Morgan's Spring Break

Morgan was so excited for her Spring Break for a number of reasons...no waking up early for zero hour, no homework, lots of time in front of the t.v. but mostly...

Her dad was in Utah working so she finally saved up her pennies and got a little creative with her hair...blond streaks, darker underneath and yes,

you saw correctly....

PINK streaks!

No tatoos or piercings yet...maybe next year?

Do you notice the bright pink streaks? Why didn't I ever think about that when I was sixteeen?

Morgan's other project for Spring Break was tie-dying

t-shirts with her BFF, Rebecca.

I know this spring break will go down in history for Morgan! Even if this picture is not a HUGE smile...I know she's smiling on the inside!

Family Night Bowling

My little sister, Brooke came to visit us for her spring break. For fun, I talked her into taking the boys bowling for family night. We had a blast. Monday nights at BSU are great! $1.50 per game with no cost for shoe rental. They have all the equipment for the little kids, too.
Thanks, Brooke! We had so much fun!!!!!

Right, left, right, left....Isn't that the formula?

Brooke's the pro after just completing her bowling class at SNOW COLLEGE.
Too bad that in the end I still kicked her bootie!
(Did I mention that the bumpers stayed up for all of us?)

Morgan's first frame. She was a little nervous, having not bowled for a long time.

Only two pins left. A pretty good frame!

Here's Clay's first and only attempt at bowling. He wasn't really into it.
Not to worry. Big brother to the rescue.

We all took turns playing "pass the baby". Clay was mostly entertained
with the light up cartoon display after each frame.

When he wasn't bowling, James was busy playing in the ball return. Making the BSU students sharing the ball return with us laugh and try to sneak their balls while James wasn't looking.

Morgan had much more luck getting James to cooperate.
She has such a way with her little brothers.

"No, mommy. I don't need your help!"

By the end of the night, James was trying to haul out the ball ramp and carry his own 8lb. ball.

Happy 1st Birthday, Clay!!!

His b-day cake turned out sooo CUTE!

The thing that babies really like most about turning one is the "big boy" car seat. Well, and the cake!

James picked this toy out with me. He was convinced that it was supposed to be his and cried a good solid 45 minutes when we got home from the store and I reminded him that we would be wrapping it for brother's birthday. He certainly got his revenge, though. When we weren't looking, he unwrapped the present himself for brother.

How sweet:)

The present that Clay(and James for that matter) liked the best, was this Lightning McQueen car from Grandma Rose. Clay wasn't sure about it at first, but after mommy pushed him around for a bit, he caught right on. We are taking bets as to when James will let Clay play with it again. At bedtime James informed his Dad that he thought Lightning McQueen was an "outside" toy, which is what we say to James when we don't want his big toys in the house anymore...

very clever for a three-and-a-half-year-old.

Clay just "chillin'" on his new ride. He rode it kinda like you'd ride a buckin' bronco. With a lot of energy and a lot of bouncing!

The birthday candle was lit and we all started singing and Clay started banging his hands on the table as if to say,"I see that food there and I want some--NOW!" At least he was finally his usual smiley self. He didn't take to the birthday hats on us right away. He just wasn't sure what to think with all of us looking at him

in these funny hats.

Clay was finally happy when he got his own piece of the giraffe--an ear to be exact. At first he didn't seem to know what the frosting was, but he soon found out.

Did I mention that Clay always eats by the fist full? He's in too much of a hurry for manners. It's all or nothing with him.

"Sweethearts" Morgan's 1st Semi-Formal Dance

Morgan getting her hair done. The friend's mom doing her hair said, "geeze, she sure has a lot of hair" You would have never thought she was totally bald until about 3-years-old.

"Please don't take my picture...well, O.K. I do need some cute ones for my Facebook"

"What the??????"

I am not sure exactly how this happened--well, obviously I know how it happens, but I just find myself amazed at the beautiful, talented young lady Morgan is turning into. Most days I feel she was sent to our family to teach me. But I do know a thing or two about parental control, especially when I am the one with the camera.

"Mom, seriously...you really need to take this many pictures?"

"Mom, we're sooooo done. I'm going to take the camera away from you now!"

Here's the whole group. Jennie was saying something about Mike's stinky feet to get them to smile so big. Thanks for all of your help, Jennie!

Morgan with her girl friends, Carmen, Lizzy, and Erin.

The girls making a funny pose.

Morgan and her friends decided that it would be a fun idea to decorate pizzas as part of their dinner date. I wasn't thinking ahead when I agreed to this idea and didn't realize that they would already be all dressed up when they started in with the pizza sauce. In the end there was nothing to be worried about. Not a drop of sauce was spilled.

Morgan has a somewhat healthy obsession(if there is such a thing as a healthy obsession) with peace signs. Was she born after her time? Or should we always have peace on the brain no matter the era?

The finished product! It almost looks too good to eat. Thanks, Amy for the awesome pizza dough recipe. It is the best! Let me help interpret Morgan's expression:"Mom, come on! I am starving!"

