The Playhouse

I looked and debated for a long time about getting a plastic playhouse or a swingset for Grace. I thought she needed something to play with outside for the summer. So after looking around Ben decided he could build her a playhouse and so the project began. He started on the 28th of March and got it to this point in one day. Thanks to Kyle for all your help!

His goal was to have it done by her birthday, so he came home and worked on it every night for a week and got it done!
He was pretty proud of himself and I think he did an amazing job!

Then it was up to me to paint. It took me forever, no thanks to the weather. Here is the final product. Grace picked the blue.

Here is the inside. We moved her kitchen out, put some outside carpet down,

and her little table and chairs.

She has already spent many hours of fun in it and it's big enough to fit several friends at once! I love it! (Thanks Ben for all your hard work!)

Grace's Birthday Party

(This picture is supposed to go at the end of the post. I have no idea how to get it there)

We had Grace's Friend Birthday Party on the 6th. That morning I took her to the Dr for her 3 yr check up. Here are her stats.

Height: 40 inches 97%

Weight: 36.8 lbs 92%

Right on for her, always the 90th %!

Anyway, her party was so fun! I was going to do a Princess themed party, but half of her friends are boys so we opted for a Farm Party this year. I decorated treat bags for all the kids. The bags looked like pigs,

I made a Barn to play some games with.

We played duck duck goose, pin the tail on the donkey, we planted some seeds and hunted for eggs. Here is everyone hunting.

Grace finding her egg.

We also herded sheep into the barn and then opened presents!

She was excited over every little present! It was so fun!

After presents, we sang to her and had cupcakes!

It was a little crazy having so many friends over (we invited 12 and felt bad leaving people out, but she just kept inviting people and I had to cut it off somewhere), but we had so much fun!

Grace's Birthday

Grace's Birthday was so much fun this year! Since my Birthday in February she would ask just about every day if it was her birthday yet, or she would go around and announce to people that she had an April Birthday. It was on the Sunday of General Conference, so it was really nice to get up and not have to worry about getting ready for church. I decorated with lots of steamers and balloons, which are essential to birthdays according to Grace. She headed straight for the presents when she woke up and was so excited!

I love how she's effectively using her feet to support the present here.
A Piggy Bank! She loves "monies"and was so excited to have a place to put them. (Which isn't her mouth. On a side story, a few Sundays ago she was playing with a penny and put it in her mouth. This isn't the first time she's done this. She seems to put everything in her mouth! Well she was just standing there when all of a sudden I look at her; she's going red and has a terrified look in her eye. I grab her and lean her forward trying to remember how to do the Heimlich, and she swallowed it! She started crying and I took her to her room and freaked her out about how she could have died, and how it was scary when she couldn't breath. She vowed never to do it again, and she didn't for about a week. Every once in a while I still see small items going into her mouth, but she pulls them out quickly when I remind her what could happen. So that is the story of the second penny she's swallowed.)

Here's Garett hanging out during the present opening. Isn't he just so sweet?

The special Princess Crown. This thing has made it through 3 birthdays now!

Here is the Grand Finale....

A Kitchen!!!!! (We actually bought this about a month before her birthday. Jenny and I went down to Provo and bought kitchens from a guy off of KSL. The kids were all so excited, but when we dropped Jenny off Grace started freaking out because she wanted their Kitchen. She lost it that day and we decided to save it for her B-Day. She was very excited about it after that. It also fits perfectly in the corner of her playhouse.)

The actual Grand Finale is a playhouse that Ben built for her. Pictures to come. It wasn't totally finished by her B-Day. It took me forever to paint it!

Grace played with all of her new presents that morning and then headed up to Ben's parents after the morning session of Conference. We had a yummy dinner and Grace got tons of attention from the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. After the Second Session, we had Birthday Cake!

Then headed home.....Grace was pooped!

That evening Grandpa Hardy and Grandma Debbie came for a visit. Grace was astounded that she got ANOTHER present to open!

A new table and chair set for her Playhouse! She loves this thing and that Umbrella has made a nice shady spot for Garett to play on occasion.

I love this picture of my cute family!

Grace had such a fun birthday and it was so rewarding to see her excitement and appreciation! Plus she is finally convinced that she is 3 and that's better than 2.

Garett at 6 mo.

Just wanted to record Garett's stats at 6 months. He turned 6 months on March 22 but we didn't take him in to the Dr. until April 6th.

Height: 271/4 inches 70%

Weight: 18.12 lbs 64%

Head: 171/2 inches 63%

Like his new trick? He thinks He is so clever!

Garett's first food

The day after we returned home from St. George, I decided I had put off Garett eating real food for long enough. He was almost 6 months, so I broke down bought some cereal and gave it a go. He absolutely LOVED it!

He was still a little unstable in his booster.


It was a family affair with Grace begging to try it and Ben taking hundreds of pictures.

He barely even spit any out. What a great boy!

He has now mastered all of the vegetables and enjoyed some fruits in his mesh popsicle thingy. He has started to get really offended if we eat without him. Now he has cereal for breakfast and Veggies for dinner.

Ben's Birthday & St. George

Ben's Birthday was March 12th, and our anniversary (6 years!) was the 14th. We usually make a big deal of the anniversary so this year I was determined to make a bigger deal of his birthday. So in the morning Ben came down to a decorated house, a candle in his grapefruit, (I know a little lame but he's been on a diet and usually doesn't even eat breakfast, but he's lost 20+ pounds!)
and presents! He got a Life Jacket. That's what he wanted, I have no idea why. I think in hopes of having many adventures on other peoples boats this summer.
That night we headed down to St. George for a little get away. We had a great drive down, the kids slept most of the way and we listened to Dave Ramsey.
Friday we all slept in a little and my sweet Aunt Kay, whom we were staying with, made us a great breakfast. We then went swimming and went shopping later in the afternoon. A few weeks before this Ben had mentioned that he's always wanted an Ice Cream Cake, so as my Aunt and I were out we stopped at Cold Stone and brought home this...


It was delicious! Ben was totally surprised.

Saturday we decided to go to the Washington City pool and it was super fun!

Garett was pretty indifferent to his first swimming adventures. Not crying but not happy and splashing.

Grace absolutely loved it and we had a great time relaxing in the warm water, and playing outside in the sun.

After nap time we decided to head out and enjoy the weather. We just drove around a little and ended up by the Temple. We pointed it out to Grace and she declared that she wanted to go in, so we headed into the visitor center. As soon as we walked in she said, "That is a Big Big Jesus!"
She was pretty much in Awe.

Then we went out to the Temple grounds. I think this is such a beautiful Temple! Grace even smiled nicely and let me take her picture.

Then she had to try.

We had a great trip and enjoyed the warm weather and just spending time together!

The Dinosaur Museum

Our last Legislative Activity we went to was on Feb. 24 at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. This is such a fun place and it's even better now that Grace is old enough to enjoy some of the activities. It helps also that she has a Dad who is really a little kid at heart and enjoys the activities as much as she does.

Here is Nathan, Grandma Harper, Daniel and Grace.
The whole group minus me.

G & G with the two babies.

"Excavating!"

A family Portrait.

Garett hanging with the Dino.

After we walked through the museum we saw the 3D Dinosaur movie they had. It was pretty neat, Grace thought it was Scary.