Tap, tap, tap.....

Hello? Is anyone there? I haven't been much of a mood to blog. Been busy playing. The weather was so nice and springy, we were outside everyday until it all turned on me and has been snowing ever since last Thursday. Such a hard time of year. The daffodils are blooming and the tulips are coming up and the sun is shining and it all feels so lovely and then BAM! Snow. Reminds me of our wedding. It was a lovely spring and then the day before the wedding, a huge, blizzard-like snowstorm. Thankfully, the next day was beautiful and Springy for our pictures. Wasn't very warm, by still nice. So, instead of playing outside, I am inside wasting time on the computer reading blogs. Hmm.....probably should go wash the dishes. And the laundry. And the bathroom. And the....well, you get the idea.

Cross

Happy Easter!

Hope you all had a very Happy Easter! We had a wonderful springy day with lots of family and fun but not to much enthusiasm for getting photos taken. The sun was behind us, the baby was mad and the kids were hopped up on sugar. I think that we will try again later but until then, let's have fun with the outtakes.

The classic pose. Jake trying to control Mia, Mia striking a pose and Sammy is waddling away.

The second classic pose. Jake striking his favorite pose, Mia looking pretty goofy
and a mad, mad baby.

It's Springy here!

So the weather in Utah has it's ups and downs as Spring approaches. Some days, it's so beautiful and warm it's just feels wonderful! The next day, it's snowing and gray. Today, it was good, so I took advantage of it and started to work on the monumental list of yard work. While out, Mia and Sammy enjoyed playing outside. Mia LOVES to be outside riding her bike and swinging in the swing. We found the old blue push car that we got when Jake was one year old and gave it to Sam to see what he would do with it. He loved it! He immediately hopped on it and thought that was great! Then Mia pushed him on it and that was even better! By the end of half hour we spent outside, he was pushing himself on it. I was so impressed with him! When Jake got it, he pushed it around a bit, but then didn't give it the time of day after that. Mia loved it and would ride it backwards until she learned to forward. She would ride it right out the front door step. I would have a mini heart attack as she did it but she just laughed and did it again! It felt great to be outside. The tulips are sprouting and the crocuses are out. We all loved it! The yard work list got a tiniest check off it. I did go out again after Sam went down for a nap, but still only got 1/3 or the lawn raked. We have a much bigger yard than I think. (Please excuse the fact that I am an idiot and didn't know that I couldn't rotate a video on my camera. Just tilt your head to the side and pretend it's all good. Oh, and also please excuse that I sound like a big idiot too. I was cheering on my son and now realize that I need to cheer him on in a more "adult friendly" voice.)

Beatrice Bunny

I got another surprise in the mail today from Sharmyn. I am getting pretty spoiled ya know. In the box, nestled in yellow tissue paper was this darling homemade bunny! Isn't she so cute?? I just love her vintage pleated paper skirt and how cute her stance is. And her flowers and I am pretty sure that Sharmyn made the pompom body herself. She is pretty awesome like that!

Thanks Sharm! I LOVE IT!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Picture by Mia of Mama and her Lucky Charm.

Sam likes to color too!

We really do need to watch what is left on the floor. Sam has taken after his sister and is coloring too. Problem is, his medium of choice isn't always a paper.

Left hand.....

Right hand.....

It's all good fun.

Crazy about coloring

Mia has been crazy about coloring this past two weeks. Everytime I see her, she is coloring another page out her book, arranging the pictures that she has colored, taping more pictures to the clubhouse walls or showing someone her latest masterpiece. Her style of coloring is a rainbow effect using every color she has to fill in the picture. The princesses often have red skin and multi-colored hair. It's very, very colorful!

Before bed, she layed out all the crayons in a row getting them ready for baggies which she then placed in her favorite basket. She added her coloring book and headed upstairs for bed. I passed her several times that night peeking in to enjoy how content she was to endlessly color. When I passed her again, she was done. She had turned off her lights and snuggled herself into her favorite blanket and sleeping soundly. Her basket of crayons and coloring books was purposely placed upon her desk ready for the next day of work. Several nights she has done this. It's become her little routine. A routine that is much better than the yelling for Daddy to please do whatever whim she had at that moment.

