spring has sprung

So it's taken a bit, but i think spring in utah has finally come t stay. I haven't posted about our yard yet, but we are ecstatic. we've already said goodbye to the crocus and daffodil ls that are scattered around the yard and and saying hello to the tulips this week. we have, easily, over a thousand spring bulbs that have popped up in the flower beds. the best part was not having to plant any of them!!! it's like temple square over here. (ok, not quite, but our neighbor has called our yard the garden of eden) the people who owned the house before us had quite the green thumbs and we've inherited 7 fruit trees, strawberry patch, tons of raspberries, an herb garden, a vegetable garden, pond, all the bulbs plus tons of perennials that are starting to pop up under them. we also are excited to see what the rest of the season will bring.

(sorry, emily, for this pictures right after eli and sam's demolition of your tulip buds last weekend. you can have your pick of the litter this friday:))

an update on some of the boys projects. eli has found his love in legos. this is his first "all by myself" creation. it's a ship and he flew it around the house showing everyone, proud as a peacock that he could finally snap those little pieces together. he is getting so big and it is so fun to listen to his little voice. he jabbers all day long and is not intimidated to try out any new word which is quite the entertainment for the rest of us. during the sacrament last sunday as the water tray with one cup was passed by him, and he wasn't allowed to grab it, he had the whole back 3 rows of the congregation giggling at his "OH, MAN!" that he repeated until he was escorted out of the chapel. we haven't quite mastered the "quiet voice".

isaac's class had to do a family project with "earth saver solutions" as the theme so we grabbed our trash bags and went on one of our trash walks--something we haven't done since we lived in colorado. we found many crazy things in the open space between our house and the church park and we quickly realized that our new neighborhood doesn't have "trash" issues that our old one did. Not as many beer cans or cigarette cartons carelessly tossed out a window in south jordan as their was in "the hood". Nonetheless, we were successful in finding some mountain dew cans (which, i think, for this demographic, is about as bad as beer) and a smattering of sacrament meeting programs and fast food cartons carelessly cast aside. Enough to make our very first "trash mobile" that isaac is so proudly displaying here. The one good thing about this project is that he could throw it away right after his presentation and i didn't have to find a spot for it where i wouldn't be asking him to pick it up, dusting under it, or having the neighbors ask questions about it. my kind of project!!!

ok so i'm a little tardy posting about easter

city easter egg hunt with the cousins--not as fruitful as we had hoped (as the 9-10 year old group jumped the gun and got everybody racing for candy before we knew what was going on)but fun to celebrate with everyone easter morning--we are learning to keep our holiday treats low key. our kids get bombarded with all sorts of goodies from family events these days, making their easter baskets, valentines, stockings, etc. from their parents a little sparse. its good for 'em.
easter outfits--bought last year on clearance and finally pulled out. i was glad to find them all packed in a box days before easter actually came. not my usual. i dug until i found them as i wasn't about to let them get outgrown before the girls had a chance to wear them. such a cute plaid. such cute kids. fortunately we had a sunny day--no snow like last year in colorado. easter is fun in a new house. all new egg hiding places--inside and out. kept 'em busy for hours!

happy 40th

I know it's been forever, but the kids have been off track and so my computer time is nil (as the computer is our only form of electronic entertainment around here...play a video game-on the computer, watch a tv show-on the computer, listen to music-on the computer, watch a movie-on the computer...you get my drift. and in trying to be a good example (which is rare) i have found myself trying to read during our down time so maybe the kids will catch on and not want to be on the computer all day-fat chance)
anyway, i couldn't let today go by without wishing my parents (and aunt kalle and uncle merl) a happy 40th anniversary!! (my dad is the tallest and my mom is the shortest...some things still haven't changed) my siblings and i planned a dinner for them at the lion house this week to celebrate. i hope they enjoyed a peaceful meal with no prep and dishes! something that doesn't happen often for these two...
seeing as these are their 22 grandchildren!!! all eight and under with one more on the way. a crazy, loud, lovable bunch. its fun to be home and be a part of days like these--even though i'm now subjected to justin's awful hair more often (lucy, you're a saint!)
happy 40th you two! i couldn't have asked for better parents and examples on parenting my own children than you have been. i am loving this stage of life--being able to understand my parents lives more fully as i go through similar experiences with my own small family. it's good to get that know-it-all teenage phase (which lasted a long time for me) over with and really appreciate all that you're parents have done for you. You just don't get it until you're a parent yourself--hopefully i can survive my own children's teenage nastiness.

