Cora Anne turns 4!!!

Four years ago tonight Nick and I were staying the night in the hospital trying to wrap our brains around why we were so blessed to have another healthy, beautiful baby girl. I know everyone says get as much sleep as you can with a newborn, especially if you already have children. However, I had a really hard time taking Cora back into the nursery for the night so we could go to sleep. So much that I had to have Nick come with me to take her to the nurses and I have to admit I cried a little bit on the way and the way back. But Cora is such a wonderful little girl. She is so loving, so much that it takes her a long time to say goodnight to me because she gives me tons of hugs and good bear hugs too at that. She is very easy to be willing to share with her siblings. She is a bit more of a dare devil than her sister has been on a few things, but is still a dainty, princess. She loves gum and anything with mint flavor, very much unlike her sister and her Dad. She loves, loves, loves babies and has since she was big enough to hold one herself. It was like a dream come true to have her baby brother and actually be able to hold him like a baby. Every now and then I'll catch her trying to hold him like a baby and of course he hates it. She always asks for a new baby when it comes to Christmas or birthdays. She always says, "I just want one more baby!" She has always been very expressive and I love that about her. Sometimes I really can't believe she is already 4 years old but of course I can't imagine life without her! In 4 years she has gone from this....

to this....She told Daddy last night that it was her last night to be 3 years old and when she woke up presents would be here for her. She came running to the side of my bed this morning ecstatic to open them! I was really proud of her as I told her she could only open one present as we had to wait for Daddy to get home from work to open the rest. But of course every 5 minutes or so she'd ask me again if she could open just one more present. I almost caved as I know it was so hard for her to wait, but I knew Nick really wanted to be there to watch. So as soon as Nick could get home from work he did and he called her on the phone and said he was on his way and get ready to open her presents!

This is her opening some of her presents. She loved every one of them!
Remember how I said she was very expressive!? Check out her face here!! And I have to say that this year Kayley was really good about not getting mad that Cora was opening presents and she wasn't. Last year she had a really hard time about it and we ended up letting her open one of her presents early. They have been really good about sharing Cora's presents.
This year Cora and Kayley decided to have their friend birthday parties together...which I love because I only have to plan one birthday party! But I told Cora we were still going to have cake and ice cream tonight with family and she requested a Hello Kitty cake. I've been very proud of her for agreeing with Kayley on them both having a Rapunzel themed party as she has requested multiple times to have a Hello Kitty party. So of course I thought real quick today on how to make a Hello Kitty cake. I think it turned out pretty good. And Cora thought it was super yummy. I kept finding her sneaking into the kitchen later tonight with a fork grabbing a bite here and there!
And...still expressive...I've always loved her dimples, which are shown really well here!
Her trying to blow out the candles on her own...
Thanks to the help of her big sister, she was finally able to blow it out!
All in all it was a great day and not that stressful! The Walker family joined us for dinner (Cora requested Cashew Chicken) and cake and ice cream and then we all went swimming. It was so fun and relaxing to visit, enjoy each other's company, and celebrate Cora's birthday. Ashlyn even went under water after watching Kayley and Cora go under...and they have just learned how to confidently go underwater thanks to one of their friends that joined us at the pool last week. Michelle and I were two very proud Momma's as it has taken all three of them a while to get this confidence! And I would say it was a successful party and Cora enjoyed all her presents...and is still sharing them with Kayley even while they sleep...here they are sharing her new air mattress! So cute! We sure do love our Cora! Happy Birthday Cora Anne!

Sargent Family Reunion Day 3

So the third day we all got together for breakfast at the Nauvoo State Park. Uncle John and Stephanie got some pictures of everyone together that was there, but I don't have a copy of those pictures yet. It was fun to think of everyone that attended the reunion, but of course not everyone was there so we missed those that didn't attend. After pictures some people left to go home and others left to go check out of their hotels, etc. My siblings and all of our kids stuck around for a bit to get a few cousin pictures. These are all the cousins minus the Sanders' family, who were busy welcoming their new addition Amelia! So, these are only 20 of the 26 grandkids. I really think we got a picture of all of them looking at the camera! Amazing!

