Twirly Skirts, Mission Calls & Wedding Plans

My sister Kelsey received her mission call yesterday and will be going to the Brazil Belo Horizonte mission for 18 mos. for our church.  She reports September 21^st directly to the Brazil missionary training center.  The girls will miss their aunt Kelsey desperately so we are hoping we can get her out here for a visit before she leaves.  We are all very excited for her and I’m super jealous that she, Brian, Nate, Tausha and mom will be leaving so soon to visit my cousin in London and my sister and her family in Russia.  I did this exact trip 10 years ago, so part of me says “that’s so great that they can go have a fun trip” while part of me just wants to jump on the plane with them! 

 My girls have definitely benefited from Nana living in rainy Washington, away from her usual social life.  She has been so good at sending packages, sewing them darling skirts, and finding other cute items for their summer wardrobes!  My mom has been asking for pictures to make sure the skirts fit the girls so I thought I would showcase my mom’s amazing talent with recent pictures of the girls! They both have skirts of each color/design and they usually insist on wearing them the same days, but looking through my pictures I realized I don't have any of them together wearing the same skirt, so here they are separate.

We are also excited to head to Utah this summer for Greg (Jared's brother) and Maren's wedding!!  We were able to have them come visit during their spring break and we loved getting to know Maren.  The girls immediately adopted Maren as an "aunt" and are so excited to officially welcome her as part of the family.  Here is a picture of them on their visit during spring break. 

 And, of course I couldn't resist posting a recent picture of Jonas eating some carrots.  Jonas continues to grow up before our eyes and is now 6 months old.  He is getting awfully close to sitting up on his own, but for the moment he needs assistance from several pillows or his mother!  He is blowing raspberries like a pro and thinks he is especially funny when he does this while I’m trying to feed him rice cereal.  That stuff is like paste and he gets it all over the place…Another little trick he has pulled lately is to fall asleep wherever he might be playing.  He has fallen asleep in his jumper two times and in his little high chair one time.  It is such a sad and comical little sight to turn around to check on why he is being so quiet, only to see him sacked out in the middle of playing.  I’m not sure if it is my negligence since I am occupied with his two older siblings and just don’t cue into the fact that he is tired, but I swear he gives me no warning sometimes.  The girls would definitely let me know with a meltdown or crying so I would put them down for naps at this age, but all three times with Jonas I was just waiting for him to start a meltdown or show signs of being tired for a morning nap and he just crashed!