Mud Monster

I get so tired of TV, Wii and computer time and I'm always saying to 'go do something productive'. I don't know that this is the productive category but it difinitly did the job of occupying alot of time. Mike got out with them and dug the flippin thing in the dead of the afternoon heat.

We have a backyard of dirt that has yet to be landscaped. Hopefully for not much longer but for now it is the best dang mud pit you ever did see!
Can you even spot a little boy in there?


Oh there he is.




We finally coaxed clean little Joshua in too. But we had already put the camera away.




I'm realizing that it is about four times that big with canals connecting each 'pond'. They have done some work I guess.

I went and got boat kits from Michaels and had them build them to play with and still four days later they still go out and play for quite a while. And the group of mud monsters grows . Where there are little boys there are little boys' friends. Sorry to their moms. At least I make them take their shirts off! Would you shoot me if it was your child?

Book worms

First of all don't be fooled that this happens often. In fact it is why I grabbed the camera in the first place. It was too sweet for pass up. For little boys anyway. I do love that Isaiah can read really well now and Joshua asks him to read to him sometimes.


To make the mushy factor even better...they're reading Winnie the Pooh.


We do read for a little while every night. When Mike is home they always want him to read to them instead. This night was another sweet moment to me.

Tropical Paradise

I am the newest fan of Florida vacations. I realize how much I love tropical places and even though it's can't do a thing with your hair humid it's perfect for the lay under an umbrella by the pool and drink strawberry daiquiris vacation. Perfect!

We loved every second!

Here are pictures...with commentary of course.

Hardest part was leaving this cute face behind.



Airplane rides...I love 'em...and I'm loving the new movies while you fly idea...I feel like a kid in a minivan on a trip to SLC.


I feel totally spoiled with the hotels they put us in. The Waldorf was absolutely no exception. It was breathtaking.


Even cupcakes to welcome us....score!


First day we went touring. We went to the Tiffany stained glass museum. Sounds lame but oh no folks it was in.credible. Found a picture online for you. Imagine every penny sized piece of glass perfectly placed. People just don't do things like this anymore.



Outside the Morse Museum.


Next was a boat tour on three separate lakes connected by small canals where HUGE homes have the most incredible backyard views. They all have small boat houses that are mini versions of their homes. Totally cool. We saw a home Tom Hanks lived in and even the home THE Mr. Rogers lived in. I totally get...it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood because it is.

Biggest home was 23,000 square feet. Lots alone are $2 Million. I know. Seriously.

Can you imagine waking up to this everyday?





I totally have a thing for dessert and my favorite being anything raspberry and chocolate and at our yummy French restaurant there was this delectable yummy-ness!


Hi Vickie! One of my best childhood friends lived 30 minutes from our hotel and when she heard I was coming she wanted to meet up. So she brought her adorable family and we visited by the pool while the little kiddos swam.
Loved seeing her!


A full day of...


Being total dorks in our 3D glasses before Spiderman.


My favorite ride...Rip saw falls






And we did...like 'ring out your socks' wet. Total blast!


Of course the much anticipated Harry Potter that is every bit as awesome as we heard.


...and the butter beer...oh the butter beer. Wow. Never heard of it? It's like a rootbeer slush with butterscotch cream on top...brilliant people...brilliant.


I even braved The Hulk. It was um...intense is a good word.

It took me a good half hour to find my stomach afterwards.

I'm convinced that the people we were with are some of the coolest people on planet earth.

We kept each other out until wee hours of the morning taking full advantage of every hour we had away.

It was just purely perfect.

My blog idols!

You know from previous posts (which I deleted after the contest was over...why in the heck did I do that?) about my favorite blogs and well let's just say it....my decorating addiction. Well after the contest winner was chosen (obviously I didn't win) and I decided to breathe again I asked Mandi what it would take to get her to come to Santa Clara and help me with my house anyway and she actually wrote me back and said they would put together a Girl's Night Out with Brooke too!

Well that night just happened! And it was so much fun!!!!! I seriously didn't get any good pictures and I was lucky enough to have people with awesome cameras taking some.
So you get to go HERE & HERE to see all the fun.

A day I will not be forgetting any time soon!!! If you don't know my girls you MUST meet them.They were absolutely as darling in person as I imagined them to be. We will be seeing much more of each other very soon :) Yay! for me.

Brooke from All Things Thrifty
Mandi from Vintage Revivals.

Despite other terribly emotional things going on in my life right now I SO needed some time to focus on something I love so much and to meet girls that I adore!

They totally made the sunshine again and I feel so renewed.

4 months

Just got back from our 4 month check up and she's growing like a beanstalk!

She weighs 11 lbs now.

(Okay so typing it doesn't seem that big...but the girl barely weighed 5 lbs when she was born...to me she's big)

How can rolls be so cute on a baby? When exactly does the cuteness end? I only turn 27 this year does that make mine cute still? I ask as I'm sitting here dipping milks favorite cookie :)

She loves her fingers! She usually always has her left hand...maybe she'll be a lefty?

However, I love this stage where she can respond to me...hooray for smiles and goo's. I could listen to her goo all day...actually I do. She does it all the time. She chuckles like crazy too and that's all the boys try to get her to do now.

Sometimes she gets so excited and smiles so big she can't contain it!!!

Love this girl!!

Extreme violin

Alayna loves to just hang out. If she can see someone she's happy to chill for long periods of time...so that makes her a good audience for this...

It makes practicing more fun for him and entertains her...

And look she can even play herself :)

She even claps when he does a good job :)

Anyone who knows Isaiah knows that some sort of gymnastic move must be done when doing anything else. That doesn't change even playing his violin. Hey maybe it's the beginning of some new hip hop violin thing...maybe I should tell him to try breakdancing while he plays.

And one more for cuteness...cause I think she is.

Blessing

We got to bless Alayna yesterday. We wondered if we would because she had RSV a week before (which was miserable) but she was well enough when Sunday came around and we were so glad. We had family travel in long distances and were so grateful for their support. It was a wonderful day. I am so grateful for a husband who honors his priesthood and is able to perform things like this for our children. He is one in a million and I am SO lucky to have him!

I was so excited to go buy a blessing dress but Mike thought it would be so much more meaningful if I were to make it and so I did...not knowing quite how it would go.

I loved how it turned out!

I had a friend embroider it to look like my wedding dress.

Hopefully it will mean a lot to her when she's older.


I am fully aware how awful some of these pictures look...
It is definitely time for a new camera.



Family picture with my mom.

After the blessing we went back for some yummy-ness.

A very talented friend offered to make our cupcakes for us and they were absolutely divine! Strawberry cheesecake filled...Yum-o!!

(This is not them exactly but you had to have a visual ya know? They were THAT pretty.)



By the end we had worn her right out!

It was a beautiful day!