It's baby time!

About a year and a half ago Jared's brother Mat and his wife Bri moved to Auburn and into our very own ward. They introduced themselved as the McInelly's version II... new and improved. I guess with both Jared and I officially in our 30's now, a house, three kids, and a minivan later, they probably do seem younger and more hip that us... maybe. Mat and Bri have become regulars at our house. We love it and our kids have especially grown fond of them. Emma usually preferrs Aunt Bri over mom. It's been wonderful having family so close and we are so thrilled to see them become parents to their own baby girl due October 29th, (Jared's birthday).

Stephanie, Tara, and I threw a baby shower for Bri on Saturday.

It all started with this invitation and then we went a little craft crazy.

We rented our neighborhood community center for the event! Here is the guest of honor. Bri is the one in the middle (doesn't she look great!)

Tara made this sign as part of our decorations. I thought it turned out really cute!

We had a chocolate fountain with lots of yummy things to dip. mmmm!

We played some fun games. One was a version of Would You Rather. We had a list of questions where everyone had to choose which of two situations they would rather be in. The idea was to see how many answers you could match to Bri's. For example, would you rather wear nylons your entire pregnancy, OR take a mom and tot swim class 7 months pregnant? Here's another, would you rather have your husband miss the delivery OR have your brother-in-law in the room while you delivered? Bri said she'd rather have her brother-in-law in the room so I guess Jared, maybe your invited??? .....just kidding.

I decorated these cans and filled them with candy for the different prizes.

Tradition says that the person who brought the gift opened 7th at a baby shower is the next to get pregnant. Stephanie was our winner. She got to wear this lovely badge that says, I'm Next!" We think it's great, hope Zeke is okay with it.


Check out all those gifts! Bri got lots of cute baby girl things. We can't wait to meet the little miss.

Stephanie and I spent Friday afternoon bagging these little cookies for the party favors and I wouldn't let my kids eat even ONE. I wanted to be sure there were enough for all the ladies... you never want to run out of something like that. Turns out we kind of forgot to pass them out and although a few people noticed them and grabbed one on the way out, we were left with a lot of leftovers. My kids were thrilled to each get their own bag.

We had so much fun doing this and can't wait to meet the newest McInelly baby!

Thanks for all the fun Bri!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

The celebrating started on Sunday! We invited our family to come for dinner in honor of Hunter's birthday. He could hardly wait for the guests to arrive.

We had a fun time visiting, eating, and watching Hunter open his presents.

I think the highlight of the evening was the Spiderman cake! I baked it, and Jared graciously agreed to design the Spiderman face. He very carefully worked away with Hunter at his side the whole time chanting, "this is the best cake ever dad!"

Hunter very carefully placed the candles on his prized cake.

I accidentally bought those magic candles that relight themselves, it didn't go over too well. He just wanted them to burn out.... oops.
Emma went down for a nap before our company arrived and unfortunately missed out on all of the fun. Although she was very quiet up in her room, something tells me she didn't go right to sleep.

Today is Hunter's actual birthday. We started off this morning with breakfast. Hunter had requested bacon, pancakes and eggs only he wanted the eggs to be red and the pancakes to be blue.... spiderman colors.
After preschool, Hunter had 5 friends over for a spiderman birthday party. He spent hours decorating the front door with a sign that said Hunter's Spiderman birthday and cut outs of spiderman.

For one of the games the kids wore these spiderman masks and had to "catch the web" as I sprayed silly string into the air. It was hilarious to watch.

I love birthdays and always have so much fun celebrating them with the kids. We love Hunter and feel so lucky to have him as part of our family. Happy 5th birthday Hunter!

Back to School!

Where did summer go?? It never seems quite long enough.

The night before school started Linsey laid out all of her school clothes not only for the first day, but for an entire week. They covered her bedroom floor. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she proceeded to lay out all of Hunter's clothes in his room too. He put up with it although he didn't seem all that impressed.

Here's Linsey, ready for 2nd grade.

saying goodbye to Emma.

Linsey walks to school with her friend Alyssa. Aren't they cute! They came home walking with a third friend, Abigail, and they were all holding hands.

Here's Hunter, ready for preschool. He was up and dressed at 6:45.

Too bad school didn't start til 9:00.

Friday after school was out, we celebrated by setting up the kid's favorite sprinkler (thanks Bri). I had to laugh when I saw the girls sitting around such a fancy looking snack. They had it all arranged to look like a centerpiece.



The week ended Saturday as we cheered on the BYU cougars, too bad they didn't win. We'll get them next time!