These moments I need to remember when I am exhausted from the day. Her little body sitting in her big bed in her pink bedroom with her favorite Princess Leia shirt and soft jammy pants. The way her face looks as she concentrates on filling the page with every color in the basket. The way her little hands are almost, but not quite, grown out of the baby stage. I hope that I can still hear her little voice in my head when she grows. The little voice that belongs to the little girl that has been happily coloring any chance she has.

Welcome Baby Abigail!

Meet baby Abigail.

First baby for my nephew Chris and his wife Angie. Born March 5th; 8 pounds :: 4 ounces :: 19 inches long.

She has Chris's mouth and Angie's nose and adorable round cheeks and wrinkly baby bird legs. Long baby fingers and long wrinkly baby toes and two sweet baby dimples. She's such a smart girl! She loves her binky (Angie's sister and I didn't have the heart to steal the binky from her while I snapped a few pictures). She has the sweetest little disposition and a soft, sweet newborn cry. She is so adorable!

The kids and were able to go and meet her the day after she was born. It was fun to see Chris as the proud papa that he is and Angie is doing wonderful especially since she was in labor for 26 hours!! Such a mama bear she is. She's great-grandbaby number four and it's funny that I realized that I was a great aunt when I was driving to their house. Chris and I have always been so close to each other in age (he's actually a month older then me) that I never really think of myself as "the aunt". Nevertheless, she is sweet and lovely and we are happy to have her in the family! Hopefully, she will think of me as the GREAT aunt that is fun and not great aunt that is old. Hee hee!

Look At Me!!

Look who's starting to walk!!

On Tuesday, Mia and her friends were having a dance party in the front room. They were busy showing off their best moves while I snapped pictures. After a while, Sam climbed off my lap and crawled over to his play table all the while watching the girls dance. Then he did it! He just let go and went for it. He took several steps until he tripped over the edge of the rug. He was so proud of himself!! He laughed and crawled quickly over to the table again, pulled himself up then walked again. Over and over and over again he worked on it. Each time so proud of himself. He was adorable and I am so pleased that he is making progress. (Please ignore the mess, thanks. We had a lot of kids playing that day.)

A Surprise Package!!

We got a wonderful surprise package from my lovely and talented sister Sharmyn this week. It was so much fun to get! Inside, she put lots of treasures that she had been collecting for us for awhile. She packaged everything up so cute and thoughtfully. It was so exciting!!

Inside, we found for the kids, a darling little boy and his puppy gift box with a card and a present in it for Jake, a little pouch with sparkly lip gloss for Mia, some fun activity sheets, a package of Pop Rocks, a tattoo, a Star Wars water bottle, a silver frame with a picture of Sammy as a baby and the year that he was born engraved on it and a small homemade bag made out of vintage orange fabric. She also included Mom's birthday present which she wrapped up so cute with matching ribbons.

For me, there were two sets of vintage pillow cases. So darling!! The one set is white with cross stitched red tulips and red trim. I needs to be a twirly skirt for Mia! The other set is a turquoise and orange print. So fun! There was a bit of vintage binding that is brown and white polka dots with orange mushrooms, a embroidered bird bag, vintage baking cups, and a brand new pair of cute yellow earrings. She also cleaned out her collection of jewelry and sent several pretty pairs of earrings and an awesome bracelet that looks like she might of picked up from India.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Sharmyn!! It was fabulously fun to get this and we love it! It sure does make me feel pretty guilty as I remember that I still haven't sent your package. So sorry. It will get mailed eventually.

