The Children's Museum

Ben's Aunt and cousins were in town at the end of April. We love to play with them since they have some younger girls that Grace adores! We spent an afternoon playing at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. It was so much fun!

Garett is a budding musician.

Calvin, Aunt Michelle, and Ellie, driving the car.
Garett having the time of his life. He tried out every vehicle they had there.

Hugs for Aunt Rissa! It was her birthday that day and we were so glad she came to play with us!

Grace could play here for hours. She was especially loving the Grocery store that day.

It was kind of a rainy day so they had the outside with the Helicopter locked up. By the time we got upstairs it had cleared out and the kids begged every employee there to open it up. The succeeded and had a blast driving the helicopter!

Thanks for the fun day to our Oregon Cousins! We can't wait to play again!

Cake Pops

I made these cake pops for Kyle's mission farewell. I thought they turned our super cute!

They were very sweet, but delicious! They tempted me to break my month long strike against sweets. They won for a day, but now I am fighting back in full force. At least until my vacation anyway. :)

Broccoli

Looking at this picture do you see a difference?

Yes, one Broccoli Plant is larger than the other. Not because I planted them at separate times, but because Grace decided to eat the leaves off of one. She came in one day and told me that the broccoli tastes good. I wrote it off thinking she was just saying she liked broccoli. Well, she actually meant that the Broccoli plant that SHE ATE tasted good. I was shocked when I saw it. I have no idea what inspired her to bend down and eat the leaves directly off the plant, but she did.

Nap Time

Don't you just love a good Sunday afternoon nap?

Garett's Tubes

On Monday, April 19th Garett got tubes in his ears. The poor guy has had so many ear infections! We were excited to hopefully have the problem solved so it doesn't affect him long term. So we showed up bright and early at AF hospital. Check in was at 7. They took us back to this little room where they had us change his clothes. He was fine up to this point.

Then they took his blood pressure. That's when he started feeling a little iffy about this whole hospital thing.
Luckily we were able to distract him with some expensive hospital equipment.

When he got bored of that he tried wandering around but found that the hospital clothes were not conducive to exploring. He immediately tried to remove them.

That's when it went down hill. After trying to calm him down and distract him again he saw the sippy cup of milk hiding in my purse. Okay, it wasn't hiding very well. He saw it and he WANTED it!!!!! It was so sad trying to comfort him, knowing he was hungry and he couldn't have it. Finally the anesthesiologist came in. He talked to us, and listened to Garett's lungs. Thanks to ANOTHER cold he got over the weekend his lungs sounded a little crummy. They thought he would still be fine. The nurse asked if we had a song we sing to him when we put him to sleep. Um.... "I am a Child of God"? She knew that one, she likes to sing to the babies to comfort them. Only in Utah! We passed him over and away they went. He was pretty sad as they were walking down the hall. This face pretty much sums it up.

We waited about 25 minutes in another room. The Dr came in and told us how he had suctioned a lot of green mucousy goop out of his ears. He said Garett should be feeling a lot better in the next few days.

Then the nurses brought Garett in. He was still a little out of it lying in their arms wrapped in a white blanket. Then he saw us and was MAD!!!! He was so ticked off he didn't want either of us, didn't want his sippy cup, didn't want to be held sitting or standing, and he definitely did NOT want his oxygen taken! The poor nurses tried everything and couldn't get it. Eventually Ben got him to take his sippy cup and rocked him for about 4 minutes while he downed it. My heart was sad that Garett preferred Ben to me, but what can I say? He's a great Dad. I would get my turn. After the sippy cup was gone he was back to being mad. The nurse came in and tried to do the oxygen again. Failed...again. She gave us some instructions and we left. Garett finally settled down in the car, but as soon as I left his sight to pick up Grace at Grandma Hardy's house he cried again. We made it home and surprisingly he got right down and wanted to walk around.

I want to say that two days later Garett getting tubes has changed his world. It hasn't. We get to clean dried blood out of his ears. He still wants to be held all the time, and was super ornery today. I'm hoping it will start to improve from here, and at least prevent an ear infection with every cold!

Grace's 4th Birthday

My baby girl is 4! She had such a fun birthday! Grandpa Hardy and Grandma Debbie began the festivities the night before when they brought Grace her presents. She got this super cool b-day card that became a castle! Grace loved it.

