Neat-o!

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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 :)

Finally... A nice day!

This week-end we finally had some nice weather so we hit the park. It was a treat to have Aaron home as well. We played on the play structure, Anna rode her bike and we fed the ducks. It was a great day.








I had to include this picture of Aaron BBQ-ing burger. We had the elder's over for dinner and the burger turned out great. PS: He does still have his eye brows :)

Snow !?!?

We've had pretty crummy weather the last little while. I can't remember the last time we've seen the sun for longer than an hour. Saturday it actually started to snow. I couldn't believe it! Anna thought it was great while it lasted. Where is Spring?



Can you see Aaron's red truck? We're selling it this summer. Any takers? :)

Daddy's Salon

Last week Aaron braided Anna's hair in a ton of little braids all over her head. I was surprised that she sat so still and was equally impressed with Aaron's skills as well. The joy of daughters :) Don't quit your day job though honey!

Hola Senorita!

For one of Anna's preschool field trips, we toured a local Mexican restaurant's kitchen and had a free lunch. They showed the kids how they make tortillas and they all got free sombreros. The girls were so excited for the hats and wore them around the house for days.

Biggest Looser Geek

Well we are still very sick at our house. My cold went from bad to worse. I had the flu and a sinus infection going on about 8 days now. The girls are now sick and we had a long night last night with Anna and the croup. Yaaaaaa! When is it going to end. One thing that has eased the monotony of being stuck at home was that my favorite show had its finale last night. I love the biggest looser, and my mom and I have watched religiously for a few seasons now. I think that it is so inspirational and neat to see the transformations of all the contestants. Aaron really doesn't like it but oh well. I have one friend who says she doesn't like it because a woman has never won. I think beause usually the men just have more weight to loose so they end of having the highest percentage of weight loss. Well last night that all changed. I wanted to post a before and after of the winner. She lost 114 lbs! Now $250,000 richer!

Another Cold

Well a quick update. I hate to complain but I've caught another cold. The last one lasted almost the whole month of March. Then I was better for a week and then BAM... Sunday morning I woke up out of the blue sick again. I don't get it. I am the one always making sure I am eating well, taking my vitamins, exercising and trying to get enough sleep. I don't think mom's should be allowed to get sick. It's not like the world can stop because you don't feel good. Meals still need to be cooked, dishes to be done, Anna run to preschool, bums wiped (right when I was about to doze off for an afternoon snooze), and constant mediation between head strong little girls. Everytime I cough Brooklyn says, "Mommy no carfing," In our family the girls went through a phase where when they coughed so hard they would throw up. Now they've blended, cough and barf, and came up with carfing. Its pretty funny to hear her little voice come from the corner of the house asking if I'm ok.


My life was greatly blessed yesterday when my dear friend Adrianna offered to bring me dinner. I need the recipe by the way (Yummy sloppy Joe's) :) Aaron was so much help on Sunday but that is pretty much the only day he is home right now so I'm in survival mode. I call me sister Angie a lot and we lament about how things stink. Me with a bad cold, her being pregnant and so sick with her third, needing a break more than anyone. I still try to count my blessings. I have pictures to post but have to wait for Aaron to post them. Keep checking!