Mike and Shawna's Blog

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-05-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-03-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

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.

A little catch up

2011-02-14T17:39:00.000-08:00

I really think about blogging about once a week, but you can see that doesn't happen. Things have been really good here. We had a great Christmas and are psyched that January is over. The past couple of days we had fun making valentines and it has also been unseasonably warm so we've been outside a lot. The driveway is covered in chalk drawings. I've been trying to get some projects done around the house so that Mike and I can start working on Brady's room and then painting the rest of the house.

One project I've been working on involved pictures so I've been having fun going through old pictures of everyone. This is a cute one of Aubrey that I didn't even know I had.

Pumpkinland, 3rd or 4th edition?

2010-10-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we went on a preschool field trip to Pumpkinland, the kids LOVE it. But it was at least my third if not fourth preschool visit and its getting a little old. Above is Aubrey and Sawyer with the Pumpkinland ghost. Below Aubrey the bat and Sawyer the ghost.
Aubrey and Ella concentrating on the most serious part of the outing, the snack.
Next up, Halloween!

2010-10-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

A few days ago our neighbor Ty came over with couch cushions bungee corded to her body (she has lots of brothers). We had fun stuffing some pillows into a shirt for Aubrey and letting them jump. It probably doesn't look that funny, but seeing her try to jump and roll around, it was hilarious.

Later we went to a birthday party for our friends little girl. I thought I would get some mileage out of Brady's Halloween costume and I took these once they were done carving pumpkins.

Dad getting some Brady time
Aubrey and her friend Glynn who visited for Conference weekend. We had a lot of fun playing and hanging out with family that weekend.

Sort of an update

2010-10-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

So I've been lazy. The good news is that I got a cool new phone (sort of against my will) and I've been taking lots of pictures and today I finally put them on my computer. So here goes...also they are a little out of order, its taking me forever to move them to the right spot!
Above, Sawyer, Brady and Aubrey playing at the park.
Below, Aubrey and Brady on a little family trip up the canyon to see the colors, not much in this picture but it was beautiful and fun.

Aubrey and Sawyers first week of school. Sawyer is holding his first baby tooth which came out after his first day of kindergarten.Dakota and Ryan generously gave us hundreds of peaches to bottle in September. It took us all weekend to bottle them and Aubrey insisted on peeling the skin off of every one, it was great!
The week before school started I took Sawyer to the dentist and he said Sawyer would lose his four front teeth within the next six months. I was still surprised when during the first two weeks of school Sawyer lost three baby teeth, I couldnt believe it, they just kept coming!
Sweet Aubrey at a school field trip to Home Depot (one of the other moms works there). She helped make a bean bag toss game.

.......

2010-05-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hi! I've been trying to get some pictures of Jon's wedding but Mike put them on his computer so that will have to wait. We have been busy with a lot of preschool activities. During the last week they had a "field day" when they swam outside and learned about water safety, then two days of regular preschool. The last day we went to Thanksgiving Point Farm because the kids were learning about animals and the things they give us like milk and eggs etc. They got to ride a pony and pet and feed some goats and a baby pony they brought out on the grass. Later that day they had a preschool graduation that was really cute. We love her teacher Laura so much! Aubrey has learned a lot of sign language from her this year and I'm excited for her to learn more next year. I try to sign as much as I can at home with she and Brady.

On Friday we had a really scary time for a few minutes. Aubrey, Brady and I were outside talking to our neighbors and Aubrey went on the other side of their van where I couldn't see her. They have a big 14' trailer that they had just unloaded in their driveway and the trailer dolly was on so that they could park it again. Just for clarification a trailer dolly basically puts wheels under the hitch so that the trailer moves easily without a car. When the handle is down the trailer won't move but if you lift the handle it will roll...easily.

Anyway, that is what Aubrey did. The neighbor Mom, Dad and I heard one of their boys yell and we saw Aubrey run a few feet and then get knocked down by the trailer. She barely missed getting run over by the dolly or trailer wheels by the skin of her teeth. And it is sheer luck that she ran a few feet before getting knocked down because right where she landed was right where the back of the trailer stopped. The trailer stopped rolling once the wheels got to the gutter. If it had rolled any further she would have been scraped down the driveway by the end of the trailer. As it was the end just hit and squished her. We (the Mom, Dad, two teenage boys, younger boy and girl) all ran over and lifted the end off of her and Ty pulled her out.

We were all really shaken up. It probably only took 5 or 6 seconds to happen because the driveway the trailer was on had a small incline so between that and the dolly it rolled really fast. She didn't calm down from it for at least two hours. She has a bruise on her head and some scrapes. The worst is a big bruise on her back where the trailer hit and squished her. All in all we are so grateful that we were out there and could get her out. Our neighbors felt awful, they always have the trailer blocked and only didn't because they were about to move it when we came out to talk to them.

She is fine now and we are really looking forward to this Friday because it is the last day of school for Mike!

Jon and Traci's wedding

2010-05-16T19:50:00.001-07:00

I made a video for their wedding but had to shrink it to get it online. It's hard to read the quotes but the pictures are ok. Congrats Jon and Traci.

Snow Day

2009-12-07T14:13:00.001-08:00

Wow, its been a ridiculously long time. I just had to post a couple of cute pictures. We finally got our first "real" snow- enough snow to actually put snow pants on and play in.

So here is Aubrey with our neighbors Ty and Austin. They graciously came over to play since I couldn't go out with Brady.

