The Bunch is Back!

Over the summer we don't have lunch bunch because everyone is crazy busy, so we are all excited when September rolls around and Lunch Bunch starts up again. This month Kristin was our gracious hostess and made an awesome Chinese Chicken Salad. The whole luncheon was centered around a Chinese theme (thanks to Jeanie for all her hard work!).

Sadly, one of the only pictures I managed to take with people in it.

The children were all excited to get together again and enjoyed playing with each other after they quickly ate their own lunch.

The table and place settings.

A picture of the Chinese Chicken Salad is in the middle and the rest are yummy desserts! Jeanie also made a delicious Mandarin Orange Cake and Arctic Orange Pie, but I failed to get pictures of those.

This was the children's "sushi". Made out of Rice Crispy Treats, gummy worms, and fruit by the foot. Camille did a great job making it look so real! I must admit this is probably the only kind of sushi I will ever eat... Yum!

Random Bits and Updates

Matt injured his knee at Christmas when playing flag football with his brothers. He thought it was no big deal until it was a couple of months later and STILL hurting. So, here it is nine months later and Matt will be having knee surgery on the 25th of September to repair his meniscus and remove a cyst and fluid leakage. Poor guy...I don't think he has even had an IV before ...


Two and a half weeks ago Madelynne decided she was finally ready to be toilet trained and insisted on wearing her big girl panties. I must admit I would not have picked the timing, but I am excited with her progress. She is doing really well and I am happy to report we have not had to buy her diapers since Jackson was born. Her Charlie and Lola sticker chart is quickly filling up and soon we will declare the toilet training to be a success and she will get to go to the store to pick out her BIG prize! You go girl!


Jackson is such a good baby! Last Thursday night he slept through the night! He hasn't done it since, but I really can't complain because he only gets up once a night otherwise. I am a lucky mama. Jackson also had his first "photo shoot" a couple weeks ago. Scroll down to see the slide show!

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Fairport Harbor

Over Labor Day Weekend we took our families to Fairport Harbor. Madelynne finally got her wish and got to go to the "beach". She loved playing in the sand and spending the day playing with her cousins.

Sharing the Kirtland Experience

We were excited to share the Kirtland experience with some of the members of both sides of our family when they came to visit Labor Day Weekend for Jackson's Blessing Day. We felt very blessed to have so many come from all over! Matt's parents came from Pennsylvania and his older brother, Adam and his family came from New York. Tanya's parents came from Dayton, Ohio and my sisters, Andrea and Kierstin, came from Utah. My sister, Collette, came from Colorado! A BIG thank you to everyone for coming to share this special weekend with us. It really meant a lot to us.

Little Wonders

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain
-Rob Thomas, Little Wonders lyrics

Here are a few of my favorite pictures we had taken for Jackson's birth announcements. Isn't life beautiful? Thanks Ryan for the awesome pictures!

Family Home Evening

Because Madelynne is only two and a half our FHE lessons are usually short and sweet. We have found The Friend church magazine to be a great resource for gospel lessons that are just that-short and sweet. A couple of weeks ago as we were cleaning up dinner on a Monday night I told Madelynne we needed to hurry, so we could have family home evening. She got really excited and immediately ran and got The Friend magazine and told us, "It's time for family home evening." Then she sat down and picked out an article to read for the lesson. I hope she is always this enthusiastic about family night and learning the gospel.