Easter!

We were so lucky this Easter! We were able to talk the Easter Bunny into coming to our house on SATURDAY instead of SUNDAY!! Yahoo! That will definitely be a tradition from now on. I loved that we could have Easter fun on Saturday and then focus on our Savior on Sunday. Anyway, we had an awesome Easter Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we woke up and found eggs all around the house. Someone (Shawn) was mad because the Easter Bunny brought Smarties and bubble gum in the pre-wrapped eggs. Apparently the Easter Bunny is supposed to HAND FILL EACH EGG with CHOCOLATE. Tip for next time, I guess. Shawn used his culinary talents to create bunny-shaped chocolate chip pancakes. Those were a huge hit! Since it was Easter Saturday, after the eggs and Easter baskets were found we had time to color eggs. Mine was the best, of course.

Cute little West-a-boy

Chance's, Hannah's, Nat's eggs

I had to make a Ute egg just to make everyone mad.

Shawn "mad" about the pink ears. Chance a little too happy about wearing bunny ears.

This girl has someone wrapped around her finger!

I didn't think a bunny-shaped pancake could be made! Proved me wrong.

the boys

On Easter Sunday, we made it to church. Hannah was asked to be Mary Magdelane and tell the story of seeing Jesus after he was resurrected in her own words. We practiced this at home, and she was goofy, moving around, and not taking it seriously. Late Saturday night, I asked her to please do it one more time, and take it seriously. She looked straight at me with her big blue eyes and retold the story. Her words literally brought tears to my eyes! She was so innocent in retelling about how she saw Jesus and he told her not to touch Him because he had not yet ascended. It was the sweetest thing. She did a good job in Primary during sharing time also, but that little moment at home was absolutely priceless.

After church, we went over to my mom's for dinner. She asked me to bring an appetizer, so I made something easter-y and something I knew my dad would love. Deviled eggs. I showed up proudly displaying my deviled eggs, and lo and behold my mom had also made deviled eggs! So they were coming out of our ears and my mom's were better than mine, but they were still good. We had Lion House rolls that come frozen, just like Rhodes! They are awesome! My dad had to do a little "teambuilding" project for work, so I took/edited the bottom two pictures for that. My dad is a spitting image of my sister Lindsay, but I can also see a little Chance in him! After dinner, we went over to Courtnie & Matt's for dessert and had a fun time over there, as usual.

I tried to find two pictures of these two with the same expression. They look alike, don't they!?

The kiddos

Had to post this picture. It is my favorite. I love the stream of drool coming from West's mouth, and I love that they are laying on my "gee gee" that I've had since I was a baby and yes, that I still sleep with! ha! Classic.

The J A Z Z

If I haven't mentioned it before, our family is obsessed with the Utah Jazz basketball team. Chance and I were watching a Jazz game, and saw an ad to enter to win dinner with one of the Jazz players, the center, "Big Al" Jefferson. Chance asked me to enter, so of course I did. I entered online for each member of our family, and never thought about it again. A few weeks later, I got an e-mail saying that we had won dinner with Big Al! We were so excited. Chance and I went together the week of Valentine's day. The fancy-schmancy dinner was held at Devereaux Mansion, a little place across the street from the Energy Solutions Arena. Chance was the only kid there, amongst all adults. Chance and I were able to have our pictures taken with Big Al, and then while eating, Big Al came to our table and talked to all of us! The dinner happened to be on the same day that Coach Sloan had announced his retirement, so Big Al wasn't too perky at the beginning of the night. But toward the end he seemed to cheer up as he visited with all of us. It was a great time!