Brady wanted to go out but I wouldn't let him so he just wore his hat for a while.You can't see them but he now has three teeth. His second bottom tooth is still stubbornly refusing to break through. He has also been letting go of things to balance on his own standing up so we'll see when he starts walking. He probably doesn't want to be out done by his sister.

Bread

2009-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

I miss reading my friends blogs. As soon as I finish putting everything in the bread maker (I'm having fun baking now that it is fall again!) I'm going to sit around all afternoon reading.

Of course we have been busy and I haven't written anything about it. Sophie has been great. It is really nice to have a dog, especially since we found out there have been several break-in's (is that how you spell that?) in our neighborhood. She does shed. The vet said most first generation labradoodles do, its the later generations that don't. Oh well.

I hope everyone is having a nice chilly outside, cozy inside, Halloweenish October.

There's still more NEWS!

2009-09-14T07:52:00.001-07:00

We bought a horse!

Just kidding. But seriously, we did. I went out and bought a labradoodle! And now...all the kids (including canine ones) cannot be ignored any longer and I will have to post the story at nap time.

Ok, here is a picture of Sophie...
Alright! I'm kidding. This is Sophie.

I know. She is huge. And if you don't think so come and meet her and you will.

I have been wanting a labradoodle ever since I found out they existed. I grew up with a golden retriever and couldn't have loved him more. I loved every bit of him...except his hair. Anyway, we decided we couldn't afford one right now since puppies start at $650 and we wanted an older dog that was already house trained but dogs like that were rarely up for sale. So we decided we would wait but Saturday morning I was wasting time and happened to see Sophie on KSL and called. It turned out that the owner lived just 2 miles or so away from us and would be home all day. So I made my brother go over there with Aubrey, Brady and I to see her. The rest is history.

She is very sweet and well mannered. I have never walked a dog who knew how to heel and she does. She sleeps in her crate at night, is house trained and follows me everywhere. Hopefully as she gets more used to us she will follow me around a little less but so far she has been just a big sweetie and I am really happy.

I think Mike likes her although he says that I made him think she was a mini labradoodle. I deny this.

Aubrey really likes her new dog and alternates between calling her Cody and Soapy.

Brady made this face...

Second BIG NEWS!

2009-09-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

You might be getting annoyed by the caps and exclamations at this point but this is a big deal! September is the birthday month in the Redford/Lee family. I think when I counted last year there were 11 birthdays between our family and friends and two of them are Mikes and Aubreys.

So on Mike's birthday we had a great time having some of his friends from school over to watch a movie on the projector in our backyard (!) on our trampoline (!). It was awesome! We watched Hot Rod which I hesitate to recommend but can admit that I laughed at. And I just read the part about Mike's "friends from school". Teachers! I feel like someone out there was planning on giving me a hard time about that if I didn't clarify.

Then I lost my mind and decided to have a friend party for Aubrey. Without going into details I'm sure any mom out there knows how that can be a good and a very bad thing. My mom and sister in law (and Mike and my brothers and the two neighbor kids that Aubrey loves) all had to come to my rescue to get everything ready and have the party. My mom made and frosted I think 40 cupcakes, ran errands, made pirate hats and various other things all day long. My sister-in-law came and did everything else that my mom didn't including making root beer and other food, balloon swords and she even escorted one of the guests to the little girls room so that I could be there to sing happy birthday to Aubrey. All in all it was an awesome pirate party and I was so glad so many of our friends could come.

I'm not writing nearly as much as I want and I'm going to have to post pictures ...I'll post more about it later.

Our (first) BIG News!

2009-09-14T06:41:00.001-07:00

I'm not pregnant. I just had to get that out of the way because it is the inevitable response to "I have to tell you something" or "guess what" around here. Give me a break! Brady is only 5 months!

On to the BIG news. It seems a little anti-climactic now but

we bought our own house!!!!

It is a long story that I should have posted at least a month ago but if you read this blog you know me and... I didn't get around to it. Too many other things going on! Also, we only found out that we got the loan 3 days before we closed and 6 days before we moved. The whole process was harder and at the same time easier than we thought.

Anyway, here we are! We moved on August 6th to a neighborhood north of Costco and couldn't be happier about it. Within the first week of living in the house (technically the second because we were in Wa. the first week) all of the surrounding neighbors came over to our house to introduce themselves! Really that has never happened to us before. People have been really nice in other places, of course. I mean six different neighbors came over to introduce themselves, one lady sent zucchini bread over and another who doesn't even live on our street brought bread and then set up a lunch at her house for me to meet some of the other women in the ward. Seriously. This is the ward that people write books about or the grown up "Singles Ward" or something, everyone is so nice.

Ok, that's enough. On to other info. I don't want gush anymore about it but the house is awesome. Its more than we could have dreamed of getting, especially looking back at the houses and neighborhoods we were looking at last year. We feel so blessed. I keep kind of looking over my shoulder wondering if somebody up there is going to realize its us that got into this house. Knock on wood. We can't wait to have more than two friends over at a time and be able to sit in the same room!

All I did was gush. Now I am done. If you have any questions post a comment (or email me or call me or...) and I will answer them.

New Fav's

2009-09-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

So, my mom and I are going to start a book blog. I am psyched about this because (not bragging even though it sounds like it) (really) we've read a lot of books! The thing is, we've read a lot of really good books and several come to mind that I really want my friends to read if I can convince them. And I want to know what my friends are reading and what they think about those books. For instance, off the top of my head I would recommend these series of books...

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
And, honestly, the Anne of Green Gables books. I'm not ashamed! I love those books and have read them all several times.

But we won't just be writing about fiction. The book I am reading right now is "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk" and a book about pruning (more on that some other time).

