I Caved!

(I apologize for the creepy picture. Taking a picture of yourself is awkward... to smile... not to smile?)Why do I even try to grow out my hair? I never make it!

I forgot how easy short hair is... I got done getting ready in a half an hour and Jay was still in the middle of his nap. I didn't know what to do with myself. And I used probably a teaspoon of shampoo instead of my normal half-the-bottle handful. Love it.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Happy Father's Day Joe!! 

Okay so I'm a day late. Joe was out of town until last night though and I didn't get to give him my gift until about 9:00 p.m. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Joe is such a good Dad! Jay just loves him to pieces and the two of them are adorable together. 

I love this picture because it's the day Jay was born and already Joe looks like a pro.

Here's Jay's blessing day.

And here's Joe teaching Jay the scriptures.

Funny boys. I love you Joe! 

For Father's Day I blew up this picture of Joe and Jay at Shoshone Falls and had it hanging up when Joe came home last night. 

You can't really tell how big it is in that picture but it's 18"x 24"! 

It was so fun to see one of my pictures that big! And having it be of my two favorite people was even better. I think he liked it and was actually surprised even though I had mentioned it to him last week! I'm so bad at keeping secrets!

Introducing Laney Rae Goostrey

This cute little thing was born on the 19th. She's my brother Eric's second daughter and she's pretty darn cute.She weighed in at 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19.75 in. long.

Mom (Teresa) was doing well when I came to visit today. Apparently it was a very quick delivery and they were lucky to have made it in time!

Eric is a proud Daddy.

He's also a good uncle and he flew Jay around the room to keep him occupied while all the attention was on Laney.

But it wasn't too long before Jay realized that Grandma was holding a baby and it wasn't him!

He's a jealous boy.

Anyhow, Eric and Teresa are doing well and their family is even cuter with Laney in it. Congrats guys! I love you!

A Lot Can Happen In Two Years

Over the weekend, I realized that it has been exactly two years (June 14th) since Joe and I had our first date... well our first voluntary date that is. (We had been set up a year before and let's just say we weren't "ready" for each other.) But on our second first date Joe took me mountain biking on the trails by Camel's Back Park and then we drove up to Hull's Gultch overlooking Boise and talked about life and future goals. Heavy stuff for a first date I know. He was so sweet and our life goals were identical! Which at the time I thought he was trying way too hard and copying all of my answers! I later found out that he really does want all the same things I do. (Joe once told me that was the night he knew he was going to marry me.) I remember being so impressed that he paid attention to what I liked to do (biking). I was still in complete denial that I liked him at the time but I told his cousin the next day, "I don't know why I don't like him... he's doing everything right!" That didn't last long obviously. Now he's the love of my life. (Gross huh?)

Anyhow, we decided to "recreate" our first date last night. Here we are at the trail's head. (Speaking of heads... this picture is proof that mine is twice the size of Joe's!)

We decided to hike instead of bike because of one very important (and cute) development in our relationship: Jay seemed to really enjoy himself.

I wish I could have gotten a family shot but this is the best we could do. At least I got Jay's shoulder in the picture.

We didn't end up driving to Hull's Gultch because Jay was not so enthused about riding in the car. On the way home I kept him and me entertained by taking pictures of him..

(I think maybe he thinks something different will come out the other end!)

It was a fun night and good preparation for all our summer fun to come.

Recent Jay Photos

Few things are cuter than nearly naked babies or overalls. See for yourself:

I can't help it. I just love it!

A Very Goostrey Reunion

This weekend my whole family (all my siblings and their families) came in town and stayed at my parents' house. It was really fun to see everyone and Jay had a lot of fun with his cousins. Well... he pretty much had no idea what was going on at first and was actually kind of scared with all the kids. But after he got used to the chaos, he was happy. We did a ton of fun things. The rain messed up the outdoor plans for the most part but the kids were able to put on a puppet show for all the adults and when it wasn't raining they made a little house out of an appliance box and played in the front yard.

We went to Planet Kid yesterday and the kids were in heaven! Here's Michael with the face that says it all... Jay wasn't big enough for the big kid part but they did have a little toddler room. He kept trying to make off with all the balls from the ball pit. Luckily, Grandma was there to block the door and give him a little talk about honesty. Thanks Mom. We then decided to try out the slide. (Jay's first time... And possibly his last!) He was pretty clingy after that and someone had to be holding him from then on! After Planet Kid, Grandpa had all the cousins make rockets to launch in the backyard. The launcher was pretty much a bunch of pipe and a pop bottle. You just had to stomp on the bottle as hard as you could... ...As I am so gracefully demonstrating... (Yes I'm aware that I look like a dork.) And the rockets would actually go really high.

Once all the launching and flattering picture taking was winding down, I took my niece Emily (pictured below) out for a girls' night. We went out for snow cones (strawberry of course... with cream), then bought nail polish and a fuzzy poster to take back to my house. It was a fun night of nail painting and coloring. When I took her back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, the living room was being set up for the kids' movie night. Lucky Emily got two parties in one night! Here are the cousins lined up watching "Horton Hears A Who". This was the much needed distraction that allowed the adults to play cards in the kitchen.

Needless to say, the kids were up way past their bedtimes and woke up a little grumpy this morning. But they had just enough energy for another round of rocket launching. I, of course, followed them all around obnoxiously, snapping pictures and telling them to look at me and say nonsensical phrases. They were good sports for the most part. And, with a little bribery, Daniel got a lot of hugs from his big brothers. Cute huh? And check out these two. Don't be fooled... they are scheming up something naughty! Mom and Dad's backyard is actually a pretty sweet place for pictures. Kylie is such a doll. Jay too. As for a group shot... well you try getting ten kids to sit still long enough to take a decent picture. Yeah not gonna happen. And if you're wondering where all the adults are.. well.. in this picture they are standing in a half-circle behind me waving their arms in the air and yelling the name of whatever kid isn't looking at the camera. This explains why they are all looking in different directions! Good times.