Easter

I forgot to take the pictures when the boys were still in their church clothes......oops. They didn't have anything new, but they looked pretty cute. We had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, a yummy dinner, and a great FHE on the atonement. I think the kids had fun.

My best Martha Stewart pose......what a dork!

Everyday life

Do you see that cute pony tail?

Jake thought this was pretty funny.......so did I!!

I found Jacob hiding under the table with my Halloween stamps.

Lauryn's new skill

Lauryn has been sick with a cold, ear infection, and teething for TOO long!!

My little soccer player

This is Spencer's first year in soccer and we're not quite sure if it's his sport just yet. He likes to just follow behind all the boys and if the ball comes to him, he just lets somebody else take it, or he'll kick it wherever, which is usually out of bounds! I guess the competitive trait hasn't kicked in yet.

Spencer's spring break

For Spen's spring break, Dan was out of town, so we tried to do some things around town. We had "Flat Stanley" with us. Flat Stanley was sent to us from my sister. "Flat Stanley" is a book and a 2nd grade class in Utah made their own Flat Stanley out of paper and sent them to different people. You're suppose to have him for a week, take him everywhere you go, take pictures, write in the journal, and then send it on to someone else. So, that's what we did. It was pretty fun.

We went to the park,


to Chick fil-a,


went for a bike ride with our friends,


and to the library to get the Flat Stanley book

then Spencer had to get a tooth pulled....that wasn't fun, but he was SO awesome through the whole thing. I was very proud of him!

we also went to see "Monsters vs Aliens" at the Imax in 3D......pretty awesome!!

I had to put in a picture of my little sweetie...she's got enough hair for a pony tail now!!!

Who's Tom?

For a couple weeks now, Jacob has been talking about his imaginary friend, Tom. I've asked him who he is, what he looks like, and where he lives. Well, he tells me that he's a boy that 6 yrs. old, has straight black hair, and lives in Arkansas.

Jacob uses Lauryn's little baby toy and pretends that it's a phone and calls him and says, "Hi, Tom, wanna come over and have a play date?" When he gets off the "phone" he tells me that he can't come over because he's sick. I've been thinking about why he created Tom because Spencer never did anything like this. I've noticed that he brings Tom up a lot while Spencer is at school and calls him his "brother" and when he's playing with other friends, Tom is never mentioned, so I think Tom is replacing Spencer. Jacob just absolutely adores his big brother and I guess he's pretty lonely when Spenc is gone. It's actually pretty sweet.

The BEST trip ever!

I had the most AMAZING opportunity to fly to Utah to go to the BYU Singers Alumni Reunion AND on the same weekend in Utah, my sister Joanna planned a California reunion! WOW, was it a busy weekend! I debated and debated as to whether I should bring Lauryn or not because she is still nursing, but in the end I couldn't handle being without her, since I've never been before. She was a trooper through it all, but she sure put me through the ringer! The airplane rides were pretty hard for her because she LOVES to get down on the floor and crawl around and explore. So I had to continuously keep her busy. Then I dragged her all around South Jordan, Kaysville, and Provo visiting some wonderful people that I hadn't seen for YEARS! She hardly took naps and wouldn't sleep at night, so I was basically going on adrenaline for 5 days.

Lauryn being good at the airport.

On Thursday, I flew in and drove to my friend, Lisa's house in South Jordan. Lisa was one of my best friends in elementary school in CA and I hadn't seen her since we bumped into each other at BYU about 8 years ago. It was SO fun visiting and catching up. Thanks, Lisa, for letting us stay at your place! Then we drove to the house where they were having the CA reunion and I saw a ton of old friends from girls camp and one of my best friends, Kira, from elementary school that I hadn't seen in about 15 years was there!!! I couldn't believe it! It was SO fun getting to know her again, I wish there would've been more time. I made the mistake of loosing touch, but I won't EVER do that again!

Kira, me, and Lisa

Misty, Joanna, and Shanda

On Friday night, I went to the BYU Singers Reunion dinner........SO FUN!! I hardly ate anything because I was so excited to talk with my "singer" friends and to listen to how their lives have changed and how they've evolved. I miss them so much! My sweet dear friends have such a special place in my heart. When you sing with other AMAZING singers, you create this spiritual bond that never goes away.

Erika, her hubbie, me, Melissa,

Kate, Marni, Rachelle, ?, and Liz

Melissa, Jill, Kate, and me

On Saturday, I visited with my sweet friend Kelly, who I knew from Arkansas, and she just happened to be living on campus at BYU with her husband and 2 kids. We had a great visit and her kids are such sweethearts! My dear friend offered to take care of Lauryn for me while I went to the BYU Singers Alumni rehearsal AND concert AND feed me dinner! Thank you SO much, Kelly, you're the best! (forgot to take pictures)

At the concert, I was able to hear the current Singers give their concert first. It was ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL! I was mesmerized the whole time. I could barely breathe! I miss it SO much it hurts! Then for the last 3 numbers, the alumni (which was about 200) joined them on stage. It was AMAZING and overwhelmingly emotional! Memories, memories, memories! I just soaked in as much as I could. I couldn't get enough. I needed that SO much. It was "food for the soul." On top of it ALL, my wonderful sister Joanna, and a bunch of our CA friends came to watch the concert! It was so special to see them there and it meant SO much to me. I sang with some of those beautiful girls when I was just a little girl, in Children's Choir and Girl's Ensemble. Such a long time ago and what good memories I HAD, and NOW what good memories I HAVE!

