I'm Back (and other big milestones)!

Yes, it is really me. I am alive and doing well. I have had an incredibly busy past couple of weeks and just haven't been able to find the time blog. I have thought of my blog (and my poor readers logging in to see the same old post over and over) every day and it has drove me crazy to not get on here more often. I have dedicated the next couple of hours of my night to catching everyone up on the major events that have been happening in the South household. So, before I begin, go grab a drink and a snack, put on your fuzzy slippers, and get comfy, because this is going to take awhile.

We have had several milestones in our lives during these past 2 weeks. The first one was on May 6th. Jared and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. 8 years! Can you believe it? Neither can I! I'm going to figure out how to fix/work my scanner (Vince showed me what to do so hopefully I can remember)and scan pictures of our wedding day. I'll do that in the coming week, so check back! That day was also special for Kylie because it was her first field trip. Her school was going to the zoo, and I got to come along as a volunteer. She was so excited to have her mom come with her. And as an extra bonus, they said we could bring other siblings. As much as I love my Brynlie, I was not at all interested in bringing her along, especially when I had other kids to look after. So Kylie, Sadie and I went to the zoo and Brynlie played at Jamey's house.








That night Jared and I celebrated our anniversary at La Luna (Mexican Restaurant) with three of our favorite girls...
That Saturday, this is what our backyard looked like. Jared rented a tiller and we spent the weekend tilling up the dirt and building a retaining wall for the yard. We wanted to start early this year so that we could get grass in early, but the weather just hasn't cooperated. Every Saturday has been cold, or windy, or rainy, or little of all three. On Monday night I hosted my first ever baby shower. It was for my sister Sasha, who is having her first baby in July. I am not a real big fan of the cheesy games that are normally played at showers so I kept things pretty simple. After dinner we played a guessing game. I had 16 jars of baby food, all with their labels removed. There were two teams, and each had to guess which flavor was which. I gave them a list of all of the flavors, even though I was afraid that that would make it to easy. I was wrong. One team got 3 right, and the other got 4. Pathetic! I was considering (as a motivator) to give Sasha all of the jars that were guessed right. Good thing I decided to just give them all to her! (Notice Sadie sitting on Annie's lap, by the Muddy Buddies? She always seems to find the chocolate...)

The next game wasn't really a "baby shower" game, but I figured it would be fun anyway. We had a purse scavenger hunt. The boys were a little upset that they had an unfair advantage (all AJ could contribute was some cash and coins and a "calculator"), but it was a lot of fun. Kylie had fun using the whole house as her purse. Here are Sasha's gifts... Brynlie snuggled right up to Meagan and fell asleep. All of my girls just adore their Aunt Meagan.

When Kylie went to work with me they gave her a helium balloon. This was Brynlie's first experience with a helium balloon and she loved it. I didn't get any pictures of it that night, but had Annie and Kristi pick up balloons for the party so that Brynlie could play with them afterwards. She loves balloons!



The next day was my 29th birthday. I now officially have less than one year until I am 30. This was also my first Mother's Day with 3 kids. Three kids!! I told my dad the other day that my three youngest sisters ought to be really grateful to my parents for being crazy enough to have 6 kids.

Another big milestone was Kylie's first school program. The kindergartners put on a program for their parents of some of the songs they had learned this year. It was so cute! I got there early (I know...me...early!) and still didn't get great seats, so the pictures aren't the best. Next time we will know to arrive much earlier. She is in the front row, in the middle, to the right of a boy in a blue shirt.

Here is Kylie and Sadie with their daddy after the program was over. Kylie was so excited and proud of herself that night! She loved having her family come to her school.

Another milestone, and one that is quite bittersweet for me... Brynlie is now pulling herself up and standing. This means that I had to drop the crib mattress so that we couldn't add "Brynlie fell out of the crib" to our milestones this month. She is getting so big and is not at all a baby anymore. I put her down in one room and find her in another a couple of minutes later. She is all over the place!

Another HUGE milestone for us...grass. I mention what the backyard looked like last Saturday. This is what it looked like this Saturday. We went ahead and laid most of the sod. We don't have it all down yet since we are still working on sprinklers, but we wanted to get most of it down before it got any hotter. The girls are so excited to finally have grass in their backyard, and their mom is so excited for them to have a backyard to go play in, and maybe keep things a *little* bit cleaner inside. Yeah, right. Wishful thinking.


And finally...I decided that after a year and a half of being "blonde" (as blonde as I was ever going to be at least) I went dark again. Here are a couple of picture of the new color and cut. It looks much better in person. I don't do well in photos. I love the new color!

Along with all of our big "milestones" we have been kept very busy with three soccer games, soccer pictures, two dance practices, dance pictures, dinner to the missionaries, my annual review at work (9 years!!), a trip to the airport to pick up Brad and Jamey, helping clean the church one Saturday morning, Family Home Evening with the Souths, and a birthday party in the neighborhood. I was really hoping that this summer would slow down and stop being so crazy. Maybe next year...