Happy birthday Emery!

 Our little buddy Emery turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and there was a fun family part at a park for him.  The girls love their little cousin so much and are very sweet with him.

Look at those sweet faces.

Four year olds

The Jones house is now officially being run by a couple of four year olds.  Like any good birthday, the celebration stretched out over a couple of weeks.  The day after their actual birthday, Josie looked at Piper and said "mom, are we four yet?".  I told her yes, then she said, looking confused, "but we still look 3!".  I guess the magical transformation they were expecting didn't happen.

They did do some growing.  At their check-up, we got their stats.

Piper*
Height: 39.2 inches
Weight: 34 lbs
When she was 3, she was 28.6 lbs and 36.2 inches
*my little 3 lb 3 oz baby is now my big girl

Josie
Height: 39 inches
Weight: 32 lbs
When she turned 3, she was 30 lbs and 36.7 inches

They both passed their vision and hearing tests and got a bunch of shots to get ready for kindergarten!

On their birthday, they woke up to some presents and we had a little birthday breakfast.

Then last night, we had some family over for a little birthday celebration for the girls and Uncle Nate.  Josh made this lovely cake:

Uncle Nate got a cake too.  :)

 Now that we're finally done celebrating, it's time to move on to Christmas.  Happy birthday to my big girls!

Birthdays in July: EJ and Jer

We celebrated some big birthdays in our family in July.  Our sweet little Emery turned 1 and we had fun celebrating at Brynn and Nate's house.  As you can see below, the girls were not bummed to have to eat cupcakes at his party.

 We love our EJ!

Later in the month, we pulled off a big surprise with a 40th birthday party for Jer at our house.  Erika, Josh and I schemed for a few weeks and were pretty shocked that it was actually a surprise when they walked in.  He thought they were dropping off their kids at our house so they could enjoy a night out, but instead he got a bunch of friends and family there to celebrate.

Three!! (part 1)

Josie and Piper turned 3!  Finally!  After months and months of anticipating when they were going to be "this many", the big day finally came.  We celebrated at Momentum Climbing with a party for all their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a few friends as well.

We had cake and pizza.  The cake was a definite highlight for the girls (Dora and Boots were on the cake!).

And we climbed.  Most of the kids climbed right up like monkeys.  The girls were a little more interested in the cake.

Olivia Larsen (only 4!) climbed up to the very top.

 Anna and Allison on the free climbing wall.

 Austin

 Jer, Jim and Riley.  Riley also climbed up a bunch of times.

 Josie taking pictures with her own "camera"

 I had to take a shot at going up once

 Lauren at the very top

 Then we opened presents

 I was so grateful we could be here in Utah and celebrate with family.  The girls loved having their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins here.

More soon on their actual birthday and their stats from their three-year check-up.

Grandpa Turns 60

One of the best things about being back in Utah is that we don't have to miss out on big important family events anymore.  We got here just in time to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday last weekend.  It was a very fun evening with family at Brynn and Nate's house.  The girls had a blast and tried to steal the show from grandpa.  And they got to eat more birthday cake, which is always a hit.

The girlies love their grandpa!

 Josie being cute and Piper waiting patiently for her cake. 

 The Wathen family. 

 One with just the original kids

 With Uncle Jeff and Uncle Scotty

 Blowing out candles on the cake that Hanky tested out for us. :) 

 Steve, Bubba, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Jeff

 Steve and Bubba with the Johnson family

 A couple more cute ones of the girlies. 

 I sure do love my dad and I'm so glad he can spend more time with Josie and Piper. 

Williamsburg Visit (enroute to Boston)

Wednesday night, after a long three days with packers and movers at our house, we pulled out of New Bern to head up to Boston.  We decided to stop in Williamsburg to see Barb (Nana) and the Koupal family.  We weren't able to get up there earlier this year with all the moving activity and the condensed timeline, but we did want to see them one more time before we headed out west.  It was a fun afternoon and went by way too quickly. 

We had lunch in downtown Williamsburg.  Look at all those cute kiddos!  Alden and Kleigh got out of school a little early to hang out with us.  I think they were bummed about that. :)  The girls have been talking a lot about their cousins. 

Thursday was my birthday.  It was so nice not to spend all day on the road traveling.  They all made it a fun day! 

I wish we had had more time to hang out.  We are going to miss seeing them.  We hope they'll come out to Utah for a visit SOON!