July=Crazy

...July ... July.
We had a ton of fun in July!
SO just a little side note... I really have been doing a pinteresting thing EVERY week! I realized I have not been blogging about it... really, like I have the time... Anyway something that I came across on Pinterest was a neat way to Journal! The original idea comes from the Design Sponge!
Basically you need: Index cards and a pen. SUPER EASY WAY TO JOURNAL FOLKS!!! You need 365 Index Cards, one for everyday of the year. And you write the date on the very top. JUST the day tho. SO July 1, July 2, July 3, and so on... and then on the first line you write the year. 2012. What you do, is you just write something down that happened that day. Just one line. And as years go by you are able to look back and see what you did that day one, two, ten years ago!
I have actually been very proud of myself. I started in MAY and I have been so good about writing something every day!!

OK back to JULY....
Looking back on my Journal Calendar for July, I realized a theme! I always find it interesting how the Lord places things in our lives at certain times. :) The theme for July was Temples and Families. What I have been trying to do with my Journal Calendar is, I write something that happened during the day, but then I also write something down that I am thankful for! Many times I find that I am saying that I am thankful for my family, Eric, and my relationship with my family. I honestly have the best family! I am so thankful for each of them!

My dad is my hero. He is such an amazing guy. I am so thankful for his example of a hard working man. He is such a great example of what the Priesthood should be. He is always doing his absolutely best to fulfill his callings, giving his family enough time and energy, and being the best pediatrician this side of the Mississippi. We always have such great conversations and I am so thankful that I am like him. :)

My mom is my best friend! I am so thankful for our relationship! I call her MULTIPLE times a day. I am sure I drive her nuts most of the time. But she is just the best person to talk to, and learn from. She has taught me so much about being a wife and a mother. Any crafty DIY project I do has been approved by her. I know my life would be so colorless and boring with out her!

Taylor has turned into such an amazing man! He and I have always been close and it is so cool to watch him grow into a husband, businessman, all around great grown up guy! I have so many fond memories of the two of us growing up. We played, we fought, we cried, and laughed together and I am so thankful that we have remained close. It is so fun to have him and Hilary living so close to us!

Hilary! I am so thankful to finally have a sister! Hilary is so good for Taylor and really fits SO well into our family! Hilary is such a good example to me! She has such a strong testimony and I know that by her being an example the people in her life, she will touch their lives in ways she will never know! I love her so much. Couldn't be happier for her and Taylor.

Blake is on his mission now! We dropped him off on August 15th, so I wont really talk about that part about Blake. BJ has the most fun loving personality. He is amazing with, not only kids in general, but my kids! They absolutely love him! I am so proud of the man that he is turning into! More on him later.

Parker and I have a pretty special relationship. He is 10 years younger than me but we still have such a good relationship! Let me just say that he is a miniature Eric, so that may be the reasoning behind us being so close. Parker and Eric are two peas in a pod. When they are together they are laughing nonstop and they are hilarious. Parker is one of the most spiritual people I know. He is such a great example to me.

Maxson is my boy! He is a mommas boy through and through and he has such a sweet spirit and a great personality. It is so fun to watch him grow. He loves reading books like his mom and dad! Max is just hilarious already and I can already tell that I am going to have my hands full with him and his daddy.

Kenley is the sweetest girl in the world! She is a little dramatic sometimes. What girl isn't? She loves everything. She is so full of life and energy and I love watching her interact and grow with Max. She is a beauty and I am so thankful for this little duck! She follows me around everywhere and many times I almost kill myself tripping over her, but it makes me so happy to know that she loves me so much!

Last but NOT least, Eric Dean Massey. This man is the love of my life and my best friend in the whole world. He does such a great job of providing for us! He leads us as a patriarch in our family. He keeps me in line and helps me keep things in prospective. He listens to me and puts up with my crazy. :) He makes me feel like a queen and I am so thankful to have him!

