Jillian's first day of kindergarten

I can't believe my Jillian is old enough to go to school but she is!

 She's been excited for kindergarten to start since she was done with preschool in May.

 Jillian with Elliot on her first day.

 Jillian and mom on her first day of school.

All my kiddos with me.  They are getting so big!

Washington

While we were in Washington for Rosemary's wedding reception, we got some playing in too!

 Admiring the dinosaurs in Granger.

 I love how Elliot is trying to look up to the T-Rex's head.  It's way up there!

 Grandma and Elliot.  He didn't want his picture taken but at least Grandma looks cute!

 Playing with the Kelley cousins at Uncle Keith's house.

 This picture cracks me up.  I have another one that Jillian is actually smiling in but Anna is not looking at the camera so this one gets to grace the blog.

The Galland kids playing with Anna and Kimber!

We had a good time visiting everyone while we were home.  The girls went camping with Sean and his family and that's all I heard about the rest of the trip (honestly, that's all I heard about for months ahead of time too). Sean got some pictures of the girls fishing and playing in the lake on his phone.  I should get those from him so I can post them.  Sean and I went on a date to see "Star Trek Into Darkness" on the very last night it was playing at the cheap theater.  Good thing we didn't wait until the next night to go! Grandma and Grandpa Porter graciously agreed to put the kids to bed for us while we caught the movie.  I now have a new appreciation for Benedict Cumberbatch (if you don't know who he is google him, I promise you'll thank me).

Rosemary got married!

My youngest sister, Rosemary got married at the end of July.  We were lucky that she got married in the Logan temple because then we could get ready at our own apartment that morning!

 Gotta have clean teeth for the wedding!

 Chloe was ready to go!

 Sean and Elliot looking spiffy.

 The girls in their matching dresses that I made for them.

 At the luncheon I caught some candid shots.  This is the bride and groom, Steven, talking with my dad.

 My brother, Eric and his wife, Tami with their cute baby, Georgia.  And yes, I made her dress too.

The bride with her friends.

 Glen playing with a nephew (Porter, maybe?).

 The day after Rose got married we went to her reception in Almo, ID.  Here are my brothers ready for the festivities.  They are silly boys (love you guys!).

 Chloe and her favorite person in the whole world: Grandpa!

Glen and Elliot.

Everyone took lots of pictures with their nicer cameras so I just have a few snapshots with my point-and-shoot.  We had a good time and Rosemary was a beautiful bride.  I don't think I took any pictures of her Washington reception that took place a week later but we had a good time there too (no worries, it was well documented by others).

4th of July

We had a fun Independence day.  We went to our local parade.

 The kids had fun playing with sticks while we waited for the parade to start.

 I colored the girls' hair with chalk.  I decided it was fun but a lot of work for not much color, plus as they played the color rubbed out.

I made this fruit pizza (gluten-free, even!) for dessert.  It was pretty tasty!

June and July

The summer is flying by and taking us along with it.  We've been busy hanging out with friends and family.  My favorite part of summertime!  We still have lots more to come but this is what we've been up to so far.

We went to the zoo with some friends.

  We went to a couple friends' baptism.  Jillian got to see her friend Aubrey who moved away a couple years ago. We had a good time catching up and the kids played like they hadn't been apart for 2 years.  I love that!

 We've hung out at home.  My baby is getting so big.  He's really not a baby anymore!

 We've read lots of books.  One of Chloe's favorite activities!

 We met up with my college roommate and let our kids play at a park while we caught up.  The kids found the sprinklers and got drenched but it was a hot day so they were dry in no time.

 It's amazing to me how quickly kids can become friends.  Our oldest girls got along great and both have since asked when we can get together again for a play date.  Too bad Laura and her family live in Texas!

 We still look like we did in college, right?!?

 We ran up to Boise, ID for a quick trip to meet baby Georgia, my new niece.  She is precious!  We had a fun time hanging out with family.   All my family was there (minus my brother, Glen, who we missed).  It was fun to see everyone shortly before our main event of the summer, my sister, Rosemary's wedding next week.

Sean put Ellliot to sleep while swinging.  It was pretty funny.

I took the kids to my Porter family reunion last week for a quick day trip.  I took a couple pictures with my phone but they're still on my phone.  I also stopped in to say hi to my Tanner grandparents for a few minutes on our way home.

We've also had play dates with my nephews and celebrated Independence day. 
Whew!  We've had a busy couple of months, with the busiest still to come!

Preschool is over!

Today was the last day of preschool for Chloe and Jillian. They go to two different preschools so it was lucky that their celebrations were at two different times!  First up was a visit to Chloe's preschool where the whole family was invited to sing songs with the students. I didn't take any pictures of the singing time because Chloe was sitting on my lap the whole time but I did get a picture of her with her teachers: Miss Sarah, Miss Jenny, and Miss Julie.  Chloe even cooperated and looked at the camera and smiled!  Truly a miracle!

 

 From Chloe's program, we went straight over to Jillian's preschool program.  Hers was just down the road at a kid's tumbling gym.

 The kids performed a couple songs for the parents.  Jillian is quite the performer.

 Next each kid got to come up and get their portfolio of work they completed throughout the year and their end of year certificate.

 Jillian and Chloe playing on the podium.

 Jillian and her friends, Ava and Jillian (yes, there is another Jillian her class.  They call each other by their full names.  It's pretty funny).

Jillian and her teacher, Miss Cynthia.

We had a fun day celebrating the girls accomplishments this year in preschool.  I've enjoyed having some quiet time a couple times a week with just Elliot and I think I will miss that this summer.  But I'll be happy to not have to drive back and forth to Kaysville multiple times a day!

Spring

We've been enjoying the warmer weather this spring. The girls have stayed busy with preschool and playing with friends.  Here are some pictures, mostly from Easter, that we've taken recently.

 The girls in their Easter dresses.  They were not being cooperative that afternoon so these are the best pictures I got.

Yep, Chloe is at that stage where if I go to take a picture she looks away or hides or moves so fast that she's a blur.  Funny girl.