Anyway. I don't just want to tell you the names of books I like, I want to tell you why they are awesome. And maybe give a warning if need be (I'm thinking of the Thursday Next books at the moment. Some people I know would be offended by the villians name in these).

So, as soon as I can and no later than this week (maybe next) I will have it put together. I have to find the app or code or whatever sort of thing you have to do to your blog to make the comments show underneath the post. Any suggestions on this (or making your template have 3 columns) would be appreciated.

You Would Never Know

2009-08-31T13:12:00.000-07:00

You would never know by reading my blog that I think about blogging all the time! At least once a day I think "hmm, I should blog that" or "ohhh, how cute! I should blog that". Then I sit down to do it and I think "Oh! I want to change my background!". So I make one, then I decide I want a three column blog and can't figure out how to change it (I wasted 4 hours trying to do that last week) and the list goes on. The result: I never write on my blog. And the result of that: a super boring blog! I'm not doing it anymore! I'm not going to listen to the devil on my shoulder and post a picture if I don't have time!

SO, the last three things that I thought of blogging were:
Last Saturday. Aubrey, Brady and I went to Costco (the first triumph!) and there wasn't a tantrum. Not one! (second triumph!) And, it was fun. Is that the first time in the history of Costco? It certainly was the first in the history of our family! It was awesome.

Saturday the 15th. Brady started rolling over! With our trip to Washington and everything else he was hardly on his tummy 2 minutes a day. But he must have gotten sick of looking at the ceiling or something because out of the blue he was rolling around like a....ok, insert metaphor. He was rolling around like crazy! I have to post one picture, he was so happy about it! I took this that day.

Today. In our coat closet we have a cute little wooden coat hanger with 4 pegs where (mom makes) Aubrey hang her coats because its just her height. Well this morning she came downstairs with two of Brady's pair's of shoes and told me she was cleaning. I told her to put them in the coat closet with the other shoes. Blank look from Aubrey. I said "the closet where your coats are". She went over and put them in while I kept cleaning.

A few hours later... Aubrey is napping and I am still cleaning. I open the coat closet to put something away and see that Aubrey took me literally (like most three year old's would). She took her coats off of the pegs and hung Brady's 4 little shoes on them. I thought that was pretty cute.

Washington

2009-08-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few picures of our Washington trip so far but first I have one of Aubrey's bike. I accidently broke one of her training wheels so Mike took her to get some new ones. He got the wheels but also came home with a Princess basket, bell and streamers so he went out and pimped her ride and Aubrey was so happy.We drove to Washington with my Mom and brothers James and John. We left around noon on Tuesday and got to Amy's at about two in the morning. Wednesday we went to Rod and Jo's and hung out for a while and Rod invited James and John to the mutual activity which was water skiing on Moses Lake. Mike, Aubrey and I ended up going along with them and playing at the park there by the lake. Then when the boys were done we got to go on a ride on the boat.

Mike and Rod are down on the left corner on the bench

Aubrey and I

Aubrey

Brady's Blessing

2009-07-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

We finally blessed Brady last Sunday. We just did a small family blessing and then took some pictures. It is so wonderful to bless a new, sweet baby. Brady is such a blessing to our family. He is a lot like his Dad. I haven't asked Jo but I imagine that he is just like his Dad was as a baby. He loves to laugh and smile, he has big, bright blue eyes and a sweet, calm personality. We all love him and I'm looking forward to all of the growing up. Its so fun to watch our kids learn. Already he is rolling from his stomach to his back and is starting to kick up his legs to where he can grab his feet. Soon he'll be rolling all over the place and then comes crawling. His favorite things right now are trying to eat his fist (he has always sucked on his fingers), trying to eat everyone elses fingers, and letting his Dad put him to sleep.

After we blessed Brady we reconvened at Ryan and Dakota's house for an early dinner. Aubrey got to play with all of her cousins and Ryan gave the kids pony rides on Penelope. The only thing missing was Mike's parents and his sister and her family. We were all sad that they couldn't be there but Mike's brother comes home from his mission soon so we will all get together.

Independence Day

2009-07-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

We had a (somewhat) relaxing and fun 4th of July. We spent most of the day lounging around and getting food ready for that night. My family always goes down to Provo a few blocks from the Stadium of Fire and has a picnic with a bunch of friends. New people come every year but in general the Brands and their kids with their various spouses and kids always come and Marion and her family.

We had to find a new spot this year because the old one has been, as Mike put it, deleted. Its all under construction so we went to another just across the street. We all talked and Aubrey and Carly had a blast playing. They ran around all over the place holding hands and taking turns dragging each other different ways.

And I guess the new "cool" game to play is Ninja Destruction because everyone was doing it. I didn't get a chance to play but I guess its like tag and you have to hit the other person's hand but you can only move by doing different "Ninja" poses. It's pretty funny to watch.

Later some of the boys started lighting fireworks and Brittney and I discovered that no one had brought any sparklers. As ill-advised as sparklers might be for little three and four year old's its still a tradition! I mean, what fun is the 4th if you can't give a red hot wire shooting off sparks to little kids to wave around in the air? Anyway, I was a little disappointed but a kid near us was selling glow bracelets so we settled for that.

Around 10:00 the fireworks started and then we took off as fast as we could to avoid traffic. All in all it is a really fun tradition but next year we are definitely doing it different. I think Mike and I at least will eat dinner at our house and just go down to hang out and watch the fireworks. Its too much work to take food and everything that goes with it. We also missed the balloon festival that Provo city does early in the morning. My dad used to take us when we were little. We would get up at 6:00 am to go watch them blow up the balloons and take off and then go eat breakfast at Denny's. I want to do that with Aubrey next year.

