Mother's Day & Amy's Birthday Party
May 11th, 2008

We always really look forward to any holiday or special day during the year, because it generally means we will be seeing some of Brian's family. In this case, Mother's Day was no exception! We went over to Brian's parents' house in Springville to celebrate the evening, but also to celebrate Brian's sister Amy's birthday, which had been four days earlier on the 7th. That also happened to be Prairie's birthday! So right when we arrived, Vaughn dashed for the back yard and began playing with his cousins. His cousin Kimball grabbed hold of Vaughn and hugged him like crazy! I was lucky to get a picture of the two of them because Vaughn wanted to play and was trying to break out of her hold!

Kimball is a very tender and caring young girl, and she shows it a lot with Vaughn. I thought this picture very fitting for Mother's Day. I believe women (girls) are born with that sense of mothering....nurturing and caring for others. I think it is shown very well here.

And then of course, once Kimball got the mushy stuff out of her system, it was time to get a little crazy! Vaughn loved it!

Danny was outside playing with his kids while Linda took a break inside. I guess part of playing with Kal was to draw a chalk outline around his body. In the end it looked like the chalk outlines of bodies you find at murder scenes. But I'm sure I was the only one who noticed that. Kal thought it was great!

Danny and the Lampateeze....what a pair!

My sister Laura came over to help celebrate the evening, and when I tried to take a picture of her, Danny had to get weird. He loves to play practical jokes on people. Just look at his face....he is really in his element! He just can't resist being a dork! I like Danny though, because he keeps things interesting. I'm glad he feels that he can pick on me. I wonder what he was like as a kid?

I thought this was adorable! Laura is always great to play with the kids when she's over. She was having a great time drawing with the kids. Lampateeze took special interest in Laura's art. Why is he SO DANG CUTE?!?!

After a while of playing outside, we came inside to get ready to celebrate Mother's Day and Amy's birthday. I thought Alex and Riley (on the right) looked so cute here just enjoying time as sisters. And Laura was adorable entertaining the Lampateeze, while he clung to Linda!

Julie is a fantastic aunt and friend to Riley and Alex. They are always goofing around together. Julie has a gift with kids. Whenever our nieces and nephews come to visit, they all yell, "It's Julie!!!" when they see her walk in the door. And 99% of the time they call me Julie. It's definitely a complement!

Here's Amy and Brian having an involved conversation before we got the celebration under way. Did you notice the gorgeous cake on the counter that Julie made for Amy? YUM! Brian looks almost like a politician here giving a speech. What a cutie! I'm sure he and Amy probably were talking politics!

As you can see, the candles are lit in this picture, and that means we were singing Happy Birthday to Amy. I thought her expression here was very pleasant. Danny and Brian look a little uncomfortable singing in the background though! Lighten up you two!

And then came the presents.... Amy was great to let her youngest Sammy (Samuel) help her open her gifts. As tradition dictates, Amy received food for her birthday. Among the prizes were a bag of M&Ms....

.....a bag of Corn Nuts.....some Fiddle Faddle.....and I can't remember what else!

I guess all the food made the Lampateeze very hungry. Since he couldn't reach any of it, he went for the next best thing....Aunt Julie's arm. I wonder if she noticed that a piece of her arm went missing?

Vaughn just wanted some of that delicious cake! Just look at the poor kid's face! And speaking of cake....

...here's a better picture of the cake Julie made for Amy. Isn't it just fantastic?! Julie is an expert at making cakes and desserts. She really has a gift.

Once his belly was full of cake, Vaughn had some important things to do. One of those things was making sure to record the night's events. So he got out a little toy video camera and began to shoot the scene unfolding before him. What a pro!

I think Vaughn had taken some pointers from his Uncle Bobby (Robert, Bob, Buns and whatever other names we've called him in the past), because he looked like a natural!

He was even squinting his right eye while his left looked at the camera. What a nut!

I was glad Vaughn was there to help record things, because some important stuff was happening! It was time for Mom Higginson to open a few gifts we had gotten her for Mother's Day. Mom looked so cute here! She likes to avoid cameras at all cost, but she doesn't realize how great she looks.

Amy wrote a song about Mom and sang it to her for Mother's Day. It was quite the experience for all of us. Amy has a talent for writing music, and by the time she was done, there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

Here's another view of Amy while she was singing to Mom. I thought it appropriate that Dad accompanied her for the occasion. I don't think Mom realizes how much of an impact she has had on the lives of her husband, children, kids-in-law and grandchildren. I can't imagine a world without her. She is one of the most giving, thoughtful people I have ever met!

I thought I would add this picture in. Laura totally made my Mother's Day when she came over that evening. As you can see, Laura is one of the people that brings humor into my life. She has a way of cheering me up that no one else can do!

And this will be my "one for the road." I LOVE YOU LAURA!!!

