Disneyland- Day 1: Hoover Dam

Okay, I am finally blogging our big trip. It was a month ago, but it has taken me this long to recover and regain the energy it drained from me! I will break the posts up into days to make it easier for you to read and me to put together:) We drove to St. George on Sunday night and relaxed at Tim's mom's. She was coming with us, so this worked out perfectly. Monday we got up and hit the road. If any of you know Tim even remotely you know he HATES to spend money. So this trip took a lot of convincing on my part. Tim's only request for the whole trip was to see the Hoover Dam on the way. I couldn't object. So, while I thought it was a pretty big waste of time and not really worth the detour, we can check it off our list of Important Things That We Have Seen and Exposed Our Children To. Plus, Tim was as happy as a child at the engineering magic of it all. In case you haven't seen it, I included a little colage of the highlights:)

A super sweet picture and Tim and Emmary. Really though, Emmary was terrified of the height and clung to Tim like a spider monkey!

Our best family picture we could muster. When we were leaving Disney to drive home Emmary said, "Mom, do we have to stop at the Hoover Dam again?" I said no. She then asked,"Do we ever have to go there again?" Tim was heartbroken. This picture is pretty awful, but it is my proof that we have already done that therefore we don't have to do it again!

How Juliet spent most of the next 5 days: smiling in the stroller.

Em smiling because this was taken just before we got back in the car to drive to Anaheim:)

A Big Day!

Emmary learned how to ride a bike last Saturday. I love these beautiful days that keep us outside and busy! We decided that Emmary needed to ride a bike now that she is 6. Tim took her out and within 5 minutes she was off on her own. It is incredible how that is one of those things that you learn once and never need to learn again, no matter how long it has been since you have done it. Tim was super man running next to her to keep her from crashing and managed to save Juliet from the oncoming train that was Emmary. It is funny to watch kids as they focus so hard on not tipping over they end up crashing instead!

Another big day, Juliet learned how so say "cheese" and actually look at the camera while I am taking her picture. She really is so cute with those squishy cheeks and thighs:) She LOVES being outside and just watches the front door like a hawk. If it doesn't close all the way she is out the door and attaking my flowers faster than a kid chasing the ice cream truck. Which, since when did those turn into creepy things rather than super- cool? I would not feel comfortable with my kids chasing down a stranger in a car that has loud music blaring from the windows. I'm just saying is all....

I wish this was the day that Jules decided to walk, but no. She is being so stubborn about it. It's like she knows I'm about to steal her babyhood from her so she is torturing me on purpose. It is really making me nervous- I am so not able to carry 2 babies around! In the meantime, Jules just does the stink bug walk when she is outside.

Juliet's favorite place to be.The little white flowers are her favorite and she picks them off one by one. I wish she would just find the dead ones, but no. She is very thorough at picking all the dead and pretty ones:)

Davis got his first big boy bike today as well. He just loves riding and I think he spent the entire day going up and down the driveway and around the circle. Living in a circle is the best thing ever, by the way. We are at the center of the circle too, so we can always see where our kids are. They know not to leave the circle without us, so they feel like they have freedom, but we have peace of mind. I highly recommend it and it might be a requirement for the rest of my life!

What we've been up to....

Here are some of the highlights of our May- besides Disneyland, which I will blog about- eventually! I haven't even been that great at taking pictures, but I am trying to pull out the camera more and document our lives. This pregnancy is sort of sucking my will to live! Not really, but it is taking all my energy; whatever is leftover from my kids at least:)

Somehow Emmary's elbow found the exact spot on Davis' forehead that would swell immediately upon contact while they were running next to each other. I felt so bad for him, but he was fine within 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the bump stayed for a good couple of days. I feel awkward when I go places with my kids and they have a noticeable inury and people ask what happened. I almost feel like I have to prove to total strangers that I don't beat my children!

Emmary lost her first tooth on top. This was an event at our house that took up most of a Friday night. She insisted that she wanted to tie the tooth to a string that's tied to the door and then slam the door to make the tooth pop out. She has been watching too many America's Funniest Home Videos latley! Needless to say, it doesn't really work as easy as they make it look in books and in movies. That tooth is small and slipery and by the time it actually worked, the tooth was hanging there sideways. I think a strong breeze could have pulled it out! But, we were successful and Emmary got some good money and a piece of candy from the tooth fairy.

