April

April just seems to have flown by. The beginning of the month was a bit stormy. Which I guess can be expected since it was conference. We did our traditional games and activities for conference and for the most part the kids listened well. I think Jeff and I were able to get more out of the afternoon sessions while Jacob napped though. We pulled out Gma & Gpa's duplo legos to help entertain the kids and they worked great. Jeff built a garage for Jacob's cars and he loved it! I've had duplos all over my floor for the last month now.

 Last minute we decided to take a "trip" for spring break. With having a new baby we realized we most likely wouldn't be going anywhere this summer so we should take advantage of Emily being out of school. None of us were up for driving very far so we decided to keep it close to home and venture to West Valley. Exciting huh? It was actually a really great vacation. We got a hotel with a great "water park" attached to it and spent a few nights just playing and having fun. On the 4th we checked in and then went to dinner and then to Hollywood Connection for some mini golf. The kids were hilarious - especially Jacob.

You can totally tell that the clam scares him.

After getting back to our hotel that night Jeff and the kids surprised me with a birthday skype call from Gma & Gpa Holbrook in Russia. The kids loved seeing Gma & Gpa but after the first 15 minutes they became more entertained with Jacob's makeshift bed (two chairs put together). They were hilarious. I love it when they laugh and have fun together.

The next day the kids couldn't wait to give me my birthday presents. It was a big year for me - 30 -and one I wasn't dreading, but wasn't necessarily looking forward to. It's so weird to think I've left my twenties. SO much happened in that decade - a lot of very big life changing moments. I hope the next 10 years are as great as the last ten. I did find it ironic that I was 30 weeks pregnant on my 30th birthday.  After getting ready we spent several hours at the Children's Museum.

Then we walked over to Tucanos for my birthday lunch. After completely stuffing ourselves we took a ride on trax up to see the new City Creek. It was crowded, kind of cold, and at that point we were all getting pretty worn out. So we didn't do any window shopping or attempt going in any stores, just enjoyed the fountains and scenery before heading back to the hotel.

The 6th we spent swimming and relaxing. The kids loved the water and Emily brushed up on and practiced her swimming skills.

 Later that night we stopped by Hollywood Connection again to use up some points on our cards. The kids rode some rides before heading to dinner.

Everything was really nice and it was just a fun couple of days. We really enjoyed spending time as a family and having daddy around more. And the best part was when it was all over, we were home in 15 minutes!

4/08 - Easter

Holidays are really the only great thing about having late church. We were able to do an egg hunt and Easter baskets before church. Both kids were excited about new books and Jacob was thrilled about getting some Spiderman underwear. (We haven't really put them to use yet and after much deliberation have decided it will be best to formally attempt potty training after the arrival of baby #3).

I wanted to get some pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes, but they weren't too thrilled about the idea. In fact it was a fight just to get Jacob to put his clothes on. They couldn't wait for me to be done and both were pretty quick to put their sunglasses back on after I realized that with how grumpy they both were I wasn't going to get any amazing shots that afternoon.

After church we went to my sister Jenny's house for our annual dinner and egg hunts. The kids were cute running around the yard gathering eggs and it was fun to watch Jacob get excited. He understood a lot better this year than last.

Sam & Nick got the adult Golden Egg this year. After all our hunts Jacob wanted to play basketball so Jeff helped him make a few baskets. Then we sang Happy Birthday (to Nick and me) before heading home exhausted and ready for bed... well Jeff and I were anyway. 

4/10 - Cameron's Birthday Party @ Wheeler Farm

Animals, duck feeding, wagon ride, cousins, pizza and cupcakes. The kids were in heaven.

I had a couple of crazy busy weeks mid April. Some of the craziness was due in part to a wedding...

... making 90 cake pops for Relief Society...

(I caught Jacob the next morning eating the leftover candy melt pieces stuck to the styrofoam - don't worry, it was wrapped in cellophane!)

... and another several dozen cake pops for a bake sale for the elementary school's big art fundraiser. Even with as good as they are, I don't think I'm going to be making cake pops for a while now.

At the fundraiser om the 20th Emily's class danced and then sang a few songs. I love all the extra things Beacon does for their students. Tanner dance comes in and teaches the kids. There is a specialized music teacher, science teacher and even a P.E. teacher.

