And Then There Was One

 We had one fabulous weekend, filled with family and friends.

On Saturday, Maren was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a very special morning!

 I love Everett's paper airplane and look of concentration in that photo.  :)

 We are so grateful to our families who came and supported and loved on our Maren.  Afterwards, we hosted a lunch at our church, which really turned out great!  A huge thank you goes out to my brothers and sisters (and in-laws) who helped set up and take down and who were just there.  It was really a stress-free event, surprisingly.  It was just so nice to enjoy family.

That evening, we hosted another big party.  My high school friends/BYU roommates/book group girls and their families came to our home for dinner.  I can not even express what a wonderful evening it was.  I love these girls so much and am so grateful for them in my life.  And, it made my heart so so happy to watch our kids having such a blast together.  I was sad to see them go when the last car left at about 10:30 pm.  Good food.  Great company.  The photos I took were kind of lame-o, but here's proof of the event:

I should have gotten one of all the kids, but didn't.  They were off and playing the entire time and just had so much fun together.  They loved breaking open glow sticks and flinging it all over the place.  My Maren, all aglow:

This photo was taken the next morning, right before my nephew's baby blessing:

 Another family event where we could just soak it all in.  I love my family!

On Labor day, after bottling 2 batches of peaches from our very own tree, we took the kids up to one of our favorites, Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood canyon.  We've been up there half a dozen times and I've never seen so many people there.  I tell you, the Utah mountains are just insane.  It's just gotten ridiculous in the last few years.  Way too many people for my liking!  Time to move somewhere out in the boonies where we can explore our own wilderness.  That part of our outing was a bit frustrating.  Thankfully it was still beautiful up there.

 Daisy was not a happy camper for about half our time there.  Three year olds are fun!

 We're missing a kid.  Ellie, the lucky duck, got to go camping with my brother's family.  We sure missed her but I'm glad she could have some fun with her cousins.

In those photos you can't even tell how crowded it was.  Maybe I should pretend it just wasn't.  ;)

And then, this morning, this happened:

Lainey Lu, off to preschool!  She is so thrilled to finally be going to school like her big sisters and brother!  She had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Which leaves me with one at home.  Daisy and I celebrated by going on a long bike ride:

I'm fairly certain we're both going to miss LuLu while she's at school.