Golden Corral

Bob's dad gave us a gift card to the Golden Corral for Christmas and we were finally able to use it on the 6th.  It was so nice to have a night free from planning dinner.  The kids were great and even Clark sat in his highchair and ate whatever we put in front of him.  He also made friends with the people sitting at a table to the side of us and kept turning around to wave at them.  He never does that.  Tender mercies - he must have known that we needed a stress free evening.  I forgot to get the camera out until the end, but here are 2 cute shots of Braden and Mylie.

Mylie's favorite part of the night - cotton candy from the desert buffet.

Braden was a huge fan of the chocolate fountain and the marshmallows on sticks to dip in it.

Our 2011 Christmas Ornaments

Bob and I got this one to remember that 2011 is when we bought this house.

Braden got this because he learned how to ride his bike this summer.

Mylie picked out Ballet shoes because she loves Angelina Ballerina and calls everything with Ballet shoes on it, "Angelina Ballerina".  She also loves to dance.

Clark got this gold train mostly because I liked it, but also because this is the year he began moving - crawling & walking!

Boating

Lily (standing), Mylie, Braden, Zach

Braden loves Boating

 The awesome Uncle Shane taking all the kids boating!

Mylie just loves ANY water!

Shane and Stephanie took Bob and the 2 older kids and Jennifer and her kids out boating again on Monday.  They had such a great time! Thanks Ricks family!!!

Meridian Dairy Days Parade

Dan the Man.

Braden sporting a yellow bandanna "hat" and showing off his free frisbee

Candid pic of me.  looks like I was having a good time.

Excited to fill his pail with parade freebies!

A little before parade lovin'.  Clarky loves to give kisses and snuggles.

My nephew, Jayden, taking it all in.

Mylie absolutely LOVED the "Princesses".  She waved and waved at them.

She absolutely did not like any loud noises and would run to Uncle Dan's side  and cover her ears until we told her that  it was ok to come back to her chair.

Not so great pic of our group.  Dan and Kayla & their kids; Kayla's brother, dad and grandma; and us.

Bob's radio station.  hehehe.

Cool cowboy. He kinda lassoed himself.

Sidewinder Jeep. 2 steering wheels.  Craaazy.

Braden caught a free dairy days t-shirt.  Mylie cried and cried so being the great big brother that he is - he gave it to her!

Candy!  Yes, I encouraged my kiddos to run into the road.

Had to take a pic of this float cause Cars 2 comes out this Friday!

I demanded a pic of this one cause it was so darn cute!

We got lots of free chocolate milk, some string cheese, frisbees, 1 t-shirt, and tons of candy.  My kids were in heaven.  This was our 2nd year going and I hope we keep it a tradition to go (and I hope it keeps happening).  lots of fun and free!

Mother's Day 2011

A great Mother's Day this year! We celebrated with my parents and siblings on Saturday.  I made these cute teacup birdfeeders for my mom and sisters.  Kinda funky, but fun.  The black thing is painted PVC pipe that you stick into the ground to hold the teacup.  Then you put birdseed on the plate around the teacup and birds can use the spoon as a perch.  Mine is out in my yard, but I haven't bought any bird food yet, so it's just out there looking cute.

 I started Sunday morning off being pretty emotional, but once we got to Church everything was great.  The ward handed out pink bags with a handful of hershey's kisses, Braden made me a tissue paper flower in Primary, and Mylie got to help make a "spoonful of kisses" (plastic spoon + hershey kisses) in Nursery.  Adorable!
At home, Bob made lunch and then let me take a nap.  After my nap, we played some Monopoly, ate dinner and then went on a walk.  After the walk we decided to watch a movie and I just had to pick Enchanted.  Love that movie!

 I bought the wood, vinyl and moss for this cute flower last week at the Hobby Center and had Bob paint it for me for Mother's Day.  It turned out adorable, but so far it hasn't liked the weather and keeps tipping over in the wind.

 Braden put together this gift for me at school the friday before mom's day.  A memo board with a sweet note on it.  They were wrapped in these bags that they got to decorate too.  On the back of the bag he drew the logos of some of my favorite places.  If you can't tell, he said those places were: Facebook, Gmail, etsy, Albertsons, Target, and Home.  Cute kid!

