Busy, busy, busy...

April flew by which was just how I wanted it. At the beginning of April there were only two weeks until spring break, the break was a whole week and then I only had one week after that to get ready for my mother-in-law to visit and go to women's conference with me. April was awesome. Here are a few pics from April...
Playing at the park
Aubrey in the Easter dress I made for her. I took it just before we went into church, I can't remember why she was mad at me. She felt like a princess two minutes before that! She had the brand new dress and completed the look with a matching hat, pearl necklace, purse and gloves from my sister-in-laws consignment store. This is the only picture I've gotten! I will take another one once the dress is...available again. Laundry has moved to the bottom of my to do list lately.
Going for a ride on our friends new motorcycle
More playing at the park
Aubrey showing off some shorts I made for her


Jo and I at womens conference

Jo playing with Brady, he was obsessed with looking at the pictures on her phone.
And last but not least, Brady on his first "otter pop after running in the sprinkler all afternoon" day of the summer.
That isn't all, I don't have pictures of:
Mikes final big track meet with the Jr. High kids
Brady's (mostly) finished room that Mike spent all of spring break perfecting, including the custom closet.
The tile in our kitchen which I spent three days figuring out how to clean and then scrubbing it (that's another story).
Our new chore chart
And our newly tilled, tiered and soon to be planted garden.

Now on to preschool graduation and summer vacation!

Mothers Day

So my Mom made me the most incredible present for Mothers Day! I know, that's not the way its supposed to work. That's just how she rolls. I posted a few of the pages, one thing you have to know- we (my mom and I) used to make Mothers day presents at the preschool where we would ask the kids what they love about their moms and then we would write whatever they said, no editing. That's what mom did so all of the quotes are uncut Aubrey...

How cute is that?! She put those and several other pages together in a paper binding and made it into a little scrap book. Aubrey was so proud!

I have to say I can't believe how amazing my mom is. I can only aspire to be as kind, thoughtful, generous, incredibly smart and beautiful as she is. Thanks, Mom.

Brady's Birthday

Brady's birthday was last week! He was so excited all week long, mostly because Aubrey was always talking about how we needed to decorate. I feel really bad because I told her all week we would but when it came down to it we just didn't have time. I ended up spending all day making the cake....ta-dah!
This was Brady's dragon cake, yet another awesome recipe I got through Mel's Kitchen Cafe .

Brady got nervous when everyone started singing happy birthday. Mike even had to help him blow out the candles which is one of Bradys favorite things to do.A little while later we opened a few presents with him. It was pretty cool the way presents worked out for him this year. He got two in the mail the week before his birthday which he opened right away and then he only had three to open at the party which was perfect. At that age they can't handle a huge parade of presents, they want to play with the first one!
Then everyone got to play with some...party blowers? I don't know what those things are called. Anyway, the kids loved them of course and thankfully most of them broke after about 15 minutes :) You can't tell from the picture but Brady was cracking up, he could barely blow hard enough because he couldn't stop laughing. He is in the picture with my mom, my brother and Aubrey.
A few things I love about Brady: He is so sweet, whenever he sees anyone in our family that has been gone he runs and gives them a hug, even Aubrey. It breaks my heart when he says "Daddy, work?" after Mike comes home for half an hour and then has to leave again.
He is shy, he's always hugging my legs whenever someone talks to him. He loves to swing, doggie pile, read books, play outside and take baths. I love his bright blue eyes and white blond hair. I love how he misses me when I'm gone.

A few pictures

I just wanted to post a few pic's. We went to Trafalga yesterday to use some passes we have. Aubrey and Sawyer had a blast on the climbing wall.

This is a picture from Aubrey's field trip to the fire department, they are practicing crawling under the smoke in a fire. I have to say I love the fire department field trip! Aubrey's teacher does safety things all month and the kids even have "homework". They are supposed to come home and practice crawling from their room to two different exits, stop, drop, and roll and going to a family meeting spot outside. Then the fire dept. does a great presentation. There is a video and then the fireman actually puts on all of his equipment and talks to the kids about why he wears what. Its very important to me because my family has some friends who lost their little 4 year old boy in a fire. He got scared and hid in the tub, no one could find him so he died from smoke inhalation. The field trip is so great because not only do the kids actually practice all of the safety things like crawling but they see the fireman with his mask and helmet on and know not to be afraid and hide from firefighters.

