A Very Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day for me started Saturday night when I fell asleep at 9:30 and pretty much slept through the night (as much as a parent can with a 10-month old). I then got woken up at 9:30 a.m. by Vincent and Josh who gave me their cards right away.

Vincent was very excited about Mother's Day. He would say things like "I want to sit by you because it Mother's Day," or "I want to hold your hand because it's Mother's Day." It was very cute!

Josh and Vincent took me out to breakfast to Village Inn. One of the things I get tired of is cooking, so, it is big treat when we get to go out. Then we came home and spent time together until we had to go to church.

At church, Vincent sang in the program with our very, very, very small primary and thanks to my extremely small video camera, I got up the nerve to film it!

One of my favorite quotes of the day from Vincent was when he ran out of his snack in Sacrament and asked me if I had more. When I said "No" he got very upset and said "You are the worst mother on Mother's Day!" I just couldn't help but laugh.

I enjoyed church that day because I got to lead the primary kids in their singing time, which I have never done before. Candace, the girl who usually has that job, had a little boy who was sick so she asked me at the last minute. The kids were so cute and it seemed like they were having fun! I know I was! Vincent blushed when I told the kids I was his Mom. I know, I know, it will only get worse.

After church it got a little crazy because my neighbor Ashley was having a BBQ for her family members and also invited a few neighbors. We weren't sure we were going to be there until Ashley asked us at 5pm Sat night if they could use our yard to have the BBQ. We have a beautiful and very large yard with lots of sitting space, shade and toys for kids. Of course, we said yes and then Josh realized "Now I have to mow the lawn!" He started to mow lawn and in the middle of it all, ran over a steal post and broke the lawn mower. Then we had to borrow our other neighbor's mower to finish the job (thanks Dawn!)

We had a wonderful time meeting their family. I just sat, looked around and thought to myself, how wonderful it is to have such a variety of people in our lives and the friendships that come from branching out and not being so inclusive to just my family or church members. I love being grand central station because we have so much fun. Rodd (Ashley's husband) said "Now that we know each other's parents...That means we are dating." These are the neighbors who are over at our house 5 nights a week playing games and watching our favorite shows together. They always joke about how they just need to sell their house and move in. That way we will get some rent off the deal.

WE LOVE YOU ASHLEY AND RODD...DON'T MOVE!!!!!

Mother's Day ended with an early bed time once again being 9:30 and cuddling with Vinny on the couch. I tried to include Lily but as you have already heard, SHE WON'T SIT STILL.

Thank you to my wonderful family who made Mother's Day so special and fun. And, thank you to my mother for always being there and teaching me everything I know. I wouldn't be the mother I am today if it wasn't for you.

Jelly Shoes Are Back!

Jelly shoes are back and my baby is wearing them with style. OK, so her fat is bulging out of the tops of them and they look like they are cutting off her circulation but I assure you, they are not too tight despite all appearances.

We were at "Babies R Us" yesterday and I had a moment of weakness!!! I HAD to buy these jelly shoes. I figure since Lily is now standing by herself, then it is only a matter of time before she is walking and in that case, we need some shoes!

As you can see, she likes them very much and is definitely ready to go places.

Well...Almost.

What Do You Do When???

Question: What do you do when you know you have to wash your car because it has been a whole year since you washed it last but you just DON'T WANT TO DO IT???

Answer: Get the neighbor kids involved!
I spent ALL day washing the interior of the car, cleaning car seats and washing the stroller(which by the way, just needed to be burned at the stake). So, by the end of the day when it came to washing the outside, I just didn't want to do it. I figure since all the kids in the neighborhood are over at my house anyway, I might as well give them something productive to do. To my surprise, they were very excited and had a ball. I think they just wanted any excuse to have a water fight. We made it really fun and the car turned out great!

Thanks Kaitlyn,Vincent,Thomas,Jayden and Jacob! I will say it once again...

I have the greatest neighbors ever and that includes the kids!

You Know You're a Redneck....

You know you're a redneck when you are cookin' breakfast outside on the griddle and you're not even camping!

I definitely had a very hilarious morning last Sunday. I had just finished cleaning my house the day before and--for those of you with no vent over your stove or who have a very small kitchen will understand the reason for my madness--I didn't want to stink my house up with eggs and bacon! Even "Scentsy" isn't strong enough for this!

So, I came up with the brilliant idea to cook outside using my griddle and the burner on my grill. And for those of you wondering if it is still cold in Utah, the answer is "No". I just simply didn't want to put on a bra:) Another classic redneck moment.

I have to say that we had breakfast burritos and they tasted great, AND since there was relatively no mess, I got to enjoy the outdoors while I cooked--I think this may become an occasional habit :)

To my DAD.... I know I've made you proud:)

Lily's New Tricks...

