And the birthday continued...!

So, on Monday I wasn't expecting too much since we had done EVERYTHING I wanted on Saturday. Well, a FABULOUS person in our ward, Loni, called to see if we wanted to come to dinner (we had met the day before). I explained that it was my birthday and we weren't sure what our plans were and we might actually go out to dinner as a family...again.

She then said, "We'll take the kids tonight and you guys can go out to dinner and a movie." Whoa, HOLD THE PHONE...are you kidding me?!?! First off, who would want to randomly watch our kids (although they are stinkin' adorable!), Second, we just met yesterday in Relief Society, third, she has 3 boys under 4 and is due with her 4th in under a month! Talk about an ANGEL. Of course, I called Luke ASAP and he was ALL about it. :) What's even funnier, Luke and I had been talking (since we moved here) about finding a good babysitter like we had in Kansas. We were going to start asking around in the ward for my birthday, but we hadn't had a chance yet...Talk about getting lucky!

We went to Cheesecake Factory (never been) and it was a fun atmosphere! We probably won't be frequenting this place very often since I didn't LOVE the food, but the cheesecake (which I don't normally like) was very good. Then instead of going out to a movie, we rented from the RedBox. (Thank you Rachel for reminding me about them) We watched Becoming Jane on monday and Dan in Real Life and I was VERY impressed with both of them!

So, thank you LONI for being so wonderful and thanks Luke for more fun and a chance to eat dinner by ourselves!

8+ inches & my birthday weekend

This past weekend Luke spoiled me...he really, really did. My birthday is tomorrow (monday, the 28th) and so he decided to celebrate with a birthday weekend. We relaxed most of Saturday and then he and Connel went to get my treadmill. YAHOO!

Then, we went to Nuevo Acapulco for dinner and it was DIVINE!! Oh, sooo good! (We were worried that we wouldn't find a good or even GREAT Mexican restaurant when we moved...we were wrong!) We do highly recommend this restaurant. The service was SUPERB and the food was a.) Really YUMMY! b.) HUGE portions c.) Chips & salsa TO DIE FOR!

Afterwards we decided we wanted to go to the mall and had forgotten our umbrella stroller, so we drove over to Wal-Mart and picked one up. We went over to the mall and started window shopping, then we went into JcPenney and I got 2 pairs of shorts (Buy one, get one for $.88) and 2 shirts (same deal!). So great...and then Luke said, "whatcha want to do now?" I told him I wanted to get my haircut. He was a little surprised since I don't usually get my haircut done in a mall...we get a bit LEARY. Well, I wasn't waiting one more day and I didn't want to have to make an appointment, yadda, yadda, yadda...so I did it. At 7:15p.m. last night. I went into a salon/spa and just did it.

Finally, I feel free again!! She cut 8 inches off the bottom and almost a foot when she gave me layers at the top. (The cosmetologist was freakin' out a little when I told her what I wanted...but I told her I had had short hair before..actually, even shorter, and told her to keep going!!) That seriously was the greatest feelin' EVER.

Ok, we got home, put the kids to bed, and started the finishing touches on our talks. The topic: The Gospel is Restored. Great topic, but hard to narrow down. We thought it went well, but it made it all the more worth it when the sister missionaries came over and said that their investigator was really touched and impressed. Good thing we didn't scare her away!

Today, yes on the Sabbath, we put the treadmill together. It weighs 199.0lbs (no joke) which is on the heavier side, so it was a bit of a bear...but will be so WONDERFUL to have!

So thanks to my wonderful husband for a FABULOUS birthday!! I know the presents are just material things, but he was thoughtful enough to really nail down (haha) what I really wanted this year! (New computer monitor, treadmill, clothes, haircut, and camera!) Thanks honey!

Reflections of Christ

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

Their room

Many of you know how "wonderful" it is to live in an apartment...and to have your kids share a room. It isn't the funnest thing for us, as parents to do, but my kids LOVE IT. Our next step is a 3 bedroom apartment (ok, you all know that I would LOVE a home), so that they can either have separate bedrooms or a playroom for all of their toys.






Yes, that is a t.v in their room..please don't judge! It is only temporarily in there (until I start using it with my treamill). Plus, that is the only way the kids don't run amok while I take a shower... :)

Weird and Random and More to post

alright, so I feel like I am a little behind in posting..not posting about random things, but our family. So here are some updates:

Spencer likes to sit on Luke while Luke bathes Livi.

Chef Olivia:


HOLD THE BUTTER PLEASE!


Styling daddy's glasses (he went to the eye dr.)

Spencer running down the hall after going "potty".

He fell off the chair while playing playdough...such a sad boy! :(

After the playdough falling incident:

Ok, so I opened up our patio door...and found a black bag. It was a little freaky because you couldn't see inside it, but I ventured out and opened it...and this is what I found:


....socks?!?!

