Sleeping Beauty

A few weeks ago, the girls and I went to a Sleeping Beauty play in Gilbert, AZ. My Mom bought tickets for my sisters and I and our girls. It was at the Hale Theatre in downtown Gilbert.

Avery & Hayden wore their princess dresses to the play and brought their Sleeping Beauty dolls with them. They had so much fun dressing up and watching the play.

While we were waiting for my mom and sisters to get there, Avery & Hayden were dancing and playing on the stairs like princesses.

The theatre is kind of an interactive amphitheatre with the stage on the floor and all of the seats surrounding it. We were actually on the front row, so the characters were literally within reaching distance at some points in the play. I was a little nervous for my girls to be right in the front, but they did really good at staying in their seats.

On the left is my sister Kelsey's girls Scout and Ellie, and then there's Avery and Hayden. This was during intermission.
These were the 3 fairies in the play. The storyline and characters were slightly different than the ones in the movie, but they were really cute and the girls were so excited to get their picture taken with them.
Of course, Sleeping Beauty was the most popular character to meet after the play was over, so we had to wait in line to see her. But, the girls finally had their chance to meet the princess and get a picture with her. They loved it.
After the play we had lunch and ice cream cones and the girls got to play for a little while. It was such a fun day and the girls loved hanging out with their cousins. We wished my sister Lynndsey could have been there with her girls too, but hopefully she will be there at our next girl cousin outing :)

Happy Birthday Kiley!

OK, I am such a slacker with Kiley's birthday. It was actually on May 26th, but it was the day after we got home from our trip and it was somewhat of a crazy week filled with pink eye, earaches, and coughing - so we finally celebrated Kiley's birthday on Sunday. Not much of a celebration, but we did let Kiley dig into her own cake and go to town. Brandon got some funny video of it, but it was way too long to post on here. Just imagine her flinging pink frosting all over the place, rubbing it into her hair and face, etc. Funny to watch - not so fun to clean. But, hey, they only turn 1 once and each year they get a little neater with their cake eating.

Here are a few things about Baby Kiley:

1. She loves to try and figure things out and fit different objects together.
2. She did not eat solid food (including rice cereal) until she was 8 months old. (she would cry and push the spoon away every time I tried to feed her)
3. Kiley was sleeping in a pack-and-play in our playroom until a few weeks ago. She kept waking up crying at night until we put her in that room and she slept through the night. Finally we were brave enough to switch her back to her crib in her room and she is now sleeping great - yay!
4. She finally got her first tooth last week.
5. Her middle name is Magdalyn (named after Mary Magdalene)
6. She took her first steps to me today, but usually sits down and crawls if where she wants to go seems too far away.
7. She loves to have screaming matches with Hayden. They both scream to the top of their lungs to see who can be the loudest, and then they both crack up laughing.
8. Kiley loves loves loves Baby Einstein. She will actually sit through an entire 30-min. show, and, yes, I take full advantage of this :)
9. She was born on Memorial Day last year.
10. Kiley is a very happy baby (most of the time :) and loves to play with her sisters. We love her to pieces and are so happy she is a part of our family. Her smile is contagious and I just cannot give her enough kisses throughout the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KILEY!! I LOVE YOU!!!

"I Miss Jesus"

Tonight before the girls went to bed, Avery wanted to watch The Testaments movie. After it was over, she was sitting on the couch and looked really sad. I thought she was just sad because the movie was over and it was time for bed. I asked her what was wrong though and she said, with tears coming down her face, "I miss Jesus."

It kind of caught me off guard and I didn't really know what to say at first. I just gave her a big hug and kiss and told her that even though we can't see Jesus like they did on the movie, we can always pray to Heavenly Father to feel Jesus close to us. I told her that when we feel warm and happy it means that Jesus is close and helping us feel that way. I told Avery that someday she would get to see Jesus. Her response was, "I don't know which day I get to see Him."

"I don't either Avery," I said, "But someday you will get to see Him again. Do you know that Jesus loves you lots and lots and lots?"

"Yes," Avery said, "And Heavenly Father loves me too."

It is moments like these when I realize why we are told we need to become innocent like little children.