Then, to add to the Jazz excitement, Chance and Shawn were able to go to the Leapin' Leaners charity dinner at Energy Solutions Arena. This is a dinner where all of the Jazz players attend and mingle with the attendees. Superior Roofing bought a table and Chance and Shawn were lucky enough to attend. You are supposed to wear tennis shoes with your dress clothes, because that is how Larry Miller used to dress. Pretty cute, huh! Chance played video games with Jeremy Evans (rookie forward) and Derrick Favors (rookie forward/center), played ping-pong with Francisco Elson (center), played air hockey and had a 3-point shooting contest with Devin Harris (point guard), played H.O.R.S.E/free throw contest with C.J. Miles (shooting guard) and Earl Watson (point guard). Talk about a kid's dream come true! Chance and Shawn both had basketballs autographed by all of the players, were able to visit the locker room, and won an auction of an actual NBA basketball hoop signed by all of the Jazz players. Night of a lifetime!

Four Months! (okay, almost five, I am way behind!)

@ 4 months: height - 26 inches (75%) * weight - 14.12 pounds (50%) * head - 41.2 cm (25%)

At four months, Chance and I were in Chance's room and I had put West on the floor for a minute. We looked away for a split second, and when we looked at West again, he had flipped over from his back to his front! He is also drooling quite a bit, but no teeth yet... West has started eating rice cereal, which he only likes if there is fruit in it. He refuses to eat vegetables. With my other kids, I gave them veggies first so they wouldn't refuse them and only eat fruit. But I got a paper from the doctor that said it was a "myth" that you needed to offer veggies first. I respectfully disagree because West gags at the first taste of vegetables. Hopefully his palette will change!

Hannah's 6th Birthday

First of all, how did my baby girl become six years old? Augh!

Ever since Chance had his 6th birthday party at Toad's Fun Zone, Hannah has been dying to have her party there too. So this was the year. She invited 13 of her closest friends (ha!) and we had a great time! This was actually the first year that she had enough friends to have a real party because she's now going to school.

Jade * Chelsea Scott * Brooke Burns * Gabriella Trujillo * Gracie Longhurst * Dad * Chance * Percy Brown * Hailey Toole * Ilie Redd

Rachel Ward * Eliza * Maren * Esi LeeMaster * Hannah * Mylee * Ginny Slack

We had a Barbie-themed party and I decided to try my hand at the good ol' Barbie cake. I guess these cakes have been around for ages! I looked all over the internet for instructions, suggestions, do's and dont's, etc. I bought all sorts of fondant and other decorating tools, but wimped out at the last minute. I was honestly scared of that fondant. I ended up just using a plain buttercream frosting recipe and then dyed the frosting pink. Little did I know that the food coloring I bought was SUPER concentrated so the pink became very pink! Then my butter wasn't softened enough so I had little flakes of butter...I won't go into any more detail about how bad I messed it up, but Hannah thought it was very beautiful and was so flattered that I made it just for her. That's all that matters, right?

Alice in Wonderland

This year, I enrolled Hannah in a little acting group called "Up With Kids". It is not a big deal, just a little, low-key group that is meant for fun and self-esteem. The group happens to be putting on Alice in Wonderland this year! I put Hannah in because she brought the flyer home from school and could not stop talking about how she wanted to be in Alice in Wonderland. I told her she probably wouldn't be Alice, but she didn't care. This little acting group has classes for each age range, and everyone gets a speaking part in the play. As we looked through the parts that she could choose, we noticed there was "Small Alice". Oooh, she really wanted to be Small Alice. The script combines Alice in Wonderland with Toy Story (sounds weird, but it really is cute!). To "try out", she had to memorize and give a little part.

"I don't know if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but I do know an apple a day makes a great snack. Especially if it has peanut butter on it. Hey, do you think peanut butter keeps the doctor away too?"

We practiced, practiced, and practiced! She loved saying it over and over. We worked on her expression, hand actions, etc. Anyway, Hannah did not end up getting the part of Small Alice, but instead ended up with the part of Bo Peep from Toy Story. She was sooo excited. We got home, looked through the script, and found the part. It's a short little part, so I knew she could memorize it easily. Then I noticed that right after her part, she sings a SOLO! Hannah is such a little actress-singer-dancer, but just around the house! I guess we'll see if she can pull it off and sing a solo in front of a bunch of people! She's sure excited to try!