Spencer's big boy bed...

Still working on naptime in that bed, but night time sleep is GREAT!

Our airducts...GROSS!!! If you look really close, there is a beer can from back when they built the place...close to 30 years old!!


So nasty! I can't believe we were breathing that crud in! It's clean now, but our apartment still smells like smoke. We'll see what we can do to fix it.

**Don't forget to look at my previous post....

Apostles

I got this from my sil, Kerry. Don't forget to turn off the music at the bottom to listen!

What Do You Do All Day?

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?
''Yes,' was his incredulous reply. She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.' -Priceless-

*Let me just make a quick note here: Sometimes when Luke got home from work and the house was HORRIBLE he would ask..."soooo, what did you do today??" To which I would usually tell him ALL the stuff I actually really DID do...but then it got to the point where I was getting a little tired of it (even if it was only once or twice a month) and would start to reply: Nothing. He hasn't asked again. :)

Happy Kids and warm, BEAUTIFUL WEATHER

The weather has been FABULOUS this past week and the kids have enjoyed being outside EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Washer

well, the movers were a little less than careful with our stuff...we had part of our piano broken, an antique dresser broken, a suitcase...broken, and our WASHER! I was a bit peeved about the washer, especially since it cost us $217 to fix. we will be reimbursed eventually...but I wasn't really happy about it! Luckily, we had a FANTASTIC repairman who got all the parts early and we have been washing like mad! (We haven't had a washer since last Saturday--about 10 loads!)

The, "The Pictures Explain Everything" Post

The Before:






and the after...








**Just for the record...this is NOT a home. We won't be in a home for another 3 years...but I would like to say that this is the largest apartment we have ever lived in...all of its 1150 sq. ft. So, sorry if these pictures looked like the real thing...they are not!

Would you mind?

Hey everyone...just wanted to throw out a simple request to the blogging world. If you have our full name on your blog (either on the friends list or in a story, etc), would you mind removing our last name?
In the interest of NOT going private, we feel that if our last name is removed from your blog, it would make it harder for someone to do anything stupid and therefore, we stay public for that much longer.
Thanks and if there are any questions, let me know!

Horton Hears a Who...

Ok, this is HILARIOUS!! Tonight Luke was working late and the kids and I just happened to be bored and at the mall, so we went to see this...and I was VERY Impressed! I am not one to like a movie the first time I watch it. It actually takes me a while, for instance, Enchanted...I know, I know, it's a fabulous movie, but when we saw it in the theater, I wasn't that into it. I obviously like it now, we do own it, but usually the movies have to grow on me.

BUT, I was VERY IMPRESSED with this one and laughed and laughed. It is definitely one that we will own! (Too bad Luke wasn't there, he would've laughed his bum off!)

The Natural Way

Dying easter eggs the natural way was introduced to me by my mother (not sure where she found out how to do it, but you can go onto the internet)..It sounded intriguing, so we ended up doing it. ( I really mean that she ended up doing it, but it was so cool, I have to claim something!)

Pale Red: Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries
Orange: Yellow onion skins
Light yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground cumin
Yellow: Ground turmeric
Pale green: Spinach leaves
Green-gold: Yellow Delicious apple peels
Blue: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves
Beige to brown: Strong brewed coffee


We did the red cabbage leaves and the BLUE was extraordinary..not kidding. IT was a BEAUTIFUL royal blue and was our favorite. The 2nd coolest one was the onion peels...it was similar to a terra cotta color. See pictures. The terracotta is at the top right and the royal blue one is at the bottom (we added glitter). Sorry the picture is so fuzzy up close.

I've noticed...

I've noticed that my blog is mostly just that, my blog. I mean, I don't post a ton of pictures of the kids or of Luke or me. I don't really talk about us specifically, but I mostly "journal" about what is going on with us. I guess that stinks for those of you that hare asking for pictures and such...but I guess that is why I created private blogs for the kids. (Read previous post) So have fun reading up on us and if you want pictures (email) of the kids, let me know and I'll add you to their site.
Ok, blah, blah, blah..whatever...I'll post our Easter weekend!






Just for the record, Luke has NEVER dyed eggs. I know, I know you are thinking that is crazy...but because he grew up J.W. and they don't believe in celebrating holidays...the whole egg dying thing wasn't an option. SO, we put the kids down and the adults had a BLAST not just dying them, but doing it both naturally (with onion peels, etc), glitter & tie-dye. SO FUN!

After church, it was SUNNY! Livi trying on my wedding dress.



Baskets

Loot

Livi & Spencer looking for their baskets

Please note the glitter and other things we did...we really had a great time!