Nanny Shelby! Part One

We love Shelby!  My lil sis came a couple of weeks ago to live here for part of her summer. I will be forever grateful to her for her service and friendship at this time!  One of the favorite things Shelby has done with the kids is Book of Mormon plays.  Here is King Lamoni, Ammon and a bad guy :)

Aren't these kiddos so cute?

Isn't this kiddo cute?  He was the audience for the play.

Bedtime stories

Muddy buddies!

We made Claire a muddy buddy cake to celebrate her 2 month birthday! Then we ate it for her :)

The first weekend Shelbs was here, my friend Mariah came out from San Francisco on a business trip. I was SO EXCITED when she called me and told me she had 3 days after her work was done to stay with us.  It was so good to have some real girl time and catch up with her!

We had to take a trip to Chick Filet because we love that place!  Mariah worked there as a teenager and in our college days at BYU together. 

Cones at Chick Filet

HUGE blessing...I was able to attend the temple with Mariah!  Thanks Jon and Shelbs for watching the kiddos. Mariah and I went to the DC temple together 10 years ago!!  Mariah is from West Virginia. After our freshman year in college, I flew to West Virginia and helped Mariah find and buy a car to bring back to Utah. We made the long road trip back together. Included in that trip was a mini trip to DC to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. It was so fun to come back with her (side note: After Mariah and I both served missions, I went back to West Virginia again and we made the treck again by car back to Utah together.  We have such great memories on the road!!)

Since I moved to DC, I have thought about Mariah a lot.  The only experience I have had on the East Coast before now, has been my visits to her family.  Because of this, all the scenery here (beautiful green trees, confusing roads, etc) have made me think of her and miss her! I feel so grateful she could come and spend some time with us here. We love you Mariah!

Another favorite past time with Shelby has been swimming in "Mister Thomas'" pool.  Mister Thomas is actually "Sister Thomas" and she is Luke's nursery teacher. No matter how many times we say "Sister Thomas," he always repeats back "Mister Thomas". It is so cute, so the nickname has stuck!  She has a pool in her backyard and has had us over a couple of times to swim.  It has been so nice to have Shelby help with outings like this.  I know I won't be doing much of this after she leaves.  This pic is me, Emmie and "Diney"

We also had a fun outing to Lucy's 4th birthday party. Emmie and Lucy have been the best little friends out here. And yes, Sarah made Lucy's outift the day before her birthday. So cute!

Here's the cute birthday girl with the "pin the butterfly on the flower" behind her

The butterfly pinata was a huge hit. I think Cam (Lucy's dad) had more fun with it than any of the kids.

We had to keep baby Claire inside a lot because we were all dripping sweat outside, or getting bit by mosquitos

When we did bring Claire out I made sure no bugs could attack.... !

We love this fam!!  Lucy, Nora, Sarah and Cam

Happy Birthday Lu!

We had a fun little adventure while Shelby was here.  There was a major windstorm that knocked down many power lines throughout Virginia. We lost power for about 24 hours. Lucy's family lost it for a couple days. Some people in our neighborhood didn't have power for a week.  Pretty crazy stuff.  Lucy and her family came and stayed with us one Sunday when we had power and theirs had not come back on yet.  We did a photo shoot of the kiddos.

Em and Lu wanted to dress as twins with matching shirts and braids

Emmie had the best time that day as she got to take her special friend to Primary class

So sweet!

Shelby was actually babysitting the kids when the power went out!  Jon and I were in a movie theater watching "Brave" when all the movies shut down.  We had to leave, drive home dodging fallen trees and try to find the flashlights and candles in our house.  Luckily the kids were asleep so Shelbs didn't have to try to calm them down with everything being pitch black. Still, it was a pretty crazy night.

Sweet Lukie loves his Aunt Shelbs!