Putting on the corsage. The baby orchids were so lovely and a perfect match to her dress. It seems like just yesterday to me, but I guess it's been a while. Morgan reminded me the day of the dance that we hadn't ordered a boutonniere yet. Turns out Jimmy hadn't ordered her corsage either. I called our local florist and they had them made up in about 15 minutes. Thanks, Hope Blooms!

Morgan and her date, Jimmy, just before they walked out the door. Doesn't she look just beautiful!

Draper Temple Open House

The kids and I had a chance this weekend to attend the newest temple in Utah, the Draper Temple. It was such a fun and memorable experience. It also made me remember just how blessed we are to live in a country where we have religious freedom. It is wonderful that there are places of refuge from the world so close to us. Before we moved to Idaho, we literally lived just down the hill from this newely constructed temple.

From left to right: Little-ist sister, Brooke, one of the middle-ies sisters, Courtney, babies Clay, Court's hubby, Adam, Morgan, cousin Areianne(kneeling), Me and James-ey.

My sister Courtney's husband, Adam thought it would be a crying shame not to take a photo of us all on the diagonal. He's must know something about the eternities that has evaded the rest of us. Thanks for the super-fun time, Adam and for being such an awesome uncle to the boys. It would have been so sad for us sisters to get together and not be able to experience Twilight again!!!

Check out the Construction Photos of the temple sight. It's amazing how quickly a building of this size and magnitude can be constructed.

James' Potty Party

Wednesday was the day. I had been putting it off long enough and Tyla probably wants her book back so she can start training Clara. When James woke up, the house was decorated like a campout. Josh and I made a tent out of sheets and blankets in the living room. Wildlife coloring pages were taped up on the office door, in our "meadow" right next to the fish pond. I checked out every book and video from the library and had the VCR ready to go along with the books laid out on the fireplace mantle. Then there was the present. "Tommy" James' new friend was wrapped up and waiting for him in the bathroom. We were going to spend the morning camping and unbeknownst to James, helping Tommy be a big boy and go on the potty. We had so much fun taking Tommy to the potty and giving him candy and stickers when he went. He also got stickers and candy for practicing when he had an accident. The real incentive here is that Tommy is a doll and can't really eat the treats so guess who gets excited about taking Tommy to the potty? Yep, James--in fact, it didn't take James long to suggest that Tommy needed to go potty about every 15 minutes.

The morning started with James, Tommy and Mom finding a camping map and then going on a hunt for cool camping things, like a fishing pole, binoculars, a cooler with camping food, play camera, a magnifying glass, cool bugs, a compass--you get the idea...all the things you need for a good campout.

The coolest part of the campout was the "lookout" high in the mountains with lots of leaves and fun things to do--like blow bubbles, color, play guessing games--keep James occupied and distracted long enough to sit on the potty. You get the idea.

The real purpose of the cool "camping lookout" was the potty of course--lots of time to sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and wait...for something to come out.

And when it did...or when it didn't..basically any time we spent on the "lookout" we got to pick a cool sticker to put on the chart.

After nap time, Tommy and mommy had a present for James. Can you guess what it was? James was plenty happy to just go "commando". Luckily, he warmed up to the new "big boy" underwear.

What's a potty celebration without cupcakes and balloons? At the end of the day, we had a family party celebrating James becoming a "Big Boy". He was still undecided and said he was perfectly happy wearing diapers. But by Friday, he had come around and was really excited about picking out his "big boy" underwear. He will even tell me when he has to go...and he's not just crying wolf. He has way too much to do each day to waste time with unnecessary trips to the potty...even though it usually gets him a chance to:

1. flush

2. play in the water(of the sink--not the toilet!)

3. a sticker

4. a treat--we're on sugar overload this week!

Then came to presents. Like most kids his age, James totally loves ripping the paper. It's almost as good as the gift! But wait...unless the gift is DINOSAURS!

Wow! All that hard work and practice time on the potty earned James a present. He was so excited for his dinosaur gift. He loves dinosaurs right now. His Grandpa Baker gave him a BIG book of dinosaur facts including all of the different kinds of dinosaurs from around the planet for Christmas and James loves it! He spends a lot of time during the day looking at the pictures and then acting them out with his dinosaurs. Oh...and remember the origonal "Land Before Time"? I have it on VHS--probably from Morgan and we have watched it over the past week no less that 30 times! Oh Little Foot, don't be sad, you'll see your mommy again some day.

All in all, a very rewarding and fun week---even with all the extra laundry.

What is Valentine's Day without Cookies?

The first bite is always the sweetest!

James just can't wait! Amazing. The kid only eats chicken nuggets, pizza, bagels, applesauce, mandarin oranges, toast and cereal...must love the sugar just like mommy!




My sister and neice came to visit this weekend, so we made some special cookies to celebrate Valentine's Day. I have it on good authority (from several close friends) that this is the best sugar cookie recipe they've ever tasted. Thank's aunt Patty!