All the classes spent weeks preparing to display various art projects. The kindergarten classes painted pictures and also put together buildings creating a community. Emily couldn't decide what she wanted to make so her teacher said she could make two and put them together - Costco and a Physical Therapy place. Of anything she could have built she chose Costco. Think we go their very often?? I guess I should be glad she didn't want to make a Walmart ... especially in this neighborhood. :)

I did end up snapping a couple random photos this month. Emily & Jacob having fun rocking together and Jacob climbing in the dryer. I'd asked Emily to get the clothes out for me and the next thing I know Jacob had gone in and climbed in so he could help her pull the clothes out. He's such a silly kid and can be such a great helper ... when he wants to be.

March

3/05/12 ~ My brother blessed his little girl, Molly. She looked adorable and was so good. We had yummy food after and got to visit with family. We missed all those that couldn't be there!

3/03/12 ~ I just love this little boy! He was SO into boots and wanted to wear his snowboots everywhere that I finally broke down and bought him some rainboots. Worth every penny. He wears them everywhere and just LOVES them! I get such a kick out of hearing him say, "boots" too.

3/10/12 ~ I love that it's getting warmer. After walking Emily to the bus today we stayed outside for a while and drew with chalk and pulled out some bubbles. Jacob was hilarious trying to blow them. He actually managed to blow a few, although most of the solution ended up down the front of him.

3/17/12 ~ We had some tricky leprachauns visit us. They turned the living room furniture upside down - rug included. The kids thought it was pretty silly. They also left some gold scattered throughout the living room and Emily & Jacob had no problem tracking down the shiny stuff. While we were off at a birthday party the leprachauns returned for their gold and left a surprise (dart guns)  in its place.

3/22/12 ~ With the warmer weather soccer has started up again. Jeff pulled out the goals and helped Emily warm up for the season. She loved trying to get the ball from Jeff and is so excited for the season to start again.

Jacob tried to join in too, but would get frustrated and just throw the ball into the goal.

Then he gave up and just went and played on the swing set.

3/23/12

3/25/12 ~ We got tickets to the PAC 12 gymnastics championship. There were two sessions and Jeff, Emily and I met up with my sister Jenny and all of her girls at the afternoon session. It was fun to see all of the events and the talent of some of those women. Later that night I went back with Emily and my mom to see the other four teams compete - of which the U was a part of. The sessions were totally different. The evening session was packed and so alive! It was fun to have so many fans there and to cheer the U on. I could also tell a difference in the quality of competition too. We enjoyed seeing the meet and will hopefully be able to attend another one next year. Emily's now decided that she wants to do gymnastics and play soccer and gymnastics for the U when she grows up.

Date Night

Jeff was able to get his company's Jazz tickets so we could take a doctor and his wife who are in our ward. They were the really nice seats - Lexus Club dinner before the game, drinks & candy at each quarter, and dessert at half time. We also each got a visor. We were only a couple of rows away from the court and had little tv's in front of us to watch any replays, etc. It was really fun to go to a game like that but especially fun to hang out with Justin & Lucy. They are a lot of fun. Maybe next year we can take them again. And bonus - we beat Denver!

February

The kids always like to help Jeff when he's working outside. Jeff enjoys the company, but a lot of times they slow him down and get in the way. After the catastrophe of only having one rake this fall and attempting to shovel our first snow storm this winter Jeff told me that if I ever saw kids snow shovels to grab them - it didn't matter the cost! I happened upon some at Toys R Us on clearance and immediately got them. I think it was more of a present for Jeff than the kids! Even though they haven't had the chance to use them much, they have loved 'helping' their daddy. And they look so cute doing it.

 With Emily's only sibling being a boy and with how much Jacob just adores his sister, we haven't really been too surprised or concerned when he wants to wear headbands, crowns, bracelets, necklaces, and lip gloss. But the other day Emily was dressing up and Jacob decided he wanted to get the full experience and he dawned Snow White's gown. Now I remember when I was little my sister and I would dress up our younger brother Chris all the time. He's turned out ok so I guess I shouldn't worry, but seeing Jacob in a dress that day definitely threw me. Atleast he wore his more manly boots  in case he needed to tackle any dragons... or tromp around outside in the snow.

Since my youngest brother Matthew is getting ready for his mission we all met up at the bountiful temple for his first session. It was fun to be with so much family and it was nice to have some quiet time away from kids. We went out to dinner together afterwards where I enjoyed eating without a child on my lap, not hearing "this is yucky" and "I don't like this", as well as not having to mop up any spills during the course of my dinner.  Thank you Mike & Niki for switching me places for the night and handling all the whining and messes for a few hours.