TURKEY!/ I LOVE Mel!!!

No, I'm not talking about either of my kids. I just made a sweet turkey!!!
Ok, here's the story. Costco gives every employee a turkey after Thanksgiving so we have had one in our freezer. We have also been having group dinners with some families in our ward...so I decided to put the two together. At first I thought "I only have to take the turkey, this will be easy" then as the day approached I got more nervous. But I defrosted it in the sink just like my mom always does and I was feeling pretty good until I read online that if you defrost a turkey in the sink you have to change the water every 30 min and not leave it in too long and cook it right away or you will get food poisoning. I had left the turkey in all day and changed the water...twice? Still, that's how mom always does it so it should be ok right?
Moving on, I needed a recipe so I went to my go-to recipe site www.Melskitchencafe.com Haven't heard of it? Shame on you! I almost never look anywhere else any more. I worship her. That is the shortest way of putting it. I could wax poetical about how good the recipes are, how funny she is, how I've learned to cook almost everything from her from pizza dough to...turkey! But I won't, suffice it to say I love her. I wish I was related to her in the worst way. Maybe I'll ask her if she will adopt me?

Anyway. I found a two hour turkey recipe on Mel's blog. It involved a paper bag and only two hours of cooking. I've never cooked a turkey before ok? I thought they took longer! But I trust Mel so I came home from church at 2:30ish, occupied the kids, screwed up my courage and got the neck out of the turkey. After that and a little desperate jimmy rigging of my cooling rack ( I borrowed my moms pan and couldn't find the rack that came with it. And I had to get the turkey in by 3! I was freaking out, just a little) I got the turkey in. It smelled great while it cooked and when I checked the temp it registered 175 so I took it over to our friends house and we looked it over. It was awesome! It was golden and crispy on top and super moist on the inside. Even after dinner was done and it had been sitting out a while it was still nice and juicy. Everyone commented on it and I was deeply grateful that it was even edible! Mike and I are the youngest couple out of everyone in the group and I really didn't want to screw up the turkey. They would have all been nice about it, of course, but I didn't want to be the one that turned up with a gross turkey at a turkey dinner. Do you see why I love Mel? The best part is, I don't have to be afraid of turkey anymore. (Except the neck and guts, I'll never get over that.)

The only sad part is that I didn't take a picture, so go to Mels site and you'll see hers :)

Some firsts...

We finally (finally!) are feeling better! It turned out, after a weekend of misery, that Brady had a double ear infection and pink eye. I didn't even suspect an ear infection because he has never had one before! I took him to the doctor on Tuesday so he is feeling a lot better now and our colds have mostly gone too, thank goodness. But his first ear infection reminded me of another first.
Brady also had his first "stitches" a few weeks ago. He fell and got a deep cut right next to his left eye that was hanging open so we took him in. The doctor said it would need three stitches but that it was perfectly placed to use the glue instead because it was a horizontal cut and not vertical. So we went with the glue and Brady took it really well. (This picture is terrible, he wouldn't hold still, of course.)

And this one is for you Ty! Aubrey on her preschool field trip to the dinosaur museum last month. Also, for your viewing pleasure, as soon as I can I will post one of Fireman Casey from her field trip to the fire station. (I put that in because I know Jake will make a face and do that eyebrow thing ;)

The Plague

So we've been hosting the viral plague at our house. Last Thursday Aubrey started coming down with a cold and by Friday the kids and I all had a cold/flu/stomach flu combo. That kept us on the couch until Sunday and by Monday afternoon I was 99% sure that Brady has pink eye. What a blog post huh?
Actually, aside from being sick life is pretty good. The grass is turning green outside and its been pretty warm for March. We are looking forward to Brady's birthday and to Grandpa and Grandma Redford visiting in a few weeks. Mike is having fun coaching track again and watching BYU basketball. I really need to make him an "I (heart) Jimmer" shirt.