Then we all parted ways to get in a few last look at some of the sites and then we all met up at Carthage Jail for the tour there. I really enjoyed watching Kayley eat all this information up about Joseph Smith and the early Saints. Cora liked some of it too, but Kayley really loves to learn new things. Here are the girls in front of the statue of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith in front of the jail.
There were so many of us that we made our own tour group. I felt bad for the sister missionary as she had to talk over all of us and didn't really know what to expect with this many kids/people. But the cousins had a blast being with one another. It was cute because throughout the tour, I told my girls to fold their arms while walking so they wouldn't be tempted to touch something they weren't supposed to touch and I would tell them when they could touch something. They were very well behaved and were even folding their arms on the way up the narrow staircase of the jail. I told Cora she didn't have to fold her arms while walking up the stairs and she could hold onto the bannister so she wouldn't fall. I'm so grateful for such obedient children. They really were very well behaved and Kayley loved hearing the story in the jail.
Then, the hardest part for them I think was to leave their buddy Olivia. They both wanted their own picture taken with her and we are going to be printing these off for them to sleep with. They really love Olivia and hate that she lives so far away! What I think is neat is when I was about Olivia's age (maybe a little bit older) was when Olivia was the age of my girls and I was inseparable with Olivia and Judson. Sometimes they would even prefer me over Jessica. It's fun to see my kids love them as much as they loved me and vice versa!
Kayley's picture with Olivia. She really was attached to her hip this weekend/trip. She kept talking about them driving home safely for the past 3-4 nights after our trip in her prayers.
All in all the reunion was a blast! A big huge thanks to my cousin Sarah for doing almost all of the organizing! I'm sure we'll be calling her for advice as my siblings and I are all in charge of planning the next reunion. Can't wait already for it!