Summerfest

2009-07-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

About the second week of June every year we go to the Orem Summerfest. Aubrey loves to spend time with her family and I think she revels in being with family and doing fun new things. We got to get in old army cars, ride carnival rides, watch the parade and fireworks, and picnic.

Aubrey and Sawyer

Sawyer, James and Aubrey

Summer camp

2009-07-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Aubrey started right into Kindermusik camp with Rebecca the week after regular preschool ended. She had SO MUCH FUN! They "visited" many different places, Japan, Germany, Mexico, the ocean, and went "Down in the Meadow" to name a few. She learned "Charlie Over the Ocean" (we sing Aubrey over the ocean) and "Arabella Miller". I think it was really good for her to go without me, she obeyed a lot better and did more of the activities. One week Mike, Aubrey, Brady and I all got to go on the field trip to Thanksgiving Point's Childrens garden. We had a great time feeding fish, walking through a maze, playing with wood blocks and in the water fountain.

There is also a little stage and something like a wooden Xylophone. Aubrey got really excited about this and at one point had Mike playing the Xylophone and she got on stage and sang with a stick as a microphone. It was so cute!

Preschool Graduation

2009-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Preschool ended on May 28th. We had an awesome time. The kids sang some of the songs that they had learned the "Cuppycake" song, "A, You're Adorable", the Preamble in sign language. And were given a certificate. Its really cute, they all wear one of their dad's short sleeved white church shirts backwards as their gown and get to wear a graduation "cap". Then we have a big potluck lunch and Rebecca set up her big inflatable pool that has slides and water cannons.

Everyone kept commenting on how fearless Aubrey is. She would climb up to the highest slide and jump in the air as high as she could get off the top, then run around and do it all over again.

And we had to have a picture of Rebecca, Brittney, Carly, my mom Sara, Aubrey and I. It has been so much fun for all of us to be brought together by preschool. Rebecca and Sara have been friends since Brittney and I were about two years old. We are friends and now our girls are too.

Catching Up

2009-07-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted for so long. Here come all of the catch up blogs...

Aubreys secret super power

2009-06-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

I just found this picture again. I think my sisters in law have all heard about this, it happened awhile ago but I didn't know where I put this picture until two minutes ago so if I haven't told you about it here goes. Last November I was still in 1st trimester total exhaustion mode but Aubrey didn't always need a nap. So sometimes I would put her in her room and tell her that it was time for quiet time and, in general, she would play quietly in there for a while so that I could lay down. Anyway, the punchline is that one day she managed to sneak our can opener into her room with her and when I went to get her I found the can opener like this...
We have no idea how she did this. After I took the picture I tried to bend the handles back and I couldn't get them to go straight again, they are pretty thick metal. Anyway, ever since that happened we've joked that Aubrey has a secret super strength

Mike

2009-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

I got an email a few weeks ago from Paul the track coach that Mike works with at school. Mike has been coaching shot put for the last three years and at the end of every season all of the teams have a huge meet for two days at the beginning of May. This is what Paul said...

"In case you have ever wondered what it is like to coach at the Alpine Days track meet, I wanted to share this picture with you. Jamie, Amy, and Mike look great, don't they?"

I love it.

Guess why he's smiling.

2009-05-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

So I was looking through my pictures and thought I would post our latest family picture...
We just went outside and had our neighbor take some so that we could put them in our mothers day present for Mikes mom (also made with Storybook! Sorry, I'll stop talking about it.... okay, I'll try to stop)

As for why he's smiling, I took this of Brady earlier today.
What a cutie huh? He just started really smiling a couple of days ago but today he was smiling because he had his very first blowout and of course he did it in that super cute outfit (thanks Jody!) and it was the first time he had ever worn it. Anyway, this next one is post bath and I put him in this shirt so that I could blog it. I've been going to yard sales for the last few Saturdays and got this cute little shirt for .25 cents. It says 'stripling warrior', only in Utah right? That's okay, I think its adorable.

The other news I have to tell is that I agreed to try to run a 1/2 marathon with my friend Brittney. Whether its complete stupidity/insanity/ridiculous only time will tell but for now I am telling as many people as possible so I'll be too embarrassed to quit. I also officially signed up about 10 minutes ago so there is no going back.
I told my sister-in-law Amy that whenever I try to lose weight I always do it halfway, or the more painful, long term way. Sort of like pulling a bandaid off really really slow. So this time I'm going to pull the bandaid off really fast (in a manner of speaking) and see how that works.

Hello again...

2009-05-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

So April came and went in the blink of an eye. Brady will be two months old next saturday and I can't believe it! And now that I want to write about it I can't even think what I've been doing all this time. Mostly sleeping I guess, nap time is the best time! We did go back to preschool and it has been awesome. The kids all love Brady and Aubrey has...okay she's mostly been a stinker about it but its way better that when she just watches tv all day. I think shes having a hard time with being rushed around and I'm so scattered that I make it worse than it has to be. Other than preschool Mike is working A LOT and we are still spending quite a bit of time trying to find a house. We are totally psyched about summer! I can't wait for Orem Summerfest and the 4th of July.

