"I'm going to be married!"

I seriously have the cutest little girl in the world :). She just put on her Tinkerbell pajama shirt and a dress skirt (over top of her other clothes) and she came up to me and said, "Look mom!" and was struttin' her stuff. I said how pretty she looked, then she nodded her head and said, "I'm going to be married!" I said oh really? She nodded again and said, "I'm going to marry, I'm older now!" Then she proceeded to show me how much older she was and put up five fingers for five years old (which she has been saying how old she is lately ;)). I said, "You're five, huh?" She nodded again and said, "Yep! I'm older now and I'm going to be married in the temple!" Seriously, how much cuter can she get?? I love the things she says, I really need to write them down more often! Lately she's been so interested in getting married and in Jared's and mine wedding pictures and we tell her that we were married in the temple and she loves it and is so interested in it! I just love it :) I just gave her a big hug and kiss and laughed at how adorable she is :)

So many great, and one no so great, things!!

Wow, has it really been a month since I last wrote on here?! I do apologize, I've tried to do better and now I've had a lapse! There have been so many things going on the past few weeks, it's been fantastic!! There are times where I do like to stay a little busy ;)

First off, on August 5th, my cute *not-so-little-anymore!* cousin got married!! I still can't believe it, but I am soo ecstatic for her! She was a gorgeous bride and her new hubby really seems like a great guy, they look perfect for each other :). Jared and I were able to go to the luncheon and that was great. There were a lot of extended family members that came from out of town and it was SO great to see all of them!! I love my family so much, they are awesome :). The reception was beautiful and we all had a great time. At some point, we had a lot of the little kids shut in the nursery room just running around LOL, but hey, it worked! ;) And yes, there were a few adults in there with them! Anyway, it was all so great and I'm so happy for both of them! Congrats Steve and Chantel!!

On that same day, at the very same time my cousin was getting married in the temple, my brother and his wife welcomed their new little son into their lives!! :) I could hardly hold back the excitement when I received the news. We knew she would be induced that morning, but a few hours before that was supposed to happen, she went into labor on her own! Greyson Blake Jensen was born at 8:32 a.m. and weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. (LITTLE guy!!) and was 20 1/2 inches. He is absolutely ADORABLE and I can't wait to meet him in person!! They live in Arizona, but thank goodness for Skype so I was able to see him that way!! :) I couldn't be more happy for them! Take a look for yourself, isn't he ADORABLE?! Love his red hair! :) Congrats Nick and Lindsey!!

I feel so lucky...I get to go see them in a few weeks!! :D Jared suggested that maybe just me could take a small trip down there and visit them, so I'll fly down there and stay with them for a few days, I am SO excited!! Jared has that whole week off that I'm going, so he'll stay home with the kids for the few days I'm gone. It'll be so great to see my brother, sis-in-law, their almost 2 year old son Bronson, and now their new addition Greyson!! I seriously can't wait, I'm just STOKED :)

Another piece of great news came a few weeks ago....my sister and her hubby are finally expecting a little one of their own!! :D They've waited so long and deserve to finally have a lil peanut of their own, I am SOOO excited and happy for them!! My sister is going to look so freaking cute pregnant! She's going to be one of those prego ladies who only gains weight in the belly and no where else, I'm so jealous of that!! But really, I can't express how happy I am for her, it's just so AWESOME!! Congrats Jeff and Melesa!!! :)

About a week ago, Thursday the 11th, I went to a sort of baby/birthday get together for my cousin Tara. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and had a great time! She had some of her family there, including her mom and sister, and my sister was there too. We now know that she was for sure in labor during that whole night, pretty funny! I rode home with her after dinner and kept making sure she was ok because she kept having intense contractions, just like during dinner! The next day, Friday the 12th, her sweet little baby boy was born! He has a mound of adorable blonde hair and he is such a major cutie! Looks so much like his older brother. Welcome to the world Kort Barnes and congrats to Troy and Tara!! :)

The not-so-exciting news that happened the same day of the dinner for my cousin was that our car died :P. It had died earlier in the week, but we got a new battery for it the next day and it worked fine until Thursday. I was going to go swimming with the kids at my dad's place before the dinner and once I got to his house, the car just died. Luckily there's a friend of ours who is a mechanic of sorts and was able to fix it for us. We found out it was the alternator so luckily he was able to fix it for a fraction of the price of a mechanic at a shop. So by Saturday afternoon, we had it fixed and goin' again, but man was it a headache of a week not having a working car for most of the week!! So glad that is all over with....for now.

