Springtime Fun!

We spent some time in Cedar City last week visiting family! The weather wasn't great, but it didn't stop us from having a bonus "week-after-Easter" egg hunt!

Allie has discovered the joys of playing in the sprinklers.

I love my spring flowers so much. Allie has been really good about not touching, stepping on, or picking them. What a relief!

The kids always have so much fun playing at Nana's house!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

I was just looking back at the pictures I took last Easter...can't believe how much Allie has grown in the past year. I wish I could keep them little forever!

Easter Sunday 2009...

Easter Sunday 2008

22 months old...

10 months old!

Now...

Then!

Easter 2009

Nana bought Allie a cute pink Easter dress!

I am so happy my children love each other.

With the victorious egg after the rolling-egg-cracking game (Does it have a name? It was one of Marshall's family traditions growing up.)

Eggs in action.

I must admit this was my first time ever dyeing eggs that I can remember...sad! But better late than never...

We had fun dipping the eggs and then decorating them with stickers!

Love this girl.

Tried to get the front porch shot- too much sun.

He was telling me to take a picture of our flowers. I took some last year, and, lets face it- the pictures would be identical. (They are truly beautiful though. Something about red and yellow tulips that just makes me feel happy!

I promised Allie some M&M's if she kept her pigtails in all through church...and it totally worked! (But shh!...don't tell her it's a holiday, which means the candy is pretty much free-flowing around here anyway.)

Gotta have the Peeps! (Shudder...nasty little things!)

We had a fun Easter party with Marshall's brothers family on Saturday- don't the kids look thrilled?? Don't let the picture fool you- we had a ball.

The classic fake smile.

Allie caught on to the plastic egg=candy concept pretty quickly.

We had a great Easter filled with fun traditions, family, and lots of treats! We were mostly thankful for an opportunity to reflect on the Savior's resurrection and what it means to us personally, and to take the opportunity to teach our children more about why we celebrate this special day.

I'm Going to Run a Marathon!

Yep- you heard me right! It's something I have always wanted to do for some reason, and I found out the other day there will be one here in Utah Valley on June 13th. It is perfect timing, so I am going to go for it! I'm not pregnant, not trying to get pregnant, not nursing, don't have a baby, and I have already been running 3 times a week for quite a while now, so I feel like I am ready, and it's my density! (Back to the Future, anyone?) I am turning 30 in a few months, and I think this would be a great way to celebrate! I know it might seem like a crazy thing to want to do, but I love a goal, even a very challenging one. Only 1% of the population can say they have done it, and I am excited to join the ranks. (However, the training website I have been using says to stay away from pizza...what is that about?? There is no way I can stay away from pizza for 3 months, so forget that! I will just have to pay the consequences for that one, whatever those might be.) I have begun a training schedule that is actually pretty reasonable, except for the "long runs" that I will be doing every Saturday for the next 10 weeks. Those might get challenging, the longest is a few weeks before the main event, and it is 20 miles long. Yikes! I have a feeling I am about to find out what I am truly made of. Feel free to leave only encouraging comments...I need all the support I can get! And if anyone out there has any advice, tips, or experience to share with me, I would love to hear it!

"Me Some, Too!"

That is what Allie says when she wants you to share whatever you have with her. It is so adorable when she says that! It is one of those things that my kids have come up with that I don't bother correcting, because it's too darn cute, and they will learn eventually anyway, so I just enjoy it while it lasts. She has also become a big Coldplay fan and wants to listen to "Viva La Vida" a million times each day. She even pumps her fist in the air (as if at a concert) during the intro. I love it! My kids crack me up so much.

The shirt pretty much says it all.

This kid has become quite the "artiste." He loves to write and draw a lot. Our fridge/back door/house is plastered with his many masterpeices. (Note the fridge in the background.) He has learned to write the entire alphabet and can spell everyone's names and draw trains and other groovy things. He is really good at phonetically spelling lots of words, and gets it pretty darn close most of the time! I can tell he is excited to learn to read, I am so glad he likes books. Not that I have any clue as to how to teach someone to read, but I guess that will be part of the adventure!

Little Miss Feesin' (that is my nickname for her-don't ask. I don't have an explanation.) One of her favorite pastimes is climbing up into her chair and clipping herself in over and over again. I don't mind, cause' it keeps her momentarily contained!