The other thing I have to mention are my two latest favorite things. First, MyKitchenCafe.blogspot.com. It is AWESOME! The next recipe I'm going to try is the Honey Lime Enchiladas because I've been told they are to die for. I also just found out she sends out an email with recipes. The other thing is my Storybook Creator program that Mike got for me for mothers day. It's way beyond awesome, I can't even begin going on about how fun it is. Its digital scrapbooking software and as much as I love traditional (I do) and as much as I didn't want to get sucked in to digital (I really didn't) you just can't stop once you start! My mom got it several months ago and since I found out I could make my own blog backgrounds on it I've logged hours and hours on her computer playing. Then I made Bradys announcement with it and Mike must have gotten so sick of me always being over at her house on Storybook that he got me my own. Really thats half of the reason I haven't been blogging, its too fun to be on Storybook! These are the handouts I made for young womens today.

Okay so you can't see them that well...okay at all. And suddenly there is a blue underline on my text, clearly I have a lot more to learn about blogging. ANYWAY, Storybook is awesome and I'm convinced you all can't live without it, you just don't know it yet. (P.S. if you do buy any Creative Memories stuff you should get it through my mom, www.mycmsite.com/sites/saralee). So that's all, hopefully I will be able to post some new pictures soon and figure out how to post my jpg's so that you can see them.

Update...
Okay, I had the picture download set to small, don't ask me why. The good news is now you can see the pictures I post, yay!

2009-04-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for so long! I haven't been on the computer at all. Lucky for me Aubrey still takes a nap every day so we have mostly been sleeping a lot and watching Toy Story 2 over and over (and over) since that is her new favorite. We are doing really well, Brady is of course the cutest baby boy since boys came to be and Aubrey loves him. She is always tucking his blanket around him and saying "nice an warm, nice an warm Brady" and if I separate them to run errands or anything Aubrey cries and cries for her "brother" and "baby Brady". I love it. Anyway I have a super cute baby announcement (if I do say so myself) and if you haven't gotten one by the end of...say next week, let me know and I will send you one.

Here are a couple of pictures of my little cuties. They are a couple of weeks old, I've been trying to get out of the house to have some taken but we haven't made it yet.

I love this one of Aubrey. We got several with her smiling but in this one she just looks exactly like the put upon older sister.

Baby Redford

2009-03-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well adorable baby Redford finally arrived at 6:20 tonight. I cried, of course, and it still feels completely unreal. I can't believe there was really a baby in there or that Aubrey has a brother now! He doesn't look like anyone to me but Amy thinks he looks like Aubrey. And we are calling him baby Redford because we still don't have a name. Anyway, everything went great. Our midwife was so incredibly awesome and so was the nurse, I was really glad to have the same one the entire time. Later Aubrey came to visit with my brothers and dad and she was pretty weirded out but warmed up a little during the visit. Now he is snoozing away so I am looking forward to (hopefully) a good nights sleep.

It's A BOY!

2009-03-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Another update

2009-03-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

So, we are here! We got to the hospital and they let us in! Then they took us right to a room! It felt completely unreal, I was sure we would get here and they would say "who are you again?" or worse just laugh at me when I said I wanted to be induced. Anyway, its been almost two hours since then and I'm not feeling scared anymore, I'm ready to go! Lets get this show on the road! I'll probably keep updating so hopefully something interesting will happen.

Baby Update

2009-03-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I had my last baby appointment this morning. I was pretty depressed that I wasn't going to be induced until next friday and was about to leave when Mike asked if there was any way they could do it sooner and she said of course. In fact, she said they can do it any time after 39 weeks and people usually ask sooner than we had. So, I'm happy to say that they set an appointment for me to be induced tomorrow at 7 am. We will let everyone know what happens!

Your sixth folder, sixth picture

2009-03-10T15:08:00.001-07:00

I saw this on Ty's blog and thought it was funny . You are supposed to open your pictures file, go to the sixth file, then the sixth picture, put it on your blog and write about it. The sixth picture in mine was this
Turns out its Ty's daughter Emberlee (on the right) and Haley's daughter Carolee. It was taken at Aubrey's first birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. They are both a lot bigger now, it's weird to see them so small! Ty and Haley are friends of ours from our old neighborhood, we had alot of good times. The corner that we lived on there was full of guys who went on their missions to Chile, including Ty and Haley's husbands. So of course we hit it off, it's my experience that guys can talk longer than girls if they can talk about missions.

But talking about Jake reminds me of a story. We were over at a friends house last night and of course were talking about having babies because they just had their second and we are so close to having ours. But we were talking about epidurals and different things and Peter said he knew some people that were doing hypno birthing and rolled his eyes. So we had to tell them about Jake, Ty's husband. When we were having Aubrey Ty and Jake told us that they had taken some hypno birthing classes. Ty said she really thought it worked but not as well as it could have because Jake wouldn't exactly do it right. Jake is a really tall, big guy and can make his voice super deep. So he would read the script but he would read it slow and with his super deep voice and he can't say more than three words before you are cracking up. I need a recording, I'm laughing just writing about it and its been two years since I heard him do it. Just imagine this super deep, goofy, smarmy voice "you feel fine..... the baby is entering the birth canal....you feel only pressure....". Ok, I'm going to make him record it, it's too funny. It belongs on youtube.

Sour Cream Banana Bars, you WILL love them

2009-03-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, this isn't a recipe blog but this is the only thing entertaining me now and if I don't write about it my blogs would all just be about how I want this baby OUT!!!! That's why I haven't been writing. I've been cleaning and obsessing about not being pregnant anymore. Please hold the comments on how I'll be so tired in a few weeks that I will wish I was pregnant again, I know.

ANYWAY, the house is (almost) clean and some brown bananas were staring me in the face so I got on a friends recipe blog and tried out this recipe...