She also loved her book and new sandals they gave her. Thanks!


Garett had fun playing with the gift bag. Silly kid. He love to put things on his head but usually it's headbands, tiaras and cowboy hats.

The morning of her birthday she could not wait to come downstairs! She had been waiting for this day for soooo long!

She came down to a decorated room and presents!

She tore right in and was excited about her new booster seat!

She also got a new Pillowcase dress I made, and this Princess Dress-Up Game from her friend Hattie. Grace and Daddy jumped right into playing it while I made Pancakes, as requested.

After breakfast we told her we had a special surprise, but she had to go upstairs and get dressed first! We did baths and put on her new birthday dress. When she came out into the garage she was speechless! She has been wanting a "car" for so long she couldn't wait to try it out!

She's been pretty good with it, but learning to stop and back up is tricky!

After she was done driving around we picked up her cousin Elise and we headed over to Chucky Cheese's! We got lunch there and had so much fun riding the rides and playing games.

Garett is so into being a big boy! He got a big boy haircut and Ben prefers to mohawk it.

Elise brought Grace a present and she couldn't wait to open it!

I love the look on her face! Life cannot get any better!

These two are such great friends!

Chucky made an appearance after lunch. Grace gave him a quick shy hug and then bolted!

Kyle and Aly met up with us for Lunch and the boys had to have a little air hockey competition.

After Chucky Cheese's we headed over to Ben's parent's house. Grace knew she was the man of the hour and played her part well.

She got some play-do and a polly pocket from Kyle and Aly.

Some new clothes, a purse, and some jewelry from G & G Harper.

A new jacket and a Snow White cooking outfit from us.

Garett was happy to play with the discarded presents while Grace opened the next one. We're working on her gratitude after this!

Snow White has been ready to help me in the kitchen a few times since her b-day!

I made Grace a Doll Birthday Cake. I think it turned out pretty well! I don't have any cake decorating skills, but this turned out better than I expected. The one kink? The dolls legs were to long so when I tried to angle them in I split open the back of the cake. Oh well, I turned it around and frosted it back together.

Grace didn't know I was making her this cake so she didn't see it until it was time to blow out the candles!

Luckily she thought it was pretty cool!

It was a full, fun birthday! We are so glad Daddy got to spend the whole day with us! Grace- We love you and are so glad you are part of our little family! We look forward to watching you grow and learn. You are so smart, creative and funny. You are beautiful and our best friend!

A few things about our wonderful Grace

Grace is so much fun! She loves to play, has an incredible imagination, and sometimes says the funniest things. Like the other day, she said her dress was "splendid!" She just cracks me up sometimes. One night we found her asleep like this:

When I tried to clean it up she got upset and told me it was her "Princess Castle" and wouldn't let me move any of it.

Another night when I was kissing her goodnight, she woke up and was trying to tell me something. Our conversation went like this, "Hey Mom, what's that word again?"

Me, "I don't know, what word?"

Grace, "The one I was thinking of."

I didn't know what to tell her, so I laid her back down and she went right back to sleep.

The love of her life is her Daddy. She cries every morning when he leaves, and has a fit if she doesn't get to say, "Peace Out" to him. (He taught her that of course.) She waits anxiously for him to come home everyday and they love to play together and snuggle when they have special movie nights. He has also taught her about Sasquatches. It just started out as something he said one time to be funny, but she asked what they were and wanted to know more. The only thing he could think of was those Jack Links "Messin' with Sasquatch" comercials. He showed her all of the videos online and now Grace things that Sasquatch is part of our family. Grace includes Sasquatch in most of her prayers and when she sings the "Family Song" it goes like this. "Oh here we are together in our family, with Mommy and Daddy and Gracie and Garett and Nala and Sasquatch....."

Speaking of prayers and how much Grace loves her Daddy, this is how a prayer went one night.

"I love my Daddy, and he is my Daddy, and my Daddy is tasty, and I love him so much, and I love to eat him up, and ha is my best friend, and my scrumples, and I love Daddy so so much!"

It fits that she loves him so much, because she is so much like him! She loves to make up words, and songs. She loves to do silly things, and sing songs on the radio with him. Most of all, she loves as much as he does.

We love you Grace and all the wonderful silly things you do!