Our Easter...

We had a nice relaxing Easter this year. Maddy was so excited (he's been counting down for weeks) and woke up around 3AM and came into our room. He laid down on our floor and kept asking us about every half hour if we could get up yet. We finally got up around 6:30AM. We had to wake Avery up because he just couldn't wait any longer. She was a little grumpy at first but warmed right up when she realized the Easter Bunny had made a stop.

I had lots of fun shopping for Easter outfits and I think the kids look absolutely adorable!

The kids were complaining about the sun being in their eyes and we were trying to get them to open their eyes long enough to get a picture. Maddy also has a big wad of gum in his mouth... nice! They were being a little silly and I thought this picture was too cute not to post.

Avery got her very first "Ben 10" toy. She has been wanting Gwen's ship and the Easter Bunny left it right outside her bedroom door. She was pretty excited when she saw it.

Maddy got the matching Ben ship and now they just need Kevin's ship and then they can put them all together to make a bigger ship.

The Easter Bunny got creative this year and put money in all the mis-matched eggs. The kids were pretty excited about that.

He also left a candy trail down the stairs and hid more stuff down in the basement.

The goods... Maddy got a Ben 10 nightlight/flashlight and Avery finally got a Hello Kitty stuffed animal. They were also really excited about the "Seven Peaks" lawn chairs they got!

After church we had lunch and then I laid down to take a little nap, and woke up almost 4 hours later... it was awesome! I was told that Avery also took a nap while I was sleeping :) Then our friends Mike and Brittney came over for a really yummy dinner. We bought some really nice steaks and grilled them up. I also made baked red potatoes, asparagus, green beans and they brought Brittney's awesome seven layer dip and chips and the most awesome caramel apple salad. It has chunks of green apples, snickers and cool whip in it... super yummy! We opted out of a movie this time and just hung out for awhile and then decided to get to bed at a decent hour. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Sunday 4/24/11

Easter

Coloring Easter Eggs...

My sisters Jamie and Stacy (and kiddos of course) came over on Friday to color Easter Eggs. As always good times were had...

I forgot to have one of my sisters take a picture of my kids and I before they left, so this was my best attempt at a self portrait...

Friday 4/22/11

I Know That My Redeemer Lives...

I know I shared this song/video last year but I absolutely love it so much! I feel it captures the true meaning of Easter and does a perfect job expressing the way I feel about My Savior. So I'm going to share it again this year...

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

That's How They Roll...

Love the tongue!

Friday 4/22/11

Chess Anyone?

This is a chess set Steve and I bought in Ensenada Mexico while on our cruise back in 2002. We have it in our bedroom and Maddy has been begging to play with it. We finally caved and they had fun... a couple pieces got broken on the top but oh well.

Thursday 4/21/11

Shameless Plugs...

In addition to his Livingfit365 Facebook page, Steve has started a couple health/fitness blogs. You can check them out here... http://www.livingfit365.blogspot.com/
and here... http://seniors-in-shape.blogspot.com/
Feel free to leave comments and ask questions! He would love to take your questions and turn them into blog posts and help in any way possible :)

Dinner & a Movie...

Our friends Brittney and Mike (and little Kaysen) come over most Sunday evenings for dinner and a movie. This past Sunday was no exception... and we had a great time! We had to capture this "Kodak Moment" of the kids all laying down together watching the movie. They were actually a lot closer together (which was super cute) before I ran and grabbed the camera but of course they moved by the time I was ready to take the picture. We watched the movie "Unstoppable" which was pretty intense and I tried so hard to stay awake but dozed off a bit... :( Great friends, great food and great entertainment... thanks for another fun Sunday evening Brittney and Mike!

Sunday 4/17/11

Awesome Company...

