Happy Birthday Carly!

Carly recently celebrated her 8th birthday with some of her best girl-y friends at a fun girl-y party! What girl-y party would be complete without with pink roses from dad, fluffy pink decorations, yummy pink candy and cupcakes and pretty pink glasses to drink some yummy pink punch! The girls spoiled Carly and in turn, each girl was spoiled with her own girl-y pink and black apron to take home. These girls are so wonderful and full of spunk and fun. I am so glad that Carly is surrounded by such sweet girls. I am so excited that they have the opportunity to be a support to each other as they grow up. Afterall, don't we all hold our childhood friends dear to our hearts, even if we have been out of touch for years?
Happy Birthday Carly and thanks to all who made her day so special!

Welcome Spring...

These pictures were taken during spring break. It was so fun to have the kids home all day for a whole week! I loved it. The weather has been getting a little too warm for March, but it cooled back down into the 70's again today. Perfect and sunny. What a beautiful day...just right to fly some paper airplanes, watch a puppet show or enjoy a picnic!

We've got some WINNERS!

Ok, Katie, Stephanie, and Holly...you're my girls! I'll be thinking up something cute to make you! Hmmm. This is actually a little intimidating...but fun! So many possiblities...I'll try not to keep you waiting too long! Thanks for playing!

A fun little contest!!!! Interested?

I saw this on my friend's blog and thought it sounded like fun!
Here's how this works:
The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post of picture of what you win when you get it! Who's in?

Love and napping

I just want to post this cute picture of Sean and Ty taking a nap today. They looked so peaceful and cuddly. I wanted to join in, but I don't think we could all fit on the couch! Darn.

Also, I forgot to post our Valentines crafts this year. We have a family tradition of decorating our table and the light above for a fun candle light Valentines dinner. We made conversation hearts (out of salt dough) and painted them red and black and then hung them from our chandelier with long pink ribbons. They were so cute. They have now made their way to a vintage tea cup holder in another room. They were fun to make and I'm already excited to take them out next year!

We also made this pretty "LOVE" banner. We love it! It's in our living room and it's a good reminder to be a little kinder to each other. At least it works for me!

Fishing Derby and Farming

Today, we started out our morning going to the Skousen farm and planting a garden plot with some friends. The Skousens own a large farm and have kindly let us plant a community garden (our whole Stake was invited to join in). We only needed to purchase the seeds, plant them and then come each week to weed it. Awesome! We planted watermellon, cantelope, pumpkin, zuchinni, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Can't wait to see them grow. We are so excited!

Today was also the annual fishing derby for our city. I dragged a reluctant hubby and 3 very excited kiddos to the park. 150 kids and their families all around 1 pond stocked with fat catfish. It was fun. Ty caught his first fish. And then his second and third. He skunked Carly and Ridge as they didn't catch any! As you can tell, Carly was a little miffed that she never caught one. But in the end, said it was so fun! Ridge was a trooper and actually had an excellent cast!

When Ty caught his fish, he reeled it in just to the edge and then it wiggled and splashed him. He was so excited up until that point but that ruined it. He bolted. He wasn't getting near that thing!

Project with my boys.

I wanted to do some woodworking with my boys, so Ridge and Ty helped me build this cute birdhouse. It's not perfect. The 2nd story floor ended up slanted on the inside, the walls don't all line up exactly right and we had to use bulky screws instead of nails, but it was fun to do a project with them. Ty worked the wood glue and Ridge did all the screws with the power drill. We added a hinged roof so they can store things inside the 2nd story (or rather, get their little cars and guys out without shaking it!) It ended up about 2 1/2 feet tall. (It's big!) It was so fun to see the boys work on this. They both concentrated so hard on their jobs and didn't want any help from me! I think it will be fun to do something else with them. Hmmm...maybe a treehouse.

Grandma Heather came to Az!

Sean's beautiful mother Heather came to visit us for a week in the middle of her move to Hawaii. (Yep, G&G are moving back to Hawaii! Lucky huh?) We were so excited to have her come and stay with us. We went to old town Scottsdale and looked around at shops and art and we got to ride on a horse drawn carriage. (If they are still doing it, it was free for a 10 minute ride and the kids loved it. A fun free family activity if you're in the area.) We took a drive to the Tortilla Flats area and played on a playground and went for a little walk in the mountains. It was a beautiful day! We made some aprons and Heather helped me figure out how to make buttons on my mom's sewing machine! (I feel like a whole new world has openend up to me! I'm so excited! Thanks Heather!)

She made us some of her home made pizza, and the kids got to spend some time with her. On her last day, she wrote each of us a personal letter. That little act of kindness was so special to Ty. I think it made his day to get a letter just for him from his Grandma!

It was such and enjoyable week. We had so much fun with you Grandma Heather! We hope Hawaii is wonderful and that you get settled in soon!

3 cute kids.

Just some cute pictures of my kids. Carly bought this hat at Savers and she's been wearing it out! She looks so cute in it. She's wearing Sean's glasses, a little big, but what a character. I thought my brother Spud would get a kick out of her picture!

This is my sweet heart. Can't you just tell from his face?

Here's a funny story: "Someone" painted our downstairs bathroom sink with BRIGHT PINK nail polish and they wouldn't fess up, so Ridge said he did it. He says he does things all the time, but I think it's because they *all* have to sit in time out until someone says they did it and he just gets fed up with sitting there. I've had a sneaking suspicion that he's been taking the fall for some things that weren't his fault. Well, a couple of days ago, "someone" did something again and I was trying to find out who. Ridge got a really serious face and said, "It's someone else's turn to say they did it. I say it all the time." Oh Ridge...!

And then we have Ty. He's in a whole league of his own! I have my work cut out for me as a mom trying to figure out how to lovingly parent 3 very different and very fun kiddos.

Great Sale

Our Old Navy is having their "50% off of the clearance price" sale right now. I was there today and picked up some shorts and shirts for my kids from $1-$3. If you plan on going, follow the link below to find an online Old Navy coupon you can print for an extra $10 off a $50 purchase. (Thanks to 320 Sycamore for the coupon link!)

We put together our 72 hour kits for FHE (Family Home Evening) tonight. It was a little crazy but it's comforting to know they are ready. I put together the kids bags months ago, but they have already outgrown some of their clothes and some of the food was about to expire. If you want to put together a 72 hour kit, I've included a link to the list I used below.

This source suggested that we update the kits every 6 months. I now know from experience that it's important if you have young children who grow like weeds!

Old Navy Coupon: http://southwest.com/landing/old_navy_coupon.pdf
Family Home Evening: http://www.lds.org/hf/fhe/welcome/0,16785,4210-1,00.html
72 Hour Kit List: http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/a/72hour_kit.htm