He's drooling down the river!

Name THAT show! Hoopes' can't guess! :) Michelle....if they fit....those bandana bibs might still come in handy for this slobbery boy! :) So, little man is cutting all 4 top teeth at once! Other than the sporadic naptimes, constant drool and yucky diapers...he has done pretty well. Let's hope he's still smiling in a few days!

I looked out the window

And what did I see? Summer might be coming but not quick enough for me!

I can't seem to find the blog post that was the inspiration for this picture. Friends? Cousins? Come on people...who was it that just had a great post about taking mental pictures? I completely thought of that post as I took this picture, but now I can't find it anywhere....was I just imagining things? At first this picture was just going to be one of those, wow I LOVE those girls, mental pictures, but then I did have the camera sitting right there at the kitchen table so I grabbed it and clicked! It was one of those many moments that I enjoy as a mother. I wanted everything to go in slow motion; the wind chime, the laughter, the singing and yes, even the sweaty summer smell.

And how about this mental picture below? Again, this was a quick....there's a camera....click. I'm no professional photographer....and oh how I wish I was....but I captured another moment that I know I will miss as my kids get older. A two year old in an over-sized dress up dress outside blowing bubbles all by herself. So perfect! I LOVE it!



Summer is coming....slowly but surely. We did have snow again this week, but we are also seeing some color. I love the purple and orange in front of our house right now!



Matt's been working extra hard in our backyard this summer! The rock is gone and the sprinklers are almost ready to put sod down where the rock (and swing-set) used to be. I've been taking pictures of that too and will post those in a full garden post later. Oh, and I think we are fans of square foot gardening!

And what about our little man?! I am afraid I don't take nearly enough pictures of him. He is really growing up way too fast. He might be walking within the next month. He took a couple steps toward Taylor the other day. He is definitely the most cuddly of all of my children. He sucks his thumb...which I did everything to try to prevent! Oh well, it's cute....for now. He smiles all of the time! He loves his sisters! He and Kierra are so cute together!



Thomas looked out the window and what did he see?
Why is mommy in the window, but yet standing next to me?

(when do they really figure out and understand the reflection thing?)
:)

And I thought I loved you then!

Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

10 years?? Really?? That doesn't even seem possible! I think of the Brad Paisley song, "And I thought I loved you then." I look back at these pictures and realize we barely knew each other then. And I'm sure 50 years from today I'll look back on this year's pictures and think the same thing. "Now you're my whole life, now you're my whole world...We've come so far since that day. And I thought I loved you then!" I love you Matt! Thinking back on those days makes me giggle, cry (happy tears), laugh and love! We have had so much fun! I can't believe how in love I still am!! Thank you for being there for me "time after time". I am so thankful for you. Every day I am grateful for the father, husband and best friend that you are. I love you!










Together Forever

A Lesson Learned

So I know you spiritually in-tune friends and family will definitely come up with the perfect gospel analogy here. Who better to give you the example of making a wrong choice than yours truly?! Those of you that live in this area see these road closed/detour signs everywhere!! Of course we need to be thankful for them because once that road is done it is going to be amazing! However, they have messed with our running routes! Last Saturday I decided I didn't care and I was going to do my 6.2 miles! It was my first time ever running that much and I couldn't wait to accomplish it! So, I ignored the first road closed sign because "thru traffic" didn't apply to me. I was a runner! The next road closed sign I debated. It was 6 am on a Saturday and no one was around....no one was working on the road....maybe it would be ok to cross it. However, it did look like there might be recently poured concrete, so maybe I shouldn't. Just as I was coming up to it and about to go a different route a work truck went by driving along the new road just fine. I figured he knew what he was doing and since he was on it I was good to go. The new road is pretty cool. I crossed it just fine with my head up looking around at all the work they had been doing. I made it to the other side completely envisioning how it would all look when it was done....then UGGGHHHH....belly flop onto the ground! I wish I could describe it better. Something completely took my legs out from under me. To this day I have yet to see exactly what it was. A very invisible wire was probably placed all along that part of the road to keep the "animals" off the wet concrete. I don't know why it was there or why it was just on the one side of the road and not the other, but you can definitely see a picture of it across my right knee! I even looked back to see the wire, but really it was invisible (with a few little orange ribbons tied to it) It killed! But hey!! I still got up and finished my 6.2 miles! There's got to be a great talk in there somewhere. :) I need an official 10k race now with marked paths that keep me on the "strait/straight and narrow".

Hey at least my girls know how to follow the rules of running! Here they are in the school walk-a-thon earlier today!

Spring Break

Spring break really was just a break! I think we were really ready for some time at home. We traveled a lot during the big holiday breaks and so this time we decided to just stay put.

Spring break actually kinda started on Friday when Matt had the day off for Good Friday (our kinda anniversary). :) So we took Emily, Kierra and Thomas bowling, went to get my new phone!! and then went out to lunch. It was the beginning of a pretty relaxing week.



Friday night was Taylor's birthday party. Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. Monday we went bowling. Tuesday we went to the library. Wednesday the girls woke up and played downstairs pretty much all day. I think that was the day that we even had a couple of friends come over and we all just decided that we were going to have a sister day. They played so great! It was fun to have everyone home. Friday we went swimming. We knew Thursday was going to be the nicest day of the snowy/rainy week so we reserved that day for the zoo!

We were very excited to have our friends come with us. They were so great to go along with our very laid back, no plan kind of day. Usually I don't work that way, but this week was all about just going with the flow and being on the kids' schedule and not mine!

The kids had a great time at the zoo! I don't know what I was thinking taking these pictures with the kids looking right into the sun, but they still had great smiles for me!







It really was the perfect week. The only thing that would've made it more perfect would have been to have Matt with us more. We didn't have any activities at night though so we got plenty of Daddy time too! It really did make me look forward to summer and having my kids home again. I miss them during the day. Emily, Kierra and Thomas do too! It was a great break! Now bring on Spring! :)