We were lucky to have our friends DaLee (who is an old high school friend of mine) and Tom stay with us this past weekend. They drove out from Washington so DaLee could take a personal training certification class in Salt Lake. They arrived Friday evening at about 7PM right in time for dinner. We grilled up some chicken and had sweet potatoes, steamed veggies and green salad. We had such a great time hanging out! Saturday DaLee was in class most of the day so I took the kids to the Easter Egg Hunt in Lehi. After we got home the boys (Steve, Tom and of course Maddy) went and checked out a bunch of one of Steve's clients super nice cars. Later that evening we all went to Cafe Paesan for dinner and then came home and watched a movie. Well the kids and I fell asleep but the rest stayed awake for the entire movie. We took these pictures real quick before they left Sunday morning and we headed to church...

Thanks DaLee and Tom for an awesome weekend full of great conversation (most of which was fitness/nutrition related), laughs, food and even a small repair :) Maddy got stung by a bee on Friday and I managed to get a bunch of little rocks in our garbage disposal after emptying the rest of the mud I had to put on the sting in the sink. Tom came to the rescue and fixed it for us... Thanks Tom! We hope to see you guys again real soon!

Sunday 4/17/11

Lehi Easter Egg Hunt...

Saturday my sisters and I took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Lehi Legacy Center. It wasn't a traditional egg hunt however, the kids had to earn their eggs/prizes. There were a bunch of games set up and after playing each game they got their egg/prize. It turned out pretty good and the kids had a great time and definitely made out with way more than the $2 admission we paid.

You were suppose to only play each game once and Maddy was really bummed because he didn't win a cupcake on the cupcake walk. Only the winner got one (which happened to be his cousin Dallin) and everyone else got a plastic egg with something in it. Towards the end however, they were trying to get rid of all the cupcakes and let the kids keep playing until they were gone. Maddy won one right away and he was more than excited as you can tell. He was pretty much doing a happy dance :)

The kids checking out their stash. Avery got the cutest little pink stuffed bunny (you can see it right next to her) and it's become her new favorite thing... she sleeps with it at night and packs it around during the day. She lost her "baby" quite awhile ago and seems to have found a replacement.

Not mine, but I couldn't resist...

Luckily the Legacy Center has concessions inside and we were able to grab a pizza and take it outside and have a little picnic for lunch. In case you can't tell it was pretty yummy... who needs napkins anyway?

My sisters and their kiddos... good times! It was actually warmer than it looks and I even managed to come home with a slight sunburn on my face :)

Saturday 4/16/11

Fort...

I was down working on my blog on Tuesday and when I came up Steve had made the kids a pretty big fort in our living room (6 of the 8 blankets my Mom has made for the kids.) When I peeked in this is what I saw...

They were busy hanging out playing games on the laptop... too cute!

Tuesday 4/12/11

She's Four...

Sunday was Avery's 4th birthday. I seriously can't believe it! I remember sitting in the NICU thinking she was never going to gain weight let alone come home and grow up so fast... just crazy! My Mom gave her this beautiful outfit for her birthday and so of course I had to doll her up Sunday morning. I curled her hair and painted both her finger and toe nails for the first time (I know, I'm a slacker in that department.) She was so excited and was afraid to mess them up and wouldn't touch anything for a long time. She was also asked to say the opening prayer in Sharing Time and got sung to and got to pick out a pencil, I think she felt pretty special. Later that evening we had friends over for dinner/movie so she got to play with her friend Kaysen.

I couldn't help but snap several pictures of her that morning before heading to church...

Don't you love her little heart ring... it's actually a clip for her pony's hair that fits on her finger, so it's now her ring.

Got to love the "bathroom shots," I finally got smart and took her out of the bathroom...

Facts about a 4 year old named Avery Kate:

*She loves the colors blue and pink.
*She is starting to love girly things like dolls (babies), princess's, fairy's and ponies.
*She absolutely loves Hello Kitty.
*She is a carb lover and loves anything like chips, potatoes, toast, crackers, etc.
*You would never know it but she practically eats all day long.
*She has been daytime potty trained for over a year and is finally almost nighttime potty trained... Steve has been helping her with this since he's on night duty (because I seriously sleep through it all.)
*She loves to sing and dance and has a couple pretty funny moves.
*She still loves Diego, Ben 10 and Phineas & Ferb.
*Every song that comes on the radio that she recognizes, she calls her favorite.
*She loves playing and pretending with Maddy.
*She is going through a hoarding phase like Maddy did and carries around bags of her random stuff.
*She loves playing outside and asks me almost every day if we can go to Seven Peaks.
*She loves her Nana and Papa and gets so excited when they come to visit.
*She loves and is doing well in school (learning all her letters and how to write her name.)
*She loves going to Primary (Sacrament-not so much.)
*She's an early-to-bed, early-to rise kind of girl and will ask to go to bed.
*She is a very tough girl and only ever cries for a second when getting hurt.
*She loves being around the adults and I have to constantly try and get her to go play with the kids.
*She's very affectionate and wants to be right on your lap if you'll let her.
*She is such a monkey and is constantly climbing, hanging, swinging, etc.-I so need to get her into gymnastics!
*She's very stubborn but shy at the same time (like I was growing up and might still be) and will usually just stand there and give you a big smile when you ask her a question, without answering you.
*She is very soft spoken (unless she is mad.)
*Many times a day she says to us "Do you know how much I love you?" When you ask how much she either says "100" or 1000."
*She hates being dirty, having dirty hands or anything on her face and insists on having a towel to wipe with every time she eats anything.
*She is pretty tidy and usually keeps her room pretty clean and does her best to make her bed.
*She's very competitive and is always trying to be "first" at everything with her brother. First in the car, first to get her hair done, etc.
*She loves coloring and will actually sit still for quite a long time doing this, which says a lot cause she rarely holds still.
*She insists on hugs and kisses anytime either of us leave the house.

Sunday 4/10/11

***Edited 4/25/11: Well Child Dr. Appointment...
Stats: Weight = 31.4 lbs. (20%), Height = 40 1/4 in. (60%)
Dr. Berry said she is perfect and has no concerns.

Avery's 4th Birthday Party...

Saturday we celebrated Avery's 4th birthday. I can't believe she is already four... time sure does fly! Maddy was so excited and had to give her his present first thing in the morning. He wouldn't even let me wrap it. He picked out a Diego book for her and she loves it. She also loves butterflies and wanted a butterfly cake for her birthday this year. As I mentioned my sisters and I (mostly Jamie) made her a cake on my birthday the day before her party. I've decided to not start "friend" parties until they are five, so we just had family over. All of my family made it except Jen (and family) and my brother Shawn. Here are some pictures from Avery's special day...

Maddy and Avery were so excited to help me set up a "kids table" and they did this all by themselves. Normally I would've made it look neater before taking a picture but I thought I'd leave it since they were so proud of it. BTW, Avery's favorite colors are blue and pink :)

The yummy food...

My parents roasted a turkey the day before and had rolls made at their local bakery, it all tasted so yummy! And then of course after we had lunch we had cake (lemon with raspberry filling or strawberry with butter cream filling) and ice cream.

Even the kids ate most of their food, which doesn't happen very often because they are usually too busy playing.

(Mostly) everyone hanging out with full tummies...

She got lots of nice presents-spa set, dream-catcher, swim suit (Seven Peaks here we come), beautiful new dress outfit and three blankets my Mom made. We gave her the outfit and fairy dress up stuff she is wearing here...

I attempted to light the candles but apparently I wasn't quick enough and so Steve decided to take matters into his own hands...



The candles Jamie put on the cake were those trick candles that keep relighting and we didn't know until she tried to blow them out (which she did the entire time we were singing to her which was pretty cute.) It was pretty funny and we were all laughing (especially my niece Claire-hilarious!) By the end we were all trying to help her blow out the candles. Enjoy the short video...

Don't you love where it stopped! For the record, my blow finally extinguished the fire :)

She also got the most adorable cards (Sleeping Beauty & Hello Kitty) and money in the mail from her great-grandma and cousins... if you are reading, thanks so much-you seriously couldn't have picked more perfect cards! She has been carrying them around ever since. She already picked out a cute pink pony and will be picking out something else soon.

Thanks for coming everyone and making Avery feel so special!

Happy Birthday baby girl... I hope all your wishes come true!

Saturday 4/9/11