California Trip

Trip to California

The girls and I had a great trip to California. The girls were pretty good on the plane. Brooklyn was a little wiggle worm and didn't really want to sit still with her seat belt on but we survived. I was excited that my brother Brandon and his family were able to drive up to see us that first week-end. I've never seen their youngest boy Jason and he is 18 months old. My Sister, John and the girls were also there and Anna and Brooklyn had so much fun playing with their cousins. We filled up the rest of our time with a trip to the beach, swimming in the pool, eating too much, shopping and watching the Olympics (Go USA!) We missed Aaron very much and were glad to get home to see him. He stayed very busy working and told me he was glad to have me home so he could have some decent lunches. Glad I'm good for something! :) I was so happy when we arrived home at 10:30 pm to a spotless house. Thanks Honey

Leavin' on a jet plane

On Saturday the girls and I are leaving to California for a vacation to see my dad and step mom. We are so excited, but I was wondering if anyone has any traveling with toddler tips that may be of benefit to me. I want to be as prepared as possible so anything that has worked for you that may help ease my airport/plane stress would be greatly apprecaited.

Back to my roots

As some of you may know, I have been making our families bread for several months now. I think that it tastes so much better than store bought bread, plus I can make bread that is much healthier for the price than what I can buy in the store. Well, during our vacation to Idaho, my sister in law Jenny told me that she saved me a "blender" that she inherited when Aaron's Grandpa passed away. Its not really a blender. It can grind wheat, make peanut butter, make soup, shred veggies and cheese and so much more. This thing can do anything. It is called a vita mix. This one has to be at least 30 years old. It looks very retro and is very very heavy. I was a little skeptical but so grateful that Jenny was so thoughtful to save it for me when she was able to upgrade to something else for her family. (She makes at least 1/2 a dozen loaves a week, while being pregnant with her 5th baby. She's amazing!) It will make my bread making so much better because I can grind the wheat fresh from the stored wheat our family already has. Well today I was able to grind wheat for the first time and it worked great! I couldn't believe it. Anna thought it was so neat to pour the wheat in and then in 3 minutes.... we had flour! Thanks Jenny for the Vita-Mix! I know I'm getting a little excited over bread, but I don't really have any talents like my other friends, so I have to show off my semi-impressive homemade bread!

Idaho Vacation

Tim McGraw

Before we left on our vacation, Aaron and I were able to go to a Tim McGraw concert. It was awesome! He sounded just as good live as he is on his CD's. He didn't look half bad either. :) Jason Aldean opened for him and was very good as well. A big thanks to Michelle for watching the girls so late for us.

Neat-o!

I came across this great website that will turn any photo into an antique that looks 100 years old. Its FREE so check it out
Here

He Passed!

A huge congrats to my awesome hubby who found out today that he is done with his CPA tests. Yeah!!! Technically he can't call himself a CPA until he passes an ethics exam, but the largest hurdle is done. What a huge relief for all of us, that these long months of studying has finally paid off. Great job Aaron. We are so proud and thankful for all your hard work. We love you!

The fruits of my labor

I know that my freezer jam will probably never compare to my mother's or my mother-in-laws, but when our ward had the chance to buy already washed, hulled, and sliced strawberries, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make jam. I split the 30 pounds with two other friends and boy and I glad I did. 10 pounds for our little family was plenty. Aaron is always trying to figure out a way to smuggle jam back from his mom's when we visit Idaho so I hope he'll settle for his wife's substitute.



Before

We had some left over so I guess we'll use the rest for smoothies.

The weather is finally starting to act like summer. We have some fun things planned. I am looking forward to spending time together as a family and making memories. Tomorrow night we are going camping over-night with some friends. Then next Wednesday Aaron and I are going to a Tim McGraw concert. Woo-whoo! I am so excited. We are on the 19th row, front and center.
It is my first concert ever if you can believe that and it should be a blast. Thanks ahead of time to Michelle for watching the girls so late for us! :)

Then on Saturday the 28th we leave for the Holy Land,(as Aaron calls it) I mean Idaho for a two week vacation. Yeah! We are so excited to see our friends and family!

Children's Museum

Last week I took the girls to the Children's Museum. We had a great time and the highlight of the day was when the girls were able to paint their faces. Cheese!

Hea-ven!!

Aaron's work sent out this ice cream treat to all their employee's and we are in Heaven. 6 pints of ben and jerry's ice cream, three toppings, and an ice cream scoop. I wish the weather was more like summer. Today was a high of only 56! Oh well :) I call the strawberry... and chocolate.. and ... :)

Family Hike

This past Saturday we went with some friends on a 2 mile "kid friendly" hike. We had a great time getting out enjoying a nice day and letting the kids burn off a little energy.

