I Need Your Help!!!

It's that time of year again...time to decide what to enter into the fair! I LOVE the fair, so this is one of my favorite times of the year. But now that I've started entering photos, it always creeps up on me!

So, here's where you come in, because I need your help! I have a few photos I definitely plan to enter, but there are several more that have been suggested, but I'm not sure of. So I'm going to post them here, and I want to hear your opinion whether any of them are worthy of enlarging, matting, and entering in the fair!

Don't hold back...I can take it. Even if that means you have to tell me I stink and to keep my day job (which would be a problem, since I don't have one). :-) Just let me know if any of them scream "Pick me, pick me!" and you'll save me a lot of anguish and self-doubt! ;-)

Brianna's Blessing

Yesterday was a special day for our sweet Brianna. We had many of our family and even some friends join us at church for her blessing. Brett's a busy guy on Sundays. He gave Brianna a beautiful blessing, then hurried and brought her back to mom before blessing the sacrament. :-)

Brianna was so beautiful in her gown that Grandma McDermott bought for her. Grandma found the dress at a little store in Blackfoot, and called to ask me to come down and help her pick one out. When I got there, she had a stack of dresses set aside that she liked and wanted me to see. I went through those, then probably every other dress in the room. Finally, I settled on one of the original dresses Grandma had picked out. :-) Now, every time someone would compliment Brianna's dress, Grandma "Dermott" would tell me how I did good picking out the dress. But she forgets, she picked it first! Thanks, Grandma, for buying Brianna such a beautiful dress!

Along with the dress came the most beautiful bonnet. I've never been a huge fan of bonnets on my babies. In fact, I didn't even use the bonnet that came with Kylee's blessing dress, and opted instead for a small white bow. I didn't think I would use a bonnet this time either, especially because Amy and I have been having so much fun making bows! I thought for sure we could come up with a beautiful headband for the blessing, and even made a flower out of the lace on my old blankie! When we found the dress, however, I decided to use the bonnet, partly because the dress I chose was an antique white and it just seemed to fit, but also because it was too pretty not to use!

After the meeting we invited all the family back to our house for a lunch, and it turned out great. It seemed like everyone had a good time, and I KNOW everyone got full, because there was SO much food!

As I was doing the dishes last night and thinking about the day, I realized I had learned a few things, and I thought I'd share them.

Family pictures don't have to be formal.

Even crying babies are beautiful.

Moments like this are worth all the shouting, time-outs, and frustration.

Sometimes old-school is so much more beautiful than what's "cool".

And a few more things I learned, without photos:

• You don't have to have a camera stuck to your face at every party.
• When entertaining, everything does not have to be prepared before the guests arrive. It's okay if they have to wait a few minutes for dinner.
• The house does not have to be sparkling to have a good time. If the floors don't get swept, the laundry not quite finished, or the junk mail not quite sorted, the party will still be a success.
• If you don't have the perfect shady yard to offer guests, they'll find a patch of shade and be perfectly comfortable without your help!
• Accept offers of help...whether it's handing someone a knife and a cutting board, or letting them go in your daughter's messy room to get some clothes for the kids to play in, it's okay to say "Yes, Thanks!" Even if that means your son will be playing all day in a t-shirt, shorts, and a cummerbund. ;-)
  
• Life is too short. Some things are better enjoyed than stressed over.

Well, that's enough from me! We had a wonderful day and thoroughly enjoyed the company of our family and the friends who came over after church. Brianna is a very special little girl to have so much family who love her, and great friends who will be a good example to her as she grows! Thanks to all who were here with us on her special day!

4th of July Fun!

Somehow we ended up not having any plans at all for the 4th of July weekend (I don't know, it could have something to do with the fact that we had a 2 week old baby? Mmm...maybe not.) which left us deciding last minute what to do with our free time. We decided to take the kids to the parade in Idaho Falls for the first time.

Brett really doesn't enjoy parades, so usually I end up taking the kids with my family to the Blackfoot parade on opening day of the fair. It's fun for the kids, but kinda boring after so many years because the floats are all pretty much the same. So it was surprising how much fun we had going to the parade in Idaho Falls. While a parade is always a parade, it was fun to see the different schools, different businesses, and what they all came up with. (Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so maybe next year!)

