Vanessa's Baptism

I just realized I never posted anything about Vanessa's baptism, so here it is

September 1st, 2012 was a very special day for our family, but more importantly for our Princess. Vanessa was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on that day by her dad, something she has been looking forward to since the beginning of the year.

We are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized!

Here's our Princess in her new special dress that she picked out with Mommy.

Getting a "good luck" hug from her favorite Fire Pig

Happily posing with her favorite guy

A "I won't let you fall in the water" hug from her daddy

13th Birthday

No, not my 13th birthday, but the handsome kid in the picture's. It really is hard for me to believe that my oldest is now officially a teenager. I know people always lament the quick passage of time when it comes to their kids and I'm no exception. I really don't know where the time has gone; I swear he was taking his first steps just last week, ha!

Ryan has his moments when the urge to throttle him has been overwhelming, but overall, he's a great kid! He's smart (8th grade Honors Math in 7th grade? Yikes!), witty, sarcastic (too sarcastic sometimes!), caring, and athletic. Besides basketball and football, he's taken up lacrosse this year. Yes, lacrosse. When he told me he wanted to play, cue the utter confusion on my face as I asked, "What's lacrosse?"

I blame his friends, but they're great friends so I can't be mad.

I love this kid, he makes me so proud to be his mom.