Our Vacation

Well, Brandon and I are back from our wonderful vacation. We spent the last five days in Nauvoo and driving all over Minnesota, Wisconsin, and part of Iowa. We flew in to Minneapolis on Wed. and then drove to Keokuk, Iowa where we stayed the night. Then on Thursday morning we went to this beautiful place:

The Nauvoo temple is absolutely gorgeous! The inside is even more beautiful than the outside. We did the 8:00 session and it was so peaceful and wonderful. The temple was definitely the highlight of Nauvoo. Seeing the sites is neat, but there is nothing that beats the spirit you feel inside the temple. The Joseph Smith mansion house. All of the Joseph Smith sites are owned by the Community of Christ church (a.k.a. RLDS church) so they did the tour of the mansion house, the red brick store, and the gravesites of Emma, Hyrum, and Joseph. It was neat to see these places, but unfortunate that they are not owned by the church.

In front of the first home of Emma and Joseph Smith which backs right up to the Mississippi river. It was so beautiful there.

Carthage Jail. Other than the temple, this was our favorite place we visited. There is a special spirit and reverence there that cannot be described. It's really surreal to be in the same room that Joseph and Hyrum were martyred in. My testimony of the restoration was definitely strengthened there and I knew more than ever that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Well, after we visited Nauvoo and Carthage, we drove back up to Minneapolis, which is about a 7 hour drive. We were exhausted by the time we got to our hotel, which was about 1:30 a.m. That was a long first day! The rest of our trip was spent visiting areas where Brandon served his mission and recalling memories he had in each place.

This was in Austin, MN where Brandon was towards the end of his mission. Behind us is the apartment he stayed in while he was there. FYI - Austin is the birthplace of SPAM and they even have a SPAM museum there. We tried to go to it, but they had just closed 5 minutes before we got there. Oh well, Brandon got me a T-shirt from there while he was serving in Austin, which I still have.

We had to get a picture of Brandon next to "his" sign. I'm guessing it's a small town in MN - Brandon never actually went there though.

On Friday we went to the mission office where Brandon spent his last few months. We forgot to get a picture there, but it was nice to meet the senior missionaries serving there and some of the elders who dropped in. The picture above was taken in a city called Brooklyn Center where we ate at a 50's diner. The girls wore poodle skirts and it was all 50's music and decorations. That was a fun place and the burgers and shakes were delish!

On Saturday we drove up to Duluth, MN which I had heard of before, but pictured it to be a small rural town. It is actually a really beautiful place that overlooks Lake Superior. I had no idea how big Lake Superior is, but it looks like the ocean because it goes on forever and you can't see land on the other side. It was a little chillier there than the other cities in MN, so there weren't any swimmers in the lake. But, it was beautiful to look at.

These are some views of Lake Superior from a neighborhood up on a hill.

This was not my idea, but Brandon wanted to take some pictures of me when we got closer down to the lake. Cheesy, I know. We felt the water just to see how cold it was, and it was freezing! We heard on the radio that the low that night was supposed to be 35 degrees.

On Sunday we went to church in Red Wing, which was Brandon's favorite area. This church building was built and dedicated while he was there. We got to see a couple that he baptized and visit with the current missionaries in the ward. They were really good missionaries and they and Brandon shared a lot of stories and experiences from Red Wing and other areas that they had served in. There was also a family in the Red Wing ward who had just moved there from Gilbert, AZ in February - small world.

This is a view from a hill in Red Wing. We stopped by a city called Apple Valley and talked for a while with a family that Brandon taught. They were such a nice family and you could tell how much they loved Brandon while he served there. It was so neat to go back to Brandon's mission and see all of the places I had heard so much about. We would be driving through some streets and a memory of teaching somebody, or staying in a tiny apartment, or riding his bike in the snow would come flooding back to him. We had such a great time on our trip. I fell in love with Minnesota while I was there. It was so green and beautiful, and all of the people we met were so nice and friendly. (Except for the cop downtown who gave us a red light ticket:( Really though, the people there are so kind and down-to-earth. I love their accent too! Not everyone has it, but the further you get outside of Minneapolis, the more you hear it. I know now why Brandon loved it there so much. We don't know when we will be able to go there again, but I am already looking forward to it!

