Madness in March

It happened, and I was not entirely prepared for it. There was no slow lead in, no precursor, no heads up, just a "brace yourself because it's coming and there is nothing you can do to stop it."
No, I'm not talking about my hormones changing or the wiskers on my chin, they moved in a while ago. 

It all started at the Kaysville City Library. 

I took the kids to pick out some books, and Ella veared from our usual path that leads us to the children's books, and headed to a different section.  She came back with 2 books in tote.  Both Hannah Montana related, as pictured below:

Summed up, these books include pictures of the stars of the show with biographies, and facts about their interests, hobbies, etc.  I didn't think much of it, as I enjoy a little Miley Cyrus now and again.  We added them to the pile, checked out, and headed home.
The next morning Ella came upstairs with book in hand, and an odd smirk on her face.  A little tug of my pantleg alerted me that she wanted my attention.  I turn to see her looking up at me, and smiling with the book opened to this picture:

She just stared up at me with those big green eyes, smiling like something grand had happened.
"Ella, why are you smling?" I asked.
"I don't know, I just like looking at this picture."

Oh good heavens. 

"Why do you like this picture?"
"I don't know, maybe because of his smile or something."

Heaven help me. 

She's FIVE!!!  Surely I thought this might come about 3 or 4 years down the line, but now?  All I can ask of you is that you pray for me, as I'm going to need all the help I can get with this little red head.

Joshua

Face painting for St. Patrick's Day

Josh saw Kelli in "Comedy of Errors" at BYU

Josh's school class performed puppet plays this past month.  His was titled, "The Bee and Jupiter."  Josh's puppet was the queen bee, and he had a pretty good voice for her: high toned with a Southern drawl.  It was great.  He's quite the performer.

Daxton

Daxton is turning out to be quite the little break dancer. Not that I'm an expert, but let's just say that this boy has some serious moves. Combine that with his astounding hair do, and you've got quite the combination. 

Above, Daxton bustin a move with his best friend, Logan.  After I video recorded the two, Logan told me to send the video to everyone I know.

Painting bird houses with Aunt Lisa

Ella

Ella and I had a little date this month and went and saw "Beauty and the Beast" at Capitol Theatre. Ella borrowed a dress from her good friend, Hazel, so she was dressed for the part. Out of all the restaurants to choose from, she opted for a burger from "Five Guys." Nothing quite as delicious as a fresh burger topped with grilled onions, lettuce, ketchup, mayo, and of course, BACON.

We arrived at the theatre and walked inside. Ella said it looked like a "castle" and she loved picking up her dress so she could walk up the stairs (and there were lots of those where we sat.) She enjoyed the show, got a little teary as the beast was dying, then got real teary on our walk back to the car as her kindergarten shots were earlier that morning and the IBuprofen had worn off. Those poor little legs!

All in all, a fun date for the two of us.

Ella and Amelie sitting in the sun eating mom's raspberry custard.

Amelie

Hanging out on the stairs.

Amelie is 2 now so we packed up the crib and set up her "big girl bed."  She loves it (especially loves jumping on it and climbing out of bed at 6am to wake me up to her insistant cries of "Gabba Gabba," a tv show for kids.  You haven't seen that one?  I highly recommend it, I imagine it's what the world would be like if you were doped up on heroine.)

Amelie is a treat.  Loves loves to eat and rid your cupboards of suckers, m&m's, girl scout cookies and yogurt.

Cameron

Cameron is a saint, and opted out of his yert trip to stay home and take care of me, as I was not up to snuff.  Yet another reason that I am head over heels for this boy. That, and he can grow killer facial hair.  Beard, stache, flavor savor, you name it, he's had it this past month (Mustache March) .  `With or without facial hair, this boy is a fox. 

Cam was released from his calling this Sunday, as Priest quroum adviser and High Adventure leader.  It was a tearful moment.  He really, really loves those boys and is going to miss spending time with them.  He's been in that calling since we've been back from Belgium, and I feel, has enjoyed every minute of it.

