Spencer's Blessing/4th of July BBQ

What a great weekend for family! My sweet little nephew Spencer was blessed in church and we had a great celebration afterward! Many, many years ago, my brother Jordan was also blessed on the 4th of July when he was a baby. (Yes, Jordan, I am teasing you about being so old!) It was so nice to be able to be there for this special day!

Spencer

In his blessing outfit...

Proud Daddy...

 

With Grandma J

Jordan and Melanie

 Jason and his littlest cousin Spencer

Dad, Matt and Levi

 Kellie's 4th of July bows

Jeff, Jennifer and Jerri Lynn

Levi and Matt

Aaron being silly

Julie and Kellie

Melanie and her sister Ann Marie

Ann Marie's cute daughter, Natalie

Jessica reading to Kellie and Natalie

Natalie got a bit sleepy...

The Corless Family...

being silly...

really silly!

 The Christiansens... (US!)

An Evening with the Corless Cousins

My sister and her family stopped by on their way to my Mom and Dad's house last night. It was so fun to spend a few hours with them. Here's some highlights...

Levi has a reputation for "being difficult" and typically will only allow Matt, myself and occasionally Grandpa to hold him. It seems like my family has made it their mission to see who can win him over. My brother John succeeded briefly a few weeks ago and my sister Jerri Lynn held the honor last night.
(It doesn't hurt that she "bribed" him with a tub of Red Vines- which he LOVED!)
Whatever works, I guess! :)

 Kellie and Jessica, pool buddies!

 Cute Jennifer!

Caleb and Jason

Aaron and his puppy dog towel. BRRRR it's cold!

Levi and the Monster towel. I think he likes the pool- don't you?

Miss Kellie

Jessica and Kellie

"Queen" Jessica

Visiting the Temple Grounds

Last Saturday was our Primary's Temple Trip. I am so glad we were able to go this year. There were close to 50 Primary aged children and they even had to split our group into 2 separate tours! It is so great to see the enthusiasm of our little ones to be near the temple. I'm sure they feel the calming Spirit and love to be there. I was reminded of almost 11 years ago when Matt and I were married. It was such a special experience to share these sacred grounds with our children. I'm reminded again how very blessed we are.

 

Our little family...

Aaron, Kellie, Julie, and Caleb

Matt and Little Levi

Miss Kellie

Aaron

Julie and Caleb (He's squinting because of the sun...)

My sweet friend Andrea and her son, Zac

Cub Scout Bike Rally

The Cub Scouts had a bicycle Rally this week in the church parking lot. They learned all about bikes and bike safety and then rode their bikes through various obstacle courses. The boys had a blast and I am so glad Aaron is loving Cub Scouts!

Getting to know Spencer...

We were so excited last Sunday to have Mom, Dad, Jordan, Melanie and Spencer join us for a nice meal on Father's Day. It was a great meal and afterward the kids enjoyed "getting to know" their little cousin a bit better. Although they briefly saw him in the hospital after he was born this was the first time they got to hold the little guy and I'm so glad they had this opportunity. They have talked about "Little Spencer" all week. I think it's safe to say they're pretty smitten! (and who wouldn't be? He's a cutie!)

Happy Father's Day!

Matt with the kiddos... Happy Dad's Day, Matt!

Puppy Dog Eyes...

Levi is growing up all the time. He has mastered crawling and is quite the speedy little guy. He recently started pulling himself up and I'm sure walking is just around the corner. One other thing he has definitely mastered well is the art of the "puppy dog stare". He seems to know how to make himself look absolutely pathetic so you'll take pity on him and pick him up. You can't tell from the picture, but those big eyes are usually accompanied by a lip quiver and a whine. How can you resist those cute little eyes? I know I can't!

Cousins...

Last weekend my brother John and his family spent the evening with us on their way back home after their vacation. It was so fun to see them! When we woke up to pouring rain on Saturday I was a little bit worried about how to entertain 9 kids inside. I shouldn't have been concerned though- they were great and our kids had a blast.

Caleb typically feels left a little bit left out, seeing whereas there are not a lot of friends his age that he plays with- and Aaron and his friends don't always want to include him. He was so excited to realize that his cousin Sam was 5 too! They enjoyed trains and coloring and concluded the evening with A Bug's Life before bedtime.

I enjoyed seeing my other little nieces and nephews and could slap myself for not pulling the camera out more. Oh well, that's just how it goes I guess... I still love you all, even if I didn't get you on film!!!

Spencer Jordan is ADORABLE!

HE FINALLY ARRIVED!

 I have a brand new nephew
(The 21st grandchild on our side of the family)
and his name is 

SPENCER JORDAN HENDRIX!

He was born on June 5th at 7:03 PM,weighing 7lbs 6 oz, and is 20 inches long.

AND... he is just about the cutest baby ever!

 Here's some pictures... (I'm sure Jordan and Melanie will be adding their own pictures on their blog in a few days, but Melanie told me I could post these so all of you out of town people can get a good look at their beautiful baby...)

Congratulations Jordan and Melanie!

An Update on Miss Kellie

I realized that I haven't had a lot of posts about our little Miss Kellie lately. Part of this is, perhaps, that she isn't involved in a lot of activities beyond supporting her brothers in their activities. The other part is that it is kind of hard to post cute little stories about the cute little things she says because Kellie is not really talking.

For quite a while, we have known that her speech was not where it was supposed to be for her age. She does not talk in complete sentences yet, and although improving all the time, her vocabulary is extremely limited. Understandably, this causes a lot of frustration for everyone. After much trouble we finally got her an appointment to be evaluated and they determined that she does have a speech delay and will be joining preschool in the Fall where a speech therapist will be working one on one with her to help her learn to talk. We are VERY excited about this and hope to have her babbling away in no time.

Kellie has reached another milestone, though! She recently caught on and is completely potty trained! Wow, what a relief! We are SO glad she is no longer in diapers or pull ups.  Way to go Kellie!

Miss Kellie still has wild, beautiful, long curly hair. Because it is a challenge to get her to cooperate long enough for me to tame it- we have invested in a large assortment of pretty hair things. Kellie LOVES looking pretty and likes to say "TA-DA!" when she is all done up. My sister Jerri Lynn has a friend who makes adorable hair things and we loaded up on several of her creations. Kellie absolutely loves them! (Her website is www.flowerzinherhair.com) In the pictures above she is wearing some of her favorites...

We love you Miss Kellie!