Stone graduates Preschool!

I can't believe I will have a kindergartner this fall! Stone was a part of a wonderful preschool program this past year. He loved his teachers, and he loved the kids in his class. He would come home singing songs, and telling me all kinds of things about science. He's beginning to read, and he is SO excited to start kindergarten. It's all day here in east Texas (whereas preschool was all day for only 2 days a week), so I will miss him SO much. He has especially become an amazing big brother this last year, and is a huge help with Knox. I'm cherishing every moment of this summer before he's off to Kindergarten. 

As we were leaving his school that day, we got compliments left and right about how great a kid he is. We, of course, know that :) but it was great to hear from all his teachers.

El Paso!

May was a fabulous month. It started off with a fun trip to El Paso. Our week there was full of family, fun, food, photo shoots, desert cook out/fires, late nights, and all around fun. We really do love El Paso so much. We are desert rats and enjoy everything that west Texas town has to offer. We also love being in east Texas right now; the lush greenery everywhere, the thick accents, and the kind people.

Anyways....I'll add some captions to my Instagram journal from the trip and let these pictures tell the story:

Knox got to meet 2 great parents this trip. Both of them quickly fell in love with him. I love that he has great grandparents living. We have one more still living (Grandpa Jessup in Utah) that we need to see.

My Grandma Bracken, whom my kids refer to as "Grandma Dotty"

 Cliff's Grandpa Espinoza, whom my kids refer to as "Abuelito" 

It wouldn't be a complete trip to El Paso without at least one trip to Chicos. My kids love it! 

Like I said...we love the desert. My dad took us out one night, and we roasted some hot dogs on a fire. My kids went on a night hike with my dad, called for coyotes (no joke), and enjoyed some quality time with "Papa Dan".

One day, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Jessup and the Navarro clan to the other side of town for this fun indoor play yard. There were huge slides, things to climb on, color stations, bumper cars, etc. We had a blast!

 Grandpa Jessup supervising art time.

Stone climbing (complete with a plumber's crack), and Stone helping Emerson with the car.

 Future bridesmaids! Emerson showing her twin cousins (Emma and Ella) the dress up stuff.

Knox playing in the kiddie yard.

And a little vacation wouldn't be complete without a little drama. We were headed to a fun pool one afternoon, and just as we were waiting in line, Emerson fell on the concrete and busted her head open. She was swinging, doing flips around a bar, and lost her grip. We ended up in the ER, she got a few stitches, and she was told not to go in the sun all summer if she doesn't want to visible scar. Well, first off, we live in TEXAS. Second, we swim EVERY.DAY. We have been putting sun screen on, and wearing hats daily. She even wears a swim cap (really cute, I might add) any time we are outside playing in the water. 

She was SUCH a good sport with the stitches. She didn't even flinch her head. Her little foot was flinching, and she was nervous, but she did SO good. LOVE her.

The biggest perk to visiting El Paso is all the family we get to spend time with. My dad and Lisa, Cliff's parents, the Brackens (my cousins/aunt/uncle), and my Grandma (who lives with the Brackens). We love her so much! (below)

 Like I said, we love our El Paso family. Stone and Danny are best friends for life. Since they were 6 months old, they have been tight. They just get each other. Before they could even talk, they understood each other. They love each other so much, and we love their great bond.

We were there for Mother's day and spent the evening at Sheldon's home (Cliff's older brother). My dad joined us, and we had so much fun playing in the yard after eating. My dad loves playing with my kids.

The kids are always climbing Grandma and Grandpa's fence to watch the traffic go by.

And again...we love our family!!

My dad and Lisa...

The Jessup/Navarro gang...

Grandma and Grandpa Jessup...

My Mom & Ray Passing Through!

My mom and Ray recently made a big move from Arizona up to Ohio, and we happened to be on their map. We had just spent some quality time with them at Disneyland, so it was a huge treat to see them again, and to have them in our home. 

My in laws have been kind enough to hold onto my piano for the last 9 years. Since we were transient students for so long (from Provo to Salt Lake to Lubbock, and then out to east Texas following law school graduation), we chose not to haul it around everywhere. Since we have a home now, I have been wanting to get it in our home. El Paso was also on their map, so they saved room in their moving truck, and loaded up my piano. 

We LOVE having it in our home now!! My kids play it (and sing while playing), and they ask me to play it. I love just sitting down and going at it. 

I have to put all three of the following pics because I love the different faces and directions we are looking in. The first one was on my phone, and the following two were on my camera.

I stole this last collage from my mom's Instagram. Every time we get together, we have silly string wars. My mom and Ray also have a tradition with my kids to try weird sodas. They brought about a dozen different crazy flavored sodas, and we had a soda testing one night (bottom right). We love spending time with them!!

Sweet, sweet boy.

6 months ago, we experienced the worst night of our lives, and strangely the best. The worst because we almost lost our sweet baby at 7 weeks old, and the best, because his life was saved. Since then, I can't properly express the feelings in my heart. My heart is filled with so much gratitude, and so much love. My faith was put to practice, the power of prayer and the power of priesthood came to life, and those things right there, are enough to change anyone.

Not a day passes where I don't have a prayer of gratitude in my heart for my little ball of joy. His sleep patterns have not been granting me a full night's rest, but I just don't even care about that. His little laugh, his fake cry for mommy, his first word, "mama"repeated over and over as he tries to get to me, his precious little crawl, and his rolling of the eyes and squinting when he doesn't want something, tug at my heart strings like ca-razy. He's something special, and thank you to his sweet spirit, my heart is continually full of gratitude and love, not only for him, but for everything and everyone that I am surrounded by, be it near or far.

We has stolen the heart of this entire family. Stone, Emerson, Cliff, and myself, are so glad he is a part of our family.

We.love.him.

Below: the big boy is now in a high chair, sipping from a sippy cup, experimenting with new foods, crawling around like crazy, says "mama", and is a TOTAL mama's boy. Biggest mama's child yet. The jumper doesn't excite him as much now that he is crawling everywhere (he feels a bit trapped). But I'm not quite yet ready to put it back in the attic.

Sometimes, he just wears himself out crawling around everywhere (he's asleep; that little eye just isn't shut all the way! lol). He melts my heart.