Special Little Gifts

Every now and then, Wesley likes to make his dad a card and wrap up one of his toys to give to him. I think it is so cute. I have been worried because he isn't writing his name correctly lately. But after listening to him today, I have concluded that he is doing it on purpose. Wesley's conversation to himself as he was writing his name went something like this:
"(laugh) This is a Chinese 'W'. Look mom, this is how Chinese looks. (then he shows me his 'w'.) Now I need 'E'. (another little giggle) Look mom! This 'S' is french. Now L. And E again. Look mom, this E is in french too. Hmmm... now where do I put the Y? I guess down here."
LOL
It was very cute. Later I was asking him about it and he was once again telling me what language all the letters were in. I asked what language his first E was and he replied, "Texas." He likes to use that imagination of his and we enjoy the entertainment it provides.

Aubrey has been doing excellent with the whole potty training thing. Number one and two! She is also becoming quite......a two year old, is a nice way to put it. Today her and Wesley have been in trouble several times for fighting. I sent her to her room a bit ago, and when she came out I told her she needed to apologize to Wesley and give him a hug. She had already started down the stairs, so instead of going back up to Wesley, she says to herself, "I sorry Wesley" and proceeds down the stairs. I told her to go up and give Wesley a hug, so she turned around and walked up two stairs, hugged the air, and started back down the stairs. I told her to go up and hug Wesley, not the air. She laughed and then it became a game to her. Each time she would walk up a few more stairs, hug the air, and start back down again. Finally she did go up and hug him and they both said sorry and went on their merry ways for about 5 more minutes and then had another run in......Ahhhhhhh!!! Aubrey is such a good helper though......I love having her around, even if she is a little pill sometimes. She just walked in with ice cream all over her face. I have been telling her all afternoon she couldn't have ice cream until tonight after dinner!!! Sneaky kid!

Cali. She is getting so big! She loves to watch the kids play and is starting to grab at everything. She is very intrigued by watching us eat. And likes to eat rice cereal and is trying out squash. She is starting to "ahh" and "ohh" more, but is still pretty quiet. She loves the kids to play with her. She laughs and we love that. One of the sweetest things in this world is when a baby learns to laugh and giggle. It is one of my favorite things.

I still have more pics to put up from our Utah trip and Grandads visit to fix our car. And my camera is lost again or I would have some adorable pics of Aubrey feeding Cali and Cali wearing Wesley's sun glasses and the kids just being cute kids. Hope I find my camera soon!!!

Some Utah Pics And A Little Update to Justify My Slothful Blogging:)

Sooooooo......a lot of time has passed since our Utah trip. I am just gonna have to run with what I have and get this posted. I have several more pics I wanted to share. Take this for now.
My dad drove home with us. I bribed him to come with us; I told him he'd get to fix our AC in the Honda if he'd come! How could he refuse that kind of fun? Workin' in our super hot garage for hours? Okay, you got me. That wasn't it at all....he came for the extra time with the grandkids, and the bonus was he did fix our car and save us some green. Thanks Dad!!!

I will get back into keeping this blog updated, I promise. Life has been nuts. Last week, for those who don't already know, I got to go to the ER around 12:30 at night (why do things always happen in the middle of the night?) and by 6 a.m. I was in surgery having my appendix removed! My friend Julie drove me to the ER. I was grateful to her for being willing to do that for me. Talk about unexpected. I started feeling really sick, like I had the stomach flu. Then my side started to hurt. And that's when I figured I was probably doomed. All went well, and we have had tons of help, for which I am immensely grateful! My first thoughts were, "Dang! I wish we lived near family so we'd have help." And then, I had to stop myself. I realized we have the most amazing friends, neighbors, church family, EVER! And although it is sometimes hard to ask for help from people you may not know very well, or may not know like you know your family, what a great opportunity to get to know them. I am so happy and grateful for the thoughtfulness that has been shown to our family. Not just this past week, but during my pregnancy with Cali. It is so easy to serve, but really hard to just relax and let people serve you. What a blessing to be surrounded by kindness!

Anyhow, enjoy the pics....

Danelle and Michelle

Just waitin' for the parade to start with their candy sacks. They threw a ton of candy at the parade. I couldn't believe it.

Cass and Ethan.

Nichole and M.J.

Lindsey; Cassie's twin, in my opinion.

I love this pic! Davis is such a thoughtful boy. I admire him and his talent to love. Azelin is standing next to him and Avina next to her. Talon is in the back ground.

Granny and Grampa were in the parade for the float about the tunnel..... In a nut shell; Granny's mom and dad were key in getting a tunnel dug through the mountain from Blanding to Monticello so that Blanding could get water. So, there was a float this year depicting that. Much gratitude goes out to all who sacrificed to make that possible.

Just chillin'.

My rag-a-muffin kids.

Proof

I "borrowed" this picture from my dads blog:)

Proof that Brady and I did actually repel down into "the bowl" while being eaten alive by millions of crazed nats.

I admit, I was very nervous. I was really tense and my dad had to tell me to loosen up my grip with my left hand and let my right hand brake. Then I got it. Brady went down like he'd been doin' it his whole life. It had been several years since I had gone repelling with the family. I was always pregnant, it seems, and wouldn't go down. I look forward to going next year, except we will be sure to go in the early spring before the nats come out to play.

A Few Pics From Our Utah Trip

We all went out repelling the first day we arrived in Utah. It was fun. (Except the getting eaten alive by nats part!) Poor Cali had bites all over her little head. Granny Ann saved the day by mixing up a baking soda mixture and lavender water that pulled the itch and healed the bites very quickly.

Grandad going down with ??? Alexus or Mercedeez???


The bridge. I think Josh is the only one who made it down this one....maybe Billy did too???

Most of us were able to go down into "the bowl" at least once. Cassie needs to send me the pics of Brady and I going down. Our camera died before we went down.

Wesley and Aubrey waitin' to go home. The kids got a bit cranky because of the nats.

On our way to Utah, we stopped at the Temple in Albuquerque. Very pretty.

Swim

We attended the awards banquet for swim team a few weeks ago. All of the swimmers were awarded trophies. Wesley did pretty well, all things considered. His best time was 1 minute 7 seconds. He had fun, so that is all that matters.

Hawkins Family 2009

Sooo....Before we left for Utah, Brady asked me if we needed to charge the battery to our camera. I said no, because I had recently charged it and had only used it to down load pics from California. So, we got to Utah and snapped a few, and then the camera died!!! So sad. So, I am in need of pics from our trip out there! (hint hint family members who took pictures!!) I did get a disc with some group pics that were taken at our Hawkins reunion. But I have very little besides that.

So, pictured above is the Edwin and Betty Hawkins Family 2009 picture (only missing a few families). It was great to get as many in the picture as we did!!

Wesley said to me this morning, after several minutes of scratching and complaining about his mosquito bites itching, "I wish God would command all the mosquito's and bugs to die!"