Sargent Family Reunion Day 2

So on the 2nd day I didn't get as many pictures as I probably should have gotten. Nick got up early and headed to Nauvoo with Edward and Andrew to assist in the nieces/nephews/cousins Baptism Session. So, the kids and I got up and headed over to the hotel that Edward and Andrew's families were staying at and went swimming with both Felker Families. I didn't get any pictures taken here as I was by myself with all three kids and the pool was pretty deep as the most shallow part was 4 or 5 ft deep. The kids had fun swimming though and then Nick, Edward, Ross, and Andrew came back and everyone swam a bit except Nick because I forgot his suit back at the hotel. Then we all got dressed, went for lunch in Keokuk and headed to Nauvoo to see a few tours and then start babysitting for those wanting to attend the sealing session that afternoon. We ended up watching Sarah and James' kids and Andrew and Sarah's kids. The Carles were nice enough to let us crash their hotel room as their hotel room had a very open layout and was great for corralling all the kids. They all had fun playing together. Once the adults all got finished with their sealing session, we went around Old Nauvoo for some more tours. It was neat to learn all about the early Saints and Kayley and Cora really enjoyed learning some of the information. This horse is the horse from John Taylor's home. After they had already left Nauvoo, they left all their belongings behind. His 4 year old son kept crying and they couldn't figure out why until John Taylor finally found out that he missed his rocking horse that was left behind. This was a horse that John Taylor had made by hand for him. So John Taylor went in the middle of the night (as it was very dangerous for him to be seen by the mobs) and went back to their house to retrieve this horse. It was neat to learn this little detail on describing how much love John Taylor had for his children. Then we also went to the John Browning house....it was Nick's favorite tour as you can see why from this picture below of one of his displays of guns he had made. What I thought was very interesting about his story was that Brigham Young had personally asked John Browning and his family to stay behind to help the Saints instead of moving west. At this point they had already been driven out of Nauvoo and had temporarily settled in Council Bluffs, IA. But Brigham Young knew that a lot of the Saints weren't going to have adequate protection if John Browning didn't stay behind. What a great sacrifice he and his family made to help the Saints in staying behind.
We also visited the gravesides for Joseph Smith, Hyrum, Emma, Lucy Mack, and Joseph Smith Sr. Kayley was so interested in knowing who was buried where. Here they are pictured by Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's grave and she immediately asked where Joseph Smith's parents were buried.
So we found their graves, which were right around the corner.
Then we headed to meet my siblings for dinner. Now I have 6 siblings and almost all of us have kids. 5 of us were in Nauvoo totaling 20 kids and 10 adults...finding a place for all of us to eat together in Nauvoo was difficult, but we eventually found a place called Grandpa's Cafe. It was good food I thought and plenty of space for all of us, although Rex had to sit in our laps to eat as my other siblings were using all of the high chairs! It was funny! After dinner we headed to the Nauvoo Temple to get some pictures. The girls were so excited to see the Nauvoo temple in person. Kayley specifically has always said that the Nauvoo temple was her favorite, well she says the temple that was burnt down was her favorite, which would be the Nauvoo temple. So it was exciting to see her get excited to finally see it in person.
We got some random person to take our picture altogether in front of the temple. It would have looked a lot better had Nick been wearing his cool tie-dye shirt that Sarah Kirchmann made for us! I had so many compliments on them....they really look great don't they?!?! He left his in the hotel room as he went to help with the Baptismal session and I packed his clothes and packed the wrong shirt.
And then of course it's hard to get the whole temple in the picture as it's so big, but he tried!
Then a couple pictures of the girls up close to the temple.
Aren't they cute?!?!
And them touching the Temple walls. They kept asking why they couldn't go inside this temple and I had to keep explaining to them how it had already been dedicated and you had to have a recommend and be at least 12 years old. They are so excited to go through the Kansas City Temple when it opens for the open house soon.
And them holding the door handles...it really was cute seeing how excited they got just to touch the door.
Cora taking her turn holding the handle...
And this by far is one of my favorite statues in Nauvoo! Everytime I read it I can barely make it through without crying. This is a statue of when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were riding to Carthage and they turned and looked at the city of Nauvoo and looked at the Temple and just marveled at what had been built. It also mentions what the Saints had been through and would go through, I can't remember all the wording, but it is very sweet and I just love the love that you feel from this poster that Hyrum and Joseph had for one another.
Then we headed to the Visitor's Center to watch the Sunset by the Mississippi performance. It was fun and nice to be inside for once in the air conditioning as after this we were heading outside to the Nauvoo Pageant.
Here's a mini display of the Temple outside the Nauvoo Pageant. They had some games and things for the kids to play...we did a few, but not many as we wanted to make sure no one took our seats. Jessica had taken their hotel sheets out earlier in the day and roped off 30 seats for our family. We were worried someone would take them down or that they had fallen off. Luckily they were still there so Jess and Jud didn't have to pay for the missing sheets and it was great that we all got to sit together for the pageant. Let me say that other than being at Nauvoo with family, the pageant was by far my favorite part of the trip. I've seen it before, but it always gives me such a great perspective of what the early Saints had to sacrifice and go through. I'm not sure I would be as strong as some of them were. I also loved being able to learn a little bit more about Joseph Smith and his character. Two of my favorite things from the pageant were 1) Joseph is talking to Emma about meeting with the sisters the next day to start the Relief Society program and then he stops and says, but tonight Emma...and then he stops everything and just dances with her. I just love this part in showing how much love he had for Emma. And 2) the whole story follows this family that moved from Scotland and lost a child when he was only 3 years old. The wife gains a testimony and desires to be baptized very quickly. The husband on the other hand takes a while to come around, but when he does, he says to his wife, "I can't believe I gave up everything I had to get receive everything that I ever wanted." I just love that part! So, the pageant was my favorite part and best of all...Kayley and Cora learned so much and still talk about it. In fact tonight when Nick was reading scriptures to them he said, "come here girls, it's about Joseph Smith tonight." And they both perked right up and ran right over to him to listen.

Sargent Family Reunion Day 1

So the time finally came for our much anticipated, first ever Sargent Family Reunion! I'm going to forewarn you that there are lots of pictures! But why not have lots of pictures to try and capture all the fun memories from the reunion? Cause it was definitely fun and I can't wait for our next one! The reunion was in Nauvoo this year and I was very excited because we hadn't been to Nauvoo since right after Kayley was born, so she doesn't remember any of it and the other kids had never been. Now I know Rex won't remember anything and Cora may only remember a little bit, but nonetheless my favorite part was watching Kayley and Cora learn so much about our Church History.

