I got some pictures from our 4th of July/birthday celebration. Doesn't James look so enthused. We have got to work on his posing.

Granddad sat by the little pool while Mallory skinny dipped and she cracked him up. She scooted all around it but her favorite thing was to put her feet up on the side. She does this all the time, any time there is something to put her feet on she does it. She also tries to knock things over or feel things with her feet.

She got to her own 10inch birthday cake. She was a little slow to dig in but once she did she liked it. She was putting her face in it and taking bites out of it.

Look at little miss ham with Kinley and Aunt Jennifer.

I love this reaction. She had just opened her first Bible. She has been coveting James' Bible for 6 months so she was really excited. She gets it out all the time and starts telling Bible stories she knows as if she's reading them.

Aunt Jenn made a cool Cars cake for all the kids.

A pretty decent impromptu family picture!

And now for the good part! Josh and I went to a private island in the British Virgin Islands last week. It was PARADISE! We had trouble taking it all in and feeling like we were really there.

This is the beach we spent 5 of the 6 days at. It was pristine. The resort we stayed at is a 5 star resort and it is the only thing on the island so the beaches were not crowded and the atmosphere was very laid back. We didn't have to make any decisions or plans or pay for anything accept a couple glasses of wine and our snorkeling adventure. Edward Jones is amazing! It was really fun to feel the reward for the last 7 years.

There was a spot on the top of the back side of the island that they called sunset loop. They would drive you up there with wine and a tray of cheese and fruit and let you watch the sunset. It was so amazing we went twice. Well the first time we forgot our camera so we had to do it again. Of course the sunset was better the first night but it was still really beautiful the second night.

Below is the view from our room. If you looked right you could see the pool and lobby area which sat right next to the ocean and...

If you looked left you could see the Caribbean and Tortola the closest island.

This little fella was the resort mascot I guess because he hung out around the same spot all week. Pretty freaky to me of course.

Just and example of the beautiful landscaping. What surprised Josh and I the most about the natural landscape is how many HUGE cactus there were and how many different varieties of plants and trees made up the forest.

On Wednesday we chartered a catamaran with about 16 other Jones coupled and went to two islands. One for snorkeling and the other was Virgin Gorda which is famous for it's huge granite boulders that you can walk through. It was really fun and adventurous. I am not a huge fan of anything living other than humans so snorkeling is not my idea of fun and I've only done it once and that was when I was 10 years old. I was a little nervous when the threw is off the back of the boat in the middle of the Caribbean and said look at all the living things down there. Josh was a great sport though and let me swim so close to him that he couldn't use his arm to paddle. It ended up being really fun to me and I broke away from him the last few minutes. When we got to Virgin Gorda the captain stopped the boat a little less then 1/2 a mile from shore and said well this is as close as I can get you'll have to jump off the front and swim. I, always the ninny, was like I hate falling even if it is only 12 feet and I am not a strong swimmer so I don't know if I can make it without and flotation device. Of course Josh is off the front of the boat in no time so I joined him and it was probably my favorite experience of the whole trip. If felt so free and invigorating. I wasn't really ready to get out when we had to swim back to the boat.

The most challenging thing about the trip was the first flight home. We had to fly on a 10 seater Cessna. When it pulled on the tarmac and I could see it through the window my anxiety went through the roof. I just knew I was going to throw up all over everyone in the plane and have a panic attack and they would have to restrain me. Josh says he was nervous too but it didn't show. When we walked out to get on I saw them putting our luggage in the nose and wings of the plane. I was like "OH MY WORD WE ARE GOING DOWN" But the second I got in and sat down I was fine. It wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as I thought and the air flow was much better than I expected and the pilot was amazingly talented we hardly bumped at all. The second coolest part of the trip was flying so low over all the islands and seeing the beautiful water.

We had an amazing refreshing unifying time and we can't wait to earn the next one. We are thinking Rome!

