In a few days of fun...

HELLOOOOO SUMMER!! I'm in heaven. I'm a summer girl. I don't mind winter but I can't stand being cooped up in the house. Let me see sunshine and feel the UV rays on my face. Mike jokes that the only yard work I do is laying out. How can I lie? He's so right. However, this weekend I did weed a few areas to get them ready for planting flowers and veggies. That was hard work.

So I have started working just 3 days a week. Dare I say...I LOVE IT!!! Mike is wincing because with being off more I'm sure he thinks I must have to spend more...not always true though. I think :) I have Fris and Mons off. It makes for a very nice long weekend - each week. With the weather so absolutely gorgeous this weekend we sure made good use of the outdoors. Saturday we went to the zoo. Our neighbor is a "cat trainer" so she got us half off season tickets. I'm sure we'll be going there a lot this year and I won't bore you with pictures over and over again (well, maybe). Matt's family joined us and Heidi was watching Cooper so they came too. It was a little breezy and slightly chilly while we were there but then we went to Sugarhouse Park for a little picnic and it was beautiful. The kids loved the zoo and running wild in the lush, soft, green grass. I had some girlfriends over to scrapbook that night and that, my friends, is always laughter at it's best. Next came yard work and just plain enjoying the sunshine. Pulled out the firepit and roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. Reagan and I also went to the aquarium that is by our house....um, kind of boring for me in that it took 20 minutes to walk through but Reagan loved it and we had to kill some more time. She, however, wasn't too fond of the stingray that floated up and flapped water all over her. Pretty much ended our journey in that part of the building. While she napped I, um, well, what did I do.......then we went to the park and flew her $1 kite from Wal Mart. Best kite ever!! Flies up in a hurry and stays there. No crashing down or trying impossibly to get the thing up. Gotta love Wal Mart. Out comes the BBQ grill, flip flops, capris and sunglasses. Summer is here my friends so let's enjoy it.

Swingin'


Flyin' Mickey


She looks thrilled, right? (Aquarium)

Easter

The best thing about any holiday is begin surrounded by family. Cousins take the cake. Throw in a little Easter Egg Hunt in the freezing cold, play time, eating, and lots and lots of sugar. Makes for a fun-filled weekend.
A conversation between two cousins

Uh, is this all that's in this thing?


Fav item left by the Bunny - purple sparkles flip flops - all else forgotten

This would be a pile up

My Buddy Bart

Rea & Emmett (he on the other hand - no)

Tub fun with Ella

Savana & Malia

Reagan holding Baby Sawyer (and Kennedy wanting out)

Rea, Coop & Kennedy (almost impossible to get a good smiley photo of kids)

Although you can tell from the picture...this wasn't funny to someone...but it was certainly funny for me. Reagan is bathing and I'm down cleaning the kitchen. I hear this hysterical screaming and go running up there....and immediate bust up laughing and run get the camera. We've had this silly shape able soap thing from Bath & Body Works since Christmas and never has it worked. However, she would dig it out of the trash whenever I attempted to throw it away. Apparently, it had enough pressure built up from all the attempts at getting the yummy smelling blueberry stuff out, that on this fine night of bathing, it totally exploded. Soap was spraying in the air, all over the tub, the room, and especially Reagan. While I was laughing, she was crying. One man's pain is another man's pleasure. She doesn't think these pictures are funny. She doesn't even want to see them. Me, well I share them with all so we can laugh together.

It's Your Birthday

Happy Happy Birthday my handsome husband. He turns 36 today. (He's a guy...what does he care about age right? smile) Saturday we had his sister Sara and her kids, my brother Matt and family, and sister Heidi over for a little BBQ celebration. In celebration of his birthday, here are a few fun facts. He loves: all things (books, music, etc) on 80's music & hairbands, Diet Coke, his daughter, his wife and family, my chicken enchiladas, fishing, camping, hiking, and going to concerts. His favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption, ice cream-vanilla. He can mostly play the guitar, cooks wonderfully, and cleans even better. He is definately an early riser and a morning person (I am complete opposite). I love that he is a loving, funny, caring father and that after all these years (17!!) he still loves to go on dates with me, spend time alone, and talk for hours about random things. I love that he loves my family and is such an example to others. Happy Birthday Sweetie. We love you.
Cooper and Reagan "assisting" in the candle blowing. Ever since Cooper had a snake cake Reagan wanted Mike to have one too. Mike just wanted cupcakes though and I was glad I didn't have to attempt the snake. It was easy to line up the cupcakes :)

