DAY SIX: Taking the "animals" to see the animals...

Sporting the John Deere hat and the monkey backpack/restraint. Neither stuck with her for very long.
Nora and Caleb in the stroller.
The Mata Family on the train. "ooh... agua"
Sure, she had a good time. When we didn't have her restrained.....
"wrinkle my nose" on Tio David's shoulders

Once again time went way too fast! Thursday was our last full day together with the Iowans. We started off the day by heading down to SLC to the Hogle Zoo. The weather started off a bit cold, but eventually warmed. I love zoos. So does Malia. Although, the girl was quite amusing by pointing out ALL of the water, or "agua" as she says. Animals everywhere, and she is intrigued by the water. Here are some of the animals we got to see... photos compliments of Britt, David, and myself.

After the zoo we headed down to the big Cabela's store. Some of us stayed in the van with sleeping kids and ran over to the nearest (not actually very near) distribution center. After that we went over to our great aunts house. They were very nice and made dinner for us. It was good to get to see them more. I really appreciated them all coming up to the sealing and was sad that we didn't get to spend very much time with them that day. It was nice to hang out at their house and spend more time with them. Once again, a long day, but tons of fun.

Ahh... the power of toddlers. It was amazing how fast they dissembled the room!

Aunt Velma whipping up something delicious!Aunt Virginia chatting with Mom and Chris.Aunt Jeannette taking pictures.

Bart with the babes.

MMM... yummy food. Such cute mommies!

Almost done.....

DAY FIVE: The best day EVER!

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 is now the best day of my life. On this day I sealed for time and all eternity to my forever love, David and my beautiful daughter, Malia. It was a super emotional day and I am so grateful that my family was here to share it with us. For those of you that are of the LDS faith, I am sure you understand the great significance of this occasion. For others, it may be a bit confusing to see what all the hype is about. Feel free to check out these links for some clarification: http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/membership-in-the-church/forever-families and http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/membership-in-the-church/temples-and-family-history. Regardless of one's religion, I am sure we can all agree that families are a great thing and how special it is to have time together. Imagine the blessing of ETERNITY together!! The day started pretty mellow. Mom and Chris came out in the morning. Mom hemmed David's pants and Chris put together the wagon. Thanks! David slept being as he worked the night before. Wait... who am I kidding? The morning wasn't exactly "mellow".... David came home around 8am jobless. He had been working for Pepperidge for not even 2 weeks and they laid him off... indefinitely! You always here that stressful things happen as you are getting ready to go to the temple... I guess losing your job the morning of qualifies! David had never officially left Alpine and is returning to work for them full time. Alpine has truly been a blessing in our lives. Britt made a scrumdiddlyumptious breakfast- Stuffed French Toast! Christina and the girls joined us for the breakfast. Once again, I wish Britt would move here so we could all hang out together. In a lot of ways Christina is like my Britt. We'd have so much fun together! Too bad Christina is leaving me, too! Stinking Army! Just kidding, I fully support the Armed Forces... Just wish the Barringtons didn't have to move. Hurry Britt, don't let there be a "friend gap"! Around 3 Dianne showed up and she and Britt took the kids down to the Caley's for us. It was nice to have that time together, just the two of us, right before going to the temple. We got to the temple at 4pm. A super huge thanks to Lori's family for watching Britt's kids! For families having children sealed to them there is a children's center while the parent's are in the endowment session. These family and friends were in attendance for the endowment: Mom, Brittney, Dianne, Bart (Lori joined for the sealing), my great aunts (Velma, Virginia, and Jeannette), the Baldwins (our Bishop and his wife, also my Visiting Teacher), Boedy Hunsaker (from Alpine), and two of David's friends from Pepperidge. He makes friends fast! He thinks the whole reason this "pepperidge ordeal" happened was so he could meet these great people! These are the people that were able to join us for the sealing: all of those in the endowment session, Ward Members: Barringtons, Becky Demuzio, Emily Morrison, Dianne Mikkelson, Kings (Kelli and Brian), Morlan Seamons (our temple preparation teacher), Alpine people: Aaron Elwood, Michelle and Chris Harris (owner of Alpine), fellow Stake Primary Presidency (Osbournes, Clemens, Debbie Grinnell). I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. Brother Hall (Stake Presidency) suggested we write our experiences down afterwards.... I should have done it sooner, it's getting foggy already! I must admit my favorite part was when they brought my Mali in.... she looked so beautiful!! She was so good! Not a word the whole time! Just her big, beautiful eyes soaking it all in. I didn't cry until I saw her. I was just so overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong. I am so grateful to be sealed to David forever. He is an amazing man and I love him with all my heart... It's just that when I realized that Malia will be ours, FOREVER, I was so... HAPPY! I am so grateful that we will be an eternal family. Afterwards, we gathered for pictures outside the temple. The weather was rainy and cold, so only a few pictures were taken. Unfortunately, none of them by my camera! Malia went down to the Caleys and my immediate family went out to eat at Olive Garden (love my employee discount! Too bad I can only have up to 8). It was nice having some time with just the adults. Thanks for dinner Mom and Chris! David had to go to work that night (last night at Pepperidge). Dianne, Britt and I stayed up chatting way too late. It was fun having some girly time, too. It was a very long and somewhat overwhelming day, yet still amazing.



