slum dog Lisa!

Jillian has a special place for Giselle in her heart...they are great friends!

Giselle really likes Elmo!!!

My camera is finally fixed....YAY!!!!! Brett took it in to get it checked and it was more than the place could handle. So they referred him to a place in D.C. He dropped it off and they called us a little while to come pick it up..but they have weird hours. So I said I would go get it. Brett was nervous because it isn't in the best part of D.C. hahaha I'm from Detroit..bring it!!

I guess i've been out of Detroit a little long because...this place was in a shady part of town for sure. I got it just fine and nothing exciting happened to me..besides me driving in that crazy traffic...don't mess with a mom and her minivan!

new calling= new blessings!

Brett and I recently had another " Did that just really happen" moment!
While in Michigan Brett got a phone call for him and I to meet with a leader of our church. I was out of town so he called back and asked if they needed us to wait until I got back. They said no come on in. I knew when he was meeting so when I got a phone call on that day a little after the time he was meeting I answered by saying " So what's your new calling?" I got " I'm here with the Stake President..on speaker phone" ...OH, Hello President Hilton! oops!! Then he asked if Brett would be willing to serve as a counselor in the Bishopric? I wasn't TOO surprised by the call. Brett is an amazing leader with a very compassionate heart. I knew that one of the counselors was moving also. What I didn't know was that they were splitting our ward and changing the whole bishopric...so what I thought was maybe a year or a little bit more of a calling was now a whole lot longer. We still of course accepted the calling willingly and excitedly.
Pres. Hilton was very understanding of our family still being young and the demands of this calling. He suggested Brett give the children and I a blessing when we got back. So for family home evening last night Brett gave all of us a very special blessing. The spirit was very strong even with some high energy toddler and cranky baby. Afterwards we took cookies over to some of our neighbors just to say thank you for being such great neighbors...our neighborhood has had quite a bit of a turnaround the past few years and it's been so nice to have neighbors for more than just a few months.
I know that this calling will be challenging at times...especially sacrament meeting. I am also excited to focus on the teachings of our children. What a great opportunity to teach our children about the priesthood and how it helps our family. To my ward: Thank you for your generosity and love to our family...I am truly grateful for all the help!

You know that friend? The one you can always call..no matter what!!!

Kristi, Melissa, Amanda, Senta and Me!

All of these wonderful ladies are one of those kind of friends. I went to Michigan this month with the kids. Every time I go back I have good intentions of seeing as many friends as I can...BUT as always life with 5 kids can make the days FLY by. I am SO glad I got to spend some time with a few of my favorite people. Amanda ( the one in brown in the middle) also came in for a few days and lucky for me it was the same time I was there. The rest of my beautiful friends live in Michigan but coordinating schedules is always fun to do. Luckily, Champps has half off burgers on Mondays...woo hoo good excuse to go out. I love that we haven't been together in years and yet we laughed and talked the whole time like no time has past. Love you ladies and here's to hoping we can do that more often!!

I miss my camera!

It's broke!!!

Giselle is 6 months old today!

This is exactly what Giselle does all day....laughs! She is such a happy baby! It doesn't take much for her to laugh... especially having so many fun siblings to play with!

A few things about Giselle:

She is on the move- she rolls ALL over the place..I put her down in one spot and in 2 seconds she is all the way across the room.

She wants people food...NOW! Her whole body reacts when we eat..she wants we have sooo bad, but for now it's rice cereal, sweet potatos, carrots, applesauce, pears and green beans to name a few...oh and a few popsicles here and there!

Any obnoxious sound makes Giselle smile or stop crying...don't believe me just ask Jillian to yell "boo ya boo ya boo ya" for 2 minutes and you'll see!

She took a bath in the sink the other day and LOVED it...this morning I found Jacob sitting in the sink with the water on...he loved it too!!

She laughs from the inside...it's hard to explain but it sounds like she is laughing inside and not actually out loud.

I don't see or hold her for almost the whole 3 hours of church! She is loved by everyone!! Maybe because she goes to everyone!

She sleeps anywhere and with all kinds of noise...I wonder if she would sleep as well if it were actually quiet...guess we'll never know!

She doesn't have any teeth yet, but will gnaw on your finger like a chew toy!

Those are a few fun things about Giselle or ellie as we call her a lot. We love her to pieces and keep believe how fast the time has flown by.

Who wants to join my team?

This week I decided to get up every morning with Jakey and go outside. He has been waking up at 6am or slightly earlier for a while now. I was in a comatose state for a while and would just moan and waste the morning away. NO MORE! I planned on running.
Monday: Jakey doesn't wake up until 7:15....WHAT, figures...can't go, Brett is already gone.
Tuesday: 5:55..ding ding..let's go. He was SO excited when I said wanna go for a walk. Strapped him into the jogger and off we went..I went to the back of my neighborhood because there are train tracks visible and he loves it. Lucky for us a train came within minutes and we tried to run next to it..but of course it was too fast and we only stayed with it for a minute. It was so nice to be out in the morning and not melt from the heat. Time went a lot faster than I thought and got back to the house only a few minutes before 7.
Wednesday: 6am on the dot. I bust out the rollerblades my mother in law got me last year..which are way nicer than the old ones when I was a kid...very cool how stuff keeps getting better.
Took me a minute to get my footing right but thankfully I didn't fall! I totally forgot how tiring rollerblading is. WOW, my legs got tired fast.
I was going down a small hill at one point and tried to slow down...phew that's when I almost wiped out. Luckily I had the stroller to hold on to because I know I would've otherwise.

My question is....have you ever been to a roller derby? Who wants to tryout for one with me...BUT what name should I use????

Super quick trip to Kirtland in a thunderstorm!

Brett and I went to Michigan for my nephew Bradyn's baptism. It was a little scary trying to prepare to take 5 little kids on a 9 hour drive. Not to mention leaving at about 4:30 at night. Luckily we have the best kids in the whole wide world...hahaha I'm not biased or anything. They did wonderful on the way up..and luckily Brett didn't fall asleep at the wheel. Our camera for some reason keeps saying an error message so we didn't get ANY pictures of Bradyn...Boo Hiss!!
We did enjoy a Sonic drink though...just in case you were wondering we had strawberry limeade and Cherry Limeade!!! We left about 9am Monday morning and decided..hey let's make life interesting and take these 5 wonderful children to Kirtland, OH. It was suprisingly not far out the way at all. We got out and the camera still wasn't working...SO BUMMED!! We go into the beautiful new visitor center. I haven't been since I was a teenager and man has it changed. Brett had never been before.
Jacob was INSANE...bouncing off the walls like a maniac. I chased after him and yes I did some running..and had Brett watch the video with the other 4 kiddos. Then we had the sweetest sister missionaries ever. We had our own private tour...what no one wanted to come with us and our 5 little kids??? :) It was great, no one was annoyed by our kids asking 5 thousand questions. I loved hearing about everything all over again...although it feels a lot like the first time, since I appreciate it all SO much more.

We are standing in front of the Whitney store we used Brett's phone to take a couple of pics. You can't tell, but it actually was starting to downpour at this point. We went through the store and got out to go to the Whitney home and the thunder started booming. The girls jumped and screamed every time...but a silver lining. Jacob was scared so he didn't run. Brett held him from then on. AHHH, peace!!

We would have loved to have seen more but the storm was rocking and rolling...just like the Rock and Roll hall of fame only minutes away! Plus we had already spent two hours and needed to get back on the road. So we drove by the Kirtland temple and the cemetary and can't wait to go back again....in a few years!

* by the way..Jacob was a total angel the whole drive home...the best one actually!!***