West, Valentines Day, etc.

I've been seeing a lot of this lately from West...

We've never had a thumb-sucking baby before! Sure, it's kinda cute now, but what happens when he's in fifth grade doing the same thing? Hopefully the novelty will wear off. He only does it when he's really tired.

We blessed West on Sunday the 13th. We waited awhile to bless him so Shawn's grandma and grandpa could be there for it. Shawn gave such a nice blessing. I noticed how loud the congregation was during the beginning of the meeting, and how super quiet it was when the blessing was given. I really think the Spirit was there during his blessing. I should have written down everything Shawn said, it was such a beautiful blessing, but I remember he blessed West that he would stay as happy as he was now. He is seriously the happiest baby. Especially when he sees Shawn, Chance and Hannah - he gets the BIGGEST smiles! He is so sweet. Shawn also mentioned the he would look to his mother as his best friend. That was so touching to me because my patriarchal blessing actually says that I should be my childrens' best friends. So far, I am not doing so well!! Hopefully that blessing will help West, at least... After the blessing we went to Shawn's parents for dinner. Shawn whipped up a batch of his famous meatballs and there were appetizers and salads galore. Shawn's grandma made her chocolate cake that I'm obsessed with. It was so nice of Shawn's parents to let us have the "after party" over there. I feel bad for even asking, but our house is small and I turn into a basket case when I have to have people over. It was so much less stress to have it over there because April enjoys entertaining and doesn't stress out about it. They are very generous that way. West slept the majority of the day, but Shawn said he woke up in the middle of his blessing. I can just picture his big, blue eyes looking at all of those faces encircling him! He probably smiled at all of them, too.

Grammy, Grandpa Ted, and the guest of honor

West loving to look at all of his cousins!!

We had a not-so-eventful Valentine's Day. The Saturday before, Shawn and I went to dinner ALONE (that was a first in a long time!) at Sonora Grill. I love that place! On Valentine's Day we just had steaks on the grill (that were EXCELLENT, I must say!) and hung out at home with the kiddos.

This is a picture of Chance's Valentine's Day box he had to make. I've never had to help make a Valentine Box before. I got the idea off of the internet, then sort of improvised to make it. The kids were supposed to put their Valentines through the hoop - Chance thought it was pretty awesome. But I guess I got a little carried away and ended up gluing Chance's name on the front by myself. He got mad at me. I guess I must've forgotten whose project it was...oops!

Then, our little Hannah, who I have worried about spiritually because she has refused to say a prayer for years, made this Valentine:

What is cuter than a Valentine for Heavenly Father and Jesus? I loved it. And here's her Valentine for me.

Three Months

smiling at sister

West is the sweetest boy. He has a mellow, laid back personality right now. Hopefully he'll stay that way! He is growing so much! He is getting taller/longer by the day, I swear! He will coo and talk when he is in a good mood, especially right before bed. We just love him to death. He is getting blessed tomorrow, so I took a few, quick pictures of him in his little blessing outfit. I had to try it on him today, hoping it wasn't too small since he is getting so big!! But it's a perfect fit. I think West was born with that red birthmark on his forehead so I would be able to tell which baby is which when his baby pictures and Chance's baby pictures are together. They look SOOO much alike. I'll post them together soon.

Art

Around Christmas time, Hannah drew this adorable picture of our family. I have it saved as my computer desktop background because I love to look at it.

I seemed to remember that Chance had drawn a picture of our family for Kindergarten as well (it was an assignment). So I went through Chance's old Kindergarten stuff and found the one he drew when he was the same age as Hannah.

Poor Chance, he has my art skills and Shawn's art skills combined! I laughed for days over this!

