Moab Adventures

A couple of weeks ago we were able to enjoy our first camping trip this year. The girls were very excited! After our lovely middle child had a bout with car sickness and campground after campground was full...we finally found this gem of a campsite. What a relief! 3 little girls were going to be very disappointed if they had to sleep in a hotel.

The real reason for this trip was to take Mark and Jessica's engagement photos. My parents were heading down for Mark's grad and to help him move out of his dorm, so it was great to spend time with them too. After the pics were done and we saw all of Arches we wanted to, we moved on to Price, where all 3 girls got at least one strike while bowling with Mark and Jessica.



After the big mile and a half hike up to the Delicate Arch, Syd said it best, "It was worth it!"

Justin did a lot of carrying Justee, and she still conked out for a good nap before the day was through. This caused Justin and Justee to miss out on the small hike we took where Syd and Chuck found their favorite spot. It was a small crevice between rock walls filled with nice cool sand. They had a blast there.

39 years...that's a long time

Ok, so I am not very good at remembering dates (you'd think I was I man or something.) I would never have even known it was my parents anniversary if I hadn't heard it from my sister, Vicki.
So, as I am sitting here waiting to hear from Justin...he is supposed to be on a flight coming home from Dallas, but it keeps getting delayed due to weather...I figured, why not steal her post? :)

Happy anniversary to my amazing parents!

I love this picture because I think Chuck sure looks a lot like Ashlee in it. (and Trey looks like you Vic. Don't ya think?)

Thanks for being great parents who love each other, and raised 5 great kids...especially your 4th child. I really love you both.

Thanks for staying on top of things, Vicki. :)

Huge Relief

There is no way to describe how happy I am to be done with this bathroom! ...well...pretty much done...a door missing isn't that big of a deal is it?
This whole project started in early March. I wanted it done right along with the rest of the basement, but Justin had his many excuses for why it had to wait...

Just like everything else, it took WAY longer than I was told it would. We had so many setbacks and problems. I would be writing forever if I went through all the things we had to go back and fix, so I won't even attempt. Even the last thing, which was hanging the shower curtain rod, took a week. That tile was ridiculous to drill through, so I decided I was going to glue it. One side took really well, but the other was not holding...so after days of letting glue dry, back to drilling it was.

Before grout:

After grout:

Finally...a working bathroom in our basement:

Syd and Soccer

This kid has thrown me for a loop. I was dead set against her playing soccer again, once this season was over, after her first two games. She would just kind of hang back and let her teammates get the ball. She would get to the ball and just stop. Where was the aggressiveness that I never remember lacking? It was just too frustrating for us as parents to watch.

Then suddenly...this girl appeared for the last 3 games (of a 6 game season.)

She was hustling, running so fast, she was getting to where she should be, and she scored a goal! It was actually fun to watch her games.
...I guess we won't pull the plug on soccer just yet...she'll get another chance. :)
Howie was even impressed.

Seriously post about Justee

I told my sister about this little "incident" with Justee, and she turned it into a great seriously post. Click HERE to check it out.

Easter

I love Easter...Spring is showing itself, school is almost out, coloring eggs, Easter dresses, Cadbury eggs (mini, cream, caramel...I don't discriminate) but most importantly, Easter is a time to reflect on what our Savior did for us...as in for me and you. I know that my Redeemer lives!

There was actually more dye on the eggs than on the girls this year!

Koolaid did manage to dye a few upper lips/faces though.

With church being at 9 a.m. I thought we would get everyone ready for church before beginning their egg hunt. Luckily the girls were patient enough to wait for dresses to be put on and hair to be done.

Love the expression Justee has after finding a money egg. I think I get that same look when I pull cash out of the pocket of a coat I haven't worn in a while.

This year the whole family went Easter dress shopping together. The girls had a blast trying on dresses. Justee tried on more dresses than I could count. As soon as she was in the next one, she was out of the dressing room door (leaving Char and Syd half dressed and telling her to shut the door) and on her way to show her Daddy.