Love, Lisa

Fun with Aunt Laura

May 4th - May 10th

On Monday, May 5th, Laura came over to spend some time with Vaughn. Vaughn knows that when Aunt Laura comes over, a few things are always going to happen. 1st, there will be some wrestling ...and 2nd, Vaughn will get to play with Laura's cell phone. In this case however, Vaughn would get Aunt Laura on the ground and flat on her stomach, and then Vaughn would jump up as fast as he could and book it for her cell phone. Laura got a little suspicious that maybe it was her cell phone, and not her he wanted to play with!

Vaughn loves to take pictures with Laura's cell phone. I think she has more weird pictures of Vaughn than anyone on the planet!

During some of their wrestling time, I asked for a quick pose, and this is what I got! What the heck is Vaughn looking like that for?! And Laura, do I want to ask?

Okay....that's better! By the way....Laura called Vaughn's haircut the "Dumb and Dumber" look. When I saw this picture I regrettably had to agree. We'll have to do something about that hair!

Love, Lisa

Hangin' With Julie, My New Sprinklers
& The Great Piggie Party

April 20th - May 3rd

On Sunday, April 20th, we went over to Brian's sister Julie's place for some fun. Julie busted out a really fun card game, which we played for a good part of the night. I wish I could remember the name of it because I want to get it! (I look really greasy in this picture because I had Aloe Vera all over my face and neck. I had gotten a sunburn the day before).

Here's Brian, Julie and Julie's roommate just before heading into the second game!

During the evening while we were playing cards, Vaughn found a new best friend in Julie's roommate Elise. Elise took Vaughn into the kitchen area and rolled cars back and forth with Vaughn for most of the evening. Vaughn was in pure heaven!

Here's Elise just before sending off one of the cars into oblivion! They would both roll their cars at the same time towards each other and try to catch them. Vaughn would basically throw his at Elise and laugh so hard when she tried to catch it. It was so cute to watch them!

Vaughn loved the game so much that he couldn't stop laughing. We had to stop the card game every few minutes and go and observe the two of them playing. We have never heard Vaughn laugh as hard as he did that night! Thanks Elise for being so great with Vaughn!!!

A few days later I was talking with my neighbor Dawn Houston about building some sprinklers in our front yard because I was having a hard time keeping it watered. Well, the day after I mentioned it to Dawn, I found her in my front yard working on building the sprinklers! I couldn't believe it! So of course I went out to try and help her. Here she is above with Vaughn keeping close tabs on everything!

I just thought I'd point out how dry the grass looks! Thanks to Dawn, we now have a nice, green front yard!

Also during this week, we held the Great Piggie Party. I'm just calling it that because I want to. We were over at Brian's parents' house again, and with Mom and Dad gone, we got a little crazy, but only after the kids had gone to bed. Here I am after having rocked the Lampateeze to sleep. It was absolutely precious holding that little guy! And it got me excited to have another little baby around. And like I said, once the kids were asleep....

....the Great Piggie Party began! Here I am just getting warmed up. I don't remember who it was that suggested we tape our noses up and take pictures, but the idea caught on very quickly and we all had to try it.

Here's a side view of my nose. Everyone was astonished at how pliable my nose is. It just seemed to disappear into my face. I was weirded-out by how stiff their noses were!

Suddenly I found my Piggie Groove, and then the real fun began!

Next was Julie's turn! We'll start out with her most reserved face. She looks so nice here!

Now we'll move on to Julie's more sassy pose. Doesn't she look like a Piggie Model? I swear Julie can look great doing anything!

I like to call this one "A Piggie in Headlights!"

Jared gave it a go next. His nose wasn't as pliable as Julie's so it didn't stick up as much. Jared still looks very handsome!

Here's a side view of the "Handsome Piggie."

Brian had the most un-pliable nose of the night. He just couldn't get the darn thing to stay taped up, so he had to hold it with his hand. I thought it was so funny!

Here's a good pose. He finally got his nose to get piggie!

Finally we come to my favorite piggie of the night....Brian's sister Linda! I don't know how she did it, but she got us laughing to the point where I thought I was going to go into labor! She was by far the most perfect piggie!

And here is the crowning picture to prove it! Linda, you are THE BEST!!!

The next Wednesday, Julie came over for a while to visit with us. It is always fun to have Julie over because the conversation never dies. She always has a cool fact to share, or a great insight into politics or world news. She is awesome! Here she is just chillin' with Brian.

Vaughn of course had to bust out his train set to show Aunt Julie. So we built a fun little track for him, and he spent a few minutes running the trains over it. Then of course he decided to play Godzilla and wreck it.

I think I'll end with this picture of Vaughn. I'm sorry to say it, but doesn't his hair look awful?!?! Time for a haircut kid! (But you're still pretty darn cute little buddy!)

Love, Lisa