Sour Cream Banana Bars 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 eggs 1 1/2 cup bananas (3) smashed 2 tsp vanilla 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups flour (Shawna's addition: an extra 1/4 of flour for high altitude, just in case)
Grease a cookie sheet pan or 9x13 pan if you want thick bars. Mix sour cream, sugar, butter, and eggs for 1 minute. Beat in bananas and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients. Pour in pan. Bake 375 for 20-25 minutes. Frost with Brown Butter Frosting.

Brown Butter Frosting: 1/4 cup butter 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla 3 T milk Heat butter over medium heat until delicate brown. Add 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, you may need a little more, depending on the consistency you want. Beat in vanilla and milk. Can double frosting for a thicker amount of frosting. (I like it doubled, but Dustin doesn't, so suit your families taste with the amount of frosting! Excellent! You won't be able to eat just one!)

So now the house smells so warm and tasty! And they are GOOOOOOD! I couldn't resist eating some right out of the oven because they smelled so good and they are! The frosting is awesome too, I made it later and it makes them to die for. Thanks Tara!

The BEST EVER Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-02-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't posted a recipe yet but I have to post this one because it was literally the best batch of cookies I have ever made. I'm not bragging, that is just sad. Anyway if you like peanut butter cookies you have got to try these, I've never made cookies that stayed soft like these did.

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat in eggs.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into batter.
Refrigerate for one hour.
Roll into 1 inch balls, roll in some white sugar and put onto baking sheets.
Flatten each ball with a fork making the criss cross pattern.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 9 minutes.

The baking is really important, you can't over cook them (I always over cook). Take them out after nine minutes even though they don't look done. Well, I hope you like them. If I can make them and they are really good they might as well call them no fail peanut butter cookies!

Only four more weeks!

2009-02-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

Blogging isn't hard but nothing has really been going on that is worth writing about. Time feels like its dragging along at two miles an hour of course. But today marks thirty-six weeks, only four (maybe less, fingers crossed) to go! We are still undecided on a name. Other than that we are just sort of hanging out. I do have a picture of Aubrey swimming. I am really proud of her because she figured out how to kick her legs to keep her head above water with her life jacket on.

Mike has been taking her to the Orem rec center lately and its been alot of fun. I watch because I don't want to spend any money on a swimsuit that fits but that is fine with me.

My background

2009-02-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

It's still a work in progress!

OK, hours later, ta dah! My very own, made by myself blog background! Now that I have the measurements right I want to make a bunch of them. Definitely not today though!
I just have to point out one more time how cute creative memories stuff is, if my super limited creative powers can make a background like this imagine what other people are doing with it.

I am so proud of myself

2009-02-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, first, so what if I like pink? It's Valentines Day this month and I can have an all pink blog if I want one! This one is hopefully temporary anyway because I'm going to try to make my own background with a program my mom has. Our friend (and boss) Rebecca sells creative memories scrapbooking stuff and mom bought the digital scrapbooking program. Um, it is so beyond rad. I can't even begin to tell you. Anyway I was trying out different things for a baby announcement yesterday and then it dawned on me that I could make a background, maybe. It's worth a try. Oh, and if you like awesome ideas for layouts or any sort of crafty thing go to creativememories.com

So I'm proud of myself for finally finding instructions on how to do the simplest thing, and doing it. Aubreys hair is finally long enough to do new things with but I could never figure out how to do those little knots. (Ok, I'm sure you are all convinced of my idiocy now but I couldn't do it ok!) I've really wanted to learn how because we are both dead sick of pig tails. Anyway, this was my first attempt...

I put the second one on because Aubrey was so proud of her "princess" hair that she was totally smiling for me which she hardly ever does. Her absolute favorite thing lately is "sin swella" (aka: cinderella). Everything she wears she holds it out like a skirt and spins so when I want to do her hair I tell her we're going to do her pretty princess hair. She loves it. Oh, before I forget I got the instructions on how to do the knots on shedoeshair.blogspot.com. She has really cute ideas and links to a bunch of other blogs about hair.

Baby news

2009-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well the baby news is that there is no baby news. I'm just excited because eight weeks doesn't seem like very long. I'm down to two week appointments and that makes the time seem even shorter. The other cool thing is that I already have an induction date. AF hospital schedules them for everyone so if he hasn't come by April 3rd I'm getting induced! This is great news because I've been worried about going two weeks over like my mom.
Other than that I'm still not ready, the baby's room is full of my craft stuff and I still have to find a dresser for Aubrey because hers is perfect for babies and matches the crib. Anyway, we still can't decide on a name, I really like Braden (braeden?)but Mikes favorites are still Seven and Thor. I told him that if he doesn't start coming up with some real names I'm going to make a unilateral decision. He did suggest Owen, which I like but...so far I like Braden better. I think we both liked Carsen too.
Well thats my update, I hope you are all doing awesome. I'm going to go look at all of your blogs now and find out.

Temple Square

2009-01-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

The saturday after Christmas Aubrey and I went with my young womens group to Temple Square. It was very, very cold thus the reason Aubrey looks like the Michelin Man.

Christmas

2009-01-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

We have a fun tradition in my family where we all exchange names and (because we wouldn't leave my mom alone one Christmas) open just the exchange gift on Christmas Eve. That was one of the best parts of this Christmas for me. Even Mike enjoyed himself and I have proof but he would probably kill me if I posted it. I do have a few really good pictures. First Ricky (my brother) made an appearance and the kids all made it worth his while, they played 'dog pile on Ricky' for a good half an hour.

Before we opened presents we got a picture with my Grandma Peggy and all of her great grand kids. My brother Chris is in it because his son Sawyer completely melts down at the sight of cameras.

