Utah Vacation

We went to Ut in March for Paul's sister's wedding and stayed longer to play with Grandpa Nielsen

 He gave the kids horse rides.

 Took us bowling and beat us all! 

Erik kept hoping for a strike, but just got spares, or gutters :)

 Paul took some time to teach the kids a few 'Life' lessons.

 We went to the cool new City Creek mall in SLC. It was so awesome!

 This was at H&M, I think this is my new favorite store, great prices!

 The fountains at City Creek were beautiful and even put on a show to music, so awesome!

 WE stopped in at the Disney Store so Jillian could ride Maximus from Tangled.

 Then off to the food court for a treat and let the kids play in the Dinosaur theme play area.

 So happy to be inside an egg.

 We sure loved playing with Alia, she didn't seem to mind us much until we came near her toys-sounds like she's 2 huh. She gave me the BEST hug before we left, it was so sweet!

 Grandpa also took us to the Tree House Museum. I could spend DAYS at this place. It was so fun!

 There were trains, dinosaurs, music instruments, a real tree house.

 And a medical area where Jillian joined the babies in the nursery and I spent some time reviewing the x-rays they had for the kids to look at :)

 This "Camelot" exhibit was so cool. Check out King Paul and his beautiful Princess Jillian.

 Erik also loved playing with the castle toys here too. But the Lego's drew him away.

 And this arch display drew me away. I built this with some other kids, it was way fun!

We had a great time visiting family and playing in UT, it was so nice to have a long trip! We miss you guys!

Happy Birthday Jillian

On March 25 we celebrated Jillian's 1st Birthday!!

 We sure love our little princess so we decided to have a princess party with her cousin Alia who turned 2 on March 24th.

 This was the cake which inspired it all...the tutu's, princess crowns and dresses. Jamie and I had a great time putting the cake together and it turned out great!

 What a cute girl! Erik made that bracelet she's wearing. 

 Now to the eating of the cake!!! Yummy!

 Jillian likes chocolate, like any girl does, but she seemed to really enjoy the fondant hearts.

 So Paul put one on her tummy. She doesn't look too messy but she was really covered with sugar, so off the bath she went.

 Erik wanted to join the bathtub party, but we said no, then as we got Jillian in the tub, we turned around and Erik was naked! Well I guess you can hop in then buddy. :)

Thanks to; Jamie for the cute crown and shirt, Grandma and Grandpa for great clothes and books, she loves them!

Up's and Down's

Around here we are sometimes happy and sometimes sad, almost daily we go on this emotional roller coaster. But that's life right? It's full of ups and downs:

UP

I like helping you unpack and being in the suitcase, ready for our next trip.

DOWN

No, I changed my mind! I don't wanna go!

But she fits so nicely :)

 UP

I like helping you with dishes, 

especially when I can build my own towers for Spiderman to climb and swing from!

 DOWN

I don't wanna eat my dinner! Ever! Why do you people keep trying to feed me dinner, I never like it.

Mom's even down, resting from the dinner drama.

 UP

Erik's asleep!

In the UPRIGHT position. 

Wow must have been tired.

 DOWN

 Too bad it's 5:30pm and bedtime is supposed to be in 2 1/2 hours. grrr 

 UP and DOWN

Yes Jillian's bum is up and her head is down. 

I think this is so cute, don't know why she started it or where she got it from, it's just so funny I had to get a picture! And the sweetie pie even did it when I asked so I could catch the picture. :)

 Well that's enough ups and downs for now. Let's talk about St. Patrick's Day!
We had a fun day, started with Lucky Charms-a magically delicious breakfast!

 Then Jillian and I went to a Stake Women's conference, wonderful! And Paul and Erik went to a Scout training. Then we met back up and started working on our grass-it needs some TLC. So we headed to Zamzow's for some professional help to green-up our lawn. It was a lot of hard work, our arms were tired, but the weather co-operated and hopefully in a week or so we'll get some grass to grow!

 We all sported our green apparel yesterday too.

Aren't we Lucky to have such cute kids! I sure love them despite the ups and downs.

