Any of you that have toddler's understand the independance that an almost 4 year old has. Mikayla is always saying "I can do it all by myself - I'm a big girl!" She really is getting to be a big girl. It's fun to watch (most of the time at least), but it also makes me sad. My little girl is growing up way too fast!
This is a picture that Mikaya took all by herself. She did a good job!!
Mikayla wanted to go outside, but I was feeding Gavin. She didn't want to wait, so she went upstairs and picked some clothes out of her closet and got herself dressed. We did have to make some changes since it was about 85 degrees outside and those are fleece pants. She didn't want to change initially though because she wanted to be all toasty warm.
I had to throw in this picture. This is her making one of her many silly faces. I just love this little girl!!
Last weekend, I decided to do something a little crazy.....
My sister was having a baby shower and I decided that I really needed to be there. So me and the kids made the 400 mile drive to North Carolina. That's right, just me and the kids. Thanks to our lovely DVD player, Mikayla did wonderful. Gavin on the other hand, had some rough moments. The drive takes approximately 8 hours. Well, going up there it took me about 10 1/2 hours. We stopped for about an hour for a food stop which would account for some of the time, but the rest of delay can be attributed to Gavin screaming off and on for about an hour. It was so hard to listen to, his poor little voice was even hoarse the next day. Even with the tough trip, I am so glad we went. We had a great time spending time with my sister and her husband. It was fun to be able to share some of her pregancy with her.
This is my sister at her baby shower. Isn't she an adorable pregnant person!! It doesn't hurt that she is also the absolute most photogenic person in our family either.
My sister and her husband have a LoveSac (basically a very comfy, very big, and very nice bean bag chair)at their house. Mikayla fell in love with it. She kept calling it her "birds nest". 
I enjoyed cuddling with my kids in the "birds nest," too!
Sleeping was a tough thing while in Greenville. Me and the kids shared one room, which with Mikayla was no big deal, but it was a little hard with Gavin. Gavin doesn't go to sleep very well if he can see people in the room as he is going to sleep. Each night, I would put go ahead and put Gavin to sleep in the bedroom and then would have Mikayla lay down on the birds nest to fall asleep. That way, there wouldn't be any noise once we finally went to bed. This plan did give me at least 3-4 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Gavin kept waking up in the middle of the night and I would have to bring him to bed with me. He has continued the habit a little since we have returned home. I am hoping and praying that this is just due to teething!
My sister lives about 2 hours from the coast. We decided that I just couldn't be that close to the beach and not make a day trip to the beach. We knew that taking Gavin to the beach would be a definite roll of the dice, but we decided to go. I am SOOO glad we did! Gavin LOVED the beach and we had a wonderful time. It was definitely the highlight of the trip.
Mikayla loved playing in the sand and running in the water. 
Gavin loved crawling around in the sand. He just crawled around everywhere. He also liked the water. I sat at the water's edge with him and just let the small waves go over his legs. He really liked it, but the salt did bother him a couple of times.
The sand, however, posed no problem for him. He kept planting his face in the sand and trying to eat it. I am still amazed that the sand in his eyes didn't bother him. 
The kids had fun playing with each other. It was so much fun to see them interacting with each other. They are really starting to play together instead of just beside each other.
I have never been one to watch swimming. I enjoy watching it during the Olympics, but that is pretty much it. This year, has been particularly interesting, though. Michael Phelps, a swimming phenom, attempted to do the unimaginable. He set his goal for 8 gold medals during the Olympic games. Many said he couldn't do it, but he was able to prove them wrong. Last night, I watched as he swam into the history books. Him and the other members of the team one their relay, giving Michael Phelps his final gold medal for these Olympic games. It was a neat thing to literally watchin history in the making. I also watched him and his team when the first swimming gold medal of the game. That was an amazing race, one in which the won it in the very last milliseconds of the race. It was neat to see the beginning and the end of an amazing journey.
My baby sister got married this past weekend. It was a long and stressful week filled with lots of last minute preparations. Once all was said and done, though, we had a wonderful time celebrating Laura and Chris's committment to one another. I am so happy for my sister and I know she will be happy for a long time. Chris is a wonderful guy and I am glad that he and my sister found each other.
The girls taking a very short break from cooking and baking for a photo.
The newly married couple outside of the Atlanta Temple. I just love the look of newly married, madly in love young couples. Laura just looked absolutely beautiful.
Aunt Lollie and Mikayla
Me and my little sister
A family photo outside of the temple
As you can see, the days events caught up with Gavin. He fell asleep on the way to the reception and he slept in my arms for about the first 30 minutes.
Mikayla in her "princess dress". She loved that she and I got to wear matching dresses.
Gavin woke up and was in a great mood for the rest of the night.
Laura and her bridesmaids. Julie, her sister-in-law is to her right. Emily (+baby Andrew!) and I are on the left. Mikayla was in a very silly mood and would only give cheesy smiles.
My sad attempt to get a decent photo with my children. They were about done by this point in the night.
Every quarter, our county puts out a book with a list of the activities and classes that they are offering. I was flipping through it this morning and saw this picture. That is my little girl swimming with her instructor at the swimming lessons that she took earlier in the summer. I remember when the photographer was there that day... he took a ton of pictures of Mikayla. I guess he though the same thing that we do - that she is too cute to not take a picture of!
In my hometown, they have a parade every year to honor our nation's veterans. I have been going as long as I can remember. I have even been in it a couple of times. It is so much fun and I love that my children are getting to go. It is such a nice tradition to pass along.
my twenties. I started out the day, by dropping the kids off at my Mom's house for a little bit and having lunch with my best friend, Hilary. We have the same birthday and we always try to get together to celebrate. We are going to have to plan something very fun next year for our 30th birthday!! It was great getting to see her - she is expecting her first baby in December, and I loved getting to see that belly! I hope our little boys, that will only be a year apart in age, will grow up to good friends like us.
That night, me and my family went to out to eat for Chinese food. We opened up gifts and then took the celebration to my grandparents home for cake and ice cream. Every year my mom makes the same cake for me - my wedding cake. The lady that made my wedding cake is a friend of my mom's and she gave her the recipe after my wedding, because I loved the way it tasted so much. It is sooo good and I always look forward to it.