I can't believe my baby is almost one-year old. It has gone by quickly when I look back on it all. It seems since she started crawling that she has just started doing all kinds of things.

This is video of her standing up by herself, which is very exciting for her. No really, when she stands she laughs and thinks it's a game. It is so cute. In this video she actually stood for over a minute so I had to record it in 30 sec. increment because that is the way my phone is programmed.

Keep it up Lily!



She can also wave "HI"...





She is trying to talk up a storm and I swear she is saying "AH OH".

Lily is also into giving kisses (this means slobbering all over your face). She really loves to kiss Vincent as you can see in this video...



She is so smart and doing all the things she is supposed to including playing "chase" with her brother.

We will continue to update all her milestones.

It's the Little Things...

Since I have lived in Utah--Provo of all places--I have found myself appreciating the small and simple things. For example: rain, the four seasons, my family, the smell of the shrubs after it rains, raising the shades in my house each morning and seeing the beautiful mountains, the blessing of a wonderful neighborhood, spending more time with my family because there are less distractions. It also makes me appreciate the things I had at home as well that I now don't have.

I woke up one morning, looked outside, and saw that my cherry tree bloomed within just one day, as well as my pear tree. It was so gorgeous that I had to take a picture!

Cherry tree...


Pear tree...


Blossom from the cherry tree...

I used to think I could live in a place like Seattle because I LOVE the rain and overcast weather. In Arizona, we hardly ever get rain, so when we did it was a perfect and invigorating day! I thought I could easily live in a place where it was non-stop rain and clouds. However, going through a winter here, I realized it isn't the overcast I love--it is the change. I actually figured out that too much gloom is depressing but so is non-stop sun. Each season we have makes me appreciate the season to come. For example, you enjoy the winter but by the end you are ready for spring. The sun comes out and everybody's mood changes. Then you think, "Enough rain. I want to go swimming!" The next thing you know, summer is here and by the end of the summer you are ready for cool weather again, and so on. Another thing I think about is that the earth looks so beautiful when the leaves are out, the grass is green and everything is alive. However, when it goes dormant and the leaves fall (and yes, it might look bleak and sad), but oh how more beautiful it is to watch it come back to life. It makes me think about how life can be monotonous at times and you feel dead inside, but there is always a rebirth or a light at the end of the tunnel. I found this makes me appreciate all varieties this world has to offer, and too much of one thing isn't necessarily good.

A Beautiful Day at The Tulip Festival...

I believe if you were to ask some one what they think of when they think of Utah in the Spring, most would say, "Tulips." At least I would anyway. The flowers here are so beautiful--not to mention all the trees and luscious green grass.

My cousins called me one evening and invited us to join them at Thanksgiving Point to see the Festival of the Tulips. We didn't hesitate for a moment; we were very excited.

The first thing we saw when we got there were these cute ducks with their chicks. I didn't know this, but ducks/geese hiss. It's true! I got semi-close to take this picture and I guess they felt threatened for their babies because they started hissing at me:)


We walked all around and stumbled upon this little pond where you could feed the fish. Lily loved watching them eat.

This is Vincent and his cousin Ella. She just loves Vinny. One day she was at her Grandma's house and they were talking about Vincent. When she heard her Grandma call him Vincent she got very upset and said, "We do not use nicknames Grandma! His name is Vinny!" I love that story:)

It is not easy trying to get a picture of six children at the same time! These are our cousin's:

Ella, Eva, Katie Bell and Maggie.

Man I love this baby! She is so cute and fun!

My cousin Launie and her kids.

My other cousin Jamie and her kids Ella and Eva.


There were so many beautiful places to see.

The boy is coming out in Vinny. He wanted to climb this post and when he got up he said, "Take a picture Mom!"

Here is my little Lily eating the rocks, of course!

Yummy!

Boy do I love this kid too! Look how handsome. Poor Vinny... the only boy amongst all of us girls.

I have never seen so many different types of tulips.

I loved this little area. I wish it was my back yard!

This water fountain was huge! This is only half of it in the picture.

We later went to the kids discovery area. They had fun playing on a caterpillar.

This was a lighthouse you could climb to the top of. Vincent loved that! Lily loved eating the grass.

My little hillbilly.

We got to go in a cave where there were bears and they were playing sound effects. Vincent was a little freaked out at first but quickly got over it.

Rest time!

I thought this was so cute of Ella and Lily hanging out together. Ella said to her mom, "Mom, Lily is a good little eater." She is just full of cute comments.

Lily wishing she could run with the kids.After our fun day, we had lunch in a cafe with all 6 of our kids and they were perfect little darlings! The food was good too:)