Happy 7th Birthday Brayden!

Brayden also turned 7 last Saturday, the 2nd day of the recital. We skipped the friend party this year because we had so many other things going on (recital, baby, etc). Greg took them swimming for a while in the morning. Then we had lunch and a little family birthday party. He loved his Magic Treehouse books from Grandma Sharlene. He had read all five of them by the next day. I think he's read each of them at least 3 times by now. He really loves to read.

 Tawny got him Jenga and he was pretty excited about it.

 He was pretty excited about his big present, which was from Greg, me Grandma Terri and Papa.

 A new bike!

 We ended with rainbow cupcakes, had a nap and went to recital. He's really loving his new bike.

Happy Birthday Bud. We love you!

Recital Time

This picture doesn't really fit with the rest but was too cute not to post. Ethan had been eating and apparently was too tired to even get down from the table.

 Last weekend was the kids' recital. Brayden did a tumbling routine to "Can't Touch This". He's all smiles in the pictures, but on stage he was more focused than anything else. I've never seen a kid so determined to nail every one of his skills. And he did! I'm so proud of him. There was only one other first grader in his class. The rest were all 2nd-4th grade and I was a little worried about him keeping up. But he had no problems at all. He is so focused and detail oriented.  A perfectionist just like him mommy. And he loves it, which is the most important of all.

Tawny loves everything about dance. She loves that her grandma is her teacher. She loves class and learning new things. She loves the stage, the performance, the lights, the costumes, everything.  She was so adorable up on stage and she knew her dance really well. And she had so so so much fun.

Park Fun

A few weeks ago we walked over to the park for a picnic. Well, Greg and the kids walked. I drove since I was about 37 weeks pregnant and not feeling up to it. Ethan even rode all the way over on Brayden's plasma car. It's just under a mile each way and he loved the entire thing.

 I need to get a video of him riding this thing. He's fast!

 Earlier in the day I had to run a bunch of errands and really needed the kids to cooperate. So I used my awesome parenting skills and bought them Frostys to keep them entertained. I think it worked because they were all awesome. It was well worth the mess Ethan made.

Canning Apricots

We made apricot jam yesterday. Brayden and Tawny both helped the entire time. They cleaned, pitted and cut the apricots for 47 quarts of jam! They didn't even mention being tired until about 5 hours in. They had fun and were willing to help out, and I really appreciated it. Ethan even "helped" (he splashed water out of the sink and through apricots everywhere)  Greg came home halfway through and took over the stove for me.  I don't think I could have done it without them. I'm pretty sure I would have quit way earlier if I hadn't had so much help. It was a tiring but very enjoyable day. 

Monday with Grandma and Papa

Right after school on Monday we went out to Grandma and Papa's for the rest of the day. We started out by picking peas (which I am still shelling and freezing. so much fun- not really.)  The kids had fun for about 10 minutes then were ready to move onto the next activity. I'm not sure how many they actually picked, but I"m pretty sure they ate every single one of them. After that they played in the water while my mom flood irrigated her yard.

 After that we had a bbq outside. Watching Ethan eat his watermelon with a fork was one of the most entertaining things I've done in quite a while.

 We rounded out the evening with Fun Dips on the hammock with Papa and Grandma. I'm so glad my kids have the opportunity to grow up around at least one set of grandparents. I wish it were possible to have both sides close by.

Work, Graduation and a wedding

The third week of April was a busy one. I flew up to Washington on Sunday to work for the entire week. We are changing broker dealers and Dan (my boss) hired a new secretary so I went up to help for the week. I can't tell you how excited I am to have someone there full time now. It takes so much pressure off of me. 

Greg and my dad drove up with all the kids on Friday. I can only imagine how much fun that was. 9 hours and three kids. Greg says they were really good so I just have to take his word for it. Friday was Steven's graduation. I'm so proud of him! I remember how awesome it felt to finally be done

We had a party at Steven and Ashley's house afterward and spent the rest of the day there. It was really grat to relax and spend time with family.

 just as an fyi, there will be no more pictures of me posted on this blog until after the baby is born.

 on Saturday Austin and Kristen were sealed at the Provo Temple. Somehow I managed not to get any pictures of them. But I did get one of all our family there. Afterward we went to the reception/luncheon which was beautiful. Now four out of five of my parent's kids are married.

Baby Shower

I did a baby shower for my friend Erica a few weeks ago. We used mostly brown and white, with yellow accents. I made the invitations using my silhouette. I personalized them by adding the baby's name along the border on the left side. They were all different as far as the paper, but I felt like they all coordinated well.. I didn't have enough paper on hand to do them all the same.

It was supposed to be outside, but we had to move it inside at the last minute because of the wind. It was a tiny bit more crowded than I would have like, but it still worked well and looked nice.

 We did a brunch and leaned more heavily toward breakfast foods. The menu was mini muffins in 5 different flavors, strawberry yogurt parfaits, banana bread with nutella and strawberries, quiche, strawberries in chocolate bowls and donut holes. The food all turned out really yummy.

I made this walling hanging for Erica's present. Since her nursery is the same color palate as the shower I used it in the decor. I painted the background and used vinyl to add the lettering over the top.

The rest of the decor was very simple. I used burlap for table runners, and fresh flowers. This arrangement was my favorite.

 One pic of Erica with her mother-in-law who crocheted that beautiful blanket.