too good to be true

i haven't written about this yet because I've been afraid that eli's streak might stop if I did, but it's been three weeks since I've changed a poopy diaper. eli, my 20 month old, is telling me when he has to go potty. i'm ecstatic!!! if i can get out of diapers any earlier than 3 i will count myself a blessed woman.

I'm sure no one really wants to see pictures of someone else's kid on the pot, but i can't stand how cute he is. I don't want anyone replying to this and asking for potty training advice as this has been all Eli. I just run him to the bathroom when he tells me to. It's like a dream. So far, he's been the most accurate with #2. #1 may take a bit. He's still in diapers (I'm not ready to go there yet, maybe when it's warmer and he can go pantless outside), so i don't think he's recognizing when he's wet. I'm just basking in the poop-freeness of it all.

Happy 4th Gabriella (aka Mallory!)

Mallory has been anticipating this day for quite some time! She's finally four. I don't think the change from three to four was as dramatic as she was expecting. On the eveing of her big day after all the hoopla was over, we asked her how she felt about her day--she replied that even though she was four, she was still little because she couldn't pick up eli. She also informed us that her wish didn't come true as she blew out her candles, because her wish was that she would be eight. She's trying to grow up way faster that we thought! You'll see her in the above picture with her favorite gift, a Gabriella wig from Megan. She thinks it's the living end and now wears it while surfing her favorite HSM clips online. She cracks us up.

We did have a little party for Mal as 4 is our kids first year to have a friend party. Minor problem: no friends, yet. A little girl lives across the street in Mallory's primary class and i asked her mom who the other girls were and we headed out to invite 5 little girls we'd never met. What a way to get to know the families in your area! Everyone invited showed up along with cousins, Alli and Kate.

She wanted a chocolate party... like her friend emma barker from colorado, so thank you brook for all the great ideas from which to copy:) We made chef hats, finger painted with chocolate syrup, played boula boula with a Hershey's bar, decorated cupcakes, and of course, dipped all sorts of goodies in chocolatewe sent them home on a chocolate high and with a goodie bag for later. It was good for Mallory to get to know the girls a little better and for matt and i to get to meet their parents and try to start making friends ourselves.

To finish up, some Mallory @ 4 tidbits that I'll want to remember. 1) Her normal body temperature is abnormally high. She always is telling us she's hot and we find her uncovered every morning and sometimes in just her undies as she's shed her pjs in the middle of the night. She never keeps socks or slippers on her feet in the house because she says they keep her too hot and she wears her swimming suit year round. i've had them hidden for a while but we pulled one out to go to the rec center last week and she's had round the clock guard on it since. 2) she now has 3 blankets she drags around the house. her #1 favorite, "camo" (isaac's old army blanket from when he was a baby), her silky baby blanket that we found while packing up in denver, and most recently she's added her old #1 plaid blanket, uncovered while unpacking here in SL, back into the mix. I know it's way over the top but the have to stay in the house and i'm too tired to fight with her anymore over them. 3) she still sucks her two fingers and rubs "camo" fuzzies on her nose to get to sleep. she makes the most awful sucking noise and it drives both matt and i bonkers. neither of us can sleep when she is around 4) She loves to bear her testimony in FHE and does it 3 or 4 times each monday. by the time she's old enough to do it for real, she'll have it down. She has to talk into the mop handle for it to count though. 5) She loves Primary! she's only been a few weeks, but she goes like a champ and has so much fun. she comes home and reports on her class just like the older two and i think she's the only sunbeam that knows all the words to "scripture power" and can bam her scriptures in her lap on cue. that may be all she's picked up from family scripture study as of yet. 6) She's my little bud and helper all day. Although she's the third, she feels like the oldest while megs and isaac are at school. She helps with her jobs (her room, bathrooms (with help:), and mopping) and running errands for me around the house (hey mal, run go get me...a diaper, a rag, eli's socks, eli's milk out of the fridge, wipes) She's a great runner! 7) She is picky eater extrordinare. I never thought I would have a picky eater because I'm too much like my mom and would MAKE my kids eat. That worked for Megs and Isaac, but not so for Mal. She has a will that isn't easily broken. We've given up the fight and and let her snack (mostly healthy stuff) all day. 8) From head to toe, she is all girl. Pink, princesses, high school musical, dresses, fairies, barbies, dolls, tea parties, you name it, she loves it. And we love her! Happy Birthday Sweetie!

