Hospital

 Today the kids were playing hospital. Here is Ayla on the stretcher. It was so funny. 

Later they brought in Briea on the stretcher. (Really one of those bed rail things)

After they brought Briea in on the stretcher, Cullan had the following conversation with Garran. 

Cullan: Doctor, (addressing Garran) We have done her X Rays and her brain, stomach and lungs are fine, but we found that half her brain is missing!!

It was so funny to watch Garran try and keep a straight face. 

I love the funny things that kids come up with. 

A Change...

Well with Grad School coming to an end and changes needing to be made, a move was inevitable. 

We looked all over for jobs in different places, but we finally made a decision. 

Our next stop in this Gillespie Family Adventure....NC!

I feel really good about this move for our family.

Of course we are sad about leaving all the grandparents, but it is exciting to be moving near cousins that the kids can play with.

Everything has really just fallen into place. We have a place to live that some friends of ours rent out. It's a cute little house that i think will be perfect for our family!

I will keep everyone updated with pictures and info. 

For now, we will be headed out the last week of May. 

So let the packing and cleaning begin!

Garran's MFA show

Well after three years of Grad School... We finally made it to this big event. 

 Garran's MFA show.

I was so excited and proud of him all rolled into one.

Don't touch paradise was the name of Garran's show, but it came from an encounter that he and Kael had on the stairs one day. Kael was coming down and Garran was going up. Garran patted Kael on the back and Kael turned around and said, "Don't touch paradise, and this is Paradise!"

Since Garran's show was about fatherhood, it only seemed right!

 Kael is the fly whisper in our  house and he had a pet fly for two days that would just sit on Kael. It was the strangest thing we had ever seen. He named it Remarco and so this is Kael and his pet fly. Remarco!

 Garran did a series of drawings in which he took the kids art work and did his own interoperation of it.

I just loved them.

 This was a drawing Kael did of a girl. Garran made it Briea.

 This was a Cullan drawing of all of us. Garran just did the four kids and added a few extra touches.

 another Cullan drawing.

 and this last one was a self portrait Cullan did and then Garran went off that.

 These were another series that Garran did. He made portraits of each of the kids and then grafted his own skin onto them. It was about what we pass down to our children.

 Cullan

 Briea

 Kael

 Ayla

 This is a print of Kael called "The Legacy" touching on myths of our religions.

 "the Gift" is of Cullan and other myths of our religion.

 This was the entrance to the show! It looked so good.

 I forgot to get a picture with Garran the night of the show, so we went back the next day to get one together. We were much more fancy the night before :O)

 We took the kids with us to see the show the next day as well. They LOVED IT! They thought it was so cool to see themselves and parts of their work hanging up!

 These are just some gallery shots that i took.

It was a great night and so many wonderful friends and family showed up to support Garran. I could not have been happier with how it went. I know it was a lot of hard work to get to this point and I am proud of every minute he put into it.

Here is a walking tour of the show. Please excuse my lame commentary!!

Happy 9 Years!

Well yesterday, April 10th, was Garran and my 9 year anniversary. 

It was kind of just an ordinary day becuase both of us having crazy busy schedules. 

I guess that is what happens as life goes on and you have kids and school etc. 

So Garran called me and asked me if I wanted to go to lunch. 

I said yes but that I was still in my work out clothes. 

(That's how you know it is love, when he still takes you out stinky and work out dressed!)

We just ran to Panera to grab a quick bite to eat because he had to get back to school and we had both girls with us. 

 Briea had picture day at school that day and so she was being all cute for us. 

 After lunch, the girls got to share a treat. Briea was in Heaven. This girl loves chocolate. 

Here is Ayla. 

Being sweet and naughty all in one. 

It was nice to have lunch together and get to spend a couple hours of our anniversary together. 

Happy 9th Anniversary Garran!

I love you more and more each year!

OH this Girl..

She is so sweet and cute. 

Someday she will break hearts. 

I sure love her. 

from school....

thought i would post some work from the kids. 

 This is a drawing from Cullan's sketch book. He is always doodling. 

 Kael got to bring home three different stars with good reports on them. 