I just had to post this one, because I put her hair in a ponytail with a bow, and it looked so CUTE! It only lasted a few hours, which is typical.. any time I try and do something with her hair she leaves it alone for a little while, then rips it out, along with a huge chunk of her hair (and she doesn't have enough to spare) so I had to stop putting things in her hair and let her just rock the mullet. Hopefully it with thicken up this next year so we can do more fun things with it!

The artist at work. Very focused.

I know these pictures are kind of random, but I am trying to do a better job of updating the blog, even if it's just some pictures here and there.

A Few Quick Pics

We had Allie's buddy Gavin over to play a few weeks ago- they loved playing in the laundry basket!

These boys sure do love to ride their bikes! I am lucky I even got them to sit still long enough to pose for a picture! (I apologize for the poor photo quality-I found my old 35mm camera in a drawer full of junk and it had a few pictures left, so these are the ones I took. The other ones on there were almost 5 years old! (I got a kick out of the old random photos, which included belly shots of me pregnant with Drew, and a crane in NYC lifting the Angel Moroni atop the Manhattan temple in the fall of 2004.)

He has worn the training wheels on his bike down to the hubs. Maybe this summer we will learn to ride without them? He wasn't so sure about that prospect. We'll see...

"Tailer, tailer!!" This is the bike trailer, her new "hut" I mentioned before.

Flaming red terror on two wheels! (Nah, he's way too sweet to ever be a terror...)

We are so excited for things to warm up permanently so we can get outside and play every day! But, since we woke up today to a yardful of snow, (nothing more depressing than snow covering up your spring flowers) I guess spring will have to wait a little longer.

Marching Along

Howdy there. I am a blog slacker and I know it. Things are going well. I have been busy with kids and church stuff and the latest thing I have been doing is Scouts. I am a Merit Badge counselor for First Aid, and this past weekend was a merit badge Pow-Wow for our stake. So I got to teach first aid to a bunch of adolescent boys. It was fun! This is a new thing for me, even though I have been around Scouting my whole life, and grew up in a houseful of Eagle Scouts (and Eagle Scout was a prerequisite on my husband list right next to returned missionary.) But this is my first first-hand experience with it and I liked it. I am glad they asked me to do it. Marshall has been busy with his many basketball teams he plays on. His city league is finally over, but we still have Elder Quorum night and our ward is in the regional championships again this year so that has been fun for him. They won their first game Saturday, and play again this week. Good old church ball! He loves it. The kids are doing well; Drew is 4 and learning to write and learning to read a little bit, and loves his preschool class and riding bikes outside. He loves helping me in the kitchen and is really into jigsaw puzzles (he is amazing at them!) and is now getting interested in Dinosaurs. If you see him, please address him as "Allosaurus" and he will be sure to answer you. Allie will turn 2 in May, and loves reading books. She has the funniest little personality and has recently decided that at random, she doesn't like mom. She tries her best to give me the cold shoulder, and showers dad with affection. She usually forgets about her vendetta before long though. It's funny. She likes to play hard to get with me. She also loves playing outside- we have this bike trailer out in the garage attached to my bike, and she just loves to use it as her own little personal hut. She is Drew's little buddy and loves to follow him around and play with him. He is usually kind enough to humor her. My kids are such treasure to me. They bring me so much joy and fulfillment. Here is a random snippet of pictures from the past month or so.

This is my assistant chef, asleep on the job. He always helps me cook and bake, and I love it. We enjoy our time together so much, (and maybe I can even teach him a thing or two!) This particular day he must have been super tired (gave up the afternoon naps a year or so ago) and he conked out, right on the countertop. I had to finish dinner without him!

I came home from a meeting the other night and found this in my bedroom (sorry, terrible pictures, but it was dark and the flash would have blinded everyone.) Marshall was under a "tent" with the kids in our room, reading a story by flashlight. My kids are so lucky to have such an awesome, fun dad that loves spending time with them so much. Never too cool to get down and read them a story by flashlight, even in a suit.