Cindy

I also was tearful as they released me as Primary President today.  Hands down, primary is the greatest.  The spirit that is felt in the primary room is one of the sweetest I have ever felt.  I feel so blessed to have been able to feel such a great love for these children, and to be able to learn alongside them.  I love them, I'm going to miss each and every one of them, and also the amazing men and women whom I served with.  Bittersweet.

On another note, great news as this past month we were able to close on our loan, get the HOA approval from Dutch Fields, and are now awaiting approval from the city with the alotted permits.  Exciting!  We estimate to start the whole process the first week of April and have a "sparkling cider" celebration in a giant hole that will soon be our basement!

Wish us luck in the months ahead as I forsee this being quite the "adventure" for Cameron, myself, and our little family.

Fab Feb

I love the month of love.  The red hearts adorning windows and hanging from knobs.  The bright fresh flowers brightening your inside space.  And let's not omit  the best part: chocolate. Light, dark, creme filled or milky smooth, it's all delectable.  Here are our comings and goings for the month of February:
The kids decorating cookies at Nana Trish's and Grandpa Scott's house:

Grandpa Scott turned 60 on February 18th, so we surprised him with a big banner. The kids painted their hands and stamped them all over the poster (messy fun!!)

 Love you Grandpa!

 Showing my love with some heart pancakes for the kids. 

 Joshua
There are candid moments when Josh is the spitting image of his father.  Like the other day when I came downstairs after giving the girls a bath to find that Josh, out of all shows on the television that evening, chose to watch Jeopardy. 

 That's Josh shooting the ball in the back.  He said, "Mom, I love that picture.  I totally look like Jimmer."

Josh has had another fun month of basketball.  He has a great shot, great ball handling skills and has improved a lot with controlled defense.  So now we are working at getting rebounds.  I tried a little incentive.  In last week’s game, I offered 25 cents for every rebound Josh grabbed.  After 4 quarters , he had a mere 50 cents.  Hopefully he can jump into the action next game.  Once this boy figures out rebounds, he’ll be the complete package!  I can’t wait for a few years down the line when Josh can play against his dad.  It will be kinda fun to see Cameron humbled.  Ha ha

Daxton

Dax made an amazing discovery the other day.  He found that his hair gets extra “poofy” when he runs a comb through it.  Yes folks, my 6 year old has discovered the afro.  He was hell bent on wearing this do to school. 

“Mom, please let me wear it poofy.”

After 3 days I gave my consent and after combing through his hair numerous times, he was pleased and headed out the door to kindergarten.

Daxton quote of the month:

“Mom, I’m not a detective,  I’m a daredevil.  A daredevil on my bike.  I come riding into the garage like this: errrrrrrrr (tire screeching sound effect). And I slide in.”

Ella

Not quite sure what to say about this photo.  Umm, wish me luck?

Ella wants a baby chick. After passing Cal Ranch the other day, I noticed their sign read,“Spring Chicks have arrived.” So I thought it might be fun to take the girls to see the chicks and quickly turned into the parking lot. Now Ella is convinced that we need baby chicks.

“Mom, it’s okay. They can just sleep in my room and I will feed them. Don’t worry, they won’t make too much noise.”

I told her, maybe once we move we can have some chicks. I do have to admit, they’re pretty cute. And the eggs are an added bonus, right?

Ella drew this picture of a "bunny" family.  The mom bunny is even holding a baby bunny.

Ella quote of the month:

“Mom, you don’t have pretty good ears ‘cause you don’t hear us so well.”

(after Dax repeatedly asked if he could play a game on my phone.  It’s called “selective hearing.”)

Amelie

Amelie in her new coat and hat from Nana.

 Cam and I bought her a little table with chairs.  Bring on the tea party!

2 Years old, in her new Birthday Outfit!

Blowing out the candles on her Angle Food Cake.  She loves Strawberries!

Nana, Grandpa, and Lisa joined the party.

Happy Girl!

I love this picture.  She needed her glasses to go outside.