This is a self portrait Cullan did of himself that I got to see at parent teacher conferences. 

A cousin production!!

I have done lost my mind!!

or so they say...

I took all four kids and traveld to NC by myself to go to Garran's sisters sealing. 

I did not think it was to big of a deal, but a lot of people were worried about me.. which I can appreciate. I have so many pictures from the trip.. I am just going to comment on each one. Some are out of order or mix matched.. so be patient. 

When I was driving to Garran's sisters house, he asked me if I would go by his old house that they used to live in when he was growing up. So we did. 

 This was a side shot and back yard shot. The people that live there now really enjoy decorations. 

 This is the front. They also did not have those palm trees when he lived there either I guess. But none the less, I think he enjoyed seeing the pictures I sent. 

Of course while we were there, my kids got pampered by their older cousins. 

I love this next picture. All the girls were doing nails and Shaleigh was doing Aylas. Ayla was so worn out from playing with all the kiddos that she just feel right asleep in the middle of it. I was laughing so hard. 

 This girl can literally fall asleep anywhere. 

 Here is Miss Jadelyn doing Briea's nails. You know she was in heaven. She loves having her nails done. 

 Even grandma got her nails done by Brina. 

 Tessa making her nails beautiful. 

 Like I said, these jump around. So here is Kristi, Jadelyn, Alina, Kael, Briea and Piper after the sealing when we went out to eat. 

 Here I am, wishing Garran was with me and missing him, but getting ready to go in for the sealing. Yes the sun was in my eyes, hence the lovely look on my face. 

 My kiddos. I love the look on Cullan's face. Cracks me up every time. 

 Here is everyone after dinner. It was a BIG crowd. I think there was over 30 people.

 Garran's cousin Kristi and his mom. 

 Garran's sister Michaela, Britt and cousin Kristi. 

 Kael and Alaina trying to decide what they wanted to eat. 

 Grandma and Grandpa at the kids table :O)

 This might be one of my most favorite pictures from the weekend. I love LOVE LOVE  that my nephew Blaine is totally photo bombing this picture. I laugh every single time I look at it. 

 The kids on Easter Sunday. Can I just say how much I love spring colors!!

 Ayla or should I say "Rapunzel" as that is what she told her Aunts her name was before she passed out. 

 All of the younger kiddos getting ready for the easter egg hunt!! We had so many eggs it was ridiculous. But everyone got some and everyone was happy!

 We went to go and visit Garrans Grandparents and Aunt and cousin while we were there. It kind of felt like we were invading there house, just because there was so many of us. But it was a lot of fun. Everyone had a nice time and the kids had fun playing and running around. The top picture has me in it and the bottom one has Garran's aunt Theresa. We switched so that we could each be in one. 

Below is a picture of Britt and I getting ready to watch a "Cousins Production". I will post that next. It was AWESOME!!

 We decided that on our last night there it would be fun to cook out over the fire pit and roast hot dogs and do smores. The kids of course had a blast. 

 The kids were so tired afterwords that they just passed out. Poor Kael got a sunburn. I said it's because they never see the sun. It is cold 75% of they year where we are at LOL

Briea too. Passed out on the couch, right next to Kael. 

 As we were leaving town to go home I saw this....

 I thought it was cool to find a street with our last name, so I took a quick picture. 

 Of course while were were gone we skyped a lot with Garran. We were all so sad that he could not be there with us.

 Here were all the girls that were there from the family. 

Britt, Michaela, Joan, Jerusha, and Me!!

 My niece caught this lunar moth while we were there. It was so pretty. Looked like a mix between a butterfly and a leaf. 

 This picture was during our visit to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cullan was trying on Great Grandma's gardening hat. 

 Poor Blaine. So tired, he feel asleep standing up. Just leaning on his mom. 

 Briea and Aunt Jerusha getting some snuggle time in. 

 More pics from Easter morning. 

 Not with all the cousins, but some. 

I put this picture in here because while we were at Garran's grandparents house everyone was commenting on this picture. This is Garran's Grandfather. Everyone kept remarking about how much Cullan resembled him. I will let you be the judge. 

It was a fun trip and so good to see everyone.