A couple of things that happened in JULY are:
We celebrated 4th of July at the Lowman's Annual 4th of July BBQ. Also Kenley took her very first steps on the 4th!
One of my oldest friends got married! And she was BEAUTIFUL!!! So happy for Kate and Topher.
Took the Youth to Best of EFY for Mutual. The speakers were amazing!!
We went on our monthly LOGAN dinner trip to meet the Jacoxs at Cafe Sabor!
My Young Women went to girls camp!! They had a great time!
AND my FAVORITE DAY OF JULY... July 28th... We ran the Timpanogos Half Marathon, I was deathly ill afterward, went to City Creek Mall, had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, and went to the Broadway show (in SLC) WICKED! It was such a fun, crazy, beautiful day!
EVERYONE (except mom and the twins) ran the Half. We all did awesome!
I was sick, sick, sick. I made my dad stop at Denny's so I could puke... Not sure if it was the smell of Denny's, or me actually being sick that made me so sick. I am sure it was a combo.
City Creek Mall is AMAZING.
Cheesecake Factory is ALWAYS amazing.
Wicked is my all time favorite Musical. It is so inspiring!

July was crazy...

June...

June was a busy month for us as well. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that just our whole lives are busy and they will be. :) This summer has been so much fun!! We have really tried to be active and do things.
We went to the park a million times. Eric took the LSAT. Maxson and Kenley were 10 months old. Eric had his first Father's Day. I did some fun activities for Young Womens. We had our first bout of sickness race through our little family. We swam a lot at Nana's. (By WE I mean the twins. And by SWAM I mean played in the kiddy pool.)Maxson peed in the Bumbo. We had our very first camping trip as a family. Kiddos rode on the 4wheelers for the first time. And our town was devastated by the Charlotte Fire.

We went to the park a bunch! Brooklyn's Playground is the place to be! It is such a nice park! We love going there and swinging on the swings. They have SO many baby ones! Well like 6. :) We love meeting friends at the park. Moms get to chat and walk and do mom things. And the kids get to do kid things, like sit in the stroller, swing on the swings, go down the slide and eat grass. One of my very best friends Dani and her girls, Hazyl and Hattie met us at Brooklyn's Playground the day they were doing the ribbon cutting! It was so neat to see the community that had gathered together and donated the funds for this amazing handicapped accessible park! Very neat! It was so much fun to get together with Dani and the girls! (They live in Logan.) Dani and I have a very interesting relationship. Well actually our relationship is quite normal, but the background of it is pretty fun. :) Her husband, Tyson, was my high school boyfriend. And he is actually probably the only reason Dani and I have become so close! I am so glad they got married and that Dani and I were able to get past the weirdness (actually we don't even think it is weird, but there are other people who think it is... weird.) and become best friends! I love her and am so thankful for our friendship! She is such a great example of a wonderful mom and I am SO glad to know her!

Eric took the LSAT! He had been studying so hard, and finally the day came to LSAT. We all woke up early, ran to Walgreens for some last minute things he needed, like pencils... haha, and we drove him to the testing center. No cell phones were allowed and so I told him I would be back in a couple of hours. Well apparently he showed up to take the test too early! He had to walk home. Thank goodness we only live about a mile from campus. SO he figured out when he needed to be back and where he needed to go. So again I dropped him off at campus and told him I would be back in a couple hours. Kissed him good luck and took off. 2 hours later we head back to ISU to pick him up! And we wait. And wait and WAIT. LITERALLY TWO HOURS. Finally I threw in the towel and decided to head home. Kids needed dinner and were so sad. We get home, and who should be there sitting on the couch... ERIC!!! WHAT?? Well, as luck would have it he had to go somewhere else on campus to take the test. (remember he still couldn't have his phone) And when he had finished the test he said he looked for me and walked to our meeting place and we were nowhere to be found! So he walked home! He had only been there for about 15 min, so its not like we were totally wasting our time waiting for him. Looking back now he should have just had his phone in his pocket turned off... haha.

Eric had his first real Father's Day! The kids and I gave him a couple of DVDs and made him a nice card! Eric is truly an amazing Father! He is so great with the kids and even puts up with me still! We are so SO lucky to have him! He works so hard to provide for us and then has energy to play and go on walks and take care of us! I love him so much! :)

My calling as Young Women's President has been a real challenge for me! For those of you who may not know what Young Women's is, it is a program designed for the young ladies that are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and are ages 12-17. This program is designed to teach the young women in our church skills and talents that will help them to build their testimony, be leaders, and be wives/mothers/successful women in the world in which we live. I LOVE the YW program and know of it's importance! What has been hard is... well... we only have two active girls. That is, two girls that actually come to church and we can count on them to be there for our Wednesday activities. We actually have about 12 girls that are YW age in our ward. And a handful of them come out to Wednesday activities. I say it has been a challenge for me because I feel responsible for each of these girls salvation's. I say this in all seriousness. I love each of my girls SO much. And it makes me so sad to see some of the situations they come from. I want whats best for them, and I want them to be happy. And I know that true joy can only come from feeling our Heavenly Father's love and showing you love Him too by doing the things He has commanded. I pray for these girls day and night. And I hope, I HOPE that something I do will touch their lives. Maybe not now, but someday they can look back and say, "Wow, Sister Massey really loved me! She was awesome and taught me so much!" Wishful thinking, I am sure.