Our baby turned 2 this month.  Pretty wild.  She is talking up a storm.  My favorite is when she sings us a song or two.  Her little voice is so sweet and angelic, it's wonderful.  Her favorites are "Jingle Bells" and "Popcorn Popping."  We try to sing songs together when I'm changing her into her clothes, during bath time, and before she lies down at night.  It's a hoot.

Amelie also upgraded to a "big girl bed" this month.  Only 2 nights of climbing out of bed, and she seems to have it down (knock on wood).  Her favorite: jumping up and down, falling on her bum then quickly sprining off the bed and landing on her feet. 

Cameron

I thought this was a picture of Cam rescuining the baby off the basketball court, but upon closer inspection, I think it's Cam's dad, Glen holding the baby.  Sheesh Glen, I've mistaken you for your 30 year old son.  That means you've still got it!

Cam closed on our home loan last Thursday.  So it's official, we now own a piece of dirt with some weeds on it.  Exciting, nerve racking,  bittersweet, and wonderful all at the same time.  We just need to get the okay from the HOA, then get our city permits, and we hope to begin digging around the beginning of April.  Pretty sure it makes both our tummies turn just thinking about it. 

Amelie and I on our lot in Midway.  Our future address is 522 E. Dutch Summit Court.

Cam climbed Mt. Nebo this past month, this is a shot of the summit. 

Cam is heading up for a snowmobiling/yert trip with Jeff and some friends next month.  We finally have enough snow to do it, so I hope he has a great time!

Cindy

Aside from cleaning our current home in Kaysville and showing it to multiple people during the week, my time is also spent in prepping things for the midway home.  Like so:

You see, after our first submission to the HOA, they said we need to have all 4 surfaces of the home covered in the same material, so I needed to go back through and add stone in places, as well as break up the open surfaces to add variety (like batton board, shake shingles, etc.)  I'm not going to lie, it's fun to do, but also a bit stressful.  I imagine 9 months from now my body won't be twisted like a pretzel from all the muscle tension/knots that I seem to put myself in. It has been such a process already, with so many decisions and steps, and we haven't even started buliding yet! ha ha.  But I have high hopes that all will go well and that our decision to build will not end our marriage (cross your fingers!)

Jumpin January

Utah at it's finest.

I love to shovel snow. I'm quite obsessive-compulsive about it really.  It's something about the clean lines, taking something covered and cleaning it off again (not to be confused with pee on the bottom of the toilet seat.  Though both are 'covered' and you have to 'clean it off again', they are two completely different things.)
I love being outside in fresh fallen snow.  Chilly at the start, then warm rosy cheeks at the end.  I love that everything is covered and beautified when the snow falls.  All white, and pure.  Even the trailer and dozen or so cars next door seem to glisten with the fresh fallen snow (okay, maybe that's a bit overexagerated.)
So you can imagine my hurt and dismay this winter. 
This has been a 100% weak-sauce winter. I can't remember a worse winter in all my 31 years of existence.  I think we have had maybe 4 snow storms since winter began?  It's quite pathetic.  My heart sinks to my toes as I awake each morning and look out my blinds to see if we have had any new snow fall overnight.  I peak through the blinds with great anticipation only to see yellow grass and a bright sun shining.  Josh says it's global warming.  Whatever it is, it totally sucks. 

Josh

Sledding with his friend, Page

Josh is enjoying the season-BASKETBALL season.  He has played 2 games so far, and has improved so much with each one.  It's fun to watch him play, and get so pumped up.  It's also kinda fun to watch his dad get really worked up watching his son play.

Josh is also quite the little skier.  I guess I didn't realize how good a job Cam has done teaching our kids to ski (as I have been mostly pregnant/nursing the past 10 years and have missed most of it.)  Josh is pretty good.  I dare say he may be better than me (though that's not saying much). He even seeks out the jumps, and it's not just a little "hop" off a snow mound, this kid seriously catches some air.  It's pretty great.