We got back to OK on Thursday night and drove to Duncan to pick up the kids plus Kate. We are keeping her for two weeks while Jason and Emily go on a mission trip to Canada. They are in Northern Canada ministering on a reserve to the locals. So we drove home with all four Friday and it has been busy. The thing I miss most about vacation is the wonderful food that I didn't have to think about, cook, clean or pay for and it was healthy and delicious. Back to my diet of ham fruit and goldfish. YUM

This was at the park yesterday. I left Mallory on the blanket with our lunch food and when I came back this is what I found. She was going at the whole container of yogurt with both hands.

Tuesday we had a girl day while James was with Gigi. We painted our nails, dressed up and had a real tea party. They loved it and they looked so cute.

Kate admiring herself. So sweet!

Mallory is 1!

I am so sad that the first year is over. I know I have always rushed it when they are babies but I have finally realized how fun and easy they are as infants and I would give anything to relive the last year. Mallory has been such a joy and vehicle for victory in several areas of our life. I am so thankful for all three kids, their health and my getting to stay home with them.

I can't remember what I put in the last blog and instead of going to look I am just going to retell it. Mallory is completely mobile. She scoots around on her bottom and gets everywhere she needs too and quickly. She has figured out how to go from laying on her tummy to sitting so I have no hope of her crawling. When she wakes up now she is always sitting in her crib when I go in to get her. She says "Uh Uh". She eats mostly finger food now and is finished with bottles.

Last week I gave Mallory to Josh before bed and told him to give her a bottle and enjoy it because it would be his last bottle as a dad. So he did. She held the bottle the whole time, which she has never done. Then about five minutes after she finished it he was holding her and she threw up the most she's ever thrown up before. We're talking multiple heaves. It got EVERYWHERE including Kinley's hair, down Josh's pants and all over our new couch and newish rug. Josh has never really like giving bottles anyway and he said "well if that's my last bottle then GOOD RIDDANCE!"

For Mallory's day we made French Breakfast Puffs which are muffins rolled in butter cinnamon and sugar. She LOVED it. Then she opened Weebles - Weebles wobble but they won't fall down (that is the little song they sing on the commercial for them).

Last weekend for the 4th we went to OKC and celebrated James, Kinley, Mallory, Tristan and Cade's birthday's. We had a big Cars 2 party. Aunt Jenn made and amazing cake and cup cakes and they kids got great new toys. We saw fireworks in Bricktown and went to Cars 2 at the theatre. We had a wonderful weekend with both families and are so blessed by how they love on us and our kids. We have now pictures of the weekend because we forgot the camera but I am going to bum some off of Grandad soon and will post them when I get them.

The last two weeks we've been taking swimming lessons at ORU. We've gone every morning from 8:55-9:35. I have never gone somewhere every morning for two weeks with all three and let me tell you it doesn't make me excited for kindergarten to start. Anyway, lessons were great. Kinley cried some the first day and the last two days but they were both brave and obedient. The teachers are drill sergeants which I liked and my kids are used to because I am like that. They were really good at getting a lot done in a short time and making the kids do things even if they were scared.

Most of the two and three year olds did not want to jump off the diving board so they had us drop them off. Kinley did not even want to jump off the side the first few days but she warmed up to it and started doing "cannon balls" off the side. She called them that but they looked more like the flying squirrel.

James's group practiced a lot of diving and freestyle strokes. He definitely improved his swimming speed and endurance. His teacher really complimented his diving skills too. She said he dives like an 8 year old and had him dive off the diving board to show his class how it's done. He loved all the praise and encouragement.

The first time they went off the high dive he went up first and went off without any fear or hesitation but he said it hurt when the water slapped his face. The next time he was much more hesitant but still went for it and you can tell he was trying really hard to be a pencil because his teacher told him it wouldn't hurt if he did that. It was better but he still said he didn't really want to do it again. He said he likes the low dive much better.

This time next week Josh and I will be sitting on the beach in the Caribbean!