Privacy Please...

Alyssa took this picture of Layla and me the other day. I thought it was such a funny snapshot of Layla. She is starting to show a little more personality these days. It is fun to watch her discover her surroundings.


Houses have been popping up around us like popcorn, which has resulted in the need of putting up a privacy fence sooner rather than later. So for the past few weekends, Robert and his dad have worked really hard to get the fence completed.
Fall weather has come to town and we couldn't be happier about that. Now with our lovely privacy fence, the girls can run around and jump on the trampoline with freedom! It brings me great comfort to know that the fence keeps my girls safe in our own yard, and keeps all the other people out!
Thank you babe and grandpa Wallace for working so hard and being so handy! We love it!

Layla's Blessing Day

Sunday was a special day. Robert blessed Layla in church. We were grateful to have so many of our close friends and family come and be there with us to celebrate her coming into our family.
Robert, his father, his brother Raymond, the bishopric, and a good friend of our family, Jonathon were the preisthood holders that surrounded Layla during her blessing. My mother and father were not able to attend. It is always sad to live so far away during events like this. I miss them terribly and wished so badly that my father could have been there to help bless my daughter.
The blessing, I was told, was beautiful. We were sitting midway to the back of the chapel, and when Robert started talking, I could tell the microphone was not working. I could barely hear him. Then Bella starting crawling all over me, and I think I heard about 3 sentances of the blessing. I was really sad that they didn't stop and start over once they could tell the microphone wasn't working. My mother-in-law wrote down all the things that Robert was saying, so at least I can type those up and put them in Layla's baby book to remember it.


The dress is an old family dress. My grandmother Busteed had it handmade for one of her daughter's blessing. She wasn't sure if my mother actually wore it, but I like to think she did. I came across it when I was at her house when I was pregnant with Alyssa. I asked if I could clean it up and use it for her blessing. It is so thin and fragile, so we soaked it in gentle wash and steamed it. All of my girls have worn this dress, and it is very special to me. The beautiful bow was given to me by my sister, Necia. It went perfect with her dress, and everyone gave me a lot of compliments on it. Thank you Necia!

The Mason family came to support us once again. Donn was there too, but had to leave early for another meeting. This family has meant a lot to me and my kids. They really have been great to us. Don't her boys look so handsome in their suits?

The Wallace family. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Lee were out of town visting family in California. We were sad he wasn't able to be there to help bless Layla. But we couldn't wait until the next month because I was afraid she wouldn't fit in her dress.

My good friend, Lynn and her husband Pat. Lynn is the first friend I made when I moved to Tulsa 10 years ago. She and I worked together for 3 years. We have stayed good friends ever since. She is not a member of our church, but she comes to support me, and that means a lot to me. She loves my little girls.

(Too bad Bella is wrapping herself in my skirt in this picture. That looks flattering. Also, don't pay attention to the black bags under my eyes in all the pictures. I haven't got much sleep in the past 3 months.)

Jog-A-Thon

We participated in our very first school fundraiser last Friday. Bixby Elementary had their annual jog a thon, in which each class runs as many laps as they can in 20 minutes. Parents come and cheer them on, spray them with water mists as they run by to cool them off, and to donate money to the school. One of the parents was telling me that last year they raised $40,000 for the school and they were able to purchase some really neat things for the school that year.
The kids were excited about it, which made it really fun! Rob was even able to come join in on the fun since it fell on a Friday when he was already off work. It happened to fall on a Friday that Rob was already off work, so it was nice to have him there with us. Alyssa was excited to see us all there. It was a fun family event!


Family photo op! Layla wasn't really into it I guess. Bella was too busy looking at all the other kids running around. Chances of getting us all looking at the camera and smiling are REALLY slim to none.

Mrs Goodroe's Kindergarten class. Alyssa is sitting on the front row, third from left.

Bella ran up to Alyssa and gave her a good job sissy hug right after she was done running.

The kids all had a paper around their wrist. Every time they ran a lap, the teachers would put a mark on the paper as they passed the starting point to keep track of how many laps they completed. We told Alyssa we would donate a dollar for every lap she ran. She can 22 laps! That is more than a lap per minute. We were pretty impressed with her determination while she ran. A lot of other kids were walking and she just kept running! It was cute!