Brooklyn, Anna, Sterling, and Sage

Yummy snacks after a long hike

Daddy and his girls

Anna + Guitar heros = love

She actually doesn't really play guitar heros, she just likes to carry it around the house pretending to play it. Brooklyn came up to me the other day and asked, "Mom you wanna watch me rock?"

The many faces of Brooklyn

This has been a busy week. We had our last week of preschool until next year and it was bitter sweet. Anna really enjoys being with her friends and learning, but it will be nice to just have an open week with no commitments. Aaron was also busy with work of coarse but he also had a CPA exam on Saturday. It was his last one and we hope he passed because then we are done. Boy, what a long road with these 4 huge tests. I am so proud of him. He balances work, his calling (Ward mission leader) which keep him very busy, and his family. What a guy! We make a good team even though we don't see each other that much. Actually after his test Saturday we went with a few families from the ward and played ultimate Frisbee which was awesome. The weather was great and it was just nice to be out. Then we were able to go on a date together and make a quick trip to Best Buy to pick up guitar hero's for our Wii. (Aaron had b-day money from January stashed away) :)





I also wanted to post some funny pictures of Brooklyn. She is a sweet-heart and a joy. She always wants to cuddle and be sang too. She makes us laugh all the time with the funny things she says. Lately she's been saying "laster-time," (Anna's word for anything that has already happened) & also after anything she says, she'll say "Just kidding!" We love our Brookie.

Girls Pictures

Today my good friend Michelle took some pictures of the girls. She did such a wonderful job. In the past whenever we go to a studio the girls just freeze and never smile. They love "aunt Michelle" and smiled like crazy. The bribery with star bursts didn't hurt either.

Why I love being a mom

Boy do I love these little girls. I had tears in eyes today as I watched Anna sing I am a child of God in sacrament meeting. It is a song that I have sang to her since she was a week old, and it is very special to us both. Last night I couldn't help but smile when I was rocking Brooklyn before bed and she looked up and said, "Mommy, you're my best friend." I was beaming with joy until Aaron told me she told him the same thing earlier in the day. I guess we can both be her best friend. Her other new thing is to say everything is her favorite. At the zoo every animal we saw was her favorite. IE: "Mommy rhinoceroses are my favorite," "Mommy turtles are my favorite." At home it changes with food or books we're reading. Her little voice is just the sweetest. She is getting big so fast and is just so smart. I love being a mom and am trying each day to savor every moment.











A lady at Aaron's work gave him 2 tickets to a PBS Elmo play event on Friday night. Aaron made it a daddy daughter date with Anna and they had a great time. They were able to go to a pre-party where Anna was able to take pictures and hang out with some of the Sesame Street characters. She got free stuffed animals, stickers, & coloring books. She was in heaven. I wish Brook and I could have gone but Anna recieved some much needed one on one with dad.



On Friday Anna wanted her hair straight for the Elmo shin-dig. I am always amazed at how long it is straight.



Happy Mother's Day to you all! We have the most important job :)

Lucky Dogs

A couple of weeks ago Aaron had an end of busy season work party. Aaron and I went of coarse for the free food, a night out alone (thanks Rowe's :) ) and the great raffle. There were about 20 different brown bags on a stage with everything ranging from airline tickets,week-end trips, $250 dollar Coach gift certificate (Which I personally wanted to win so I could get a new bag. Aaron nixed that one pretty fast) free food, etc. Aaron's strategy was to place our 20 tickets all in the same bag to maximize our chances of winning. So, they all went in the Nintendo wii.
Sure enough, we won! I couldn't believe it. That bag had the most tickets in it out of all of them, so we were shocked. I keep telling Aaron that this is the most expensive prize we've ever won because now we have to go get another paddle, and num-chucks, along with about 6 other games that Aaron has on a list. He asked the other day if I wanted to get guitar hero's for my birthday. Nice try honey!

Update: We played our Wii for the first time last night and all I can say is Awe-some! We played each other boxing and I woke up sore this morning. What a work out. It really is so fun!

Zoo

Aaron only worked a half day today so we decided to take the girls to the zoo. It was great because the weather was nice, even though the animals weren't very active. They were all napping, but we still had a good time being together and feeding the birds.

Too Quiet

The other day Anna asked if she could paint at the table. I paused, thinking of the mess that would probably occure but agreed. I went back to my room to organize a few things when I realized after a while that she was way too quite. When I walked into the kitchen this is what I found. At least it wasn't on her clothes... or in her hair... or on the carpet :)