Two Months

Height - 23.5 inches (75%) * Weight - 12.0 pounds (50%) * Head - 39 cm. (25%)

At almost exactly eight weeks, West started to smile! He smiles a lot at Hannah, Chance, and Shawn. He doesn't particularly like to smile at Rags. I don't know what he thinks of Rags! Rags thinks he's a baby, so he sits in the bouncy seat when West isn't in it, and also has his own binky! It is the weirdest thing. At ten weeks, West started to giggle! He giggled at me when I was taking off his shirt. He hasn't done a deep, belly laugh yet but I know it's coming. Also at ten weeks, West slept through the night. How he went from sleeping three and a half hours one night to nine hours the next night I will never know! But he has consistently been sleeping through the night for about ten days now, with the exception of only a few nights. It is sooooooo nice! He is such a good baby, very mellow and sweet. He hardly cries, just fusses a little.

Based on a true story...

I rhythmically rocked my newborn baby boy to sleep in the quiet of the night. It was his first night time feeding, meaning there was another to anticipate. Most evenings I enjoyed the night hours alone with my son; just the two of us quietly sitting together to relax. I gazed at his soft skin and little nose and began to feel my eyelids close.

I was abruptly yanked out of my peaceful state by the sound of a honking, horn-like sound. "ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH!" The sound bellowed through the walls of my once quiet home. My heart began to pound rapidly against the interior of my chest. I waited patiently to hear any reaction to the noise from my other family members who were sound asleep. Nothing. I waited. "ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH!" The noise was louder this time. Was it moving toward me? Was it inside the house? Outside? I couldn't tell. The sound resembled a combination of an alarm clock and a sputtering motorcycle without a muffler. Or maybe an electrical malfunction of some sort of household appliance. After the noise quieted, I again intently listened for someone else in the house to wiggle or rustle their covers in reaction to the noise. Nothing. "ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH!" Was it a bomb? Why was it so loud and why wasn't anyone doing anything about it?

I quickly put the baby down into his bouncy chair, silently praying he would stay asleep while I left his side for a minute. "ANGH! ANGH!" As I ran down the stairs, I determined that the sound was definitely coming from outside. So much for blaming the noise on an obnoxious alarm on my husband's cell phone! "ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH! ANGH!" Ugh! Annoying! Enough already! I flipped on the light switch for our back porch light and flung open the back door.

The January snow had an icy crust and was glistening white under the reflection of the glow from the porch. The bright orange feet and bill stood out in shocking contrast to the snow. Yes, I said orange feet and bill. A giant white duck was standing smack in the middle of my back yard. It was as still as a statue, and silent at that particular moment. It looked huge, not like your regular little duck in the neighborhood pond. I couldn't believe my eyes. A duck? In the winter? Aren't ducks supposed to migrate or hibernate or fly south or ... be somewhere other than standing in my backyard?

I closed the door so the freezing cold air would not penetrate the warmth of our little house, and ran back up the stairs to awaken my husband. I didn't know what to do! The bird was standing so still, it looked like it was frozen solid. Maybe it was frozen solid. Should I try to scare it away? Should I politely invite it inside? Was I being filmed for Candid Camera?

"Shawn! Wake up!" I nudged my sleeping husband. He had only been asleep for a little over an hour and had to wake up in less than five more. "What is it?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. "There's a duck in our backyard." I started to giggle. It sounded so silly when spoken aloud. "What?" he asked. "There's a big, white duck in our backyard and it is quacking so loud!" I laughed a little harder. "Should I bring it inside?" I asked. "Are you kidding me?" Shawn asked. "That thing will tear this place up!" "Oh, you're right. Well, what should I do?" "Nothing." Shawn replied. He rolled over and went back to sleep.