And here is one of half of everyone opening the family gifts. (Note Monty the little dog dressed up as santa, his costume was actually really cute)

It's been a long time!

2009-01-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

In November I wanted to get caught up and not post for a while but not this long! So hi everyone! We had a great holiday, I finally finished my math class and today is literally the first day I feel like I don't have anything more pressing to do than update my blog. Woohoo! Naturally I have a few pictures to add after this long so here goes....

First the requisite cute Aubrey picture. I hate to brag, but I swear she is adorable. The closer I get to having this baby the more I think to myself how stinking cute she is and wonder why we would even think about another.

In early December Aubrey, her grandma Sara, cousin Sawyer and I all went to the lights at Thanksgiving Point. We drove through the light show and at the end is a nativity, Aubrey and Sawyer started saying "I'm coming Jesus, I'm coming!" and Aubrey still says it out of the blue every few days, it is so funny. After the lights we went and saw Comet who was visiting before Christmas.

Later in the month I was so excited to be able to go to my good friend Rozlynn's wedding. Rozlynn and I have known each other since Jr. High but we didn't become friends until we were roommates in college for a while. I'm so happy that she found Jake and that they are so happy. My parents asked me if he seemed like a good guy and I told them he seemed awesome and met the vital requirement of being much taller than Rozlynn who is around 5'8.

Preschool in December is always BUSY. We do alot of projects including making a present from each of the kids to their moms, tons of art,a Polar Express day, a trip to an old folks home to sing, and we (the teachers) make a little present for each of the kids. We had a great time with all of it but were glad for the break when it came.

Here is Aubrey on Polar Express day with the cute bows her Aunt Heather made her.
And I have to post a picture of everyone at the old folks home. We sang several songs but Rebecca asked the kids if they wanted to sing anything else before we finished. A few said Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer so we started singing and Lucas (third in on the back row) and Jackson (sixth in on the back row) started singing the little side words, we would sing "had a very shiny nose" and just Lucas and Jackson would sing "like a light bulb!". I could hardly keep singing it was so funny, they totally sang the whole song like that and it was completely unplanned. It was great.

Pictures

2008-11-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

One more post and I am caught up for a while! This last saturday we went and took family pictures. I was determined to get it done despite Mike and Aubreys best efforts to thwart me! Once we got there everything went pretty well until we went over to the big pile of leaves. I picked up Aubrey and threw her in just at the same time Mike threw a bunch of leaves on her. She got buried and had some leaves in her mouth which we got out but she kept gagging. Then she threw up all down her front. It was awesome. I didn't bring any clothes for her to change into so we just cleaned her up. She was totally fine after so we took a few more pictures then called it a day.

Halloween

2008-11-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

So we had a long, long Halloween week. On Wednesday we went to the vineyard garden center in Orem for our preschool field trip. They have a little corn maze, haunted alley, 2 play places and some animals, bunnies and goats that sort of thing. The kids love it.

This is Aubrey R. and Aubrey V. The older Aubrey thinks its pretty cool that they have the same name so she looks out for little Aubrey. Here they are looking at the bunnies.

So vineyard set up a different place for people to take pictures this year and as you can see it was less than ideal. But this is a few of our preschoolers.

Wednesday night we all went to our ward trunk or treat, we had fun decorating our trunk and Aubrey really caught on to the trick or treating.

Aubrey and Mike, you can't see the trunk very well, sorry!

Aubrey trick or treating

Later my mom came over and we made our costumes. We couldn't decide for the longest time what we were going to dress up as then on tuesday mom said we should go as Rebeccas minions. So she bought some tulle and we made skirts. Then it happened that I had bought a witch costume for Aubrey last year that was still too big but totally matched so she dressed up as a witch too.

Yes my camera sucks. And you can see that I accidentally sprayed my shirt orange when I did my hair.

Anyway we had a great time at preschool. Everyone comes in their costume and we paint their fingernails with glow in the dark polish, paint their faces and at the end of school all the parents come and we have trunk or treat.

Then on friday Mike had to work so Aubrey and I went to my parents house. Their ward had their trunk or treat that night and a chili cook off so we hung out there for a while. Then we went back to Grandma's house and made rootbeer and watched Casper all together. We had a good time. Now that Halloween is over all the candy is gone (yes Mike and I ate most of it ;) but Aubrey still carries her bag around and says "trick or treat?". Also my favorite part of this Halloween had to be Aubrey saying "sared, sared!" Just like scared but without the c, it was just cute.

Baby news

2008-11-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

So we found out we are having a boy! Most people already know this because I found out about three weeks ago. I was waiting to post because I wanted to scan the picture and put it on but at the rate I'm going it'll probably take until the baby is here by the time that happens. Anyway we are excited and are taking any suggestions for names anyone has because we can't think of any. Except Seven. If it were up to Mike it would be a done deal, Seven Redford. (For those who don't know, Seven is a Seinfeld joke). The only other news is that I will be 20 weeks, or halfway, this friday and I go in for another ultrasound on monday.

Aubrey's new bed

2008-10-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

We've hit a milestone, Aubrey finally got a "big girl" bed tonight. For months we've been going in to check on her before we go to bed and finding her squished up against the end of her crib. Usually with arms and legs sticking out of the bars. Then she turns over in the night and twists her arms or legs which wakes her up and, well I'm sure you get the picture. So today we went and got a new bed and Mike spent all evening putting it together with some help from my dad. Aubrey seemed excited but that could have just been because she loved jumping on the mattress. In the picture you can see she found a snow globe/music box that I got from my Grandma for my birthday several years ago. I think she laid there and listened to it for half an hour! Anyway, Mike and I are interested to see if she'll roll out of bed tonight.