Our primary had a good family activity at Temple Square and we made a smart choice to leave Juliet with my mom while we took the big kids downtown. It was lots of fun and the weather couldn't have been nicer. The kids really enjoyed the tours and they got to see all the brides in their pretty dresses. I then promptly begged them to never get married at the Salt Lake Temple on a Saturday in the summer- too many crowds!

Not a good picture of Emmary, because she was being a stinker about the sun being out, but regardless this is her on the last day of Kindergarden. It is amazing how she has grown this last year. I'm glad I had the thought to take her picture before school. I think it is something I will make a tradition out of so that we can compare the 2.
These were just some of our highlights for the month. This summer is already in full swing and I shift between being excited for this baby to get here and wishing that I could stay pregnant forever! Not really, becuse any woman who has been pregnant knows that no one wants to be pregnant past 36 weeks. I've never been pregnant in the summer either, so I am a little nervous about the heat, but we've got central air and popsicles to keep me happy:) All in all, I am looking forward to the summer and I am hopeful that I will have the energy to keep my kids active and doing fun things instead of just watching too much T.V. We'll see.....

Davis Birthday!

My little man turned 4 last sunday! He has grown up so much this last year and we are so happy:) He wanted a panda birthday cake, which I was more than happy to make for him becuase it was so easy! Pre-made blak frosting, and white- you can't get any easier than that! We had a small party with my parents and a couple of neighbors after church to share the cake and ice cream. Davis got a big boy bike and some clothes and toys from friends. It is such a joy as parent to see your child so happy and to realize that it doesn't take much for them to be completely happy with life. Simplify, simplify, simplify is all I have to say!




Blowing out the candles!

The piece he wanted out of the whole cake was the ear. So it was black mouth and teeth for the night!

Juliet's First Birthday!

I know this was a couple weeks ago, but blogging has taken a back seat lately. We just got back from our week-long trip to Disneyland and I will post about that soon, hopefully. In the meantime, here are some cute pictures from Juliet's birthday/easter party. we were so happy to have most of Tim's siblings, his mom, and my parents there all at once to celebrate our sweet baby girl. She truly is a Jewel and we have loved every minute that she has been in our family.

These cake pictures are so funny. she really started out trying to be dainty, but then she realized that this was good stuff and she just dug in!

I got her an adorable outfit that said "I'm the birthday girl" bur she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good shot of it, so this was the best I could get.

hanging out on the table just before we sung to her.

Opening her presents. She loves these little blocks- good one Grandma Diane!

Easter

This Easter weekend was a little chaotic with Juliet's birthday as well, but it was fun to be with family and have so many reasons to celebrate. Plus, Tim didn't have to go to meetings until 10:30, which is a huge bonus for me since Tim has been put in the bishopric. He's usally gone by 7:30. We got to have a nice morning as a family and talked about the reason for Easter and how much we love Jesus and that His gift is WAYYYYY better than anything the Easter bunny brought. Although, the easter bunny did bring Tangled, which was pretty awesome:)

Not too bad a picture, considering 3 kids were involved.

Tim and Davis in their suits together. Don't they just look handsome?

okay, this is normally how pictures involving 3 kids turns out. Emmary just wants her bunny, Davis is hiding behind my growing belly, and Juliet just watches the other kids and laughs at everything they do! Here's to motherhood!

Happy St. Patty's and BIG News!

Wow I have really neglected the blog lately! We finally got a new computer, yeah!, and I am motivated to get on the computer now because I know it won't take me 2 hours to check my email or download photos. Anyway, this is our first St. Patrick's Day with a child in school, and my it is different. It was a must that we all wear green, and Emmary was very insistent on making a trap for catching a leprechaun last night. Tim took the "treasure" and made a cute response last night- but forgot to take a picture of her trap first. Use your imagination- there were lots of coins and notes and necklaces to entice the little leprechaun in. Oh, and our big news is that we are having another baby! I am 14 weeks now. This baby is a surprise, but we are very excited and can't wait! Well, I can wait, but I know that doesn't make a difference, so I will just say I can't wait! I am due Septwmber 13 so that will put our two babies 16 months apart. Whew! Good thing my parents live around the corner, is all I have to say:)

tim's note from the leprechaun. I was asleep in bed while he did this because I am useless in the evenings and am asleep by 8:30 every night now.


footprints. Kids will believe anything they truly want to believe. Why would a leprechaun leave paper footprints? She didn't even question it!

We even got the world's prettiest rainbow a couple days ago. It was so beautiful and there were 2 but it was faint so our camera didn't pick it up.

Just another shot of the rainbow:)