Congratulations Jonny and Jessica!

Chris's only brother Jonny proposed to his girlfriend this morning during a sunrise hike to the top of a waterfall. I am going to have a new sister-in-law. They are planning on getting married August 15th in San Diego. We are so excited for them!
This is a picture I snagged off of Facebook of the two of them at the San Diego Zoo...

Whew....

We have been so busy the past 2 weeks! Our little Justin was baptized today and we are so proud of him to make this choice. He was really nervous leading up to today since in our church we baptize by full immersion and he was afraid of having his dad push him under the water. Everything went over really well though and it was a really special day. Of course when I wanted to take pictures the battery on my camera died (you think I would be better prepared). We did get one picture beforehand on Chris's cell phone but I don't have it uploaded yet. After the baptism we had over 50 people over to our house for a luncheon and we had a great time.

It sure was busy leading up to today. As I have mentioned before, I decided to redecorate the living/dining room and I needed to have it done before today. So I spent the past week and a half painting, sewing and cleaning up the painting and sewing. It is not completely done yet but hopefully I will get it done in the next few days and then I will post pictures.

On Tuesday Justin came home from riding his bike with a mouth full of blood and a bloody arm and leg. He had fallen off of his bike and hit his mouth on the edge of the handlebars. We took him to the dentist and got an x-ray and found out what had happened. All of his baby teeth on the top are ready to fall out any day and the handlebar shoved one of his baby teeth up into his gum and it is sitting on top of the permanent tooth that is ready to come in. The dentist (who is also our neighbor) said to just leave it alone and it will fall out when his permanent tooth comes in... OUCH! The poor thing had a swollen lip and mouth all week. Thankfully the swelling went down before today so everyone didn't have to see him like that.

On Thursday Justin had his first Pinewood Derby for Scouts. Chris and I both had no idea the amount of time that goes into making a derby car and getting it ready to race. Unfortunately Chris has been slammed with work and church lately so I ended up doing most of the car from painting to drilling extra weight into it to sanding and balancing the tires. The long hours paid off though... he got second in every heat that was run... not bad for a bunch of complete rookies! Next year we will start a few weeks before the derby and not a few days before.

Now I will spend tonight and tomorrow recuperating from the marathon week before baseball starts on Monday and dance starts again on Tuesday. It never ends!

Abby is figuring things out

Abby is getting smarter every day. This morning she got a hold of one of the nunchuks from the Wii that the kids left out. She took off with it around the corner and I followed her. I was able to snap a few shots of what she thought you were supposed to do with it.




And... yes, I did end up painting the room blue. It looks really bright in these pictures but it is a softer blue in real life. I will post pictures once I get the fabric I ordered and get curtains and pillows made. Chris is still skeptical of the blue but I like it-- it is a very "happy" room now.

Dance-o-rama Weekend!

It was time for Spring Recital for Alli this weekend and it used up our whole weekend! On Friday night I took her to dress rehearsal at the Eccles Center in Park City (where they have the Sundance Awards). Then on Saturday she performed in the "Peter Pan" show at 2:30. In Peter Pan she was a raccoon and did a fun jazz number. She did great! Then we hung out in Park City for a few hours and then it we had to go back for the 6:30 show where she danced with her competition team for the last time. Alli is happy to not have to do the Princess dance ever again. Now this week (Monday through Wednesday) she has auditions for next years competition team. Sorry there are no photos... I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera so I couldn't take any pics. So, we have audtions this week as well as the last week of school, Justin's baptism on the 31st, and Justin starting baseball next week. Busy times ahead!

Opinions needed...

We finally got our drywall repaired after the magical one year mark of being in our house. Now I can paint and decorate! It has been driving me crazy having walls all the same color. The first room I want to do is the living room/dining room. I'm thinking of doing blue, black and white sort of like this...

We already have white furniture in there...

I have so many little "knick nack" things that I want to get rid of from the last house that I no longer like. I'm just worried that I will hate the blue in a year and want to start all over again... hmmm...

Birthday Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend! Remind me again why I had 2 kids a day apart from each other? We started the festivities on Friday night with a family trip to Upchuck Your Cheese (AKA Chuck E Cheese) where the kids had a grand old time putting tokens into machines... We spent $30 to get enough tickets for the kids to get $5 worth of junk. Yeah, we know we are dumb. Then, on Saturday, we had Justin's birthday party. Here in our small town, there is really only one place to have a birthday party--the ancient bowling alley. Justin loves bowling so he was all for it. I decided it would be fun to make a bowling ball cake. Yup, the ball is made of cake. I got this cool pan from Wilton that makes a "sports ball cake." I tried to set it on top of another cake using dowels to support the ball but the ball was just too heavy.


By the time we got to the bowling alley, it was about ready to fall off and roll away. Remind me to never again try and do a tiered cake when I have to drive it somewhere. It was quite the adventure getting there without the ball ending up in my lap.


He loved it though and all of his friends fought over getting the top half of the sphere or the bottom half.
For his birthday we got him camo and a camel pak so that he can go hunting with dad. Here he is modeling his new gear while holding one of the elk sheds he found with Chris last week. (Don't ask me why they are in the house... they are nasty!)


On Saturday night we went with my parents to Loco Lizard in Park City for some good Mexican food to celebrate the birthdays and Mother's Day. Then on Sunday, we had Anna's birthday. She has wanted a Cinderella cake for a few months now so I made sure she got what she wanted. By the time it was ready to decorate, I was burned out on cake making after the 2 hours it took for Justin's cake. I did a quickie job on hers and she thought it was "magical."

We tried to take a picture of all of us but Anna was more interested in licking the frosting off of the Barbie cake topper. She got new Cinderella shoes, Cinderella Polly Pockets, a Cinderella Barbie, a Cinderella dress... notice the trend here?

What a long weekend! It was a lot of fun though and Justin is already planning his birthday for next year!

Anna's Birthday Pictures

I took Anna's Birthday pictures this afternoon with her wearing the dress I made her. I've started making each of my girls a dress for their birthday according to what "theme" their birthday is... Obviously Anna is obsessed with Cinderella and blue stuff right now.

I tried out a "vintage" wash on this one...

Big Blue Eyes!

Anna is 3 on Sunday!

May 11, 2005 we welcomed our little Anna Marie into our family. Here is a slideshow of her first 3 years... Her Birthday picture will be up soon. Also watch for Justin's 8 year old slideshow soon as well.

Finally got a picture of them

For the past few weeks we have seen deer tracks in our back yard and seen the "sign" that they were there (no those aren't black seeds!) We have also seen a buck and 2 does feeding in the pasture of the house behind us (the one with the horribly loud whiny dog). Well, tonight after the kids and I got home from church, we saw our friends in our backyard and in the neighbor's back yard. They were feasting on alfalfa that grows in our neighbor's unfinished yard. Sorry for the reflection on the picture. I didn't dare open the door or use the flash since I didn't want to scare them off. Now we are going to have to figure out how to fence in our garden so that it doesn't become deer food one night.