Natural Athlete

Knox is a natural athlete. He shoots, he scores. He kicks, it gets air. He planks, he has perfect form. He shoots an arrow, he nearly gets the bullseye. 

Monkey see, monkey do.

Go get 'em, boy.

The time our neighbors all walked down to make sure we weren't on fire...

We just got a new lawn mower, and it appears to be defective.

I was planting some flowers in our hanging baskets while Cliff was mowing our backyard. I went to check on him, and up above him, was this perfectly formed cloud of smoke. It looked like this perfectly drawn thought bubble above his head, and it was eerily still, just floating above his head. Then suddenly, it dispersed, and holy moly. What appeared to be a GINORMOUS cloud of fog, was a GINORMOUS cloud of smoke, filling the air of our ENTIRE cul-de-sac. Neighbors from the top of the street ran down. Our next door neighbors quickly checked on us. There was no fire. Just smoke. If you dive by right now, you may notice we need to mow. We haven't dared turn it back on yet. Eek!

I posted this picture on Instagram, and my old roommate said I'm supposed to teach my kids to walk away from smoke, not into it! We've had that lesson over here. Adventure and curiosity apparent won that night, and I guess we need to have a basic fire drill recap in our house.

We make clones.

I'm told over and over and over again that I make clones. It's true! However, when Cruz was born, he had such a different little look to him! His face was SO round and chubby. It was like he was immediately smiling.

Then a few weeks passed, and he started to fit the mold a bit more. And now, he's just another Jessup clone. But we make them good, so I am completely happy with that. It's so hard for me to tell between them in pictures! I dressed Cruz up in the same outfit I had Knox in at 3 months. We took these a couple weeks later than I should have, but you can still see the incredible resemblance. 

I keep thinking he's a clone of Knox, but we just started watching Stone's walking videos (he started walking at 8.5 months!) and he looks IDENTICAL to Cruz right now. So I guess they are all clones!

First 4 pictures are Cruz (with the grey background). Last 2 are Knox (beige background).

Stone turns 8 and is baptized, and Cruz is blessed!

It's hard to believe we have a kid that is old enough to be baptized! He's growing into such an amazing little man. We are so proud of him. He's so smart, he's super witty, he's incredibly athletic, and he's an amazing big brother. His little siblings test his patience, but he's a good sport. He was the perfect kid to lead this family. 

We love you so much, Stone! Don't you ever forget!

We also delayed Cruz's blessing by a couple months so that we could have our parents come out and participate in both events at once. It was such an amazing day! We started with Cruz's blessing during sacrament meeting, followed by Stone's baptism right after church. Cruz is the happiest baby EVER. He's such a little chubby, bundle of joy. He truly radiates happiness.

Cliff parents, my dad, my mom and Ray were all able to be here for the special day. 

I'd like to say Stone was crying with joy in these pictures, hehe. But he was really HOT and sweating like crazy in his suit and wanted to take it off immediately when we got home. 

Stone, the Wolf.

This guy has begun scouts. How is that already possible?!

This begins our Wednesday night routine at the church for the next 18 years of lives. If you're unfamiliar with our church, the youth meet every Wednesday. It begins for boys at age 8 with scouts (and then they transition to the church's youth program activities when they are 12), and it's every other week for "activity days" for the girls ages 8-11. They also transition to weekly activities at age 12. So what I'm saying, is we have started, and we will keep at it until Cruz is 18 and graduated. 

Hooray!

4th of July in El Paso

We had a fabulous time celebrating the 4th of July in El Paso. We got to spend a lot of time with both sides of the family. Jordan's family was in town, as well as Deborah's. We played, we went to Carlsbad Caverns, and we watched epic fireworks in the pouring rain. Our kids love their cousins. Their bonds are awesome. I just wish we lived closer!

We also saw some dinosaur tracks!

And Emerson played dress up with Emma and Ella, and had makeovers with grandma.

 My Grandma took care of Cruz during the fireworks show because she was under a big umbrella. I love that she lives in El Paso, because we get to spend time with her every time we visit. We love Grandma Dotty!