Happy House Day!

We closed on our house today!! Yay!!! We are really excited...Next week we will clean, paint, and work on the yard like crazy, and next weekend is moving weekend!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Karleigh!!!

On July 9, Karleigh turned 5. I really don't know where the time has gone, and I really can't believe that Karleigh is 5. Karleigh made me the luckiest girl alive the day she was born and I became a mom. She changed my life forever. Here is Karleigh through the years...

She has always been such a cute little girl, and so full of life. She has the sassiest side and the sweetest side to her. She is my little social bug. She loves making new friends! Whenever we go to a park, she always leaves with a new friend. Karleigh is full of attitude!!! She likes things her way or no way at all. This is something we have to work on EVERY DAY!!! She is very strong willed and I hope and pray she will use this for good as she gets older! Karleigh is really smart. She always has been. She loves to learn and be creative. She can't wait for kindergarten, which is only about 3 weeks away!!! She is so full of imagination. She lives in her own little make believe world. She is a really good big sister. When her and Gray aren't fighting, they really are the best of friends!!! She can't wait to be a big sister again! She likes to be the center of attention. She memorizes the words to songs so easily, and sings them at the top of her lungs. Her favorite is definitely Tailor Swift!!! Every time we get in the car she says, "Turn this up. This is my favorite song." She loves to dance and she is freakishly strong for how small she is. She loves to climb up poles and pick people up (She has a weird fetish with this) and just run and play. Karleigh loves church and I can already see her testimony growing. She is so curious and asks SO many questions!!! We love our Karleigh so much, and we are so grateful she is part of our family! This year, we got to celebrate her birthday in Washington. Abbie's wedding open house was on her actual birthday, so we celebrated her birthday the day before, which was actually the day Kevin came home, so it was a very exciting birthday.

Don't you love the cake. It was a combined effort of Brad making it and me and my mom trying to decorate it. Turned out pretty awesome....kind of.

She wanted a princess birthday party. I got Gray a Zoro costume so that he wouldn't have to run around with a princess crown on all night.

We had yummy Pizza for dinner.

My mom got a pinata and the kids had a blast with it.

Karleigh got spoiled by everyone.

Karleigh got some roller skates for her birthday, which after trying them out, decided they are a bit dangerous. Hopefully she will catch on soon and not break anything. She was excited that her new friend, Brooke, could come to her birthday party too.

We bought some fireworks for the 4th, but didn't end up using them, so we lit them for Karleigh's birthday.

She got a big birthday hug from Gray and Savannah.

She had such a fun birthday this year. She was so happy to get to celebrate it in Washington!!! We love you, Karleigh!!!

PS I don't know why blogger is being so crazy with the formatting and I don't know how to fix it. If anyone knows how, let me know!

RETURN WITH HONOR

Kevin is awesome!! He has spent the last 20 months serving the Lord faithfully in the Dominican Republic!! I know that he was an amazing and obedient missionary. He has been the best example to me and such a great example to my little family! It has been so fun to watch him grow and serve! I have loved getting his weekly letters. Because Kevin sacrificed the last 20 months of his life, so many will get to spend eternity with their families. Kevin has had the best attitude, even with being sick for the last 10 months. I am so sad for him that he had to leave 4 months early, because I know he wanted more than anything to stay, but I am so relieved and happy that he is home and safe and on the mend!!!

One of his missionary companions who is still serving wrote this about Kevin and another missionary who also came home.

"This week was full of many different experiences. One of the biggest ones was that two of my favorite missionaries from my group were sent home early because they were sick and couldn't get better here!! Elder Allred and Elder Pickett. They are two STUD missionaries from my group!!! I was super super close to them both!!! I loved them like my brothers!! They had been sick with many parasites throughout the whole mission!! Elder Pickett was super super sick basically the whole mission!! Elder Allred got some parasites too but they both got super bad in the end!! They both lived in the same house in our Zone and I would call and talk to them all the time!! They were amazing missionaries and served with all their heart might mind and strength. Even to the very end. They got sick and that was one of the biggest challenges they had to face in the mission. I love those two missionaries with all my heart and I know they served the Lord the way that He wanted them to serve. I talked to them right before they left and it was pretty hard to see them go. The Doctors told them they have to basically regrow their intestines all the way back to normal. The "throwing in the towel" mark for them was when the specialist said that if they don't get this taken care of properly, they will have serious problems the rest of their lives!! That's when they both put their heads down and said that "I have fought the good fight" just like Paul.

Here are some pictures from Kevin's mission. He truly loved the Dominican people.

I wonder if this is part of the reason he got sick...

Here we are...walking into the airport to see Kevin. It was such an emotional time.

This is the group that came to support him. It was so great to have so many people there to welcome him home.

This is the 1st glimpse we got of Kevin!! It was such an exciting feeling, but it was really hard to see him so sick.

Dad and Kevin...

He is home and doing well. He got released on the Sunday after he got home. He has been to the doctor and basically is working to rebuild his intestines. He is super skinny and doesn't have a lot of energy, but he always has a smile on his face. Now we just want him to get better fast. I love you brother!!!

Oregon Zoo

On Thursday, we decided we would be more help out of the house than it it with the 4 crazy kids running round, so we decided to take the kiddos to the zoo.

The bears were so close. It was fun to watch.

My kids said that their favorite animal at the zoo was the dinosaur. They thought that this dinosaur was real, and I didn't tell them it wasn't.

After the zoo we went to get some yummy frozen yogurt.

We spent Thursday night making posters for Kevin and getting things ready for him. At this point, Steve was in town as well.