Now what. I had a sinking feeling he didn't believe me. Not that I cry wolf all of the time, but maybe I have exaggerated a little bit in the past... I slowly walked back down the stairs, trying to figure out what to do. I saw my cell phone on the kitchen counter and decided I needed evidence. Hard, fast evidence of the creature lurking in my backyard. I slowly opened the back door, careful not to scare the duck away. I held the phone out in my hand and took a picture of the frozen duck. The phone flashed and the evidence was captured! I quickly took a look at my phone screen and was disappointed to see a black square without any sign of the white duck. I guess cell phones were not created to take pictures in the dark. Were cell phones created to take pictures at all? Hmm.

As I was squinting to see any sign of the duck within the dark photograph, I felt something furry graze my ankles. My little black and white Shihtzu, Rags, had darted through my legs and out the back door. "Rags!" I yelled. "Rags! Come!" It was too late. Rags had spotted the duck. He stared at the duck, slowly taking in the unusual sight just as I had moments before. Then Rags darted directly at it. The duck frantically flapped its large wings and began to fly. It was too large to lift more than five inches off of the ground, but it swiftly headed toward the front yard. Rags took off, determined to catch the strange being that had invaded his territory. "Oh, great," I thought to myself. I envisioned white feathers flying everywhere if Rags was to actually catch the poor animal.

Rags wears a collar that deters him from running too far away from the house, so I knew he could not chase the duck forever. And Rags was a Shihtzu, not a Retriever, so I probably should have been more worried about Rags getting eaten alive rather than the duck. But I couldn't help but worry about that darn duck. Was he cold? Lost? Sick? I worried for a minute, let the dog back inside, then walked upstairs to go to bed. It was no use losing sleep over the feathered fowl.

As I climbed in bed, I again enjoyed the silence and stillness of my home. Yet in the distance, I heard a faint "ANGH! ANGH! ANGH!" and I wondered if the ghost duck had succeeded in haunting yet another house. Or if someone captured a photo of it. Or if someone invited it in from the cold to stay the night.

Christmas, birthday, and everything in between...

--Christmas Eve
One of my favorite celebrations of the entire year is Christmas Eve night with my sisters and parents. We get together, have great food, and laugh a lot! Our parents literally spoil all of us rotten. The kids can hardly wait to open presents, and I can't wait for the mint dessert! It was no different this year. My mom has become an impressive cook. She somehow gets all of the food, perfectly cooked, out on the table at the same time. It's really quite amazing. We needed to take family pictures to put on an iPad that we bought for my grandparents, so here are the results of our attempt:

My mom & dad are the cutest! Mom lost 60 pounds in 2010! She gave her chubby daughter (me, obviously!) all of her old clothes! She looks amazing!

Last year with Shawn's family we decided to exchange "homemade" gifts with one another. I thought it would be fun to try that with my family. There were many grumbles and groans but I think it was sort of fun! Homemade gifts just mean a little more than buying a gift card.

Sabrina - Me, Steph, Lindsay - homemade, beaded bracelets. soooo cute.
Mom - Steph - Apron with cleaning supplies
Dad - Lindsay - Note on parchment paper (how creative! he was very proud of that...) and a gift card to Hobby Lobby so she could make her own gift. (cheater?)
Nat - Mike - Soft, jumbo size blanket
Shawn - Mom - Magnet board made out of metal with "Warburton" and an elk at the top
Steph - Jason - Movie gift basket (cheater!!)
Mike - Dad - "Homemade" salsa and chips from El Matador (another cheater!!)
Lindsay - Me - CUTE framed picture that says "Redd Family" and one for West with his date of birth and name
Jason - Shawn - Recessed lighting in our house

Yes, one of these gifts is not like the others! My brother-in-law Jason came over and helped us remove our outdated florescent lighting in our kitchen and replaced it with recessed lighting! Jason had already done this little project in my mom & dad's house. I was so jealous and somehow my mom talked Jason into doing it for our house! My mom & dad bought the materials for it as our Christmas gift and Jason donated his time to get it all finished. Isn't that awesome? Best Christmas ever, in my opinion. Except for cleaning up afterward. But I'm not complaining!

