Preschool Field Trip to the Zoo

For preschool we took the kids on a field trip to the zoo. The zoo is a great place. Kids love seeing animals and it is so much fun to watch them as they are fascinated by the size and majesty of the animals. The kids had just learned about the letter Z and all the animals at the zoo last week in preschool. When they saw an animal they had learned about they were so excited to share what they knew.Emily wasn't the biggest fan of the reptile building. The reptiles didn't bother her just the smell. She seriously plugged her nose the whole time. She kept saying "It stinks so bad in here".

Not sure what they are checking out here but note Emily's nose is still plugged.

Emily and Averie checking out their climbing skills in the giant spider web.

Allie pretending she's a turtle.

All the kiddos. I'm pretty sure it is impossible to get that many kids to hold still for a picture.Who had fun at the zoo?? We did!

Little Chefs

Emily and Allie love to help out in the kitchen. They love adding the ingredients to whatever we are making and LOVE licking the beaters when we make cookies. Very rarely do I ever make anything without some sort of help from at least one of them. Yes, it takes more time to get things made but I love that they want to help.

Who doesn't love licking the beaters?

Emily has the responsibility of helping me with dinner once a week (although she is always willing and wanting to help out more). Well tonight she wanted to make dinner all by herself, with me maybe helping out occasionally. We decided to make chicken pot pie since it is pretty easy to make. She basically made it by herself, I just measured out the ingredients for her. Emily working hard to get everything mixed together.

So proud of herself! I was super proud of her too. She did a great job and it tasted great also.

What Will Mommy Think?

I worked last night and got home and crawled into bed around 6:30 this morning. Emily usually has preschool on Wednesdays but it was changed to Friday this week due to sick kids and such. Because of this, Tyler was the lucky one who got to get Emily ready. He is a great dad but like most guys can't really do a little girls hair all cute. He can do a ponytail though. Good thing. Well, as he was doing her hair this morning he asked her if she wanted her ponytail on the very top of her head (because daddy is silly like that). Emily response is killer. She turned to Tyler and said "No, because mom will think I look like an orphan." I couldn't help but laugh! I may pay for comments like this somewhere down the road.

PARTY WITH FRIENDS AND THE PURSE

On Monday Emily had a little party with her friends. We figured since we just moved back to our old house that it would be nice for to have her friends over for a little birthday party. They played balloon tag. They were suppose to try and pop the balloons on the other kids' feet. It was hilarious watching them chase each other around. They would get mad at each other and say "Don't pop my balloon, pop someone else's". I finally just told them to try and pop their own balloons. Which was still a major challenge for them.Then they got to decorate their own cupcakes. SPRINKLE HEAVEN!After the party Emily and her cousins colored on the back patio with all the chalk them Emily got for her birthday. I was pretty impressed when I saw how well Emily wrote her name and shadowed it all by herself.

The other day when we were at Target Emily saw a little purse that she wanted. I told her that she couldn't have it but maybe we could make one sometime. Well for her birthday she got 4 pieces of felt. Yes, I know, I know! Real exciting. But Emily was stoked. She knew that she was going to get to have a purse made out of it.

Today we sat down and made it. I had no idea what I was doing. No idea even where to start. But this is what we came up with.It's nothing fancy but hey Emily was thrilled. That is all that matters, right? And I was stoked that it only cost me $0.80 instead of $9 like the one she wanted.

Mustache Mania

I know that dads always think that they are the funniest parent of them all. And if you leave them alone with your children something weird and crazy is bround to happen.

Well, Tyler thinks that he is pretty funny and this is what happens when he is left alone with the girls for 5 minutes.Gotta love em!!

EASTER 2009

Saturday night after all of Emily's birthday festivities had come to an end we colored Easter eggs together as a family. The girls had so much fun. They were sad when all the eggs were colored.Let the fun begin! I guess Allie thought the dye was hot, she kept blowing on it.
Allie proudly showing off the egg she colored. She stuck stickers all over her face and hands instead of the eggs. Emily proud of all her beautiful creations.

