Easter Eggs

This Sunday we colored Easter Eggs--seems like Easter came up pretty fast this year, and I almost forgot about coloring eggs. The girls had a lot of fun, and it is nice that they are getting older, a lot less mess nowadays. :)

Thanksgiving in March

We had Thanksgiving last night--Yep we celebrated Thanksgiving in March. We invited our friends Steve, Wendy, and McKenna over for a turkey dinner and decided to turn it into a full out Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pumpkin pie (YUMMY). We had a great time!

Everything I need to know I learned from my kids....

Yes, we are still alive! :) This month has been a busy one, with so much going on (which seems odd for February). Josh has been really busy at work with lots of night meetings. The girls have their usual stuff plus swimming lessons and art classes. My mom had surgery and so we spent a lot of time with her, my dad found out that he has cancer-thankfully treatable, and I am running around just trying to keep up! So....blog has been down on the waiting list, but after the last couple days of some funnies, I had to post something.

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM MY KIDS...
Top 10, in no particular order (they are hilarious!!):
1- Fashion (from Erin) - She has decided that it is so much cooler to wear her pants backwards, which she does frequently and often to school. And she is always telling me: "We can just pretend it matches" or "Nah, it looks fine; I'm cute anyways."
2- New swear words (from Bailey) - For some reason she has decided that there are lots of swear words that we say everyday. I didn't know that we had such a problem with language! :) That is, if you consider the words toilet, bum, poop, etc. swear words!
3 - Dinosaurs (from Erin) - Need to know what kind of food a Brachiosaurus eats? or if an Anklyosaurus can wishstand an attack from a T-Rex? or About how many eggs did a Maiasaura lay at a time? Well, look no further than asking Erin. She loves dinosaurs and knows many interesting things about them as well as lots of their names.
4- Olympics (from Bailey) - Apparently it is not hard to get in the olympics, you just have to want to go and have money. Bailey says that she is going to be in the Olympics for figure skating when she is 19 yrs old. Keep in mind she has never been ice skating, but she insists that she will and that you just sign up and pay and you are in!
5- Peace and Quiet (from both girls) - It's a toss up: getting some quiet time and then finding out what the girls were doing together in one of their rooms. Couldn't even open the door, EVERY toy was on the floor.
6 - Finding a Marriage partner (both) - Bailey was asked by a friend of hers if she would marry him, she said that if her mom said she could then yes! :) Both girls have said at various times that they are going to marry this boy or that boy. The reasons they give vary to, anywhere from: because we are friends to we kissed!! (we have now taught Erin that kissing boys is not okay, unless it is family)
7- Stray Animals are great! (from Bailey) - I went visiting teaching yesterday and told Bailey that when she came home from art class I wouldn't be there, but I would be home soon. So I got a call from her and this is how our conversation went (with the people I'm with listening in...and laughing...):
Me: Hey, you home from art class now?
Bailey: Yes, it was fun. I found a stray cat and I'm going to find it's owner and feed it.
Me: Um.....(silence)
Bailey: I brought it in the house.
Me: YOU DID WHAT???
Bailey: I'm going to call it's owners, do we have anything cats like to eat?
ME: The cat is in the HOUSE?!?
Bailey: Yeah
ME: Get it out now! No stray animals in the house!
Bailey: But it's not a stray, it has an owner.
ME: I don't care, get it out of the house and it will find its home!!!
Needless to say, we ended our visiting teaching and headed home. Thankfully the cat was out of the house, but the kitchen smelled suspiciously like cat poop, so we did some thorough searching.
8- Plastic Animals Eat (from Erin) - Erin had all her plastic animals scattered around the living room, each one with a piece of Valentine's day candy or some food from the kitchen (apples, bread, etc.) Well, I took one of the apples away from a dinosaur and Erin gave me a talking to about taking away her animals food. Boy, she was good at making me feel bad about taking food away from a PLASTIC item.
9- Being a Mom (from both) - Lately the girls have been leaving the lights on in their rooms or downstairs, and I get sick of them leaving them on! So one day I said: "Do you want me to charge you a dime everytime I find a light on?" Well, the next day I was getting ready for the day when I realized I had forgotten something from downstairs. I ran down, leaving my light on for a couple seconds. The next thing I hear is: Mom owes us a dime! She left her light on! lol Yeah, right.
10- Being a mom is wonderful (from both) - Okay, so there are days that I really don't want to deal with the girls, but for the most part the girls have taught me that being a mom is the best job in the world. They are both so good at bringing a smile to my face. I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Lava Hot Springs

Last weekend we went to Lava Hot Springs with some friends, and it was a blast! The girls loved the idea that it was snowy around them, but they weren't cold in their swimsuits. We had a fun day soaking in the hot water, then went to an early dinner at a restaurant in town-the kids felt really big since they got to sit at a table on their own (and us adults got to sit alone too!).
Erin was very determined that there was going to be Hot Lava flowing around; like in her dinosaur movies, and she was happy where there wasn't any around. :)
Looks like a super fun place in the summer too: fun slides, tubing down the river, etc. We might have to make another trip up there again soon!

