Spring Cleaning

This is a sight I love to see. . ....especially because they LOVE to do it! I know this excitement over using Windex won't last long so I'm treasuring it as long as I can.

Note: This was taken just an hour before haircuts last week. See how long Aubrey's hair was?!!

Sweet. . .and sassy

Last month Joey and I were in charge of taking pics at a ward activity. He took a few test shots to figure out lighting/flash and Ella was his subject. She looks so cute, sweet and innocent....

And then she has to go and bust out the crazy peace signs....

Quite peaceful, I must say.

Just thought I'd share some moments with our silly Ella-the daughter who tells me not to be silly:)

Locks of Love

Aubrey told me last month that she wanted her hair cut a little past her shoulders. She has always had it very long, so I was a little unsure about it. She is my baby and I don't want her looking too grown up I guess:) So, I told her this week we'd do it. I was finally ready. I want her to be able to make some choices now that she is getting older. When we got to the salon, I looked at her hair and realized with just one inch or so more, she'd be getting a good 9-10 inches off so I told her about the Locks of Love. She said she wasn't sure if she wanted it above her shoulders, so I told her no worries, its her choice. Anyways, when I told the stylist to cut it barely past her shoulders she mentioned Locks of Love too and said if we just cut an inch or two more, we could donate it. We thought about it again and Aubrey decided to take the plunge. She was a little nervous! But in the end, she is very happy with the results and very happy to be able to help someone in need. I think it looks super cute, gives her a whole new look, a little more grown up than I'd like, but thats okay:) And I love that her hair is going to a great cause.

Presenting our new grown up girl, Aubrey. . .

Aubrey and the hair she said goodbye to

And we did this while Joey was out of town today. Surprise!!! lol

Every little girls dream. . .

I don't know a whole lot about this picture(Joey took it) but it was taken at an Activity Day girls activity last month. Me and a few of the other leaders were cleaning up and some of the daughters were helping. I guess these two were emptying trashcans and decided to take Cali for a ride(in one with a fresh bag I believe...and hope). Its hilarious. And gross. All wrapped into one:) But Cali loved it. I mean, what 3 year old doesn't want a ride in a trashcan? She seriously looks like she is in heaven:)

And his name is. . .

So many people have asked me if we have thought of boy names or chosen a boy name. The answer is yEs! A name has been chosen! When I was pregnant with Cali, we actually chose this name. Joey and I both love it and haven't changed our minds since then. We don't usually have a hard time choosing names. We both have similar tastes(thank goodness!) and we actually chose a couple of our kids names when we were dating(Aubrey and Cali). So, from the moment we saw our new baby was a boy we have been calling him......

Ammon


I think its a good strong manly name:) And its also cute. . .and warrior-like all wrapped into one. Nobody's gonna mess with this kid! Not if they've read the Book of Mormon anyways-LOL :)

Morning cartoon buddies

T-Rex egg

This is a story that is funny to me. Maybe not to you. It could be one of those "had to be there" moments, but I'll still share it:)

The kids came across this round white ball in our yard a couple of weeks ago. We all thought it was an egg. It was perfectly round, white, slightly heavy, and hard on the outside. It has been really windy lately and a lot of times eggs get blown from their nests, so we searched for a nest around our home to return it to, but couldn't find one. So, when my family was here visiting a few days later, we showed it to my sister(she being the animal expert in the family) and she was like, whoa, this isn't a regular bird egg. We started playing around with the idea of it being an owl or duck egg, because it was so heavy. She asked how long we had had it and I told her several days. She said, well, its dead, whatever it is-lets bust it open! Joey and Taylor agreed. I was slightly horrified by the idea so I said I would watch from far away. I didn't want to have any part in it:) This was about midnight, so it was dark outside. It was also windy. Slightly spooky if you ask me...all I can remember is Tara using some kind of metal stake trying to gently crack it open. No luck. Then the voracity of her cracking became more of a hammer. Then it was like she was beating it to death. I started laughing so hard watching her hack away at this thing in the middle of the night with Joey and Taylor huddled around her. It looked like she was doing something really evil and against the law-LOL. It was late at night and we were just all delirious I think:) Then I hear, "I don't think this is an egg!" And laughing. And then Joey grabs it and throws it against the sidewalk. Hard. That image was hilarious. It made the loudest sound and even bounced a little, but nothing. No breaks, no cracks. It sounded like it broke the sidewalk actually. We were busting up!

Whatever this thing is, its indestructible. And did you notice the gray marks all over it? Thats from Tara's "beating." So, its not an egg afterall. We have no idea what it is.

Or maybe, as Joey has said, its a baby T-Rex. And it may bust out and eat us anyday.