The one picture in my possession from that day. This is Malia right before we went to the temple. Isn't she so cute?? This isn't actually the dress she wore in the temple. If you look close, this dress has little yellow daisies on it (dresses have to be all white for the temple). Britt tried to bleach out the yellow centers, but no luck. Fortunately, the temple had a dress for her and it was just as pretty.

DAY FOUR: Haircuts, Shopping, American Idol

The line up: Caleb, Nathan, Malia and Nora. Almost chronological (Nathan's the oldest). Although, interestingly they are lined up according to weight! Do you know how hard it is to get ALL of them to look at the camera? 3 out of 4 ain't bad!

What a cheeser!
Pretty Nora with her new earrings that you can't quite see.

Malia "helping" with baby Max.
Nathan taking charge with the wagon pulling.

No day would be complete without yet ANOTHER trip to the ducks! I guess our family just loves "fowl" things!
Another attempt at getting all four to look at the camera....
Trying again to get a pic of Nora's new earrings.... No luck, but a cute Mommy/Daughter pic!

Day Four was our most uneventful, yet relaxing day. Mom, Britt, and I all got our hair cut by Carrie(sp?), Lori's sister. We took turns so that we could be kid less for a bit. Thanks so much Lori for helping out. Then we all went to lunch at Cafe Rio. Gotta love the Pork Barbacoa Salad. David always gets their Chicken Tortilla Soup. Then we went to Distribution Services to get everything we needed for the temple. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH MOM!! Unfortunately it was during kids' nap time and David's (he had worked 3rd shift the night before). Thus David was super tired and poor Britt got stuck in the car with sleeping kids. After that Britt and I went shopping. I miss shopping with Britt. It's never good when we do, since neither of us really have money, but I miss it all the same. MOVE HERE! During that time we got Nora's ears pierced. The moment was enhanced by the nasty looks given by the old grandma looking on. Someday I will give my thoughts on that- obviously pro since Mali got hers pierced when she was 3 months. After that we went back to the Caley home for dinner and watched American Idol together. Or tried too. A little tough to do with so many kids running around! It was nice to have a day that wasn't super structured and that we could just hang out. I wish we would have had more of them, the time just flew!

DAY THREE: Idaho Falls

On Monday of the "Iowa Visitors Week", we went up to Idaho Falls to visit my friend/aunt, Dianne and her family. They just bought this house last fall and have a huge yard for the kids to play in. We grilled out on the back deck and basked in the beautiful sunshine. In the afternoon the Moms and the kids chilled out at the house while the grandparents and Israel went shooting. After that we went to the falls on the Snake River to feed the geese. A definite highlight. Then in the evening we went to Dianne's Choralairs (no clue on the spelling) Concert. It's a local community women's choir. They were holding a free patriotic concert. Britt and I only got to hear a couple songs because of our unruly kids. Britt and I found a boardroom upstairs, locked the kids in with us, and played hangman on the whiteboard. Good times!

Here are Mali and Maggie checking out the dog in the neighbor's yard through the fence.

Nora looking cute in the sunhat.


My cute Britt with her piggy tales, the day before the big chop off.

Nathan- such a cool dude!

All grins Nora!

Playing with the geese- note Nathan's cool (and very necessary) monkey pack/restraint, Maggie (Dianne's oldest) on either side in the middle, my mom helping Malia in the bottom left and middle, and in the bottom right, Chris- aka Super Grandpa- holding Nora.

