My friend Amanda took these darling photos of Molly. She did such a great job, and even made it easy by coming to my home to do it. I am so happy with them. It kind of shook me up how old my little girl is.

How am I going to decide which of these to order? Maybe all of them!















Another photographer came to Lucy's dance class and took some photos of the class. She did some of the individual kids too. I also can't believe how old little Lucy looks!

So I have been thinking lately about what a supportive family I have, and how living so close to a great number of our family we always have someone to be there for each great event and to help out whenever needed too. I think I take it for granted sometimes. Yesterday was a day of all days around here. And from the beginning to the end we all supported each other, well mostly people supported us, but I was so grateful by the end of the day.

First of all it was mine and Ryan's Eighth Anniversary!! I really can't believe it myself. How time flies, and here we are with 3 kids and so busy with our little lives. Sometimes I feel like Ryan and I pass in the night. Each day that goes by we chat for a bit at dinner, and then usually before we go to bed, but from Ryan working late occasionally, to Young Women's night, Ryan's calling, to kids stuff (and we don't even have older kids...I can't imagine how crazy it is going to become), to house and yard we really don't have a lot of down time to just sit and chat unless we go out on a date. Often we do that with friends, which we love, but you know that isn't usually Ryan/Macy quality time. Anyway, that is a long way of saying it is a rare thing for us just to be "us".

Well, we had a quite an Anniversary day. The morning rolled in with Rex's last soccer game of the season, for sure the most important thing in this household. Let's face it, almost anything Rex is doing is the most important thing in all of our lives. He takes everything he is doing so seriously, and has been talking about it (and praying about it) and practicing all week. Let's just say he was totally pumped! So this is where all of our support starts. We had Grandma and Grandpa Bell there cheering him on, Oma and Pop Pop, and Randy and Ikey there to see Rex play. Rex told me on the way over he was sad and nervous. I asked him "why?" He replied, " Sad because it is my last game and nervous because I just know the other team is going to win." The intensity in this kid is amazing. But the other team did not win. Rex was completely on his game and scored 4 goals (by far his best performance, suspiciously timed for the presence of so many supporters!). I can't remember the final score, but he was happy!




Rex takes a shot on goal from Ryan on Vimeo.


Then on to Lucy's ballet/tap recital. Miss Julie (Lucy's dance teacher) was in rare form telling the story of Mary Poppins in her tutu, and all these darling little girls would run up for their number. It is always quite the experience. You could just tell Lucy was having so much fun though, and that makes it all worth it. Grandma and Grandpa helped Ryan in the yard, and then stayed on to see Lucy perform too. Oma and my sister Molly were there too, and of course the stalwart supporter, Ikey was on the front row. I loved watching Rex there supporting Lucy, and cheering for her. Lucy is Rex's biggest cheerleader every Saturday for his games, and I could tell how much it means to Lucy to have him there to also cheer her on. On both ends I think this is so good for siblings. It was a ball to see Lucy dancing and tapping. I love seeing my kids in their elements...it always makes for a great day for me too.


Lucy in the zone (before the recital began) from Ryan on Vimeo.






Spoonful of Sugar (Part I) from Ryan on Vimeo.


Spoonful of Sugar, Part II from Ryan on Vimeo.





Is this sounding like such a romantic day so far?? Well it does get better. After the recital my mom helped us out by taking Rex and Lucy up to her house to swim and sleep over so Ryan and I could go out that night for our anniversary. I have to say it was the most amazing afternoon. You don't realize how little down time you get on a Saturday until you actually have no one around and you can do whatever you want. We love our little life and love our weekends together as a family, but yesterday was amazing. We both decided not to be productive and took naps, read, watched the food network (I love weekend Food network!)...it was a dream. Molly slept the whole afternoon. It had been ages since we just had an afternoon to do absolutely nothing. Then we went to gateway to do a little shopping and then came home to get ready, feed molly dinner, and take her over to Aunt Molly's to lay her down so we could head out. The support we got from morning until night was amazing. What would we do without all of these amazing people around to show up to all of our trivial little happenings and then to create a night for us to just do something as simple as go out to dinner?

It was the perfect night weather-wise, and we had a reservation on the patio at Em's on Capitol Hill. Then off to the worst movie of all time, ok I guess the day can't be completely perfect. Anyway, it was the perfect day for me. Going to my kids' big events. And then having a day with just Ryan , to just be Macy and Ryan again, which is rare. It was so nice. So, a huge thanks to all of our supporters and happy 8th to us!!!