I swear my girls try their hardest to keep me from getting a good picture of the three of them together. It is pure luck that I got these two.

We had a nice peaceful Easter...Church, dinner, mini egg overdose and watched Tangled together. Couldn't ask for much more.

Gettin all dressed up

You would have thought last night was Prom night...wait...it was. While teenagers all over the place, were getting ready for Prom, Justin and I were getting ready for the All Saints Dinner. It's not very often we get all fancied up, so it was kind of exciting for us. Justin got to wear his brand new dress blues for the first time. (I'm sorry, but I think it is stupid that the pants don't match the coat, but he sure looked handsome anyway.) This was my first All Saints Dinner, and I wasn't sure what to expect...I don't think I could have guessed what it was going to be like...pretty interesting is all I'll say. The things Army men will do for entertainment...

Princesses and a puppy

A couple of weeks ago we got to take the girls to Disney on Ice Princess Classics. Sydnee had the great idea for them to dress up in their princess dresses they got at Disney World. I was so glad she thought of it, because once we were there, we were surrounded by princesses everywhere....we might have felt left out. It was a really good show and the girls LOVED it. I thought Justee might get a little bored with it, but I was wrong. My only issues were the ugly, dorky guys who were playing the princes, and the $15 snow cones.

The day before Charlee's bday we got to pick up this little guy:

We decided we wanted to add a new puppy to our family a few months ago. We did some research and looked at some different breeds. Most of the breeds I really liked happened to be very expensive and harder to come by. Justin suggested this breed (Pembroke Welsh Corgi) and after looking into them, we found a breeder nearby. After spending some time with them, we decided to go for it. We waited for a couple of litters to be born and went to pick one out a week before we got to bring him home. The girls were pretty bummed when we weren't bringing him home that day.

I have to say that having a puppy with little kids (We got Dozer when Syd was 1 but that doesn't really count) is a lot easier than without kids. They play with him and take him out and are extra sets of eyes to keep on him.

Dozer is adjusting well. He doesn't mind Howie at all. He lets him climb on him, lay by him, and share his water dish. If Howie gets too rambunctious, Dozer mostly gets up and walks away.

In case you are wondering what Howie will look like as an adult...this is a pretty close representative:

A Six Year Old

This little girl is getting big. Charlee is still our quiet/shy one. She does have a stubborn streak and can get a little attitude, but overall she is pretty easy-going. She is doing great in kindergarten and she is pretty darn good at reading. She has lots of friends and even comes home with a few pictures and cards from boys. Chuck is our cuddler and our jokester. She has some pretty good one-liners for a kindergartener (wonder where she gets that.)

Chuck wanted her party to be at Bounce...which I love because it is easy entertainment for all the guests, and I don't have to worry about a messy house after it's over.

This is Char's first party where she got to invite "real" friends...and by that I mean friends from school and not just family or our friends who have kids her age. She picked her guest list all by herself. She got lots of great gifts and had tons of fun at her party. Afterwards she picked Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

I tried talking Justee into having a parrot cake because I thought it would be cool to make, but she was a no go. So when we went to the zoo last week, and Char was pointing out the pretty Macaws to me...I slipped in the thought that they would sure make a pretty cake. :) She bit and said that that was the cake she wanted. Yeah for me! and Chuck of course

She wanted a red one even though I again put in my 2 cents saying that red is really hard and it usually just looks pink, so a blue one would be easier....She was ok with pink and even thought it would be cool.

I made this cake bigger than usual because of her large party.

It started with 2 nine in. rounds and a 9x13.

After I finished the hard part of frosting all the colors, I used softened tootsie rolls for the branch and I planned to cover the pink with fruit roll ups to make it look red...but I was a little tired of it, and not sure how it would look to cover all the pink, so I decided to just highlight it.

This pic was taken immediately after I finished the cake (very important to do that because you never know when someone is going to drop tupperware on in.)