Mike's best gift....Yvette's yummy granola bars

Baby It's Cold Outside

Although Sunday was a blustery, winter of a day, this child wore her new Princess bathing suit she uncovered all day- inside. Happy and warm as can be.

First Pet

I imagine, if we would count the nights that we actually have slept through since Reagan was born....it wouldn't be very many!! She's a terrible sleeper. She was the baby that maybe catnapped a few times a day and then was up every few hours. Sometimes she will wake up every night for weeks. It's exhausting. No wonder we always have bags under out eyes. There are many things we would do different the next time around as far as trying to alleviate the baby portion of it but part of it is probably just genetics too. I'm not that great of a sleeper, neither are most in my family. So, to make sense of all that rambling....we bribed Reagan that if she slept for an ENTIRE week without waking up in the middle of the night we would get her a goldfish. Since we aren't dog people this was the next best thing! Needless to say the day we went and got the fish.....SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE ENTIRE THING!! Yes, slept ! She woke up just as we were in the car coming home but she was able to help dad get them from the bag to the bowl. It's been 4 days and they are all still alive. I'm sure one post will have to be the "fish floating on the top drama" but for now she is doing good feeding them and talking to them to keep them happy. Oh, and their names are Nemo, Nemo and Nemo :O)

Two weekends ago I went with my sister Jessica to Island Park. We staying in a friends cabin and just got away for the weekend. We did pretty much what the first picture entails....lots and lots of scrapbooking, cardmaking, a little sewing, lots of country music videos and against Jessica's will Food TV :) It was gorgeous the first few days but Sun/Mon were cold and snowy and we were glad that we didn't get snowed in. It was a relaxing few days.

Too Cheap for Real Headphones

This picture was from last summer but I was emptying out our pictures and thought I'd post it. Isn't it great! Those are the DVD speakers in the car but this was how she preferred to listen.

Sugar Anyone???

What a blast! Saturday was Reagan's first "Tea Party" x 2. Invites went out to all her girlie friends, and the day was etched in sugar. This week was all about preparing Reagan for her first tea parties. Menu was made, decorations hung, wardrobe designed. Saturday morning was excitement and anticpation.




The munchin guests and their caretakes arrived and the party began. Tiara's were placed, the girls had "tea" accompanied by sugar cubes, and an array of munchies. They made little crafts, decorated cookies, danced to the music, and filled their sweet little veins with even more sweetness.

Kennedy, Katie, Rea, Cambree & AnnLea (Sophia and Zoe must have been running around wild?!



Kennedy

Cambree & Reagan decorating cookies


We love all of our friends and Reagan's little buddies. Thanks everyone for humoring my need to provide any and all sort of entertainment to our children.
After the date was set for Reagan's party, we received an invitation for a birthday party from one of her little buddies from school. Carly was turning three....and having a Tea Party!! Oh my. Can we do two, without a nap, and possibly a sugar crash? Sure, you are only 3 once right! So out the door our guests rushed, potty, fixing of the hair, adjusting the tutu, and we were off to another party. We arrived at Carly's house to find a cute little table all set up for tea. Cups, hats, jewelry, and tiny tiny delicate gloves. I'm in LOVE!! They ate cute sandwiches, fruit, cake, and sipped on yummy tea. Ran around like wild boys and finally......the crash. (I'll not fill you in on the terrible, cranky, crying night).

And to sum it all up...