Our Family through Avery's Eyes

Last week was Avery's last week of preschool and it was at our house. On Tuesday our theme was "My Family" so I had all of the kids make some puppets of each member of their family. Then we had everyone sit down in the living room while each one of them held up their puppets and told us about their family members. I wrote down what each of them said and put it in their puppet bag to take home to their family. Let me just tell you, it was pretty hilarious. Some of the kids told us about their dads putting them in timeout or their little brothers getting lots of "no-no's", or how they sneak into their sister's room to wake her up sometimes. It was so cute to hear each one of them describe their families from their perspective. I am so glad I wrote them down too because you just can't remember or say things the same way that a 4 or 5-year-old can.

So here is what Avery said in her own words about our family:

Avery - This is me. I go to dinner with my family. (I think she meant "eat" dinner with my family because we very rarely go out to eat as a family.) They help me take a shower and I can do it by myself. And I can sweep the floor and rocks.

Hayden - This is my sister Hayden. She likes to not share with me with my toys. I can share her toys with her. I can help her make her bed clean.

Kiley - This is my sister Kiley. She likes to laugh at me whil I play with her. Mommy and Daddy like to throw her a lot and tickle her.

Mommy - This is my Mommy. She likes to watch me do piano and I can do it by myself. She loves me a lot and gives me hugs and kisses.

Daddy - This is my Daddy. He likes to give me tickles and spankies at night (don't worry, it's a game, not a punishment). I can be good. Daddy is the most favorite thing I ever seen. He can have a date with mommy and can tuck me in at night.

That one was my favorite "Daddy is the most favorite thing I ever seen." We both know that she won't always feel like that about her parents, but we will definitely enjoy it while we can. Despite her usual meltdowns, Avery is really sweet and has a kind heart. We love her a lot and I can't believe she will be in kindergarten in a few months. Everyone tells you they grow up fast, but I didn't believe it until all of a sudden I had a 5-year-old and two other children. It really is amazing to me.

Well, we are counting down the days until our trip! On Wed. Brandon & I are flying to Minnesota for our anniversary. He served his mission in Minneapolis and we have always wanted to go back there together. We wrote letters the whole time while he was there, so whenever he talks about certain places or areas, I feel like I know so much about it, but now it will be neat to actually see it in person and meet some of the people I've heard so much about. We are also going to Nauvoo to see all of the church history sites there. I actually went there with my Ricks volleyball team years ago. We had a tournament in Illinois and were given permission from the school to go early and spend a few days in Nauvoo. It was really cool. This time will be different though. I will be with my hubby and we get to go to the Nauvoo temple (which was still in construction when I was there.) We will get to experience everything together, which will be so fun. And this time I won't have to run 8 miles along the river like we did with our team last time :) Brandon told me just to pretend that I had never been there either so we can experience everything for the first time together. We can't wait! Two more days...

Thankful Thursday May '09

I was reading my scriptures this morning and the very last verse said: "Pray without ceasing and give thanks in all things." As soon as I read that I remembered about Thankful Thursday. In case you missed the last one, I decided to make a list of the things I am thankful for on the first Thursday of every month. Well, even though it's a day late, better late than never :)

I am thankful for...

1. Naptime
2. Fresh fruit
3. Answers to prayers
4. Good friends
5. Being raised in the church
6. A husband who grew up with women
7. Computers
8. Sunsets
9. Hayden finally pooping in the potty (hooray!)
10. Air conditioning
11. Temples
12. Yummy candles
13. Promptings from the Holy Ghost
14. Disposable diapers
15. The laughter of my children
16. Wonderful extended family members
17. Fresh flowers
18. My health
19. Good doctors and nurses
20. Eternal families
21. General Conference
22. The Atonement
23. Forgiveness
24. Visiting Teaching
25. All of the wonderful mothers out there who are my example and who teach me so much :)

I hope you all have a nice Mother's Day weekend!

Bilingual Baby

This made me laugh today so I thought I would post about it. This morning at breakfast Kiley (who is almost a year old now) was doing her normal babbling baby talk while the girls were eating their cereal.

Avery asked me, "Mom, what is Kiley saying?"

I said, "I don't know Avery."

Then Avery responded, "I think she is talking in Spanish."

I got a good laugh out of that one. Gotta love kids!