Israel and Dianne after the concert. Isn't she beautiful??

The first video is super short and just shows what an adorable kid Nora is. She is a very happy and fun baby... I miss her already!! The next video shows the kids feeding the geese at the falls. Note Malia is in no way scared of the geese, or the water ("agua") for that matter. My favorite is when she tells the goose off at the end. Stay tuned with more exciting details of the "Iowa Visitors Week"......

DAY TWO: Max's Blessing

Day two of family fun brought us to Max's Blessing. We all attended the Caley's ward and afterwards had a picnic at the park near their house. The weather was beautiful!

The whole fam damily! L to R- Israel, Dianne (my friend/aunt), Emma and Maggie Nichols. Brittney holding Nathan. Chris holding Malia, Mom blocking Chris (which I am sure he didn't mind!), Lori holding Max, Bart with Caleb, I am holding Nora (Britt's girl) and my stud of a husband, David.
The Caley Family

Hanging out in the grass-- Britt and Nora, Bart playing "catch" with Caleb.

Malia being beyond brave at the playground after the blessing.
One of the cute dresses from Grandpa and Grandma.

Malia climbed to the top of the slide and went down entirely by herself. She loved it!

Pretty girls! Nora is good for scrunching up her little face... David called her "Wrinkle Your Nose" all week.

Nora checking out Max.

Grandma getting the kids set up with sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Good times with Grandma!

Malia and Caleb creating their masterpieces.Mother Malia and the not so excited Nora riding in the new wagon with Caleb.Feeding the ducks by the Caley's home. All loaded up! Malia, Nora, Nathan and Caleb loving the new ride.

It was a great day and we loved going to church with everyone. It was good to see Lori's family, too.

DAY ONE: Carne Asada and Family

So the fam got here last Saturday around 2. I was expecting them to arrive around 4. And of course, I being the slacker/procrastinator/busy person that I am left all of my housework until Saturday morning! Not all of it got done, but oh well! The travel weary Britt had one request... Carne Asada. David was more than happy to oblige. He also made Mexican rice and beans. I made some pico de gallo and we feasted! We also celebrated the kids' birthdays that night. Since the grandparents were in town they brought the grandkids' presents so they wouldn't have to ship them. Caleb's birthday is in a couple days and Nathan, Nora, and Malia's birthdays are at the end of the summer. Yummy food and family... who could ask for anything more?

Nathan anxiously awaiting the cutting of the birthday cake (courtesy of Pepperidge Farms, who at the time we were all supporting full heartily... now not so much- see later posts....)

Finger lickin' good!

Papa helping Mali open her presents. She got two super cute dresses!

Nathan checking out his new sandals.

So much for a clean house! It's amazing the damage that can be brought on by so many little ones! In the background you can see a big box... that's the John Deere wagon that Malia got from Grandpa and Grandma. Malia LOVES it! David takes her for walks in it often. You can also see the rocking chair that my Dad and Sharon got Mali a while back, but we had no way to get it out here, until now! She loves it and it's the perfect size for her.

My friend/neighbor Christina stopped by with her girls, Rachel and Amelia. Nora (on the far right) and the twins are just a few days apart.

Mom and Chris, post carne.

Picture of the picture taking! I love Nathan's look.. so stoic!

Lori hugging Caleb and Bart chomping on carne.

The Iowans were tired from their travels so we didn't stay up too late that night. Mom and Chris stayed at the Caleys and Britt and her kids stayed with us. While we were getting dinner ready the kids played in the backyard on the swing and slide. The highlight was when Malia and Nathan ran upstairs and successfully locked themselves INSIDE our bedroom. It was just the beginning of the trouble that those two would find together! It was so good to see them play together again, like they were never apart!

Together Again...soon!

Here is a family picture we took in December of 2006 while celebrating Christmas together in Iowa. My mom, Chris, Britt, Nathan and Nora (in the womb at the time of the pic) will be leaving TODAY to come visit the rest of us in Utah. Dan will stay home and work. Good man, we'll miss you! Hopefully we can get another family picture while they are visiting. Especially since we've been joined by Nora and Max. We'll have to photoshop Dan in. I am so excited to see everyone and am going to do my best to persuade them to move to Utah! By the way, Britt's blog is up and running again, so check it out! I love my family so very much and am grateful that Malia's mohawk has grown out!