My dad is out of town on business for several months so the night before he left we got together for dinner and 'goodbyes'. I think I heard every grandkid say at least once, "I don't want you to go!" Of course all of us adults were thinking, and sometimes saying, the same thing. We love you and miss you dad and can't wait til you come home!

I helped with Emily's Valentine's Day party at school. She got to hand out her valentines, play several games, decorate a picture frame, make a candy necklace and decorate sugar cookies. It was fun to be there and see all the fun the kids had. I was in charge of the cookies and had spent the day before and the morning of baking and getting things together. I was amazed at how much frosting, sprinkles, and candy some of those kids could pile onto a little cookie!

As soon as we got home I donned my apron again and started in on our Valentine's dinner. Stan & Mel were in town and were able to join us for our festivities. We had a yummy candlelight dinner and instead of using Grandma's goblets I bought some fun heart straws. I figured with two 2 year olds this year, staying away from the crystal was the best option.

After dinner we played a game with some valentine jelly beans, Valentine's Bingo, and decorated sugar cookies for dessert. Since there was candy involved in every activity, Jacob chose to take advantage of me being distracted state and snack on candy all night.

After the festivities were over we got ready for bed and read our "Love Notes" as a family. Then the kids got to open a valentines present before heading off to bed and before I completely passed out from such a crazy busy day.

The kids absolutely loved having Heidi and Ryan in town to play. I was horrible about pulling my camera out this last month so I had to steal all the pics from Melanie. Emily loved having another girl around (especially one that would do anything she asked) and she was always wanting to hold Ryan. Jacob was hilarious with Heidi - they'd just sit next to each other and laugh forever. He also really liked 'helping' the baby. It gave me some good insights as to what I'm in store for this summer.

Stan & Mel's last night in town we all got together with Mike & Niki. After dinner we sat around talking, laughing, and wrestling with the kids. At some point a beach ball started getting thrown around and at 10:00pm we had all 4 kids running around hyper as can be, the couches shoved to the side of the room, and 6 adults laughing hysterically as they tried to keep the ball in the air, away from the "dark hole" behind the entertainment center, and still nail anyone they could in the face. After a while (and no serious injuries) we finally decided to call it quits, say goodnight and goodbye and wrestle some extremely tired kids to bed.

Jeff is such an awesome dad. Emily & Jacob both just adore him and love playing with him. One night as I was cleaning up dinner they decided to play superheros and pulled out all of Jacob's capes. Of course daddy had to have one too and pretty soon all three of them were racing around the house (Jacob yelling "Fwyyy! Fwyyy!" in the process). It just made me smile to see Jeff play along with them. I'm so grateful for how involved he his and how much he just adores them. They couldn't ask for a better playmate than daddy and I couldn't ask for a better husband.

January

I decided to celebrate Chinese New Year for FHE on the 23rd. Emily absolutely loves orange chicken and ham fried rice and was SO excited. We moved the table and chairs away and sat on blankets and pillows to eat dinner (under some chinese lanterns of course).

 I googled some chinese new year games and ideas to do after dinner. One of them was to play rock, paper, scissors while sitting on the stairs. When someone wins they get to move up a step and whoever reaches the top first wins. So Jeff & Emily played a few rounds winning skittles at the end. Jacob was a bit young to understand but he still had fun playing along.

 At the end of the night the kids got to do a treasure hunt. I had all the clues in 'fortune cookies'. The prize at the end was a red chinese envelope with money in it (apparently another new year tradition). The kids were really cute and it was a lot of fun to do. Maybe next time I can plan far enough in advance that we could dig out all of Jeff's China souvenirs that are in storage.

We had Jeff's guitar out and the kids both wanted a turn playing. I keep begging Jeff to pick it up and learn to play again. He argues he doesn't have time. Maybe one day I'll have a good rebuttal. In the meantime I think all three of them looked really cute strumming those strings.  

Jeff cleaned our carpets on the 21st and Jacob had to take a turn helping.

My sister-in-law asked if I'd take a few pictures of her cute new baby Molly. The kids seemed more than happy to 'help' one day as I was experimenting with the light in different parts of the house at different times during the day.

 One of the final products. Molly is SUCH a cute baby! Every time I see this picture I just want to snuggle her and smother her in kisses.