The first day we got there and basically figured out who was going to be watching our kids and where while we did a sealing session in the Nauvoo Temple. We thought there was going to be a big crowd of people in the session with us from our family, but I guess there was confusion as to who was going when so our session was really small with just Nick and I, Jess and JT, and my Mom...but it was really neat either way. Then afterwards we went to the Visitor's Center to kill some time before our family's pot luck dinner. While at the Visitor's Center we ran into the Felker Family. Lucy and Mallory were out in the hall with Stephanie while Edward and the other kids were watching the play going on in the theater. So, Rex and Lucy got to re-introduce themselves with one another again...
And again...I think Rex was just really excited to have someone there his size! Little did he know there were going to be lots of little ones his size around him in only a matter of minutes!
Rex trying to wrap his brain around such a big ball! To him I really think he seriously thought this was just a huge ball! I mean why wouldn't you think that?!?
The girls loved seeing where we were on the globe, where home was, and where Daddy served his mission...all the way on the other side in South Africa. Kayley wanted to know specifics...it was cute!
The girls wanted their pictures taken by each large statue inside. Good thing they didn't know about the statues outside! It was just too hot!
And them in front of the Christus...with their cousin Mallory.
Then they thought it was a game to chase Rex around the edge of the Christus. It was really cute until they got too loud.
Then we headed over to the Nauvoo Family Inn's Event Center for our Potluck dinner. It was yummy food thanks to our awesome cousin Sarah! We also did these awesome thumb print family trees...seemed like a million of them. But you put your thumbprint on a family tree and wrote your names by your thumbprint. I accidentally put all of my kids and our thumbprints in the wrong spot, but I wasn't about to re-do them with Rex...sorry for those of you who got tears/drool on the edges of your family trees...he wasn't a very happy sport about the thumbprint/ink thing.

And can I say how cute it was to see all of our kids playing together!?! The kids playing the cute puzzle/games Aunt Janeane had put together for the kids. Occupied them for a little bit while we prepared to play Minute to Win It games. But then of course they wanted to watch us make fools of ourselves!!
Rex trying to join in on the games...just barely too short buddy!
So I got voted in to do the very first game for our team. Basically you blow up the balloon and use the air from the balloon to blow off these plastic cups. It seems like a pretty basic concept, but you have to figure out how to hold the balloon correctly to let the air out and then the balloon kept getting twisted in my mouth and then on top of it all...you only had a minute to do it. Pretty stressful!
It's harder than it looks...but for those wondering, I was able to complete it and get a point for our team!
Mitchell from the other team...
Then Mike did the next round for us. He had to balance pencils on the top part of his hand and then flip them up and catch them all without dropping them. Each time increasing the amount of pencils by 2. I think he had to catch 16 total or something like that...a lot of pencils. But he made it look so easy! He got a point for our team by the way!
The other team picked the one-eyed man JT! :) It was a little bit harder for him only being able to see out of one eye...so needless to say our team is winning at this point!
Then during it all, Rex found a new buddy with my cousin Emily. He was crying, she picked him up and he was happy as a clam...mainly because of this balloon...he played with them all night! But he really did like Emily! It was cute!
Aunt Janeane cheering Nick and Edward on for the next round of pulling out tissues with one hand out of the box. They both got this in one minute, but remember our team was ahead, so yes our team won!
Then Katie and Kimberly battled it out for the candy elevator. Katie got hers in her mouth.
Kimberly was so close, but right at the very last minute the candy dropped off the elevator and there wasn't any time left!
Rex playing with his balloon again...told ya he played with it all night!
Then this was the funniest thing ever! These are all of my Mom's siblings, minus Aunt Kathy. But they had to start with the Oreo cookie on their forehead and use only their face muscles to get the cookie into their mouth. It was hilarious!!
Then in honor of my Grandpa Sargent Uncle John had the idea of every family taking their picture with a mustache. Grandpa was notorious for his mustache, he had the type that you twirled and waxed at the end. So here's our family's picture with the mustaches. Rex thought the mustache was a toy so he wasn't looking and disregard the sweat in all of these reunion pictures...did I mention it was hot....even in doors at times!
Then after the dinner and games we headed to Keokuk to our hotel. It was a decent hotel, smelled funny, but seemed clean and it was fun because the next night our youth from our ward was having their youth conference and they were staying at our same hotel. It was fun to catch up with a few of them there. And the best part about our hotel was that we ended up getting a king suite room with a king bed, pull-out couch, microwave, and fridge! The girls and Rex absolutely loved their bed if you couldn't tell by the picture! And the room was huge! We had tons of room even with the pull-out bed out. It was great!