MAY 2008

Spring is finally here (after this super snowy winter)! May has been a jam packed month! We started it out by going to St. George with my mom for her work trip. We swam & enjoyed the warm weather, while we we down there we also visited the St. Georgere temple grounds and explored the visitors center-that was so neat! The kids had their last days at school this month. Sierra's class had a "Celebration of Me" party where they sang songs they'd learned throughout the year & the teachers had compiled a book of their works & progress. Then it was our little Blakey's turn to celebrate his birthday on the 12th (turning 3!). He got an awesome new bike that he calls "my cool new bike". We had a little party up at the City park with
pizza & a Curious George Pinata-he had a great time! Sierra had her ballet recital-they were Tiddlywinks (a game i guess?), the theme was a night at a toy shop-she did a great job! She was excited to be done with ballet because she's been wanting to cut her hair into a little bob, but I wanted her to wait until after the recital since we had to pull up their hair for ballet:) So once that was done, we finally went and got her cute little hair cut-it'll be nice for the summer!

APRIL 2008

My brother Chris & his Wife Brenda and daughter Finley were still here in April, Brenda is good at knitting and took the time to show the kids the "needles" (if you will). Oh man, they had a blast cutting little pieces of string and watching how a work of art comes together. We had my brother Josh around for a little bit while he worked on some GI issues-what a bugger! But the kids enjoyed having him around-they sure love him!

And oh yes! I got accepted into the Radiology program at Weber State!! Hip-Hip-Hooray!!! What a relief to have that out of the way (I was really getting worried!). Now I can look forward to the journey ahead. The way the program works is we do one day of class a week up at Weber, the rest of the week is spent in "clinicals" at a Hospital-mine being SL Regional. I'm looking forward to all the fun this will bring!!

MARCH 2008

We got to go to the Children's museum again this month and I got better pics this time around! They have such a fun time playing with the balls in the air tubes and dressing up in the different centers! This time we ventured out to the flight deck and checked out the helicopter-it was pretty cold but we still had a good time playing for a while. And as always the water feature keeps them entertained for a good while! We had the two of my brothers visit this month: my brother Jared from PA with their little boy Burk (3 days older than Blake) and my bro Chris from L.A. with their daughter Finn (9 years old)-we love to have cousins around!
EASTER! It was weird having Easter fall in March, it was freezing! We did our little search for baskets (this year, sand buckets) full of goodies-the kids favorite? their little camp chairs-they've been lounging all over in them! The kids were both under the weather dealing with croup :( We attempted a egg hunt up at the Fruit Heights City Building, (it was so COLD! and the kids weren't up for it for long) we came home, decorated cookies & dyed eggs in our cozy house. We've also started a new tradition this year of doing a little lesson about the last events in Christ's life. The kids love to help open the eggs to find out what is inside and then we read a little scripture about the event that is represented (like a little sacrament cup for the last supper etc..). We have been VERY blessed and are so grateful for the knowledge of our Savior & His gift to us! Hope you all had a Happy Easter!!!

FEBRUARY 2008

Well February is birthday time for the girls in our little family! Mine was on the 19th (turning the big 3-0!) and Sierra's was on the 22nd (turning 5!). She got her own little digital camera-she's already out of control with the pics! But I want her to have some fun pictures of growing up and the things that are important to her. Sierra's birthday fell on a school day so I was able to go to her school to have lunch with her, she got to do her favorite job-"lunch helper" (see picture with big plastic bag-lol), it is fun to get to go spend some time in the day with the kids when I can-they love it!! Then we had a little party on Saturday the 23rd with her Bastian boy cousins and a couple of friends. The house was still in "kitchen turmoil" so things were a little hectic but it was fun to get some of Sierra's favorite people together to celebrate such a special day! What a big kid she's turning into!!

JANUARY 2008

We went to the Children's museum in the gateway mall in SLC with the kids school, what a fun adventure! The kids had a blast playing in all the different areas especially the water part (they have little ping-pong balls that the kids can send on adventures through tunnels and water wheels etc..). We've also been doing some remodeling at Grandma's house-they've torn out the ceiling to raise it, & painted the cabinets. It's made for an interesting time having the kitchen in a plastic bubble for a week or so, and a non functioning kitchen for a month :) It'll be exciting to have the updates though! We are taking a trip to the past, trying out those foam rollers on Sierra's hair-she loves it and it looks so cute! This picture of her in rollers we were having a little "girls night" we thought it would be funny to try some lipstick on her too :) The kids love to play with the laundry baskets, they play tons of creative games with them, but they also like to help lay out the laundry and pull it down when it's dry (skills courtesy of Grandma Hellie!). I got Blake's cute little funky hat for like a $1 at Gap-he can totally work it I think-haha! So Blake's little outfit in this clothes basket picture is part of why I had to take the pic-he's in his boxer briefs, green camo rain boots, funky hat and mittens-these kids keep me laughing with the things they like to put together!! Blake is loving nursery rhymes lately & knows most of them by heart. Thought I'd include a little video clip of their everyday silliness. Sierra loves to change into summery type clothes when we get home from school or errands etc...she's frequently telling me she is done with this cold weather (already)!

DECEMBER

her 3 kids, we hit it pretty early in the month so it was nice and non crowded-and BEAUTIFUL! Then we went to eat at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square (a Christmas Tradition-love Trolley Square any time of year, but at Christmas it's magical!). Sierra was one of the angels for our ward nativity-she did a great job! And here's a couple snapshots of the little characters all gussied up before church today (by the tree). Another semester down for me-hooray! This last week and the week coming up before Christmas, I've been volunteering at an Orthodontist, at a Dental Office w/ a hygienist and in an X-ray department. It's definately kept me busy but it has been interesting to get to see what the work is like in the 2 programs I'm applying for. I'll be back in the saddle on January 5th for Spring semester (I'm going to takeMerry Christmas to one and all!! We've been trying to fit in some holiday cheer into this busy month :) We went to a Gingerbread Festival at Thanksgiving Point, it was amazing to see all the creations and the time it would have taken-check out the princess castle behind Sierra!! We also got to create our own little treat. We went down to the lights at Temple Square with my sister Andrea and Sociology, Child Psychology, Nutrition and Small Metal/Jewelry. Pretty excited about the jewelry thing!! The rest will be interesting too I'm sure-lol). Sierra's 5th birthday is coming up in February and she keeps telling me she is going to stop sucking her thumb once she's five-lets cross our fingers! Love that kid! She is an amazing, bright little whip. She ADORES her little school, and can't wait to be back after the weekend to all the fun learning activities and fieldtrips they do (they had Domino's come show them how to make pizza, and recently went down to a rest home and sang Christmas songs for the grammies). I'm looking forward to "Mom's and Muffins" this coming week, they're bringing in Mimi's muffins (yumm!!) and we get to snug and read for a bit in her classroom on Tues morning. Blake is potty trained! Thanks to his cute little teacher, she said "he's ready!" and he's done really well with it-amazing to me! Thought he'd fight me to the end of time:) He is an "on-the-go boy!" His teacher is always telling me "he's so fast!", it's like he's in fast forward all the time. He had some birthday money left over from last year and so he bought this little skateboard. It is the funniest thing! He seriously has "Tigger" legs! He bounces around the room (getting some serious air-see pic-lol) and now he does it on his skateboard. And the last photo is a little snippit from my photography class final-those little hams!

I'm so grateful for these 2 little ones!!! They make life beautiful! I'm grateful for all of you and your love and humor that make our lives so delightful! We hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and New Year!











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