teeth troubles

I'm not quite sure why--but both of my boys have had their teeth grow in all funky. Their right front tooth is lazy. It refuses to come down with its neighbors making the smile of the owner downright silly. A little kid asked me the other day if he already lost one of his teeth. No, it's just the runt. A few months behind everything else. Fortunately, his eating or his knawing hasn't been affected by his lack of pearly whites up front. We continue to find new marks in the coffee table and other odd furniture with three distinct indentations. Crazy teeth and all we love watching our little Eli grow up. He's become quite the walker (since he only really crawled for about two weeks) and desperatley wants to be one of the big kids. He's recovered from his vacation and is finally back to sleeping well. Our only real trouble with him started on Sunday when he recognized that his dad sat on the stand during sacrament meetings and not with him. Matt, who was sitting by our Stake President, was the recipient of as many screeches and yelps Eli could get out before he found himself right back in the foyer (um, where he'd spent the previous two hours for assaulting any surrounding women and children in relief society with his toys that he has recently learned to throw) I wouldn't me how my Sunday was--or how any of them will be until December 8--the day Eli graduates to Nursery. Blest be the day.

Happy late 4th of July!!! With our family vacation starting on July 4, I am just getting around to posting pictures of one of our most favorite holiday traditions--the neighborhood parade.
Megan was lucky enough to "star" as the statue of liberty and got the dreamy job of standing in the back of the truck and throw candy (as opposed standing on the actual float and throw candy)

As she thrives on attention--this was the perfect place for her.
Isaac, Mallory, and Eli were content to sit under the balloon arch and eat the mounds of candy they were supposed to be throwing to the adoring crowd. Over the years, the kids have figured out that whatever is still in their posession at the end of the parade is their's to keep. Naturally, fewer and fewer pieces actually make their way to the street but find themselves being hoarded on board the trailer. Eli seemed to have really enjoyed the fact that he had unfettered access to all sorts of things sticky. Matt was in charge of those riding on the float (while i walked and chatted with the other walking ladies :)) and his weakness for stickiness about did him in by the end.
We always have such a fabulous time and really enjoy this bit of small townness in the vast expanse that is denver, co.

we're baaaaaack!

for all you coloradians that have put your lives on hold while the mcqueen's were on holiday-carry on. we've safely returned after our week and a half long utah-idaho vacation. we're all glad to be back home and trying to get into some sort of routine but the kids have been out of it for so long we may never see another eight o'clock bedtime again. matt keeps telling me it's okay in the eternal scheme of things to sacrifice bedtime for family get togethers. i'm not sure if he's right. :) it was fun to be back on the river as we've been away for two years now. the kids had a blast and it reminded me so of my childhood summers spent in this house and playing on this lawn and stripping in that mudroom to prevent even the smallest speck of sand from entering said house. you have to have know my grandmother to understand that last line.



in this top picture you'll see my whole imediate family--every tiny tiny member (including 3 in utero) i didn't think we could get much bigger but it's true. this doesn't include all 100 or so of us jergensens that swarmed the tiny southeastern idaho town of st. anthony this week.

the next picture is my aunt malee with all of her great neices and nephews. this woman is the favorite of all the kids you see here and some 35 neices and nephews of her own. she keeps everyone in line and has been known to let certain neices and nephews sneak out to hit the booming metropolis of rexburg idaho after grandma had confined them all to the house, starving as they were. (thanks, mal)

its so fun to have matt and my kids see the places and meet the people that shaped my youth. as a kid, i would cry as we drove out of st. anthony, another summer surrounded by crazy cousins and even crazier grandma, gone. a whole year of school preventing my return. we were all drawn there--loving every minute--and now as adults we still are coming back--loving that our kids are loving every minute. for the jergensen clan, this place is a little slice of heaven. and when we all are there together it really is heaven. thanks everyone. we'll see you in two!

great to be eight

Well, its official! I'm old enough to have an eight year old. my, how time flies. We were so excited for megan's big day. she really lucked out and was able to be baptized on her birthday--without me having to pull any... "hey, my husband is in the bishopric. we're changing the date to fit our schedule because we're way important." matt hates it when i do that. it really was a wonderful day. both matt and my parents came out for the big day along with my sister and two of her kids that are meg's and isaac's ages. It's events like these that make me wish we had a bigger house but once everyone leaves and i'm stuck cleaning, i'm glad we don't.

the program went well. i was really nervous because last month during one of megan's friends baptism, i realized that we were next and i sniffled through the whole thing. i kept telling myself that there was no way i was going to keep my composure during megan's. Oddly enough, i held back the tears with ease but matt wasn't so fortunate. he struggled to start the prayer as his emotions got the better of him. i was extremely shocked as i am usually considered the softy (inherited from my dad) in the family (for example, the next day, i cried all through the "star spangled banner" closing hymn in sacrament meeting and had to fake that i was trying to keep eli quiet-don't ask me, it's a curse) i love it when matt cries though, especially since it's so rare.

megs was a cute as ever. she has such a disposition to be drawn to spiritual things. she loves learning about the savior and tries so hard to be like him. she's been ready for this day for months. i'm really proud of her and am glad she's our first because she naturally leads all the others along her path. what a sweetheart.

along with being baptized, megan made another huge jump that day. she got her ears pierced. oh boy, here we come. since the earrings have been in--she's shed isaac's clothes and is back to her own closet. we've seen all sorts of outfits come out that have been hiding for the past two months. hooray!

she and her cousin, Maren, took the plunge together and kept each other's spirits up as they endured the pain. so fun to have a little girl. (sorry, mindy) (and emily)