St Patrick’s Day

Christian was very excited about in being St. Patrick’s day today.  As soon as he woke up he started begging me for “Green Milk” so I obliged and made green French toast with rainbow sprinkles for breakfast as well as a glass of green milk for Christian. Vivian was very excited about the French toast and doubly excited that I pulled out a toddler fork for her to try for the first time.  She did really well!

St. Patrick's day wishes

This digital ecard created with Smilebox

Family Home Evening Fireside Style

For Family Home Evening this week, we decided to take advantage of evenings that have a little more light and roast hot dogs for dinner.  Vivian really enjoyed the macaroni salad.

The boys getting excited to start eating.

Ginger was a little nervous about the fire!

Jared was very chivalrous and cooked everyone’s hotdogs at a time…Christian was getting a little too impatient to wait for them to be cooked.

Vivian was really happy to be eating!

Here’s me roasting my hotdog.

Here’s the gorgeous sunset we had….Ginger is cowering away from the fire.

I’m so grateful to have a backyard to enjoy as well as a family to enjoy it with!

I love the piano!

These are some random pictures taken after my parent’s left of the kids playing around on my piano.  I am so happy that I now have my piano back.  I really missed it for the 18 months that we were living without it.

It’s kind of strange for someone like me that has a difficult time sitting through ward choir’s singing to have no problems at all listening to the odd and discordant sounds that my children play….I think it’s their potential that thrills me.

I love watching those chubby little arms, hands and fingers pressing the keys.  Christian has actually started showing some interest in learning to play the piano so we have begun informal lesson…I’m considering finding someone to teach him soon. :)

My Parent’s March Visit!

This is going to be a pretty picture-full post…

We were so happy to have my parent’s come for a visit this March.  Originally we had planned to have them fly down in February but as we decided to adopt my sister’s ex’s dog, Ginger, my parents decided to drive down later.

Ginger had to have some surgeries so then their trip was postponed about a month.  Christian is so happy to now have a dog.  Here he is with Ginger on her “place”.  She’s a sweet older dog who likes to sleep a lot.  A perfect fit for our family.

We had a nice visit with my parents who came on Friday the 4th.

While they were here, we went to a barbeque on Saturday (previous post).  Sherrada’s baby’s blessing was on Sunday and when we came back we were able to try out our fire-pit for the first time to roast marshmallows. Christian and Vivian were both so excited about the fire.  YIKES! Here’s a view of our little out-door fire-pit area.  I can’t wait to get some real out-door furniture rather than folding chairs…but for now they work. :)

On Monday, my dad was a life (or light) saver and helped us fix some electrical problems with some lights we have as well as put up some of the outdoor lights that we had bought previously but couldn’t put in for various reasons….Thank you dad!  It’s so nice to be able to go out-doors in the evening and be able to see! That evening we went with my parent’s to the Rainforest Cafe for Family (not home) evening.  The have a fish tank that goes all around the entrance and fish swim above you—it’s pretty cool.  Here is Vivian’s wonder at the fish.

Here are the happy diners….

 

That atmosphere there was really fun.  It’s pretty dark in there so it was hard to take very good photos.  It’s decorated as a jungle with animals that are animatronics that randomly will move and make noise.  It also starts thundering and lightning at intervals.  We got to sit under the starry night-sky section with little lights that make up what the sky looks like with the right constellations and  everything which was neat.  It was a little pricey but I guess it was worth it for the atmosphere. 

Tuesday, my dad was really sweet and helped me by putting up the chair rail in Vivian’s room (pictures to come…once I get a moment to paint it).  Already it makes a huge difference in the look of her room.  I love it!  Another wonderful thing my dad did was put in a nice big fan downstairs which we have used TONS this week because of the rising temperatures!

Wednesday, my parent’s left for a long journey home (which they made longer by going on a bunch of detours the first day (i.e. the petrified forest).  Here are some photo’s of the morning they left.

My Dad and I

 

My Mom and I

The kids with Ginger

My Parent’s with the kids (Vivian was getting ready for a morning nap!)

Ginger had grown quite attached to my parents so she sat by the door pretty much the whole day that they left when we weren’t trying to distract her.

Thanks mom and dad for coming…and for bringing us a new family member!  Come again soon!

Barbeque by the Dam

The first weekend in March, my friend Sherrada invited us to her in-laws’ traditional barbeque by the Granite Reef Dam.  My parent’s were in town so it was really fun to be able to show them something new and have a nice place to go and relax with Sherrada’s fun family.

Christian was really excited that he got to try fishing for the very first time. He was getting pretty impatient with daddy always trying to help him ;).

    

Very excited little boy…I think the pole was a little heavy for him ;). Here’s a view of the water…I’m not sure if it’s technically a reservoir or a lake or river or what… :)   Vivian acting cheesy and happy about climbing up the chair. Sherrada and her Sister-in-law holding Sherrada’s new baby boy Bryson.  He’s such a cute little man! Sherrada and Lydia, she’s getting to be so tall! Sherrada’s younger brother Torren.Jim and Venetia avoiding my camera :). My parents enjoying the lovely day!

Vivian on the run…she was really excited to escape that day.  I kept on the move whenever she wasn’t strapped into her chair.

We had such a great time at the barbeque, Thanks Sherrada for inviting us!

Christina’s Baby Shower

The last Friday in February, My friend Claudia called me up to tell me they were having a “surprise” baby shower for my friend Christina (who is my wonderful friend who watched Christian while I was in labor with Vivian).  I was really excited to go and see her as well as some of the great down-to-earth girls from our previous ward.

I took the drive the next morning and was pleasantly surprised that the drive only took half an hour to get there with Saturday traffic.  It turns out that Christina had the beans spilled to her about the shower so the shower wasn’t really a surprise anymore.  When Christina saw me walking up though she screamed my name and said that I was a surprise.  So I’m glad that she could be surprised somehow.  Personally, I LOVE surprises. 

Here’s a picture of Christina and I in front of the darling mobile that Katie gave Christina for a gift. Isn’t she darling…you can hardly even tell she’s pregnant in this photo!