PLAY BALL

It's here! Baseball season has officially started for our boys.

Tanner played his first game last night. They played the REDS & ended up winning the game by 5 runs. The final score was 18 to 13. It was a great game to watch. The teams were evenly matched. It made for a great ball game & for some awesome plays. I love to watch Tanner play ball. He will slide into the bases any chance he gets. I need to buy stock in SPRAY & WASH.

John is @ the ball field watching Carter's first game tonight. Are you wondering why I am @ home blogging? Brody has a nasty case of pink eye. He has it in both eyes. He doesn't feel well & there was no way I was hauling him out to a 6 pm game in the cold. I can't wait to hear about the game. Carter is great about giving me the details, play by play!

In other news, it looks like our Mama bird has given birth to her babies. We have not officially seen them but she is sitting pretty high up in her nest. I am hoping to get a few pictures in the next day or two if i can do it w/out invading her space. It will be a sad day when she leaves the nest. I look for her as I pull into the driveway several times a day.

Wish us a restful nights sleep tonight. Brody was up off & on all during the night last night, squirming & crying! Poor little guy!

We hope your weekend is great & filled with sunshine!

Easter Morning

Some photos from Easter morning. Better late than never right??? The boys were so excited & were in our room @ the crack of dawn. Do you love Garrett's mis-matched Christmas jammies (top from one year & bottoms from another). This is so him right now. He likes to pick out his own clothes/jammies.

We decided last minute (Easter morning) that we would drive down to spend the day with my family. It was a whirl wind trip but we are so glad we went. We spent 6 hours total in the car (there & back with some traffic) but were able to enjoy some great family time. We stopped to visit with my grandparents & then headed over to my parents & enjoyed Easter dinner with my family. All of the grand kids loved playing whiffle ball with Uncle Brandon & Grandpa. I seriously think it was a 2 hour ball game-FUN! It reminded me of my brothers playing ball out front with all of the neighborhood kids in their younger years. It was a great day! We are so glad we made the trip!

NON-STOP

Carter filled his 8 egg quota @ the ward egg hunt in no time!

The Primary children enjoying the bubbles.

Brothers! Do you think they look alike? We are often asked if they are twins! John & I don't see it!

Garrett showing Mommy what he scored!

Dad getting ready to color eggs!

We sat Brody in his Bumbo chair @ the table. He went right for the eggs & was so proud of himself for snatching one before we could catch him.

Our finished products! We had a great time coloring our eggs. The boys actually had patience to wait for the colors to take :).

***I am too tired to fiddle with my blog tonight. The pictures should have followed my blog entry!

I have been up since 5 am. The rest of my family has been up since 6 am & we have seriously not stopped all day long. I was in charge of the ward Easter Egg Hunt/breakfast this year. We enjoyed breakfast, an egg hunt, bubbles & all sorts of games for the children (thanks Jamie, she rocked the games). All of the fun started @ 8am!! What was I thinking??? Then from the egg hunt, we headed to a friends birthday party. We enjoyed all sorts of bounce houses, pizza & cake. From that party, we headed over to the church for Susie's baptism. She looked so sweet in her white dress. After the baptism, we enjoyed dinner with the Sugdens. Once we returned home, I started to boil the eggs & then got all of the egg colors ready. I am happy to report that our eggs have been dyed & it is not even 10 pm. We have dyed them that late in years past.

John & I are so exhausted that we are ready to head to bed. We better hurry before the BIG BUNNY stops @ our house . Happy Easter & may the Big Bunny find his way to your home tonight!

A thru Z - All about Me

A fun "All About Me" tag from my friend Steph.

**It is not a blog post unless I include photos. These photos represent letters A,B, K, L, P, R,S, X

A--Attached or Single? Attached to my hubby, 12 years this September

B--Best friend? John & many wonderful girlfriends that I am so blessed to call friends.

C--Cake or Pie? Not a huge fan of either but I do/will enjoy a good piece of cake or pie once in a while.