Monster Advice

Ok, I need help. It's about the monsters. They are EVERYWHERE!! We are surrounded by them in our house apparently. Behind doors, in the bed, under the pillow. They have eyes too. Big red eyes. They have been blue, hairy, and angel looking(yeah, weird). It started a several weeks back when Reagan was weirding me out with "seeing people". Well, it's developed from there into infamous "Monsters". Oh boy! It's been a few weeks of sleepless nights. She wakes up 2 or 3 times screaming bloody murder that the monsters are going to get her. Um, at first it's cute, then it's just plain irritating! Loss of sleep, loss of comforting. The lights go on so she can see there is nothing. Mike had her smash the one under her pillow, and last night I locked them outside. Crud. Still awoken. Seriously...I need ideas. Someone told me about monster spray. Good idea but she loves spray bottles and soon the carpet would be saturated. Any advice welcome :O) Happy Monster Hunting.

To cut or not to cut...that is the question!!

Well, for the past 6 months I've been talking about chopping Reagan's hair off. I have never (and I mean never, like not even with a pair of my own scissors), trimmed or cut her hair. Gross huh!! Every time I washed it, it was a tangled mess. Desperately in need of a cut. I really, really wanted to chop it off into a "bob" because I think little girls look SO cute with styled hair (and I'm thinking it would be easier than fighting her for the "one pony" ugly do every morning). Well I took her on Monday for the first cut!! I didn't get very good pictures because I was so preoccupied with worrying and then got a little nervous that "Melanie" the stylist would think I was weird if I was snapping shots the whole time. We arrived at Cookie Cutters which is a kid-only salon type place. Overpriced but lots of motion going on and I figured she would do good. She got to sit in a car and pick out a movie. She was nervous and wanted to leave when we first went in there and we had to wait because it was packed (can you imagine taking 4 kids to get their haircut there...$100 later!). After she got back there she was fine....and I was a nervous Nelly!! Rambling on about her hair and how should we cut it and my husband would get so mad if I cut it off, etc. She talked me out of it anyway because she loved Reagan's hair and said she has lots of curl coming in underneath and I would probably have to blow dry it every day to make it look cute and heck, I can BARELY get myself ready and her half dressed and off to school/work in the morning there was no way, no how I wanted to add to my busy morning!! So ta-da.....3 inches of hair cut off and her new hair do. She was proud as a peacock about her hair cut (even though it's basically the same), the balloon, and her car she sat in.

Catching up.....

It seems like forever since I've "blogged". Well, actually, it seems like forever since any of my friends have blogged. Is everyone too busy with facebook :O)
It's so hard to believe March crept in. I'm listening to the wind howling outside but the sun is shining even though it's probably only 40 degrees out there. I didn't realize how anxious I am for spring. Warmer weather, green grass, and flowers a plenty. Plus just taking Reagan out on my days off and on the weekends is huge. Kids get so crazy in the winter! Those poor teachers.
We are all doing well. We have FINALLY finished most of the mini-remodel job we were working on. Mike's dad came down a few weekends ago and they busted out the fireplace job which looks wonderful. Thank goodness for dads that know so much. The next weekend I traveled to Idaho with Reagan to visit family, so Mike could finish odds and ends around the house. It looks so wonderful (even though I still have a lot to hang up and put away). I love sitting in the living room and feeling like I have a brand new house. No more projects for a while. It's catch up on craft things, yard things, etc.
Reagan is as crazy as ever. They change and learn so much each day it's just amazing. Their little brains are the biggest sponge ever! I often think how we will survive the "2" but I hear the "3" is worse....can it possibly be!! In spite of her trying our patience, being so stubborn to boot (which Mike blames on me), she can turn into the goofiest, silliest kid in seconds. She is so much like Mike in that department. If she knows you are getting slightly mad, she turns on the silly charm and makes it so hard not to laugh - which in turn is terrible in trying to get her to think you are serious! Here are a few pictures of life the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Before

Middle of..

After (w/out grout and mantle!)

Puddin' Face (ever wonder how a little girl can be so sloppy)

These are from a few weeks ago when Heidi took the girls to Tracy Aviary. The girls loved it and Reagan asked frequently if she can go back.


Reagan's cute new playroom which is far from done so this is the only view you get!