The Sweetest Things

Avery loves to play on the church website version of THE FRIEND magazine. It has games, scripture stories, coloring pages, etc. and it plays primary songs while they play the games. It is so great, you have to check it out. Anyways, Yesterday she was putting together one of the puzzles and asked me about the picture. I told her how some bad guys were trying to burn the printing press where they were making the Book of Commandments and how the 2 girls in the picture knew the importance of the book and tried to save as many pages as they could before the bad guys burned it. She questioned why the bad guys where making bad choices. After we talked for a minute she left the room and came back in a little later with a huge smile on her face and she brought a really peaceful feeling with her. 

    She said 'Mom, you are going to love what I just did. I went in my room and knelt down and   asked Heavenly Father to help the bad guys not be bad any more. And I feel really happy         inside. I want to kneel and say my prayers all the time." 

This is the first time (that I know of ) she has said a personal prayer. I could tell that she had felt the spirit and It was such a "happy mommy moment" to be able to explain to her how the spirit makes us feel happy inside.  I am so thankful for the gospel in our lives and for a loving Heavenly Father who allows all his children, young and old, to feel of His love on a daily basis!!

Menu Planning

I so wish that I was more organized. I try to be, but is does not come naturally to me at all! With baby #3 on the way, I thought I should try a little harder before we end up in total chaos. As of right now, I go to the Grocery store about 3 times a week. Mostly because the kids love it and it gives us something to do. I don't mind, but there is no way I am going to be able to take 3 kids to the store several times a week. So, I am going to try out Menu planning which should cut down on my grocery store trips. This is my ghetto attempt at a monthly calendar (thanks for the idea Kathryn!). I'm sure there are a hundred ways to make it cuter, but at least I got it done :) 

In case any one is interested, it is made of plastic 3 ring binder business card holders. You just cut off the edges and tape them on to some scrapbook paper. I just happened to have some old business cards laying around that I don't use anymore, so I wrote down a bunch of meals on the cards. It probably would have looked cuter if I typed them all out. Each month you simply look through your stack of meals and slide them in the calendar and hang it up on the fridge. And, they are easy to move around if your plans change! Lets hope it works!

What do YOU do to make menu planning and shopping a little easier?

Potty Training

We are potty training this little guy right now, and it is definitely not my favorite thing. He was doing really well, but now he seems to be a little bored with it, and he doesn't want to try any more. I set the timer to go off every 20 minutes, and he gets a sticker after he goes. Any suggestions/potty training tips from all you experts out there?

Andy had a few weeks off in May, so we headed out west for a little R and R. We had so much fun and crammed as many activities as we could into the trip. We stayed in Utah for 2 weeks and then Andy had to fly back to Cleveland to start up school again, as a FOURTH YEAR. WAHOO!! Then the kids and I made a quick trip to California for my Mom's 60th birthday bash. Here are some pics from the trip.

Andrew LOVED mowing the lawn with his Uncles

Avery and her cousin Rae at Thanksgiving point

Drew decided that he Loves animals. He can't get enough of them and Has to kiss them all. 

So Cute!

Cotton Candy at the Hogle Zoo

The Petting Zoo in California has a big pen full of rabbits and guinea pigs that the kids can hold

Happy Memorial Day!

A- you're adorable

B-you're so beautiful
C-your a cutie full of Charm

Long Time No See

I would like to apologize for being such a lame blogger. This year got off to a slow start and I think I lost all 2 of my readers. will you forgive me? I've been in a blogging funk, but I ordered 2 blog books from blurb and I absolutely love them. They have inspired me to try to be better at recording all the memories of my kids' childhood here on the blog. They really do grow up way too fast. I remember when Drew was born, and how my sweet little princess grew up overnight. From baby to big girl just like that. It is bitter sweet to think of it happening again with both Avery and Andrew when the new baby arrives. I feel like they are slipping through my fingers and I need to stop complaining about all the things that drive me crazy and just embrace and enjoy the here and now. Someday I will actually miss Drew's incessant questioning of EVERYTHING and how Avery cannot sleep without cuddling right next to me.
Anyways, this next week I am going to add a few updates on what we did over the last month. I know you can't wait :)

And here is a Sneak Peek for Sara. I Had so much fun taking pictures of Rae and Charlotte. THey are such dolls! It is a good thing I don't live in Utah because I would spend all my time taking pictures at all the amazing locations out there. So many old run down barns, tractors, mountains, open fields, etc. A photographer's dream!

I usually like black and white, but the color is just too amazing in these. Your girls have the most beautiful eyes. So I went for a vintage look here on a few just for fun. I hope you like them! I'll try to get them in the mail by the end of next week Sara :)