D--Day of Choice? There is something about Monday mornings that I love. Back to routine, a clean house & our schedules. The weekends are too crazy right now! Too many sporting events to really enjoy Saturday!!!!

E--Essential Item? I would have to say my camera & the good ole' diaper bag these days. It holds all of the essentials (diapers, wipes, bottles, lip gloss, cell phone, & sunglasses).

F--Favorite Color? Red

G--Gummy bears or worms? Not a fan of either!

H--Hometown? San Jose, CA..

I --Indulgence(s)? Pedicures, new books, & scrapbook supplies.

J--January or July? I'm with Steph on this one, I don't like the July heat where we live but I love the 4th of July. I love what Independence Day means for me & my family. I love the parades, events, colors, family, swimming, & BBQ's.

K--Kids? 4

L--Life is incomplete without? Family, friends, the gospel, & good music.

M--Marriage date? September 2o, 1996

N--Number of siblings? 2 brothers, 2 sisters I am the oldest!

O--Oranges or apples? I like them both

P--Phobias or fears? Something happening to one of my kids. I really don't like rodents or snakes. Just thinking about them gives me the willies.

Q--Quotes? "Do unto to others as you would have them done unto you" Great words to live by.

R--Reasons to Smile? my family, a clean house & all the laundry getting done! Can you tell what I am working on???/

S--Season? FALL! I love the cool air, the colors & all of the sights & smells.

T--Tag 5 people? Katie, Ashley H., Jamie, & Steph T., Camie

U--Unknown Fact? I can be a total worry wart about everything!

V--Very Favorite Store? I will say Green Tangerines (www.mygreentangerines.com) for this one. I like to shop... it is hard to narrow my favorites down to one.

W--Worst Habit? Staying up way too late! I am trying to go to bed earlier.

X--X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound.I Loved seeing my babies for the first time, each & every time.

Y--Your favorite food? Hands down it is Mexican. John swears I was born in the wrong country.

Z--Zodiac? Libra

10 months old

Brody is 10 months old today

Here are a few things that you can find him doing/enjoying @ 10 months:

-he is into everything & can always be found giggling & smiling while doing so.

-he still weighs about 23 lbs..

-he is wearing a size 4 diaper.

-he is wearing (mostly) size 18 month clothes.

-he is standing for 30 seconds or so on his own.

-he took 3-4 steps by himself last weekend-watch out world, here he comes!

-he is cruising all over the place with his Fisher Price walker.

-he has three teeth (two on bottom, one on top) & one working its way in.

-sleeps thru the night unless he is sick.

-he is still taking 2 good naps each day.

-he is still drinking about 32 oz. of formula each day.

-he loves water in his sippy cup.

-he is eating 2 solid meals each day (getting better with the thick & chunky food).

-he has the cutest chubby cheeks. I love to smooch on them.

-he has another nasty cold-AAARRRGGGHHHH need I say more.

-he loves to say & wave hi. Loves to wave bye bye. He loves the Wal*Mart greeters because they will ALWAYS say & wave Hi & BYE!

-he loves to smile & chat it up with strangers while we are out & about.

-he laughs (out loud) at the thing he FINDS funny-it is pretty cute. (see photo #3)

-he loves to sit & read books with any willing family member-Carter is his new favorite. see photo #4

-he will show you how BIG he is when you say "How BIG is Brody"? He will stretch both hands/arms way up in the air.

-he loves the park. he enjoys the swings & the slide with Tanner.

Brody is still such a good baby. He is very easy going & happy to be in the mix of things with the older brothers. He loves to snuggle with his blankie. I really enjoy his sweet spirit in our home & am so happy he is mine. He brings me so much JOY on a daily basis.

Testing!

***EDIT
I am back up & running. I don't know where everything went, but it's back- YAHOOOOOO!
I am having issues with my blog. I have lost all of my blog addy's. Please email me with your info. Thank you so much!

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!