Our little Betsy Ross

The second grade just held their annual "Living Museum" this morning. The kids memorize a pretty lengthy speech(I was impressed!) and give it continuously for an hour in front of their own hand-made backdrop while parents and other elementary students walk through and listen. I was really happy when I found out Aubrey chose Betsy Ross(can't get more patriotic than that!), the woman who made the first American flag. A woman in my ward at church had this beautiful dress and accessories and let me borrow it for this special day(Thank you Nola-it was perfect!). Aubrey did a FANTASTIC job and looked perfect for the part. Here she is! Our own little Betsy...

Here she is laughing with friends after she gave her speech to them. I loved her backdrop with the rocking chair and flag(and even a little needle and thread at the bottom:). She is a great little artist!

Aubrey and her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hart. We love Mrs. Hart! She is so fun, full of energy and cares about each student. Aubrey is so blessed to have her.


Aubrey and her best friend, Kate(who was Amelia Earhart).

It was a fun morning. All the kids were so cute and did such a great job!

Fun with Flarp

Our family loves the sound of a good ole fart. Not the smell, the sound:) My mom must know this(somehow...) and got the kids each a little container of Flarp(this gooey stuff that when squished makes a wonderful musical sound of flatulence) in their little Easter bags along with candy and Easter toys. I love this sequence of pictures. Presenting: Aubrey's experience with Flarp.

And Cali putting it in her shorts. Don't ask. I have no idea why.The End.

Time to celebrate

We all went out a couple of days ago to celebrate the arrival of a little boy in the house! We got some great Tex-Mex at La Hacienda Ranch(one of our favorite local Tex-Mex spots) and then went to Old Navy to pick out a little something for our little man. We came home with a little 3 pack of brown and white giraffe onesies. I'm so excited and still can't believe we'll have a little boy here in a few short months. The girls were so cute at Old Navy looking at all of the baby boy stuff. All I could hear was, "Lets get this for him mom!" "Isn't this so cute Mom?" "Buy this one, buy this one!" We all decided on the little giraffes:)

Planting our family garden 2010

Last weekend we went down to Lowe's to choose the veggies and herbs for our family garden. We picked lots of peppers, onions, potatoes, peas, broccoli, basil, cilantro and tomatoes. And we actually still have a living strawberry patch and some oregano that survived all of the freezes and snow from last season, which is pretty cool! Here are a few pics of the fam doing some planting...

Looky, looky!

Cali helping out her Daddy. I love the little hand on his shoulder.

Aubrey making a funny face after she sees how dirty her gloves got:)

Then she realized I was taking her picture and decided to smile pretty.

After all of their hard work, Joey took them for a wagon ride with Zachary.

The girls, their puppy and their garden on a perfect Spring day.

I guess the fortune cookie was right...

Last month I went out to lunch with my good friend, Susan, at Pei Wei. After a delicious meal, I opened my fortune cookie to read this....

:)

Its a . . .

BOY!!!!!

As you can see from the sonogram photos below, its definitely a boy:) We cannot even express our excitement. We have a son! I still can't believe it. Joey and I both shed tears of joy. The kids were all smiles. Even the sonographer couldn't stop saying congratulations. Today was one of the best days ever. We love you little guy. We've been waiting for you to join our family for what feels like forever. You are our little miracle. We prayed for you so hard!

Split screen: left-his little boy part(sorry kid I'm posting this on the internet, hahaha) right- his little hand up by his face waving hello.

Sweet little profile shot

Easters

More eggcellent stuff. Egg dying, egg hunting and Easter bunny surprises. . .it was a wonderful Easter weekend. And yes, we did watch conference:) And we did have an Easter FHE on Sunday and we aren't all about the Easter Bunny, ok?! I was just too tired to blog something on Sunday:) So I got nothin spiritual here. I'm just doing a wrap up of the fun this week. Maybe I'll give ya something spiritual this Sunday:)

The egg dying crew

Cali loved to randomly drop eggs in the cups on purpose and then say, "Sorry!" as if it was an accident.
Aubrey got a little blue
Me and Cali doing egg wraps together. She is a great helper.

Sid Jr (from Ice Age 3-Joey's idea)

Easter morning surprises. . .

A bunch of funny looking tired people

And the backyard egg hunt begins. This facial expression of Ella's still has me cracking up.

Can she reach it? Yes she can.

I got an egg Daddy!

Love this sly grin

A little help from Uncle Taylor. He is much taller than me now. Booo. I am the oldest of five children, yet the shortest.

More teamwork
The kids and their Easter loot. Thank you Easter Bunny! :)
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

*And stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post: sonogram day! SO excited.

An eggcellent day

Like my post title? It is so lame that its funny to me...anyways...:) This past weekend was busy busy and lots of fun! My family came to visit for Easter weekend so we were able to share in some of the Easter fun with them. Saturday we decided to go to the local egg hunt/Easter festivities. The weather was beautiful and the kids had lots of fun with the various things planned there-sack races, pictures with the Easter bunny, egg/spoon races, bounce houses, and of course the big hunt. I won't caption each picture because I'm feeling lazy so here they are, pictures of our eggcellent day....