Daxton

Above: Daxton showing me his moves to Florence and The Machine (ceremonials #5 is his favorite)

Dax and Ella wanted to paint, he chose to illustrate a picture of our "new house."

Momentous occasion.  Dax lost his fist tooth.  Can you tell he's excited?!  Look at those eyes.....

Daxton with his "best buddy" Logan.  Watching these two boys together is a riot.  Whenever they talk on the phone Dax says, "Hey Logan, how's it going man?" And Logan replies, 'Hey Dax, my best buddy." 

When they walk to school together they have to chest bump to greet eachother. 

Logan told his mom the other day to curl his hair for school.  When his mom asked why, he said, "Because Daxton's mom curls his hair everyday." 

 Definitley a friendship that makes me sad to split up when we move.

The other day I got pretty upset at Dax.  You see, Daxton has become the "older brother figure" to Ella, which means constantly teasing her.  He was egging Ella on, and I got on his case for it.  He was so heartbroken.  (this boy hates hates hates to get in trouble).  His eyes brimmed with tears, though his face was contort with anger, and he just stood there, taking my comments like a physical blow.  Then it struck me: "Your boys needs a hug." (it's called spiritual prompting)  It finally registered that I can't discipline Dax the way I discipline his older brother. (Most times Josh needs a good yelling, and then some...and it still doesn't register)  Dax needed some love, and to be told that he can not treat his sister that way.  So I got down on my knees, looked him in the eye and told him in a nice voice that I know he can be better than he was acting.  He promptly threw his little arms around my neck and burst into tears, telling me how sorry he was.  Needless to say, we were both crying. And yes, I do realize that I should probably include Josh in a hug the next time I'm upset with him.  I'll do better!

Ella

Dancing in the kitchen with her "princess" shoes

Sisters!

My little artists

Ella chose to paint a self portrait. Canny resemblance, no?  Especially the bright red lips.

This girl loves the snow.

Cam is not the greatest at giving compliments.  But what he lacks, Ella makes up for.  She has started saying the nicest things lately.
"Mom, I like your sweater."
"Cute earrings Mom."
and when I straightened my hair the other day,
"Mom, your hair is freakin' me out.  I like it better curly."
(I'm taking that as a compliment.)
We continue to ask Ella when she wants to cut her hair, to which she replies,
"Never.  I want to grow it out like Rapunzel's." 
She even demonstrated to my older sister Lisa how she will wrap her hair to one side when she is sitting on the toilet, so it doesn't "get wet."

Amelie

Amelie eating a twinkie and wearing her cousin's shoes. 

All ready for winter, bring on the snow!

Her favorite: eating the snow.  Imagine that!  Her favorite involves eating!!

She's gone 2 days in a row without a nap, and if this is a new trend, it might kill me.  Naptime for Amelie is my "recoop" time.  Take a breather, put my feet up for a bit.  But if she's going going all day nonstop.......cue the nervous breakdown.
However, she is a lot of fun.  This girl loves to sing.  Every day before I lay her down, she chooses the songs and we sit in her chair and sing them together.  Generally they are:
Popcorn Popping
Give said the little stream
ABC
and Twinkle Twinkle little star

Another one of Amelie's favorite things is to play "Just Dance." It's a game on the Wii where you listen to the music and mimic the dance moves to score points.  She is a hoot to watch. 

Cameron

Cam with my dad and brother.

Cam's good.  He planned  a big yert trip this month.  A yert is a tent out in the mountains, has a wood burning stove and a bunch of bunk beds.  They were all going to snowmobile for 3 days, but due to the fact that there is NO snow, it had to be cancelled.  I repeat, Weak Sauce Winter.

Cindy

Just wishing there was more snow, that's all.  I laugh when people around me say, "I can't wait for winter to be over," and I'm like, "We haven't even had a winter!"  But I can't complain, last year's snow was pretty epic.  Cam's priest group couldn't even do their high adventure in the original location because there was still too much snow in late June.  In the meantime, I am loving all the sunshine and the chance it gives us to be outside in all it's glory!