It's your Birthday, shout Hooray!

Well, it's that time of year again...birthdays for Bailey and I! :) Bailey is 7 now...wow how time flies! Lots of birthday celebrations over the past few weeks. Bailey had a party with a couple of her friends at the bowling alley last Saturday; which everyone had such a great time. Bailey even got an authentic bowling pin that everyone could autograph.

From left to right: Bailey, Sera, Ariana, Erin, Marylinn, and Ben. They were all so well behaved, it was such a memorable party for Bailey.

At her request, I made carrot cake with pink and purple frosting....a little interesting looking but tasted delicious!

Then, the night before our birthdays, Josh and his dad were making Dutch Pancakes (YUM) and the stack of pancakes was getting bigger and bigger but I didn't think anything of it since they make such good leftovers. Well, the doorbell rang and there was our good friends the Crocker family and the Jasper Family--for a little surprise birthday dinner with us! Josh had arranged with Lauren to blow up a bunch of balloons and decorate with streamers. It was fun to celebrate with a few friends, it was a nice surprise.

Erin, Bailey, Ben, and Hannah

Gary, Chris, Josh, Makenna, Wendy, Steve, Evan, and Lauren

Now, it is actually birthday day and of course we have to celebrate some more! :) In the morning we went to Crumb Brothers (a DELICIOUS bakery) for some pastries. It is one of my favorite places in town.

Bailey couldn't wait to open her presents, of course. Her favorites were some new books, an Easy Bake oven, and a new bike! She had to take the bike out immediately for a test ride around the slightly snowy block of course. Hopefully this bike will last her a while, she is growing so fast!

Then for dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. Bailey has wanted to go there since it opened here in town in October, so I figured it was a great time to go. They had peanuts on the table, which was wonderful because it kept Erin busy cracking them for the whole time we were waiting for food. She made quite a pile of shells!

Then, they rolled out a saddle for Bailey and I to sit on for our birthday announcement. Barely enough room for us to fit on together, but it was fun for both of us to be in the spotlight (literally since they turned the light on us). They yelled out our ages as well, but thankfully I'm not old enough to be ashamed of my years yet! (28 years by the way)
It was such a wonderful birthday. Another year gone by, hopefully many more to come!

Presenting...Josh!

Last night was the Cache County Christmas Banquet and guess who was chosen as this year's Department Head of the Year! JOSH! :) I am so proud of him. He works so hard and it is nice for him to get recognized for all the things he does to make the county a better place. It was a lovely surprise for us. In fact I was talking with some people when all of a sudden Josh stood up and walked up to the front. I had no idea what was going on, then someone told me that he had received the award this year! LOL I had missed them saying his name, which he pointed out to the whole crowd when he accepted his award.

They read a wonderful paper about Josh, his accomplishments, his family, his interests, etc.

They called me up as well. They handed him the framed certificate but they handed me the envelope with the gift certificate, etc. I keep trying to convince Josh that it is mine and the frame is his, but he doesn't agree...even though it was presented to me. :)

Thanksgiving, Erin's Run-in with the sidewalk, and a Snowman cake! :)

This year we went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. It was nice to go there and not have to cook much at all! Ray smoked the turkeys in his smoker, and they were DELICIOUS! My Mom and Dad came as well. It was such a nice day.

Bailey, Erin, Mason, Marissa, and Cassie

The nice picture... :) Mom, Ky, Cavin, Dad, Ray, Londa, and Josh

And the goofy one (thanks Londa and Ky). Like Mother like Son there. :)

On Sunday the girls and I were out for a walk and Erin tripped. Unfortunately her hands were in her pockets so she was unable to catch herself, so she landed right on her face. She was bleeding and crying so I carried her home hoping that she didn't cut herself where she got her stitches this summer. Thankfully she didn't, but she scraped her lips, forehead, chin, cheek, nose, etc. Poor thing. If you ask her what happened she'll tell you that the sidewalk hit her. :)

This is what it looked like the next morning, the swelling had gone down a lot. Now her face is covered in scabs. :(

I am so proud of my cake! I made this snowman cake for Bunco last night at my house. My theme was Winter Wonderland so all the prizes were snowman, so of course we had to eat a snowman cake! It was hard to cut into it though-I didn't want to ruin it!