An ideal weekend

We spent the weekend visiting with family in Coeur d'Alene. Our kids love getting together with their cousins and this visit was full of fun which finished our summer off with a bang! My brother lives in an unfinished neighborhood which provided our kids with dirt hills to ride bikes on and trails to explore... pure heaven for Hunter and surprisingly Linsey wasn't very shy about getting her nails dirty.

Hunter and his cousin Zach found a hill to ride their bikes on. They took turns watching each other make "smoke" as they zoomed down the trail.


As you can imagine, the kids get pretty dirty playing in a backyard like this so my sister in law has trained her kids to wash their feet off with the hose on the side of the house before coming inside. The boys were washing themselves obediently when they discovered that if they let the water run long enough, they could make a REALLY big puddle...


They dragged all those rocks into the puddle to make a dam and then they floated their flip flops through the water stacking sticks and leaves on them until they would sink. As if that wasn't fun enough, Hunter tried to ride his bike through their puddle only his wheels became stuck........

The faster he spun the wheels, the higher the mud flew.

This created all sorts of fun.

Somehow they convinced little brother that it would be fun to stand behind the bike.

Amazingly, he was all smiles and did seem to enjoy himself. Poor little guy just trying to impress his big brother and older cousin.

The girls had their own fun. It started with seeing how dirty they could get their feet.

From there it escalated to how dirty they could get their entire bodies. Yes, Linsey is rolling around in the dirt.

Ta Da!

Bath Time!

Thank goodness they sure clean up nice. Here they are all ready for church on Sunday.

Emma was sleeping and missed out on the fun in the dirt, but she sure enjoyed playing with her cousin Gavin. They are only 5 days apart and have an amazing resemblance. We are constantly asked if they are twins.

Thinking I could get a really cute picture, I asked Gavin to give Emma a kiss on the cheek. He did only she turned her face.

It's always fun to spend time with family and make great memories. As our weekend came to a close, Jared commented that this was his ideal way to spend a weekend. He worked Thursday and Friday and had "really good work days". He and my brother snuck off for a great fishing trip. He got to sleep in 2 different mornings. We spent a whole afternoon at a lake soaking in the sun and taking turns on a jet ski. Then, since we came home Sunday evening and Monday was Labor Day, he still had a day to get stuff done, mow the lawn wash the car, clean up the yard.

Ahhhh... what a weekend.

My twin brother

I was about 6 and I desparately wanted my mother to have a baby. My parents admitted that they had the same desire, but it was in the Lord's hands. They explained to me that I could pray to Heavenly Father and ask for a baby. My mom claims that I diligently asked in every prayer I said for the next year, I was even so bold to ask for that baby to be born on my birthday (isn't that every little girls dream?). Finally my dream came true.... well almost.

I remember the day very well. It was my 8th birthday, a month past my mother's due date, and we were waiting excitedly for the phone to ring. My grandparents were staying with us because my mom had gone into labor and was at the hospital. The call finally came and the phone was given to me. My mom wanted me to be the first to know that I had a new baby brother. I tried to say something, but words wouldn't come. I felt the tears streaming down my face and I couldn't hide my dissappointment. I'd asked all this time for Heavenly Father to bless our family with a baby on my birthday, but I'd forgotten to specify that I wanted it to be a girl. Doug was my 3rd brother and a few years later I also had a 4th brother. As much as I wanted a sister, I grew to love each of my brothers and I learned that being the only girl did have a few perks.

The moment I saw Doug in the hospital, I loved him. He wasn't a typical newborn, he was a month overdue and seemed to be more alert and active. He was blessed the same day I was confirmed. We've always joked about how we are part twin... foolish twins I might add, both born on April Fool's Day. We recently went to California for his wedding. He found his perfect match and it was really neat to see them sealed in the San Diego temple.


Jared and I had a great time in California. We left our children with his parents so it was a nice vacation, just the two of us. I had to laugh when we got our rental car. Doesn't it look like the car that Mr. Incredible drives when he is undercover. ha ha

The kids were able to attend the reception in our hometown, Kennewick, Washington . Linsey and her cousin Savannah were flower girls.

This was my favorite picture of them.

Hunter and his cousin Zach... typical boys.
I guess they were fighting about who was going to marry the bride. Too bad she's already taken guys.

We are so happy for Doug and Desiree. They are both such neat people with a bright future ahead of them. I'm glad to have such a great brother and new sister-in-law. It's taken over 23 years to finally get that sister in the family that I prayed so hard for as a child.