This year we were invited to have a BBQ with our friends, the Thurmans, to celebrate the 4th (which was, of course, celebrated on the 3rd). We don't get to see them very often since they moved out of our ward, so it's always a blast to make plans and hang out. After dinner we all loaded up and found a good spot to watch the fireworks.

The kids had fun in the back of the Tahoe. (Yes, I know, I forgot to blog about my new car!) We loaded it up with blankets and pillows, and they, of course, had to be lifted in and out about a million times each. :-)

Left to right: Aedan, Ben, Allyssa, Kylee, Spencer (or half of him)

Ben...he's such a ham!

Spencer

Aedan and Ben, chilling in the Tahoe...

Brianna Shea

Well, she's finally here! Brianna Shea McDermott was born Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 3:42 pm. She was 7lbs 13 ounces, which for those of you who actually know me, just about knocked my socks off. She's SO tiny! She's smaller than either of my other two, and I've decided it just makes her that much more snuggly. :-)

Labor was induced yet again with this little one (something about an impatient mother), so it probably took longer than it would have if I had waited. But I was comfortably numbed by the epidural, so it wasn't bad, other than my own impatience. Delivery was a breeze, Brianna was a trooper with absolutely no problems. We are so blessed to have such healthy babies, and to have such a sweet little girl join our family!

When we were delayed a couple hours by the hospital, and ended up with WAY too much time on our hands with too much to anticipate, I followed my sister-in-law's lead and had Brett take a final belly shot (actually, one of the only!)

Happy Birthday Aedan!!

Well, I'm only a week late with this post, so that's pretty good right? I decided I'd better get it done before this next week or it will get lost in the shuffle.

My "baby" turned 3 last week! I can't believe how big he's getting. I was sorting through some of my photo files a couple weeks ago and found some really old ones I took of Aedan that I never use because they were not very good. But as I looked closer, I realized they were taken on his first birthday! Good or not, they had to stay!

My little man has gone from this:

To this!

Playdoh from his sister

Waiting patiently to see what mystery Dad's bringing around the corner.

A new bike!

Helping Dad adjust the seat.

Test driving for the first time...

It's getting to be a bit of a tradition to buy Aedan a new bike for his birthday, but judging from his expressions above, I don't think he minds the repetition much! We also celebrated his birthday with the McBride family at our house. Unfortunately, the tractor cake I made for him met with an unfortunate accident called Kylee, Aedan and Sayer. :-)

This is what his cake looked like, more or less. Unfortunately, the Twix, donuts, and M&Ms proved far too tempting to resist!

After that fiasco, I kinda lost my drive to bother with pics and didn't get any that night. But it was pretty special because his Great Grandma Mac got to be at that birthday party for the first time ever, so Aedan thought it was pretty cool.


The next day we celebrated with the McDermott clan at a BBQ potluck. Aedan was so wired it was difficult to keep up with him. In fact, though I know what he was given, I have no idea who most of it is from! So thanks everyone... :-)

Flying kites for the first time!

Aedan's kite was kind of a dud...

Craters of the Moon, and More

First I want to mention that this is my second post today (I know, I'm kickin' butt!), so if anyone actually reads this stuff, there's another new one down below.

A couple weeks ago Brett decided to take a couple days off work just to get a break. He took a Monday and Tuesday off, so we had four days to play and have fun as a family. Since we aren't going to be taking any long vacations this year, with me pregnant for a few more weeks then a new baby after that, we have been learning to explore our own "backyard" a little more. We took a picnic one day and found a nice spot up near Kelly Canyon to just get out of the car and enjoy the warm weather. We started a little hike, but it wasn't a very good spot for the kids so we didn't go far.







On Monday we decided to pack another lunch and drive out to Craters of the Moon. Neither of us have been there since we were in elementary school, so it was new to all of us. The kids had a blast!

Aedan was our "leader" the whole time. We couldn't hardly keep up with him, especially me!

Ever since we went to Oregon last summer, it has been a game for these two to find these information boards with maps and pictures.

Kylee was helping Aedan "read" the board.