We also had our first sickness in our home! Max was the first to get the bug. Saturday morning Max gets sick and throws up twice. Saturday afternoon Eric is sick and throws up as well. Sunday we all rest. Monday morning mommy is sick and throws up. (My wonderful mother and brothers took the kids all day so I could get better.) And finally Monday evening Kenley wakes up and throws up and is up all night sick. I think she got it worse than any of us! It is such a hard thing to see your kids sick! It broke mine and Eric's hearts!

W also had our first camping trip in June! Worst night ever! Sleepless and freezing! We stayed in my parent's camper and thought ok this will be fine we will just have the kids sleep with us. Well Maxson will fall asleep cuddling but Kenley thinks that if anyone is near her it is play time! The battery in the camper died and we were all FREEZING! Needless to say it was interesting. :) We will wait a little longer til we go camping overnight again! The next day, however, was a blast! We rode the 4wheelers and played with the dogs and shot guns! We had a great time!!!

On June 28th, the Charlotte Fire started about 7 miles from my parents house! It burned all afternoon destroying 66 homes in the area that I spent most of my childhood! It was so sad and so scary to see the smoke and know that homes were being destroyed! My parents were evacuated although, the firefighters were able to contain the fire about 3 miles away. The whole side of town was so lucky! If they hadn't contained the fire where they did SO many more homes would have been lost! It is still hard to drive through the fire area and see the damage. Many of my friends lost their homes. Homes that we had grown up in! But thankfully almost everyone had insurance and will be able to replace their monetary possessions. Be thankful for all of your blessings! You honestly never know when something like this could happen.

I love my life. I am thankful for my blessings. I am thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful for my Savior. I know Heavenly Father knows and loves me. I love my kids and hubs.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Apparently what happens in Vegas, DOES stay in Vegas when you are a busy mom/wife and dont have time to blog about it....

The last couple of months have been NUTS! I will do my best to reacap and fill you in on our lives! JUST focusing on getting the words out now, PICTURES will come later. I promise!
I promised a VegasVacay Update!

VEGAS...
At the end of May we took a little Vacation with the kids and went to Las Vegas to visit Eric's Parents and Brother and his family! We had such a great time!!! As always, the trip ended too early!
This was our very first road trip with the twins! A 12 Hr drive! On the way down to NV we decided to stop in Farmington, UT to hang out with our friends the Jacoxs. WE LOVE THEM! We got to hang out with them and their baby boy Case! These guys are such awesome people! Brittney is always such an amazing hostess! She made us a YUMMY dinner! Then BROWNIE! And basically made our bed for us AND she made Banana Pancakes for breakfast before we headed out on the road! I am so thankful for her and Adam's friendship! WE love them and are so thankful that we met them in Florida! They are such great parents too!! Case is so stinking cute!
I am so glad we split the trip down into two different days! The kids were SO good on the way down to Vegas! We made a lot of pit stops and changed a lot of diapers, but we made it all in one piece and with energy to spare!! We got to Corey and Judy's (Eric's fabulous parents) and got all settled in! I am SO LUCKY to be blessed with such great in-laws! I love his parents! They are so good to us and are great examples!
We did a lot while we were there! We went to the park! Eric and I got to go see Avengers at the Red Rock Casino (date night!!)! We went to a really yummy Japanese place for lunch. We went swimming. We played with the kinect. We went shopping. But the best part about it was just hanging out with family! Eric's brother Stephen and his wife Jessica have 3 little girls! These girls are SO fun! They are growing up way to fast! Maxson and Kenley LOVED hanging out with their cousins! It is so amazing just to soak in the feeling of family! We always have a great time when we are all together! We miss Steve and all his girls a ton! I am so glad that we live SEMI close, so we can visit them!
Like I said pictures will come! I just dont have my camera with me... DOH!