Shawn gave me a classic homemade gift as well. Engraved metal stars. He outdid himself yet again. Not to mention the "hoodie-footie" pajamas in Pepto Bismol pink! ha!! I actually have a picture of me in them that is never to be viewed by the outside world.

Shawn's attempt at gift wrapping. I laughed forever at this sight!

--Christmas

We had such a fun Christmas this year! Santa sent letters to the kids mid-way through December to encourage them to be good. I don't know if those letters did any good, because Hannah was testing our patience up to and including Christmas Eve! Little stinker. On Christmas morning, Hannah was soooo relieved to see that Santa actually brought her gifts. "See Mom! I was good!" The main gifts this year were Nintendo Dsi's, which are basically Nintendo DS's with internet capability and cameras. Shawn and I gave Chance Jazz v. Bulls Jazz tickets and an Al Jefferson Jazz jersey. Shawn put them into a basketball-like scripture case. His face upon opening that scripture case was priceless!

I actually entered this picture into a contest for free Jazz tickets and a free jersey on www.jazz360.com. We'll see if he wins! Hannah received "Go Go My Walking Pup" which Rags promptly decided to make the moves on. Rags got a Snuggie. In Camo.We had Shawn's parents, Sarah, and John over for breakfast casserole on Christmas morning, then we went over to the Redds later that night for dinner and opening MORE presents. Shawn's mom had already provided our family with another wonderful 12-days of Christmas, so we had presents for weeks before now! --New Year's Eve
We celebrated New Year's Eve by going to the movies - Hannah, Mylee, and I went to see Tangled and Shawn and Chance went to see Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver's Travels has Jack Black in it and it looked pretty funny. Chance came out of the show laughing his head off and Shawn came out of the show rolling his eyes, if that tells you anything about it. Now Tangled, on the other hand, was SOOOO cute! I loved it. Just a cute, feel good movie. West had a change of scenery and spent a few hours with Grandma Debbie. After I picked West up from Grandma's and was driving down my street, I noticed fireworks in the sky. They looked awfully close to my house. Come to find out, while I was at Grandma's, Shawn had produced illegal (Wyoming) fireworks out of nowhere and began to light them in the backyard, making everyone run inside after they went off so the police wouldn't know who was lighting them! That's the extent of our exciting New Year's Eve. When you're old and you don't drink, New Year's is pretty lame. Lighting illegal fireworks was pretty rebellious, though! The kids sure had fun by having Mylee sleep over.

--New Year's Day
Shawn, Chance, Hannah and Mylee all took a trip down to the Redds for a New Years Day feast of London Broil, twice-baked potatoes, and appetizers. Much football watching, as well. I stayed home with West and cleaned this messy house. It really looked like a tornado had hit.

--Day After New Year's Day
After church, my husband the chef prepared an early birthday dinner for me featuring crab legs and Rib Eye steaks! Heaven on earth. I attempted to make cheesy cauliflower but was corrected by the master chef because I did not thicken the sauce enough. It turned out okay, but I really just need to leave the cooking to the master! Lindsay made chocolate parfaits that were to die for. I wish my birthday was more than once a year just for the food!

--Birthday
Since we had basically celebrated my birthday the night before, I wasn't planning on doing anything for my actual birthday. All I wanted was a nap! Mr. West likes to get up every three hours NO MATTER WHAT. I think half of the time he is full and just likes to wake up to see if I'll go get him. So I did get about a half-hour power nap, which was all I wanted. But later that night we went to dinner to Texas Roadhouse as a family. They are famous for making people with a birthday sit on a saddle and embarrass them to death! I know I'm a party pooper, but I couldn't bear it so I refused the saddle treatment. Shawn and the kids gave me the FUNNIEST cards, one of them entitling me to a Kindle and case. It was a very nice birthday. I'm 34 now, but it wasn't a birthday I was dreading. "Age is just a number" is my new philosophy.