PS Erik made that shamrock necklace at the pre-school he'll be attending this fall. We stopped in to check the place out on Friday and the teacher had this project for him to make with the other kids. We both like the preschool and are very excited for it to start in the fall!

Showers and fun

My friend let us burrow this jump-a-roo. Jillian liked it at first, but now she likes playing with the toy on it and not being in it.

 One night Jillian was fussing at dinner, I gave her this pepper and she quieted down and was happy to chew on it. That was fine until she started choking on all the pieces she had bitten off-yeah, no more peppers for her until she has more teeth. Which won't be too long, she almost has 6 teeth now(4 on top, once the left front tooth comes in, and 2 on bottom) The drool and running nose are almost constant around here.

 A few weeks ago I hosted with my sisters a Baby Shower for my SIL Carrie.

 Kim had the great idea to get a cake from the famous 'cake lady' oh so yummy and beautiful!

 It's Carrie and baby Kellen! 

 She got lots of great gifts; blankets, burp cloths, clothes, lots of BSU stuff. I only caught this car seat cover that I made her before my camera's battery ran out.

 Josie came over one day to give her mom, Carrie, a break while she was on bed rest. Luckily baby Kellen was born 3/8/12, 6lbs 6oz and cute as a button! So no more bed rest for Carrie and no NICU for Kellen, we feel so blessed!

 Erik and Jillian playing around. It's nice to see Erik giving the horse rides around here :)

 Erik's looking for a body of water to float in. Silly kiddo...

 ...it made Jillian smile though.

 For FHE one night we made CTR pretzels. They turned out very yummy-I think we almost ate the entire recipe. Fun family night.
This past weekend we went to UT to visit family and go to Laurie's Bridal Shower! she gets married in less than 2 weeks! We're so happy for her!

 She got a calming water fountain for her house...

 ...beautiful hand made temple plaque for her walls...

 ...pink tools just for her! John can't use those, cuz they're pink!

And an awesome griddle among other great gifts from family and friends! We had a great time!
That's what we've been up to. I'm actually caught up on the blog for once, it's a miracle :)

Valentine's time

So to get ready for Valentine's we made a heart wreath for FHE with things we love about each other on each heart. I was making the hearts using a black color pencil to draw hearts, while cutting the hearts out, Jillian wanted to sit w/me, so I let her play with the pencil...

 Ya see the black streak on her for-head, above her left eye?

 Yup, I guess we could call this her first make-up experience or face drawing.

 Jillian loves to crawl under our kitchen table and find our dinner left-overs to eat. She's a cutie.

 A few days ago, I was doing the dishes one morning while Jilllian played in the kitchen w/me. She found our paper products drawer and went to town with the spoons! She also found a handfull of craft sticks and enjoyed throwing each of them onto the floor.

 She was sooo happy to pull out the spoons and play with them. I thought to myself, "I know what you're getting for your birthday Jillian, plastic spoons! Thanks for making Birthday shopping for you as easy as adding an item to my grocery list."

 My sister Deanna, and I got together to make Valentine sugar cookies. Since I have SO MANY different cookie cutters we tried out the football shape ones-this was before Super Bowl Sunday. And I even had a race car and racing flags(Deanna's husband is BIG into NASCAR)

 It's always so fun to make sugar cookies with Deanna!

 On Valentine's day we gave the kids some small gifts. Erik got this inflatable spiderman toy. Unfortunately it had a large hole in it-so he really got a spiderman toothbrush-which he loves!

 I got Pawly a Scotty McCreery CD, we saw him in concert w/Brad Paisley in January. He got me some wonderful Bath and Body works lotions. :)

 And we brought this puppy toy to life with some new batteries for Jillian. This toy has been hidden away for a few years since Erik out grew it...

 ...or maybe he still likes it. :)  Jill really likes it!

All in all we had a wonderful Valentine's! We got to go dancing! See a wonderful movie, THE VOW, we HIGHLY RECOMMEND this movie, sooo good! and we went out to eat, alone, on a date! It was GREAT!