At the rehearsal giving a present to Sandefur, the woman who planned the whole reunion.

After the concert, I went to the reception and laughed my head off and had a great time. I visited with friends from different times in my life. I saw my very first voice teacher that changed my life at Ricks College, Brother Dresen. (sorry, Steve). I just can't call him by his first name, he'll always be Bro. Dresen to me. It was so hard to say goodbye and to pull myself away.

Sean and Jessi Coletti, and me

Sean, Aaron and Liz Cleavinger, me, funny Joni Jensen

Me and Joni

Courtney, Marni, ?, Liz, Kate, and me

Karissa and crazy Jill

Erin, Courtney and Kate

Me and Bro. Dresen

On Sunday, I spent the day with my sister and her in-laws. Thanks, Traci, for letting me stay at your place! I had a great time and my sister was so helpful with Lauryn. Thanks for everything, Jo! It was all worth it!

Then to end the trip, I went to lunch with my beautiful, most hilarious friend from Ricks College, Sarah Vance and her husband and 2 beautiful daughters. (Oops, I forgot to take a picture) Oh, I love Sarah. I miss her and those "Ricks College days." We were in my very first opera together. There is just not enough time on a trip like that to catch up on lost time. I live so far away........boo!

The airplane ride home was..........LONG...........and when I saw Dan and the boys waiting for me.......I could finally take a breath and relax! I was home. I was where I belong. The trip was SO worth it, but I LOVE my sweet family.

You know, I've been to lots of different places and have met lots of different people, but there are only some that are so special that I can't even express in words how much they mean to me, how much they inspire me, how much they've affected me throughout the years. They've taken part in how I've turned out today, and I will never forget their sweet, beautiful, special spirits. The Lord has had a wonderful hand in blessing my life with these people. I am eternally grateful.

"It was just an accident!"

Spencer was taking a bath with Jacob, which he rarely does because he's too big. He usually showers. Anyway, Spencer was standing up in the tub washing himself and had his eyes closed. He went to sit down to rinse off and BOOM he sat on the tub faucet and broke it off.......snapped the pipe clean off! (Luckily the water was off!)


I tried not to freak out because Spencer felt really bad, but all I could think of was $$$$$$!!!!! This is our first house and repairs are not something we are very experienced at yet. Dan had to go to work the next morning, so he came up with a quick fix. He took out a couple of the tile around the faucet and out came ANTS (big ones) then he glued on another pipe and put the faucet back on and duct taped a big piece of plastic over it so we could still shower.



Over the next couple of days, we tried to research the quickest and cheapest way to repair it. We came up with the plan to just regrout that one wall and put some tile back on the hole Dan made. So he bought a Dremel and started to drill out the grout in between the tiles. It took pretty much the whole day. That night, we planned on some friends coming over for dinner. The husband, Eric, owns his own construction business. So he basically knew how to do anything and everything to a house. Believe me, I didn't plan this. We had already scheduled the dinner way before the accident happened. While they were here for dinner, Dan showed Eric the project and Eric offered to give us a couple boxes of tile and to help teach Dan how to retile the whole thing! Well, I think it took Dan about a second to say yes!


So Dan did the demo, which we needed A LOT more Raid for! (this "accident" was a blessing in disguise!) Then Eric came over and taught Dan how to put the backer board up,
lay tile, and grout it in 3 days. We were out of a shower for about a week and a half! We had lots of sponge baths........NOT FUN! You don't truly appreciate your shower until you can't use it anymore! But now, it's BEAUTIFUL!! I LOVE IT! THANKS AMYEE AND ERIC!!!

Great job, sweetie!

Now for the floor................

Time?

How do you guys do it?? You know, blog all the time. I'm just no good at it. It takes me forever to download my pictures and then it takes me forever to come up with a fun way to talk about it so others will actually enjoy reading my blog. Then by the time I get around to it, the event happened a long time ago. So frustrating! Ok......I know why I'm not good at this.....it's because my family, no, my LIFE takes up all my time. Driving to and from school, errands to run, soccer practice, teaching lessons, and making sure Lauryn doesn't choke on the millions of tiny things she finds and sticks in her mouth, and feeding everyone. When it's naptime, I try to nap, after the kids go to bed, I want to spend time with Dan. So the big question is..............how do you find the time?