CALIFORNIA

On Wednesday, a couple of weeks ago, I was driving through so much snow you would have thought it was January in Alaska. Just a couple days later we were basking in the warm sun out by the pool in Bakersfield, CA. The grass was green, the trees were green and it was so warm! 103 degrees one day! We loved going to California for a week and a half and we were all sad to leave.

Potty stop on the road. (This potty is brought along only in case of emergencies if we are in the middle of nowhere on the road. Barstow is the middle of nowhere right?)
In the pool on the 103 degree day. Lovin Bako! Brie spent hours in the hot tub EVERY DAY!
Sitting out at Davin's baseball game on a warm Bakersfield evening. Perfect!
New baby Lila.
We got to be there for my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday to her. She did it right with banana splits for her birthday treat.
Last year the fam showed us the cowboy side of Bakersfield with Buck Owens Crystal Palace. It was great. This year we went more to the Mexican side and loved it. That is just what I know and love about B-town. The Ranch Market was the best. It was Taco Tuesday and I don't think we could have been happier than with all those delicious tacos and tons of Horchata!Mom tried to do something to help Ava's head of hair. Thank you. It definitely looks better.
Ava and Piko (the dog) had a very special relationship from the moment we arrived. Ava would hug her, kiss her, lay on her, chase her around and Piko seemed to put up with it pretty well. They spent a lot of time in the backyard with Ava throwing things (maybe 2 feet) and Piko chasing them.
We stayed in Las Vegas on the drive home to break things up a bit. We thought it would be fun to show the girls the lights on the strip. Wow! Things have changed around there. Definitely not a family friendly atmosphere. We stayed at the Stratosphere (for $29, thank you Priceline) and in the morning we swam in the pool overlooking Vegas and then went to the top of the Stratosphere. Brie called it a big cupcake and was thrilled to go up into the cupcake. It was quite a view, but too bad cupcakes weren't served.
Then back home to Utah only to find a total and complete JUNGLE in our front yard. Seriously. The grass was so thick and tall. See if you can tell how tall it is on Brie from the clump Scott left after cutting it. Now the grass is cut, laundry is done, fridge and cupboards are filled and lots of phone calls have been made (still more to go) and we are back to normal. We had such a great vacation to California. Can't wait for next time!

Shhhhhh . . . . The Babies Are Sleeping!

One afternoon as I walked through the house I noticed how many babies Brie had put to bed and were sleeping . . . . EVERYWHERE. These are some I found.

Asleep with Brie's favorite purple blanket.
White bear asleep in the laundry basket.
This one is kinda creepy. Her favorite baby is in the cradle with the beautiful roses she bought at the dollar store.
Then when we were at Brian and Rachel's all of their babies were wrapped in blankets and put to bed as well, including Wally The Green Monsta.
I guess this one got to stay up to play lullabies to the others.

Easter

Our Easter weekend really was a great one! We were lucky to be with lots of friends and family. Saturday morning we met up with some friends and their kids for an Easter egg hunt at the Presbyterian Church. Wow. They do a good job! We loved it. There were lots of kids and lots of eggs. Some of the eggs even had prizes. After the hunt we went in for face painting, crafts (make your own cross necklace), egg dying and breakfast. We'll be back every year.That evening we had a delicious soup dinner with Grandma, Papa and the Laura and Alan family from NY. The cousins got to dye Easter eggs together. Sooooooo careful. Every one of Brie's eggs were hot pink.
Tawna helping Ava color on an egg before dying it.
Laura and Abby (with a double ear infection, but still looking cute).
That night we did some cut outs for Primary the next day and set out Easter baskets. I even attempted making bunny footprints on the carpet with flour.The excitement in the morning was CRAZY! Brie was so excited that the Easter Bunny really came and Ava was THRILLED that she got to shove candy in her mouth!Brie got two new games - Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Elefun! She even got her own Book of Mormon to hold up in Primary when we sing "Scripture Power".
We went off to church and the girls were in their matching Easter dresses. This is best picture I got. It is absolutely impossible for the two of them to look at the camera. Primary went wonderfully. I was so happy with how everything turned out and all that was said and felt. Perfect!We ended the day right with a WONDERFUL dinner at Brian and Rachel's house with more cousins. Being at Annabelle and Clara's house with them is Brie's own personal heaven.We hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

This is what trails Ava everywhere she goes.

