Mother's Day Dinner...

We arrived home just in time to unpack and make it to
Mother's Day Dinner

up at Mike & Mauri's...

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I pulled the monkeys out of the dirt (literally!)

long enough to pose for our traditional Mother's Day Portrait.

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(Seriously... LOOK at those shirts! You don't even want to see their hands!)

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And here's a quick shot with all us "Moms":

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(Left to right): Jean (Cody's mom), Mindy, Me, Mauri & Peggy

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Thanks, Dads, for all the preparations and yummy food! Mmmm.... mmmm... mmm!

St. George Weekend for da Mama...

Just what I needed...
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A few absolutely un-scheduled, fun-filled days to decompress and just RELAX!

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We swam,

realized we left the battery-charger for the camera at home

(thus, no more photos... oops!),

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launched a rocket at the park,

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rode bikes up in Snow Canyon,

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went to the Wildlife Museum

(way cooler than we expected!),

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stayed up too late,

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ate too much Cold Stone,

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watched old Home-Movies of our family,

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and laughed... and laughed... and laughed!

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...Good times!

The One & Only Princess!

SoooOOOoooo... Drum-Roll please....

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Here's the news...

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I am keeping my Tiara!

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I will remain the sole reigning "Princess" of "Castle Staker"

for at least the forseeable future!

(Fitting since the name "Sara" is actually Hebrew for "Princess"... so maybe this was destined to be...)

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The Ultrasound showed an unmistakable view of Little Monkey #4...

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That's right...

He's a BOY!

We also saw his handsome little profile

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All 10 fingers...

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and his little spine!

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I know it's not the earth-shaking news you were all hoping to hear, but please be assured that there are no condolences necessary...

We are sincerely excited about the idea of adding another Handsome Little Man to our Collection and are just happy to see his healthy little heartbeat and all his little parts developing just as they should be!

Matt & I feel like Little Boy Specialists, so it's not nearly as overwhelming a thought as throwing a ruffley-bummed "foreigner" in the mix... (although that would have been fun, too!)

Our home has become accustomed to little bodies climbing onto and jumping off of everything, ,

constant wrestling-until-someone-gets-hurt,

gross unmentionable body noises (and odors!),

a consistently whirling arsenal of everyday weaponry (swords, sticks, kitchen utensils... you name it!),

crumbs, dirt and other miscellaneous and "mysterious" smudges and oozings,

Super-hero capes made out of any/everything,

blanket forts and scary stories,

Sports for every Season,

cars, trucks, airplanes, tractors, boats, choo-choo trains and anything else that goes,

holes (seriously, in everything!),

balls of every variety rolling and bouncing off of things that they shouldn't,

selective hearing/attention spans,

and LOUD-ness & chaos at least 5 decibels above the norm!
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This is our life and we LOVE it! We wouldn't trade a single one of them... REALLY!

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So I guess I must be enough "Girl" to handle all of them, even though I am going to be more outnumbered than ever!

(...Which just means that I will be looking for lots of excuses to get out with the girlies for a good GNO, a pedicure, an afternoon shopping, and or a good old- fashioned Chic-Flick!)