Drew was so cute on Valentine's day. He got the idea that he gave Valentines to his school class, but neglected the other kids in the cul-de-sac. So he set out to make them Valentines, put their names on them as best he could, put candy inside and put them in his backpack and take them to the kids. I watched out the window as he ran excitedly up to the house...


...pulled out a Valentine and placed it on the doorstep and rang the doorbell...and then ran. It was so funny. He came up with this idea and carried it out all on his own. I love to see that kind of follow-through.

My other little helper in action. Nice to have people finally pulling their weight around here!!!

Funny kids.

My mom has been coming to visit fairly often lately and I absolutely LOVE it. Nothing makes me happier than having her around to pal around with. I am so lucky to have such an awesome mom-she is such an amazing example to me. When she was here last week we went to the temple and left the kids home with Marshall, and had a mother daughter date. We went and had a yummy lunch together afterward at Jason's. We have so much fun together. She never forgets to laugh, and never takes life too seriously. I love her so much. So much that I am actually tempted to move to Cedar City to be near her and other family I love. We'll someday see if it is ever meant to be.

Nana took us to go see a local stage production of "Frog and Toad," (it was a musical) based on those books I loved as a kid, and still love now. (By the way, we are totally convinced that those two characters are based on my mom and dad, who are respectively, Frog and Toad. "Toad" decided that he would rather stay home and work on his boat that he is rebuilding, so we used the extra ticket and brought along Drew's best friend, Ethan.) We all had a great time together.

We had a bout of spring weather while she was here and spent some time out in the backyard. Nana took some cute pictures for us...

...assuming that your definition of "cute" includes crusty, disgusting noses. Not sure why we took pictures with her like that. Only a grandmother would do such a thing, I suppose. So here you have it. Totally nasty, and sorry if it grosses you out, but these are the only pictures I have, and it's my blog, and besides- I can see past it...hope you can too.

My mom waited and waited to get the just right shot of Drew, and then right as the shutter closed this is what we got. Isn't this charming?

I mentioned on my last blog that I went to a nursing conference (it was all about women's health issues, so it was relevant for more than just nurses- plus I got some C.E. credits for it) with some pretty special ladies. The one on my left is my really good friend Andrea, who was my roommate in nursing school, and pretty much the only reason I didn't want to kill myself while living in Ogden for 2 years. We had so much fun being losers together, going to college classes wearing moon boots, (snow optional) walking across the street to Smith's and buying huge things of powdered donuts, and convincing each other that the reason we never had dates was because guys were too intimidated by us, and it had nothing to do with our frumpy appearance and immature behavior. She saved my butt in Ogden, and we had such a blast together. We eventually moved on from the bachelorette life, and both married awesome guys that happen to find moon boots and sweats very sexy!!!

Then on her left is my mom, and then on her left is my SIL Rachel. She is the best thing my brother Matt has ever contributed to our family. (he-he.) She is like a sister to me in every way, and I love her dearly. I can talk to her about anything, and she is one of the wisest people I have ever met. She has raised 4 awesome kids, and has an amazing tolerance for others. She has a way of accepting people for what they are and treating them as what they could become. I love that about her so much. I was so floored when I found out I was going to get to spend a whole day with three of the most special women in my life, with no kids and no distractions. We had so much fun chatting and had a wonderful lunch together. I will never forget this day, and I am so glad someone took a picture so I could remember it better.

Another thing that is new for me is that I have recently changed jobs. On and off between moves out of state for the past 6 years I had been working on a surgical floor at UVRMC in Provo. I did like it there, but it came to a point where I was basically faced with a decision to "fish or cut bait." I was working random shifts here and there, but it came to a point where I either needed to go on staff full or part time, or just quit. I am not at a point in my life where I feel a need or desire to be away from my family that much, so after prayerful consideration I decided to put that job on hold for now and just see what happens. A few weeks later I got an email about a sweet little boy (who lives only a street away, but is in a different ward...so Utah.) who needed some nursing care just for a few hours a week in his home, so his mom could get away and do errands, etc. It sounded like the perfect opportunity for me, so I contacted his mom and really liked the family a lot. We arranged things so I get to come take care of him a few hours a week, and so far I am loving my time there with him. This is a new and different experience for me, doing home care and working with children, and but so far it has been great. I love these new learning opportunities. After all, isn't that what this life is all about?