valentine tradition

valentines day and sugar cookies. these two go hand in hand in our home. mallory was on me all day to make them so we (the two little ones and i) threw together a batch to decorate when the older ones made it home from school. it was as if eli had died and gone to heaven. during the mixing, he couldn't get enough of the dough (i know, i know, raw eggs, whatever...) but when the frosting and sprinkles made their way to the table, he had found his true love. he quickly cast aside his (now) frostingless cookie to eat the white stuff straight from the knife.

the older ones know to get as many sprinkles on before the jar gets removed from the table and you are left using whatever excess spilled over onto your paper plate. sprinkle ration, it's what i do. for those of you who have asked but i've negleted to give you my recipe...here it is

Best Sugar Cookies (and i might add, they really are the best)

1/2 c. butter 1/4 c shortning 2 eggs 1 c sugar 1 t vanilla swoosh almond extract 1 t salt 1 t b. powder 2 1/2 c flour cream fats and sugar. add eggs, vanilla, almond. mix well. add dry ingredients. bake at 400 for 8-10 min (don't overcook--until the edges are just about to brown). greased cookie sheet. (i usually triple this batch)

golden butter frosting

1/2 c butter 2T milk 1/2 t vanilla another swoosh of almond 3 c powdered sugar

the secret is in the almond--isn't it always?

ahhh! we've landed

our life in turmoil and transition is officially over as the guys came to hook up the internet yesterday and we now are up and connected back to the world. hip hip hooray! i've missed you, blogging world. brief update: we found a home we love, kids back in school (all-be-it year round, we're adjusting), eli back in his own bed, access to all things preschool for mal, a ward where we can lay low for a while, family in nearly every direction, and a half hour commute. we're starting to feel better about this move, ok i'm starting to feel better about this move.

a couple of changes since i was last in touch. #1: little isaac got glasses. the shcool nurse in colorado caught that he has lazy eye so we took him in here and yep, we're now a family with vision issues. i can't believe it! matt had just signed us up for health insurance with zions and of course, we didn't foresee this little bump, and we opted out of vision coverage. dagnabit! megan has been in a right fit of jealousy over her brother getting glasses and not her. i can totally see her failing her next eye test to see if she can't get lucky. not so sister

change #2: i cut my hair short and went back to brown. i was due for an image change and what better time than when you move. no one where you were has seen you and no one where you're going has seen you either, just in case short brown hair doesn't work for you. i'm not saying short brown hair doesn't work for me, but you'll notice that there's no attached photo :) i just have to remember to take a picture on the one day a week that i actually do my hair, and since church was canceled last week because of snow, it's been a while.

i'll post pictures of the house once we get everything hung inside and the outside gets unburried. well, maybe. it may not ever be picked up enough to take a picture to post so you might just have to come visit. mallory and i have a tea party or 17 every day so i'm sure you'll be a welcome guest to join us whenever your schedule permits.