The long awaited day is FINALLY here. We are celebrating Carter's 7th birthday today. I think we have talked daily about his birthday since January! Carter is a great kid. He is happy & easy going. He is very athletic & loves all sports. He is enjoying baseball right now. He loves to chew gum & his favorite color is still red! He loves to ride his bike & skateboard whenever he has the chance. He is very tender hearted & is always looking out for the under dog.

He has enjoyed a couple of days worth of Happy Mail. He has run to get the mail for the last week & has seriously come back each time with a HUGE smile on his face. Lots of birthday wishes & presents have been sent his way-thank you!

Happy Birthday Dear Carter, Happy Birthday to you!!!!!! We hope your day is fabulous! We can't imagine our lives or family without you! You have brought us so much joy from day one! We are proud of you! Enjoy YOUR day!

XOXO Mom & Dad

Randomness (from our weekend)!

I love porta cribs. Mr. Brody likes to watch the boys play out front. John's solution was to get the porta crib out. We can keep him out of the sun & he can watch the action @ the same time. He will wave & clap for the boys. It is very sweet.

Baseball Season has started & I'm already dreading it! Don't get me wrong, I grew up in baseball playing/watching family. We have baseball season times 2 this spring. John was gone from 10 am to 3 pm with the older boys @ the ball field. They had practice games. It is going to be a long season. Wish me luck!

Brody took 3 steps on his own on Saturday. He has been standing alone for about 30 seconds @ a time.

Garrett gave his very first talk in Primary. He was just proud to hold his new scriptures during his talk & was happy to smile & giggle.

It was great to see this sight. Our boys & some of the neighbors were having a great time playing out front. They lined up like this all by themselves & were getting ready to pick baseball teams. The older boys were so great about helping the younger ones hit the ball.

I swear we are raising the next evil kan-evil (sp?). That is Garrett jumping off of our neighbors ramps. The scary thing is that he landed every jump

We have a Mama bird in a nest in one of the trees in our front yard. She has been there for a few days. John & I joke all the time that that poor Mama must regret her choice of trees. The boys love to play our front. They run around, ride scooters, skateboard, ride their pocket bike, & the fact that they are just loud. We can't wait for her babies to be born. We have warned the boys of how important it is to stay away from the tree.

Tanner found out tonight that he made the select soccer team! He is so excited & we are so proud of him. At the end of the last try out, one of the select coaches asked Tanner if he would be willing to play defense on his A team(they have a B team too!). Tanner has always played up front as a striker. Tanner's response to the coach was "Sure". When the coach called tonight to offer Tanner a spot on his team,he made it a point to tell John that Tanner is highly skilled & will/can play all positions. Then he told John that the question he asked Tanner about playing defense was a question to test Tanner. Tanner's "yes" response to playing defense proved to the coach that Tanner was willing to be a team player. Way to GOOOOO Tanner, we are so excited for you.

-The boys are out of school for two weeks due to Spring Break! Wish me luck! I just hope they ALL sleep in tomorrow morning.

-I am really enjoying the new show, HERE COME THE NEWLYWEDS! It is very funny & sweet!

We hope you enjoyed the sunshine this weekend & remembered the sunscreen...you'll have to ask John about that one. If you saw Garrett today, you know what I'm talking about. Have a great week!

Dr. Seuss Report

Any of you who have a school age children probably know(or maybe you are just a fan) that Dr. Seuss' birthday was this week. Carter's teacher made a big to do out of it. We started the week off by going on a field trip to our new library in town with Carter's class. She has also had fun activities all week long to celebrate Dr. Seuss & his books. Carter had to turn in a report on Dr. Seuss today. He was able to pick ANY (except Green eggs & Ham-they read it in class together) Dr. Seuss book, write about it & then we had to create a diorama. Carter chose the Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss. He received a 25/25 & his teacher said it was one of the best reports. Carter was so proud. He even reminded me this morning to take pictures for the blog.