The masterpieces.

EASTER 2009
The girls got little gardening gloves and shovels so they can help me in the yard this year. Allie kept saying "Allie has pink hands".

Emily refused to use her Easter basket on the egg hunt. She got plastic bags out for her and Allie and informed us that we needed to use them instead.

It was a great Easter Sunday and a nice time to sit back and reflect on the sacrifice that our Savior made of us and what that truly means to us in our lives.

Happy Birthday Emily!

My little girl turned 4 today. I can't believe how fast time goes by. We had a great day with family.

I thought I would let Emily decide what her cake should look like. We were looking for cake ideas online, we were looking on parenting.com and she found what she wanted. She wanted her cake to look like a purse. I'm not a professional baker and was a bit nervous about this but it turned out all right. Emily was in heaven and absolutely loved it. Here is how it turned out.

Emily wanted to dig in before the party started.

Emily got lots of fun things from her grandmas and grandpas and other family.

This 4 year old is in heaven. She got spoiled!

Blowing out the candles. And no the is not my pregnant belly in the background. That is Tyler thinking he is funny and is sticking his belly out as far as he possibly could.

It's hard to believe that just 4 years ago she was this little. She is growing up so fast. You are a very smart and funny girl. You keep us on our toes. You are such a joy in our lives. Happy Birthday Emily!

THE GRAND IMPERIAL

For those of you who were interested I have made a webpage about our house in Eden. Please share this with people you think might be interested.

http://www.theedenhouse.blogspot.com/

WHAT ONCE WAS OLD, NOW IS NEW......SORT OF

Shortly after Tyler and I got married we bought ourselves a new house. We lived there for 6 years. I will tell you that this house wasn't my favorite. It just wasn't my dream house, the floor plan wasn't my favorite, the pantry wasn't big enough, the kitchen was too small, etc etc etc.

Last March we decided we were going to move, so we posted an ad on KSL to see if anyone was interested in renting our house. I had it rented out in a day. SWEET! Well, we didn't have another house yet so we moved up to the Grand Imperial, our name for the house that we own with my in-laws in Eden. Normally we would all go up there on the weekends to relax. It is located in Ogden Valley within minutes of 3 ski resorts and Pineview Reservoir. We thought the move was just going to be for a month or two until we found a new house. But alas, NO! We have lived up there for the last year. The lease on our house ended the end of March and we felt like it was best for us to move back to our old home. Our renters weren't thrilled that we were going to kick them out but we felt like it was right to moved back and I wasn't interested in playing landlord anymore, trying to get them to pay me the monthly rent and such.

So, this last week we have spent our time CLEANING and moving back. I have a whole new appreciation for our house, but not for the nasty dog hair all over or the other messes that I have had to clean up. After a year of renting our house out it is really still is in pretty good condition, it just isn't clean. I don't claim to have my house orderly all the time, not even most of the time, but I know that it isn't dirty. I sweep, wash the floors, scrub the toilets, etc. I realize everybodies idea of clean is different. Apparently some peoples definition of clean is my definition of nasty, dirty filthiness! I will spare you most of the disgusting details but not all of them. There was dog hair EVERYWHERE (yes, everywhere, it was even in the microwave), the toilets were filthy (that is a nice way of putting it), etc etc.

Now that the carpet cleaners have come, I have logged countless hours vacuuming and re-vacuuming, gone through several containers of Clorox wipes and a couple pairs of rubber gloves my old home is feeling more like a new home. Now, if only I could find my way through all the boxes.

Thanks to all of our family who helped us this week get things cleaned up and out of storage. We are excited to be back home. I am excited to get things organized and put away! I just have to figure out where to put it all. Does it go where I had it before or do I rearrange things?
Pretty sure my house needs a nice makeover but I am TERRIBLE when it comes to decorating!!So now comes the endless unloading of boxes and the arranging and rearranging of furniture and pictures.

PS...If you know anyone who wants a really nice house up in Eden let me know.

Inside the house in Eden.Who wouldn't love that view? I definitely will miss it!