Sad, Sad Ava

Ava has had some sad days. Honestly, no lie, not one of us in this house have been at all sick since we went to Boston last August. We went over 6 months without throwing up, without a fever, without a sniffle . . . . UNTIL . . . . last Sunday night when Ava woke up in the middle of the night with croup! She had a deep cough and couldn't breath well. I spent some time between 1:30am and 3:30am with her in the steam in the bathroom. Then we spent some time bundled up outside watching the snowfall. This TOTALLY brought her breathing back. Amazing. Scott spent some time with her at the E.R. After a steroid the next day she recovered VERY quickly.Brie has remained her usually charming self and didn't get any cough or sniffle from Ava . . . UNTIL . . . last night when she threw up all over her bed at midnight. I have no idea what was wrong. She is perfectly fine now, but loves to tell Ava how sick she is. (P.S. I think someone is going to have teach this girl about BYU's honor code if she wants to continue supporting the school.)

Another cause for sadness . . . . Maestro, the dog, is gone. Ava and Brie ADORED that little dog. He really is so cute and we all loved him, but after 2 weeks, he went back to his original owners (who were thrilled to have him back). The top 5 reasons:

1. He barked every night for an hour when we put him to bed. He barked every morning from 4am on until we got him out of bed. That might have changed as he got used to our house, but the night we were up in the middle of the night with a sick Ava he barked and barked and barked. We will always be up in the night, especially with a new baby. I can't have a dog barking every time he hears us up.

2. He chewed on all of the girls toys that were left on the ground. We had a pile of chewed up toys from him. Brie would always get upset and try to get them back. One day he was chewing on a water bottle lid and Brie went up to pet him. He thought she was taking away his toy (and I'm sure was tired of little girls all over him) and turned around and bit her hand.

3. Ava would get handfuls of his food (all day), swish it around in his water and follow him around the house and feed it to him. There was water everywhere. Dog food everywhere. Her pajamas were also always filled with dog food.
4. Ava loved EVERYTHING about the dog. She followed him EVERYWHERE! She always said "Come on doggy!" if she wanted him to follow. She said "Bye Bye doggy" every time she went up to bed. She hugged him, she kissed him, she rolled around with him. The problem was when she wanted to play with him. She would pull on his hair or ears or tail. I felt like I was yelling all day for Ava to be soft, Ava stop pulling his ears, Maestro put that toy down, etc. etc.

5. The dog liked to hump Ava.

Bye, bye doggy. We gave it a good try. Maybe it will work when our kids are older.

Easter Sunday in Primary

I've realized through a couple of my posts how many of you are in Primary at church like I am. I'm in charge of Sharing Time on Easter Sunday and am VERY excited about what we will be doing. I find that Sharing Time is often quite entertaining and fun, but this Sunday I'd like there to be a real feeling of what a special day it is and a real remembrance of Jesus Christ. So, I thought I'd share just in case anyone else is trying to put together something for Primary on Sunday. (I always appreciate getting to copy other people's ideas.)

Walking in Jesus Footsteps

The kids will all go to class first and then come into Primary for the third hour (combined). They will walk into the primary room and all the chairs will be cleared away, it will be quiet except a CD of "Come Follow Me" playing. There will be paper cut outs of footprints along the floor.

They will find 5 people dressed up in the room. They'll follow the footprints to the first person and sit down around her. This person is dressed as and will act as a person that was in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. She will tell of seeing Jesus ride buy on a donkey and what she felt and saw. We will then sing "Tell Me The Stories of Jesus".

They will follow the footsteps to the next person. He is one of the apostles that was at the last supper. He will tell of Jesus offering them bread and wine and all that happened and was felt. We will sing "Love One Another".

The next person they go to is an apostle that waited in the Garden of Gethsemane. He will tell of waiting and seeing Jesus suffering and trying to stay awake, etc. We'll sing "I Feel My Savior's Love".

The next person is an apostle (probably John) that was there when Jesus was condemned and crucified. We'll sing "Beautiful Savior".

The last person will be Mary. She will tell of seeing Jesus resurrected and touching his hands and feet. We'll sing "Did Jesus Really Live Again".

I might say a few things, help them recognize the spirit and then say a prayer and be done. I'm so excited to see how it all goes. I hope it is a beautiful experience.

Spring in Utah

Our spring weather has been CRAZY! I guess that is what I should expect here. I talk to my family at home though and all I hear is how it's so sunny and warm and they are nursing sun burns. What? We have a beautiful day followed by a blizzard! This is our spring:

Saturday was gorgeous. We went to our friend's art show and then to the park. We walked by the river, flew kites, played on the toys and had a great day outside. We even went to an outdoor wedding reception that night and it was beautiful.
THE VERY NEXT MORNING it was snowing so hard! It snowed and snowed all day on Sunday. And then it snowed and snowed all day again today. Brie still wanted to have a picnic at the beach (we were stuck home all day because Ava has croup). The girls got in their bathing suits, we made a picnic lunch, ate on our beach towel, listened/danced to Reggae music . . . . . . and watched the snow come down out the window. Again I'll say, can't wait to get to Cali!