Since Carter's birthday is next week & Spring Break started today as of 2:35 pm, he was able to take doughnuts into class to share with his classmates. He was up @ 6:15 this morning, showered, dressed, & ready for the day. He wanted to go to the doughnut shop with Dad. I think he was afraid that John would forget if he wasn't up & ready. It was a great day for Carter.

P.S. Did you catch our spelling error? Good thing we caught it after pictures :).

Happy Friday!

Tag #2 Favorite Things

My good friend, Amy, tagged me on this one! This was fun, thanks Amy!

Whenever Oprah does her ‘Favorite Things’ show, I am always curious about the things she chooses and why. The best part of her ‘Favorite Things’ show is that she shares them with others! Well, the other day I thought to myself, “I don’t have to be Oprah to have ‘Favorite Things’. I started to think about the day to day things that I have or use that bring me some form of enjoyment. I thought it would be interesting to find out the ‘Favorite Things’ of my friends and family too. So here it goes…If money were not an issue and you wanted to load up a basket of your most ‘Favorite Things’ and give it to your friends, what would you choose and why? During your day to day life, are there things that you use each day that make you smile or feel good? Is there something that you look forward to everyday? It can be something simple, like the type of pen you use or something big like the type of car you drive. I will list my ‘Things’ and then I will tag a few of you to do the same thing. Here they are in no particular order...
I love water & the convenience of water bottles. I love this Vita Splash drink mix. It is light, refreshing & very tasty. It has 5 grams of natural fiber. 5 grams!!!!! I keep little packets everywhere: my scrapbook bag, the diaper bag, the car, kitchen cupboards etc... It makes drinking water taste even better.

I love my ipod Nano. I love how small & portable it is. I can tote it around with me as I shop, exercise, or scrapbook. I love that I can have all sorts of music loaded on my ipod & shuffle the songs so I can listen to whatever I am in the mood for.

I am not a professional photographer in any way, shape or form... but I love my Canon digital camera. I love to take lots of photos & I love how I can delete the bad ones with a push of a button. I love that I don't have to pay to develop bad pictures. Did I mention that I love to take pictures - WINK. It is a fun hobby that goes hand in hand with my scrapbooking.

For those of you who know me really well, you know I like to clean. I am always buying different cleaning products to try. A clean kitchen sink is a MUST. I clean my sink with SOFT SCRUB GEL with BLEACH (the bottle on the left in picture). It takes those grey marks (that pots & pans leave on my sink) right off without having to scrub too hard.

I love scrapbook magazines. You can usually find a pile on my nightstand & many piles in my scrapbook room. I love the page ideas, the colors & the adds advertising new product. My current favorite scrapbook magazine is SCRAPBOOK TRENDS. Lots of cute stuff in their magazine!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Aromatherapy spray from Bath & Body. My sister in law Petra introduced me to this to me years ago. My favorite scent is the Lavender Vanilla Pillow mist. I spray it on my pillow each night before crawling into bed. It is very light smelling. It is so yummy & it is making me want to crawl into bed right now just talking about it. If my boys spend the night somewhere (Grandma's or friends), they will ask me to spray their pillows.

**One more favorite thing(I could not find it online,hence no picture) that I LOVE is Mint Lemonade flavored Lip Balm from Old Navy. It is yummy & makes your lips tingle. They display/sell it up @ the check out counters. It sells for $3.50 a tube! Very affordable & worth every penny. Again-I LOVE - LOVE - LOVE this stuff. Run, don't walk to OLD NAVY.

I am tagging Annie P., Lisa H., HolleAnn, Camie, & Laurie! I can't wait to read your answers!

TAGGED

Tagged by my friend Keri!

1. What is his name? John

2. How long have you been married? 12 years this September. It has gone by so fast & yet I feel like I have known John for forever.

3. How long did you date? If we are counting from our 1st "OFFICIAL" date, we dated for about a year. We were really good friends before we dated. I liked him & thought he liked me. I could not figure out why he wasn't asking me out. When I met him, his girlfriend was on on a mission for our church. What I did not know at the time was that he had promised his girlfriend that he would not date anyone while she was gone. While it may have frustrated me @ the time, it sure says a lot about John & how he kept his word.