One more piece of great news! Anna was accepted into the Title 1 preschool for our district and I couldn't be more excited about it!! It's truly a blessing for us and Anna is also so excited to start school! We went out that night she was accepted and she picked out a backpack...Tinkerbell of course ;). I cannot believe my little girl will be starting preschool...I've gotten teary-eyed about it and I'm sure will cry once school actually starts. She's growing up so much, can't time stand still for just a little bit longer?? Unfortunately, I made the mistake of planning my AZ trip the same day she starts preschool, but I figure it might be for the best. I'll be able to go to the orientation the day before I leave, but I have SOO much anxiety as well about her going that it'll probably be good to have Jared take her on her first day. Then when I start taking her to school, she'll already be used to it (mostly) so it won't be so hard on me or her. I really am excited for her though, preschool really will be such a good experience for her, I hope it all goes well and that she is able to learn what she needs to and get the social interaction we all crave for her and that she wants as well :). My little girl is just growing up!!

So you see, we've had a few exciting, and not so exciting!, events happen the past few weeks and it really has been SO great, I've loved every minute of it :). Well, except for when the car died that is! Next step.....my birthday, preschool starts, my fun trip, and other holidays and birthdays after that! So stay tuned....:)

YUM

This week I've been wanting a good ol' BLT. It just sounded so nice, so crunchy. So I made it to the store today to get some bacon.....but guess what else I wanted on top? Fresh, sliced avocado!!! Seriously, that just made the sandwich. Avocados may not have a whole lot of flavor plain like that, but they're still so smooth on the sandwich and give some good creamy texture to a very crunchy meal. My gosh I fell in love, it tasted SOO delish. I highly recommend it the next time you make yourself a BLT :).

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Jared was able to get four days off this past weekend for the fourth of July, it was fantastic!! From our last post, you see that one of those days was spent doing family pictures and going to the zoo. We didn't really do anything Saturday, til nighttime. Then we went to his parent's house to do some fireworks. The kids watched them, but covered their ears almost the whole time. Anna's done so much better with them this year, she kept saying afterwards how much she loved fireworks! Aiden liked them, but only if his ears were covered and he was sitting in someone's lap! ;) We had fun with those though, even did some of those aerial fireworks!

On Sunday, Jared's whole family was in town (his sisters go to school in Idaho and his brother lives in Provo), so it was great seeing all of them and playing games with them, we truly have a blast!! :) Monday was a fun-filled day. We went to a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Boy Scout's (so yummy!!) and afterwards went to the Clearfield parade. The breakfast was in the Macey's parking lot and the parade on the street right next to it, so we just walked over there and watched the parade, it was fun! Anna had a blast collecting the candy they threw. We went to the breakfast and parade with a couple of Jared's cousins and their spouses and his sister, we really enjoy spending time with his family :). That night, we went to Traverse Mountain (in Lehi) to my friend's parent's house and enjoyed a delicious barbeque and some good quality hang out time :). Then later that evening, we walked down the road and sat to watch the Thanksgiving Point fireworks, it was great! My friend has a 3 year old boy and he and Anna just played and played all night, they were so cute together! As usual, Aiden was kind of the third wheel and I felt bad, but he still had a blast. We also had fun with lots of glowsticks and making different things. I just wore some attached to my earrings, but Anna had glasses and a few bracelets, she loved it! My friend's sister and her fiancee went all out with their awesome designs, we loved it :) All in all, I'd say it was a very enjoyable holiday and weekend, we always love it when Jared has time off from work! We hope you all enjoyed your fourth of July as well and continue to remember those men and women who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so much for our country and our freedoms we enjoy!! I love America!! :)

Here are some pictures both from the zoo and from fireworks, just made a quick collage, so enjoy! :) Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Gorillas, tigers and giraffes, oh my!