Snapshots from Tuesday Evening

Braden working on homework:

Mylie putting her shoes on.  She loves any chance she can get to go outside.

Bob mowing the lawn!  What a great guy!

Clark just had some bananas mixed with rice cereal. Yum.

Making some banana bread:

Me.  Showing off my (a little bit) red-er hair.

I think I got more hair color all over the bathroom than I did on my hair.  I'll have to get help next time.

A month later...

Here's your next "tiny" update:

• Evidently we didn't have the best offer on house "S" so we began the house hunt again. Still in love with house "G", but not enough to wait on a bank being that it is a short sale. Looked and looked and found house "K". Not a foreclosure. For the most part it was a house for sale the conventional way except that his tiny 2nd loan was a short sale. He accepted our offer, we got the house inspected and appraised, and the Bank holding the 2nd loan approved the sale the next day! We sign on hundreds of dotted lines next week. Yea! Move in date is set for Friday, the 8th of April.
• Mylie is completely diaper and pull-up free. She screams at the top of her lungs, "I gotta go potty" as she is running to the bathroom so that whoever is closest can run after her and help her.
• Braden just finished his 2nd week of track break. He got to hang out with his cousins a lot this week and really enjoyed it. He says that he just can't wait until we move so that he can have his own room.
• Clark is growing and growing! He's started doing quite a bit of baby babble and gets pretty loud sometimes when he's looking for attention. My mom bought him a bumbo seat and he loves being able to sit up and see everything going on around him.
• Bob and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary on Wednesday. We celebrated by going to dinner at TGI Fridays and then to Home Depot to look at paint colors for the house.

Tiny Update

Feeling very overwhelmed about blogging lately and not being 'caught up'. So here's a tiny update of our lives right now:

• My grandparents moved out of my parent's house last week, so we spent a good part of this week, painting and moving into their old room downstairs - a ton more space.
• Bob graduated from the University of Phoenix at the end of January with his Bachelor's degree. We are so excited that he is done and threw a fun little party to celebrate.
• He went to the Dr. on Wednesday - he has the beginnings of a sinus infection and got some antibiotics to treat it. He's already feeling quite a bit better.
• Took Clark to the Dr. on Friday because he has thrush again. Got another prescription and he weighed in at 12lbs 7ozs at exactly 3 months. He's beginning to show some fun personality. Smiling a lot, giggling when you change his clothes, and growling at his sister.
• Mylie is doing well with potty training. We're not brave enough to leave her diaperless at night yet, but soon, very soon.
• Braden is Braden. Playing with Legos, hanging out on Lego.com and says that Ryker (in his class at school) is his best friend.
• I went back to work (from home still) when Clark was 6 weeks old. A necessary evil.
• Bob and I have been doing a bit (ok a lot) of house hunting. We talked to a mortgage broker at the beginning of the month and she gave us a bit of hope. My neighbor down the street is a Realtor and she's been showing us house after house. We filled out paperwork and almost put in an offer on a short sale house "E", but changed our minds before the paperwork went through. We put an offer on a short sale house "G", but then about a week later, found a foreclosure house "S" that was a lot cheaper - so we withdrew the offer on house "G" and put one in on house "S". The bank had multiple offers and asked everyone to come back with their best and last offers - so we did that today and hope to hear back about it next week. Nothing is quick when dealing with these banks.

Matching Outfits & Baby Bums

My parents gave all their grandkids matching outfits this year for Christmas.

Dad just happened to be wearing clothes that matched (really!) and jumped in the picture to help hold the babies. Aren't they all adorable?

Mom thought the girls needed some dressy clothes. Since Dad was in the shot with the boys, we suggested she put on her new red shirt and be in the girls picture. Mylie wasn't in the mood for pictures again, so we didn't really get a shot that shows off her and Savanah's cute outfits, but they were adorable!

That night, my aunt and cousins came over to visit.

We took a picture of Katie and Jill holding Clark and Corbin.

Then Aunt Lynae jumped into the picture holding Ryker.

So then my mom just had to jump into the picture with Jayden. Look at those smiles and cute matching baby bums!