Aubri's blessing

To continue the busy weekend, Brianne and Jake blessed their baby Aubri the Sunday after Jake's baptism. Their church starts at 9am and it's over an hour drive to get there. We were hustling out their as fast as we could! Just once, I would love to not have to hustle out the door. :) We made it there by the skin of our teeth at 9:05am. We thought the blessing was already started but turned out that it was just the opening prayer. PHEW! We got a seat and Ryan walked up to the blessing circle before he was able to sit down. I am so glad that we didn't miss it.

Afterwards, we got to enjoy a nice long visit at Brianne and Jake's home. It was delightful! Brianne asked me to be the photographer and had a list of people that she needed pictures taken with. She made the sweetest book for her oldest son that has the words of his blessing and pictures of the family holding him. I wish that I could do that for my kids but I don't know where the words are for their blessings. Anyway, moving along. I had a great time taking pictures of Grandma's and Grampa's, Great-Grandma's and Great-Papa's and the sweet little baby Aubri. It's very apparent that I was enjoying myself because I took around 300 photos. Hee, hee. Don't put me behind the camera if you don't want a gazillion photos!

Aubri's blessing dress was so beautiful! VaLynn made it for her and it's just so sweet! VaLynn is a superstar. Not only did she make her a blessing dress, she also crocheted a sweet little pink blanket (and a few burp clothes), made homemade banana bread that was fabulous and she is going to college to finish her degree. This is all in addition to the major stuff that she does on a daily basis. She is amazing and all I can do is aspire to be more like her.

After I took the 300-ish photos, I was worried that Ryan would be itching to go. I found Ryan happy as a clam watching the Indiana game in their nice, new basement on their snugly sofas with a humongous plasma TV. I told him that we could go and he said "Why? There's only an hour and a half left of the game. I'll miss it if we go now." I ran out of the room as fast as I could before he changed his mind! It was too much fun to have free time at Brianne's.

Jake's Baptism

We had such a nice day last Saturday for Jake's baptism. We started the day early by meeting Gram, Gramps, Megan and Matt for breakfast. It's always fun to go to breakfast with them. We were glad that they invited us. It was early, but worth it!

The baptism was at 1:30pm. I was feeling a bit stressed at the last minute getting everyone out the door and to the church. When I got there, it was so nice and peaceful and our family was there. It was a nice feeling and all the weight of the stress of getting there melted away. Jake looked like a little angel all dressed in white. We started the program with Jake playing "I Am A Child of God" on the auto harp. He did a very good job and I was happy that Sharon taught him to do it. She is good like that. Then Sharon gave a talk about baptism. She told us that she planned the talk for Jake and if we wanted to listen, that was okay with her.

It was time for the baptism and I was proud as Jake and Ryan walked hand in hand into the baptismal font. I am so blessed to have them in my life. Ryan got a bit choked up as he started the prayer. Baptised by immersion, he did go all the way under before his toes popped out of the water. As we waited, we had some lovely music by my niece Elyse. She did a wonderful job and I was thankful that she was willing to do it for us. Jake and Ryan came in. Jake looked so handsome in his little suit! A talk on Confirmation was given by my nephew Davin. (A little side note, we asked Jake who he wanted to have for the program give talks and what songs. He decided that he wanted to have my nephew Chris give a talk. It was surprising choice that he gave without hesitation. We decided to have a second choice since we weren't sure if Chris was going to be there since his wife was due the day before. So, second choice, Davin. I think that he must look up to these boys. Good examples!) Davin did a good job and I think that Jake really understood. Jake was being pretty goofy and answering all the questions. That's okay with me. It's just his personality. Ryan gave the confirmation blessing that was very nice. We finished by singing Jake's favorite Primary song, "Scripture Power" and a prayer.

After the baptism, we headed to our house for light snacks and visiting. I love having my family and friends around me. We just can't talk fast enough! A few gifts to open. His own new set of scriptures, some fun scipture toys, and Jessica gave Jake a big fluffy white towel that will have his name and baptismal date embroidered on it. It such of fun keepsake.

We are very proud of Jake and he is proud of himself. I am glad that he chose to do the baptism and hope that he will understand the blessings in his life.