Preschool

2008-10-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

So much has already happened this year at preschool! Aubrey's birthday came during the second week of school and she got to do the solar walk. She walked around the "sun" with a globe and we sing "the earth goes around the sun" and happy birthday. Now every time its someone's birthday Aubrey goes and gets the globe and thinks its her turn again.

We also have show and tell every Thursday and we've had some really fun ones but the most surprising show and tell yet was when Lexi brought her horse. Her dad called Rebecca that morning and said that they wanted to bring their horse so when they came we got all of the kids outside and let them go for rides two at a time. Aubrey loved it but I think we'll go again to Thanksgiving Point or something now that she's tried it. A real life "horsey" is far different from one in a book or a toy and I think she was thrown for a loop a little. Here is Aubrey by herself and then with Tyson, one of the other little boys.

Of course with all the excitement everyday Aubrey gets exhausted. She either falls asleep in the car on the way home or in some weird position at home in her room. This is my latest favorite.

Aspen Grove

2008-09-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

Mike and I were so lucky to go to Aspen Grove a few weekends ago. I can't say enough about it, the setting is absolutely gorgeous, wonderful cool fall weather, beautiful colors, good food, great company. And everyone goes to feel the spirit and find new ways to make not just their relationship but their lives better. I recommend it to anyone and everyone, go, I'll watch your kids if need be. It is amazing.
We were able to go with some of our favorite people, my Mom and Dad, Danny and Rebecca Brand, their son Jarom and his wife Hillary, and David and Diane Ballard. Anyway we had a great time talking and relaxing and taking in the speaker who was wonderful.

The pictures are of Mt. Timpanogos, everyone at dinner (on the left you can see Jarom and Hillary, and in the front are David and Diane, you can see Rebecca and Danny at the back) and my Mom and Dad and Rebecca and Danny. I'm too embarrassed to post the picture of Mike and I because I look awful.

Our family news

2008-09-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't blogged in so long our update has to start from August but here goes. First of all we have all gone back to school. Mike started his third year of teaching and I would post his school picture but he said he has to do retakes. He's looking forward to taking a trip to Chicago in November to check out a school program that started there. Really he's just psyched to go to a Bulls game with his friends Jimmy and Paul who are also going.
Aubrey and I went back to preschool the first week in September and we've had a very eventful month but I'm going do a separate post with pictures about that. Suffice it to say that we are having a great time but all of the teachers are grateful every day that we are only doing one class a day instead of two. I'm also taking what is (I think) my last math class, yea!
The big family news of course is that we are expecting our second baby in March (see the awesome ticker to the left, if you click on the numbers the countdown changes). We are way excited, I think its a boy because so far this pregnancy has been way easier than Aubreys. We should find out the first week in November whether its a boy or girl and I am finally going to my first Dr. appointment next week.
We also celebrated Mikes 28th birthday, Aubreys 2nd, and seven other family and friends birthdays just in September. And finally we are taking it easy this week because I had to have one of my wisdom teeth pulled out on Monday. Mike and I are just looking forward to a weekend alone. Because we are completely spoiled by them my parents payed for us to go to a marriage retreat with them up at Aspen Grove which is one of my favorite places in the world especially in the fall. So we are happy and doing well and I'm enjoying catching up on everyone else's blogs.

2008-09-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

Well it's taken me forever but I'm going to post a few more pictures of our Moses Lake trip. We did so much while we were there, we picked strawberries at the Rigby's house where Aubrey ended up playing for several days during construction at Grandma's (thank you soooooo much Tara!). Aubrey was always "helping" with the tools or sprinklers or clothes washing. Later we took Aubrey to see her Great-Grandma Petersen though sadly it was for the last time because Grandma passed away only a few weeks after we came home. On the same trip to Tacoma we were able to take Aubrey to the zoo for the first time and she loved it. After we came back Ryan, Dakota, Cameron, Brandon and Charlie all came to help too. Aubrey had a great time playing with her cousins and Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles.

Aubrey's first haircut

2008-08-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

So we were in Washington for four weeks and had a great time. Before we left I put all of the pictures Jo took onto cd’s and now that we are home I can’t get them off. So tomorrow I’m off to Ty’s house to see if she can work some magic on them. For now I have the pictures of Aubrey’s first haircut. As you can see from the before pictures her hair was always in her eyes and a little scraggly so my mom and I took her to get it cut last week.

So we had the hairstylist trim the front and the back which Aubrey took as well as could be expected. Aubrey hardly ever lets me do her hair but she was happy to get it cut as long as she had a sucker. The hairstylist, Bethany, was very nice and it turned out that she is the daughter of the receptionist at our pediatricians office. I take Aubrey to the same office that I went to from the time I was three so my mom and I both know Vicky and thought it was a funny coincidence.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-06-29T19:58:00.001-07:00

Mike's mom has taken about a million pictures of Aubrey and I haven't even downloaded half of them. These are from last week, we played with the hose (alot) and the neighbors dogs and had photo shoot time with Grandma.

My first post

2008-06-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

So this is our family blog, right now we are in Washington for about four weeks helping Mike's parents remodel their kitchen. This is a picture of Mike and Aubrey that Mike's mom Jo took.

Aubrey will be two in September, she is a sweetie. She's been causing alot of trouble at Grandmas house though. We've been here for about a week and a half and already she's eaten some of Grandpa's pills and pulled a gazelle machine down on her head which gave her a bruise the size of an egg on her head. She is alright though and all in all everyone is having a great time.