As you can guess by the title, we went to the zoo today! First time we've been to the Hogle Zoo as a family and we loved it :). First things first though....
This morning we had family pictures taken by a friend of mine who did a great job! I got a sneak peek of a few of the pictures and I already know I'm going to love them :). We went to the Bountiful Tabernacle and had them taken there, then we went across the street to get some taken by an old door....well, poor little Anna got stung by a wasp that was living by that door! :( We all felt so bad for her, she was just screaming and crying, poor thing. None of us have ever been stung by anything before, so I just felt so bad for her, can't imagine the pain for such a little girl! It was no one's fault, but we all felt bad just the same. After I put a bandaid on her though, she said she was better....thank goodness for bandaids ;). We quickly wrapped up our session after that and headed off to the zoo.
We got there and of course the place was already packed, but we still had a great time. The kids really enjoyed seeing all of the different animals and I of course enjoyed seeing my favorite animal....the tigers :). Not really sure what it is I like about them, but they're my favorite! They're so regal looking....I don't know, I just like them! We ended up staying there about three hours, there's so much to see and do! We went on the train ride, which the kids LOVED, and we went on the carousel, which they loved too! Not sure when we would go again, but we really did enjoy it. Of course it was really hot outside and we had brought water bottles with us, but we reached a point where it just got too hot and we had to leave, I seriously thought I almost got a heat stroke, I still have a headache from it! But we're home now and trying to relax from our busy, yet fun day!

I can finally feel summer!!!

It is SO nice to finally have summer here!! I don't care how hot it gets, it's SO nice to finally go outside without wearing long sleeve shirts or a jacket, it's so warm and wonderful out, I just LOVE it! The one bad thing this past week has been the dang cotton trees....holy cow!! There are quite a few of them just down the street and last week they started blowing away in the breeze...one morning when we got up, I seriously thought it had snowed, then realized it was that cotton crap. I've had really bad allergies ever since then, it's awful! I've never had allergies this bad before, it's nuts. But I have to still be grateful for this beautiful weather!! I'm not sure that we really had a Spring this year, I think it went from winter to summer. But the warm weather has finally come and is going to stay and I am SO happy about that!! Time to get out the swimsuits and sprinklers and let the kids play outdoors!!

Flooding......yuck

So, this past week we experienced our first flood in our home. It happened in the basement and it has NOT been fun one bit. We had to take out all the carpet and hang it in the backyard to dry, then suck up all the water and all that stuff. We have a storage area under the stairs that of course had some water in there, so the stuff on the floor in there got wet, that was SO not fun. Anna's room is downstairs and she's the one who informed us of the water, she came upstairs and told Jared that there was a puddle down there. ;) So, that also meant that Anna had to move into Aiden's room until we got the carpet back in. They have never shared a room, except if we're on vacation or at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so it was very difficult to have them share for a few nights. But we survived it all! The carpet got re-layed two days ago, so it's been great having that back in. We finally put Anna's bed back in her room last night too. She really wasn't happy about it, she said she liked sharing a room with Aiden. We told her we were sorry, but it was time for her to go back to her own room. Then she said the funniest thing while Jared was putting her to bed last night:

Anna: Daddy, I like sleeping in Aiden's room.
Jared: I know you do, but you have to sleep in your room now.
Anna: Well, I hope the floor gets wet again!

Oh man I just laughed when Jared told me that, she really says the funniest things sometimes!! :) But man I hope the floor doesn't get wet again, I do not want to go through this again, it sucks! And for those of you who have gone through it, I empathize with you, it's just horrible! BUT I'm really trying to look on the bright side of things. One good thing that happened was that now I'm able to get the stuff rearranged downstairs! I kept telling Jared I wanted to through all the toys downstairs and get everything reorganized. Well, now I'm forced to do it and it really has been a great excuse! ;) It's going to be a fresh start for the basement and I'm very happy about that. Another plus is that now our carpet is all clean! We rented a shampooer and cleaned the carpet so it looks great now! :) I guess we can always see some sort of bright side with every situation.......well, mostly :)