Mother's Day

The Saturday before Mother's Day, Shawn stayed home with the kids while I went outside BY MYSELF and went on a walk/jog. The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to be outside and exercise. I have really been lacking in my exercise, and so it felt EXTRA good. Then, I treated myself to a pedicure, and bought myself an orchid. I love orchids because they are hard to kill! This particular orchid requires that you water it with three ice cubes per week in order to keep it alive. I can handle that!! I got home from my Mother's Day celebration around 1:30 p.m., and informed Shawn that I had just had the best Mother's Day ever because of those hours alone! It was so rejuvenating and relaxing. I later thought, it's ironic that what made my Mother's Day so wonderful was the fact that I avoided all of my motherly duties! Ha! That night, Shawn and I went to dinner at Sonora Grill (my favorite) and then to see the movie Thor. Thor was kind of lame, but for some reason I really wanted to see it. Then, when we got home, Shawn asked, "Is THIS why you wanted to see Thor?" He shoves a Diet Dr. Pepper can in my face. On every Diet Dr. Pepper can there is advertising for Thor! I guarantee that advertising got me subliminally!! ha!! On Sunday, I received great gifts from the kids, as usual. Homemade gifts and pictures are just priceless to me.

FROM CHANCE:

This was a cute little M&M game that we played that night (there was a pack of M&M's glued to the top). GREAT idea from his wonderful school teacher. He also made me a little tin foil bracelet with beans glued on top! It was super cute but it broke.

FROM HANNAH:

Chance made me a similar picture here when he was in kindergarten! Supposedly that mole on my face in Hannah's picture was an accident, but she was probably trying to draw a zit or something! ha!!

After church, we had dessert at my mom's house, then went to Matt & Courtnie's house for dinner! A little bit backwards, but it was fun. April & Bryan's house is under construction due to some remodeling they are doing to their kitchen, so we have been at Matt & Courtnie's a lot lately. They have a great house for entertaining. I promised them that once the weather cooperated, we would have the get-togethers at our house in the backyard!

Kindergarten Program

Hannah was SOOOO excited to do her kindergarten program at the end of the year. It was very important to her that I come see it. She must've reminded me thirty times over the course of two weeks about her “program”. She did not have a speaking part, but she was given the privilege of holding the letter "B" while the kindergarten sang the song B-I-N-G-O. Pretty cool for her! Courtnie, Garrett, Jace, and Grandma April all came to see her perform, as well. It was fun to see April, because Courtnie and I had to act calm and collected about her birthday. We had planned a surprise birthday dinner at Maddox that same night, so we had to act like we knew nothing about her plans for the evening! It was fun to see her that night and laugh about our earlier conversation!

Shakespeare

Second graders at North Ogden Elementary perform Shakespeare plays. Why? I have no clue. I didn't know about Shakespeare until seventh or eighth grade when we had to memorize some passages in English class! Never hurts to start early, I guess. One second grade class performed Macbeth, one class performed Romeo & Juliet, and one class put on a Midsummer Night's Dream. But Chance's teacher, Mrs. Filiaga, put a little twist on Shakespeare by having the kids learn certain Shakespearean sayings, what they mean, and what they mean to them. My favorite:

this lady (me) really does protest too much!!!

Shakespeare was indeed a "phrase maker!" Then, they sang songs about the sayings. It was really, really cute.

a few of the phrases

Chance was 'Mr. Redd', the assistant professor to Mr. Bennett (Quinn, his good friend). Chance had a large speaking part, most likely due to his ability to memorize. I was totally impressed, yet again, by this kid's memory. One of my favorite songs they sang was called "No Women." They sang this because Mrs. Filiaga's class had only eight girls in it – the rest boys!! It was entirely appropriate. Grandma Debbie, Grandpa Brad, Aunt Lindsay, Grandma April, Courtnie, Brielle, and Gracie all came to see Chance's play! What an awesome, supportive family we have!

Afraid of teenagers?? He should be. He and his friends yell at them as they walk home from school. I keep telling him they're going to get beat up one of these days.

Chance & Mrs. Filiaga (Amy)

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.