4. Who eats more sweets? Hands down it's me. I wish it weren't.

5. Who said I love you first? John did! What courage it takes for anyone to be the first to say it & to not know what the response might be!!!

6. Who is taller? John

7. Who can sing better? I would have to say John. I love music & love to sing but I am not good at it! My career will remain in the shower by myself.

8. Who is smarter? I will just say we are both smarter than a 5th grader. All kidding aside, John is very strong in math & I have the English skills. Hopefully our kids are covered in all subjects when they need help in school.

9. Who does the laundry? It is a HUGE chore that we both tackle. John is better about folding the socks in the sock drawer. I hate that job & swore I would never have a drawer/basket like that.

10. Who pays the bills?John-online

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on the right side. I have always slept on the right. John has asked to have the right side so people can't see all of his crap on the floor. When you walk into our room, you see John's side of the bed...hence all of the crap.

12. Who makes dinner? We both do! I wish I could say it was me all of the time. I have a great hubby who knows how to step in & help.

13. Who drives? John always does when we are all together. He won't admit it but I don't think he likes when I drive. Am I that bad John?

14. Who is more stubborn? I think I am.

15. Who kissed who first? That would be John kissing me first! I was thinking "FINALLY" but I was still caught off guard!

16. Who asked who out first? John was the one to ask me out. I made him ask a couple of times & gave him the run around. Again, I was thinking "FINALLY". & I am lucky he didn't give up.

17. Who proposed? John

18. Who wears the pants? HMMMM We both wear pants! John is more relaxed. I am the one who is BIG on the rules.

I am going to tag my friends FREE, ANNIE M., JULIE H., & LIZZIE, KERRIE E. , &KATIE

My STUFF

1. Find five things around your house that say something about the person you are and snap a picture of them.
2. Tell us about them.
3. Link back to me in your post so I can be all nosy.
4. Tag five (or more...or less...I'm easy) folks via their comments and tell us who you tagged.

Okay, I saw this on HolleAnn's blog & thought it was fun! I am hoping each of you will play & let me know when you've posted YOUR STUFF on your blog.

These are two magnetic boards(I love IKEA) that hang in my scrapbook room. It is a place where I can hang favorite photos, quotes, inspiration & some of the letter R's that I collect.

We have a closet that is off of the kitchen. This is where the boys display their works of art. It usually has a seasonal theme. I love looking @ all of their masterpieces.

Just a cute little plant stand that I purchased from Southern Living. I love green plants. I have to work really hard to keep them alive. Ya know, remembering to water them sure helps. The pots are painted in some of my favorite colors & of course I love the polka dots.

A glimpse into our bedroom. It is finally coming together. It was one of the last rooms I worked on after moving in (almost 5 years ago-next week). I love the little open frame/window that greets you as you enter our room. I saw this in a shop in Utah & left w/out buying it. Once I returned home, I was wishing I had purchased it. A few months later my Mom was headed to Utah & asked if I needed/wanted anything. She brought it back for me! SCORE!

One of my favorite walls in our home. I look @ this several times a day whether it is when I wake the boys up in the morning, or as I put laundry away in the boys rooms, or as I tuck them into bed each night. It represents all that I love. The pictures change each year.

This was a Christmas gift from my friend Steph & her Family. It is a magnet that is on our fridge. I love all of the cute little peas that represent our family members! So cute & fun! It makes me smile. Thanks Steph!

I have been walking on this bad boy almost every day for the last couple of weeks (min. of 45 minutes). I am trying so hard to get back into the routine of exercising on a regular basis. I am beginning to look forward to my time on the tread mill each day. I hoping that it becomes a habit.

I had a H-A-R-D time narrowing it down to 5, so you got 7. This was really fun to do. I am thinking I want to create a mini HOME album using this same concept. It will be fun to look back on as the years pass. We will be able to see how our home has changed.

Ready, set, post. I can't wait to see your photos :).