cause it was super fun and I would love to make dresses for all the girls on the Peterson side as well. ..sorry guys) So I sewed them up then stayed busy hand sewing on he bows and ribbons. It was cute to hear Aubrey saying that these were her "favorite colors" and that she would love to dance and twirl in them. I made one for myself as well. I hope that Cicily and Maya will think of their cousin Samantha every time they where these dresses. I know that Sammy would want me to serve and be a good neighbor, wife, friend and mother and I am trying my best to live worthily to live with her forever. I am so grateful for the gospel and the peace it brings me and our family. This is a family blog and don't have the opportunity to write much about our oldest daughter and sweetest member of the Watkins' clan. So here is a shout out to Samantha....Happy Birthday girl! We all love you!!

Spencer Laughing

This video takes a sec to get going, but he is so cute. Weston is the best at making Spencer laugh. It doesn't really matter what he is doing, I think Spence just likes the unexpected...which is Weston's forte!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Jake took Aubrey to a daddy daughter dance here in our city. It was so fun to see him surprise her with a corsage. She loved it. They stayed till the end per Aubrey's request and danced thenight away. Love it!

"School's out for Summer!!!....."

"School's out FOREVER!!!" Guitar hero has opened my eyes to old rock songs...songs in which I had never heard before. That is a different post however. Anyway, here are some pictures of Aubrey and Miss Carvell. She loved PreK and we are so proud of her for getting "principles pride" all six times and excelling the way she just does. Love you Aubrey. They were Pirates at the last day of school party.

Baby Blessing

So this last Sunday we went to see baby Max get blessed. Here are some pictures from it. He is so cute...we all just love him. We have great family here in AZ and we are so grateful for that!

SWIM TIME.

This is one thing I love about AZ! We can swim in May and it is great. Here are some pictures of a recent party for our cousin Cicily!!! Love you girl!

Thanks IKEA

So this Memorial day we had planned to paint Weston's room and move the office. However, neither Jake nor I wanted to paint...so we decided to go to Ikea instead. There we found the best shelves for a toy room and the cutest little table for the play area. As I was taking pics of the result I noticed a lot of that room is due to Ikea. Including the 2 easels and side table...and rug. Thanks Ikea!

Spencer Status!

So Spencer is really grown up since he turned 6 months. Here are his stats: He was 20.2 lbs at the first of this month. That put him in the 98th% on weight and 93% in height. (I can't remember how long he was...27 inches I think.) In the last couple weeks he has finally learned to roll over as well as sit. For the last 3 nights he has slept in his crib. He is also sleeping through the night...well I am! My dirty little secret is that I have done this with no monitor. I was just so sick of getting up with him 3 to 4 times still a night. I cannot stand to let my kids cry...I am so weak. So, I lovingly put him to bed and then check on him around 6 in the morning. It was been great. Hopefully, he has learned to sleep through the night by now, and I plan on putting a monitor in there in the next couple of nights or so. He has also started eating solids. He loves apples, pears, squash...everything I have tried. He is still a wreck when we drive places in the car but other than that we love this "little bundle of joy."