Hogle Zoo

We went on a quick trip at the end of July to Utah to see grandparents and go to Austin Baker's return missionary open house.  We were able to take a quick trip to Hogle Zoo also.  It was quite hot, but it's a very cool zoo.  We hope to go again when it's cooler sometime.  

 Elephants are my favorite animal, so we stayed to watch the elephants for quite awhile. So cool.

 

 This funny bear had the right idea, as we watched he plopped down into a pond in his enclosure, we were jealous.

 Such sweet kids!

 Daniel was great on the trip.  We love our big van that lets me sit right next to him when he's having a hard time.  I took this last picture on the way home.  He's my little happy sunshine boy.

And that's the end of my blog catch up for the summer.  We are so grateful for our many blessings and we are doing great!

Love,

Aubrey

Grace's 11th Birthday and more

Grace is sure growing up.  In June, she had her last big program at Pioneer Elementary.  It was about the civil war and Grace had a couple of group solo singing parts.  We had her hair done in a civil war style and she looked great.  

 Another recent picture of pretty Grace.  She got glasses a few months ago, so stylish!

 On July 25th she turned 11 and we had a birthday party.

Joy made her a hand made fidget spinner, so creative!

Scott and Tena were there. 

 And Nana, Grandma and Grandpa. Papa and Lisa Rogers were also there (not pictured) We love having family so close.

 Sweet sisters helping open presents.

Grace will be in 6th grade this fall, she'll be doing online school like BethAnne, and she's excited for that.  She's very smart and helpful, especially with Andy.  We're so grateful to have her in our family.

Love,

Aubrey

Daniel's Blessing Day

Here are some pictures from Daniel's blessing day.  He looked so handsome.  We had a lovely brunch at our house before the blessing, then at church for the blessing we took up 3 long center benches.  It was really special to have so much family there for such a special day.  

 

I'm so grateful for this sweet family of mine. My cup runneth over.

Love,

Aubrey

Fun with Cousins!

All year we look forward to when the cousins come to play.  Here are some of the highlights from this year.

We did service project this year with the Bousquet cousins.  The kids each picked out fleece for blankets and tied the edges (I wish I had taken pictures, the kids picked fun fabric!)  Then we donated the blankets and some candy bouquets to the Ronald McDonald House.  It was a neat activity and I was happy we could give something to an organization that has helped our family so much.

That same day we went to the mall to see the lego exhibit and play with legos.  It was really fun and the lego sculptures were very impressive.

 Then another day we went to Aunt Tena's to do a painting project.  The kids did a great job with their paintings.  Thank you Aunt Tena!

Then we celebrated sweet Caleb's birthday, so fun!

 Carl and his family came into town also for a few days, and we were all together for a few hours.  We rented a big inflatable water slide and the kids had a blast. 

Then the next day we had a neat fireside with the adults and teenagers given by my mom.  The special night was topped off with some yummy banana splits.  Some of the kids ate outside on the bridge at Chrissy and Jon's house which made for pretty pictures.

There were lots of opportunities to hold babies this summer.

I love this picture of mom and Daniel.

Pretty Hailey with Daniel

 Pretty Chrissy and Pretty Hannah
We're so glad to have Daniel and Hannah here!  And we're so glad that we could have everyone come and visit this summer!
Love,
Aubrey

Random Baby Pictures!

 I love babies and pictures of babies, so here are some of my favorites from June and July.

 This was maybe Daniel's first real smile on camera.  He was 6 weeks old. He was smiling at Grandma (my mom).  He must know that she's pretty awesome.

 I love this outfit from Suzie, so cute!

And here is Daniel in the great blanket Grandma made.

Now Daniel is a champion smiler!  

 A grumpy face and happy smile in another great outfit from Suzie!

Daniel's a great baby.  He often sleeps for 6 hours straight in the night and sometimes Mark takes  that feeding, so life here is good.

Love,

Aubrey

Andy's 4th Birthday!

This sweet boy turned 4 years old on July 3rd.  We had a fun party with family and then did fireworks afterwards.  

 Joy made this great poster for Andy's birthday and she decorated the house with other rockets and decorations.  She's so sweet (click on the picture to see it up close).

 I tried making my first cake in a shape.  It took a lot of time, but it was really fun to make and Andy and the kids thought it was great.

We sure love our sweet, smart Andy.  I was really worried he would have a hard time with the baby, but he adores him and he's really matured since the baby came.  The biggest problem with Andy and the baby is all the love he wants to show him with kisses and hugs and other attention.  It's very sweet (and sometimes terrifying).  I'm so grateful Andy joined our family 4 years ago.  He'll go to preschool this Fall, and kindergarten in a year.  Growing up so fast!

Love,

Aubrey

Sisters

I love these pictures (I know most of you have probably seen them, but I wanted them here for posterity).  I wanted to take these pictures to have something to always remember the sweet blessing of these babies.  They are each a miracle in their own way and they were born two weeks apart.  Shortly after I lost my baby in 2016, I had a spiritual experience where I thought I saw two young children the same height.  I couldn't make out any details, but it felt like they were coming.  I wondered if I would have twins in the future.  A few months later I found out I was expecting and then Chrissy told me she was expecting also.  That gave my experience a new meaning.  It gave me hope through a very anxious pregnancy, that there were two babies coming, one for each of us.  And here they are.