Welcome home Cameron!!!!

Cari's brother Cameron came home from his Mission last Friday!!!

Cameron has been serving in the Dublin Ireland Mission. On the way to the Airport Cari said she felt like it was Christmas.

(click the picture for a larger image)

Cameron got to meet his two new nephews and a niece. We were excited to have him back, but sad because we know how much he loves the people of Ireland and how hard it was for him to leave.

Preschool Graduation & Giving Blood

Better late then never...

Lainey Graduated from Preschool last week! Good job sweetie. She loves school so much and is SOOOOOOO excited to start Kindergarten this fall.

I also want to show this off. I went and donated blood last week. Before I left I asked the girls what color I should get when they wrap my arm (I usually just get pink because as the time I only had girls). Lainey wanted pink. Lilly wanted purple. Tears were involved and decided to end the discussion. I told the lady that drew my blood and this is what she came up with.

I love the bow!I wore it to my meeting that night and showed it off to everyone I saw.

Raingutter Regatta

We just did the Raingutter Regatta for Scouts tonight. Hopefully, all the boys had fun. I vastly underestimated the effort involved in coordinating races for 22 boys, I should have built some extra gutters. I was too busy to take pictures so I don't have any. Hopefully, the parents got enough shots.

If all else fail, the girls and I enjoyed making some boats that we raced after everything was done. Lainey is planning a race between her and her friends for tomorrow during playgroup.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 7th anniversary. Time sure flies when you are having fun!

Wednesday May 15, 2002. A beautiful day.
For those like of you that are like us. We love looking at pictures.

First date - Saturday, April 25, 1998. Cari asked Lance out so he would lose a bet to her friend Ashley (wearing blue).
It took Lance a while to get things figured out. For some reason Cari stuck with Lance who definitely didn't deserve it. Lance was (and in some ways still is) a grumpy, temperamental, unrefined, misguided, miscreant who didn't deserve anyone half as good as Cari - something Melissa Combs has pointed out a few times. :-) It took a while, but he finally got his act together in 2001 and proposed during Cari's College French class trip to La Caille

Definitely a bit nervous.

Its official, finally engaged - Wednesday, November 14, 2001To bad the engagement ring was too small - doh!

Engagement picture

One of Cari's bridals

Isn't she just beautiful! She's more beautiful today!

So what has happened to us in the last year of our marriage. Lets just point out a few of the more note worry ones. Feel free to bail out and stop reading now.

• Lance finishes his first wood working project - bunkbeds for the girls.
• Finally paint & decorate the kids rooms
• Lainey gets wood embedded in her cheek which ends up basically tattoos the skin!
• Lilly decides not to walk for a couple days and freak us out - then all of a sudden is fine.
• Cari's pregnancy resulted in a lot of weird symptoms in Lance - he had a lot of uncontrollable cravings, experienced heartburn, and developed allergies to everything after a life of no allergies.
• We welcomed our third child into the World, Gordon Hans Jessup, and are officially outnumbered.
• Lilly gives all her diapers to Gordon and potty trains herself
• Lainey started Pre-school
• Finally put in a patio & got a patio set for the back yard
• Cari had her gallbladder removed
• Lainey broke her arm for a third time (she was only 4 at the time!) - "No more broken arms!" is said a lot at our home.
• Lance catches up to Cari in callings for 24 hours (we each had 2) until she was extended a third calling and took the lead yet again. As she says: "I just can't focus on one thing at a time, otherwise I get bored."
  
• Lance: Cubmaster, Primary teacher
  
• Cari: Activity Days, Primary teacher, YW Stake Camp Committee
• Lainey thinks that she is just as capable of being in charge as Cari - the expression "Lainey you aren't the mom" is said a lot.
• Lance and Cari found out that Lance is a total Scout geek! "Scout geek Lance" is comparable to "Camp Cari", however Camp Cari only comes out once a year and not at home. "Scout geek Lance" has come out and won't go away. :-)
• Cari finally finds a pair of jeans she loves - Lance rips them - sorry :-(
• Lance's turtle of 19.5 years died. We organized our first funeral.
• Lance in his laundry tasks accidentally changes the color of a new shirt Cari loves (may have happened a couple times) - the phrase "Why do you always have to ruin the things I love?" becomes a common expression in our home.
• Lilly started dance
• We have cleaned up more pee around the house then ever before (not Gordon)
• Started our first garden
• Cari really starts to worry about turning 30, although she has some time still
• Lance goes a full year without any trips for work and can now donate blood after being banned for a year after his last trip to India & Signapore in April 2008.
• Lance & Cari finally join the facebook action. Cari of course is much more popular then Lance - no surprise.
• many, many, more...
  

Here's to another year of many more to come!

Gordon - the happiest baby there is!

This little guy gets forgot about all to often because his sisters demand so much attention. Just some random samplings of the cute guy!

I do have to tell a story about the picture in the middle on the right. He is clutching a chunk of cheese. Some how it disappeared while Cari was making dinner and ended up in his hands. We found him having a grand old time sucking on it. When I came over to see what he was doing that is the smile I got.

Scout-O-Rama

Again, another delayed post due to problems. My unit (well me and our Committee Chairman) did a booth at the Scout-O-Rama last weekend. We did catapults. It was a tun of fun.
I did have one boy in our unit actually come and help out of a bit. Thanks Jacob! You did great.

Cari brought the kids for a bit so I was able take them around and play for an hour or so.

The pictures I was able to get of them don't really show off half of what was there. Lainey keeps asking when we get to go again. She is excited it happens every year.

For those that are Lego lovers like me (and some of my scouts - Scott, Mason, Ethan, & Jordan) this is for you!

Trip to the Zoo

I tried to post this a while ago, but our connection was having problems.

Lainey's preschool went to the Zoo. We had a ton of fun. I'm just glad I have a flexible job so I could take the day off and go play with the kids.

Lets not forget the playground....

New Do's

(Sorry the pictures are dark)

I took the girls today for some long overdue haircuts. The girls were very excited to go with their friends. Lilly said she wanted the same hair cut as D. and Lainey was still deciding what she wanted. Lilly went first and had hers A-lined again, it is just so cute.

Lainey got in the chair and said she wanted hers the same length as mine. I want them to have the length of hair they want, but it took me by surprise I didn't want her golden locks chopped. We compromised and here is what we got. Lainey said afterward " I think Daddy might call me the wrong name." I asked her "What name will he call you?" She said "Julia" Silly kids!

We took off about 5 inches!!!