Our Wild and Crazy Memorial Day!

Our Little Lady! I've never thought anyone fit the "cute as a bug" description better than our sis. When she wears her ladybug outfit, it just solidifies it!

Anders standing on Sharm's 1964 (?) Cadillac. We are always so excited to spot this car out when we go to the Kaysville Cemetery on Memorial Day. It's fun to hear Sharm share its history and take our pictures in it. This is a memory I've been lucky enough to share with Anders now!

Carly posing as a 'hood ornament.' She thinks that's all she is!

I'm sure none of this tradition made sense to Anders. He just loved the open grass and freedom. I'm so glad my family has made it such a tradition to pay our respects to our loved-ones who have passed away. It really recreates those memories we have and we learn so much about those we've never met. I feel confident that I could take my own kids there and pass on each story I've heard there over the years.

This is were the party begins! Another of our family's traditions on Memorial Day is that it is the opening day of Grandma's pool! This picture is of Anders as he arrived and realized Ryder was already in the pool. At this very second, I was running home to get his swimming suit....

but he was not willing to wait for me! He immediately stripped right down and thought he was ready to jump in the pool. We've really got to expose him to the swimming environment more often!

Luckily, someone had an emergency swim diaper for him (slightly on the small side). He was a little unsure about the whole swim diaper thing because he was convinced it was a Pull-Up. He was really upset when they made him get it wet.

We finally got an actual swimming suit on him, but he still wasn't sure about it. He just didn't feel right wearing clothes in the water.

So, off came the shorts again! You may think he looks so brave in this picture on this motor-powered floaty, but this picture can be deceiving. What you don't see is Nikki holding on to the back waiting for the inevitable moment he tips in the water. You also don't see his frantic mother standing at the side of the pool, watching his every move.

Finally, the swim diaper comes back off and he does what he wanted to do the whole time...sunbathe in the nude!

Anders, Eva and I are so lucky to have family so close by. Christian left on Memorial Day and my family really went out of their way to make sure we still had a part in all the festivities. We miss Christian horribly, but love that we have the luxury of talking to him every day. I've really had to rely on those people close to me more than ever right now and I really appreciate their willingness to help me out. Almost one week down, one more to go!

Oh, what a day!

Friday, May 8th is a day that my little sister, Carly will always remember. She has been looking forward to it since her first day of Kindergarten, I'm sure. She finally graduated from the University of Utah in Public Relations. It only took her 4 1/2 years to graduate, which is pretty good these days! When we got to the graduation, her boyfriend, Jordan Checketts turned to us and told us not to ask her to go to lunch afterward. He had plans to take her to lunch and ask her to marry him! After the ceremony, we all had a really hard time not talking about where we were going to lunch in front of Carly. I found it really humorous to watch her face as we all dispersed after taking pictures. She even admitted later that she was a little offended that nobody wanted to take her to lunch...it's just what we do in my family. Jordan took Carly to a Chinese restaurant that they always go to with their friends. He hid the ring in the fortune cookie the waitress brought at the end of their lunch. The best part was that he videotaped it so we all could watch it. Jordan could not have proposed any sooner because their engagement party was that night. Cuttin' it kind of close!
Jordan and Carly have known each other since Jr. High and have been good friends since then. Jordan did the SBO thing and Carly did the cheer/dance thing, but never dated...just friends. When Jordan got back from his mission, they started hanging out a bit more. I remember the day (in October) that Carly was saying she had to get back home to go on a date with Jordan Checketts. I got mad at her because she agrees to go on dates with people so much that she has no intention of it going anywhere. I believe my exact words were, "it's not fair to them to pay for you to do something. You're leading him on." That was the first time Carly admitted, "maybe I DO want it to go somewhere!" We are so glad they finally decided that they are meant to be together. Jordan fits in our family so well. Anyone that can appreciate Christian's sense of humor must be in our family. Anders and Ryder completely idolize Jordan. I'm so glad he makes them feel so important. Anders is convinced that Jordan wants to see him as badly as he wants to see Jordan every time we see him. It was so fun to meet Jordan's family this weekend. I loved watching Jordan's sweet dad (spitting image of Jordan) treat his mom with such love and respect. I am glad to know that Carly is in such good hands.

Now that I'm a Big Brother...

Anders has instantly transformed into this big kid since Eva was born. He adores Eva and adores his role as the big brother. It has really opened my eyes at how big he really is. He is finally brave enough to ride Grandpa's lawnmower, he has started to learn to play by himself, and he has gotten much more risk-taking. The risk-taking is what has kept me from blogging lately. I have found myself to be so much more busy! If I'm not trying to stop Anders from whatever he's doing, I'm soothing a crying baby. We have had a very stressful 6 weeks since Eva was born. She was very fussy and we were starting to wonder if she was actually in pain. We came to terms with the fact that she was just "colic" and tried enduring through it. I got really worried about her one day because I didn't feel like I could soothe her or comfort her. I took her to the doctors and we decided to try taking me completely off dairy products because she was showing signs of being lactose intolerant. I did that for a week and it didn't solve anything. We then were beginning to see more signs of acid reflux than before. We put her on medication and we have seen AMAZING improvements! We are so grateful to have our sweet little Eva back to normal. I can handle a fussy baby as long as it doesn't mean she's in pain. I felt so horrible knowing that she was in pain and there was nothing I could do.