The Sandpaper Fairy??

Izzy found a piece of sandpaper on the ground, and of course wanted to keep it as a treasure. When Olivia got home, Izzy showed her the new treasure, and being the oldest and wisest sibling, Olivia started telling her that she should put it under her pillow for the "Sandpaper Fairy". Olivia told Izzy that the Sandpaper Fairy comes at night and needs LOTS of sandpaper, so she leaves you a BIG gift under your pillow. I told Izzy that Olivia was just teasing her, but apparently moms don't know as much as older sisters, so Izzy bought it hook-line-&-sinker. She was all excited for the rest of the day about what the "sandpaper fairy" was going to bring her, and Olivia was FULL of smirks and giggles pulling one over on her younger sibling. Before they went to bed, I heard Olivia telling Izzy that the sandpaper fairy is pretty busy, so she might have to leave it under her pillow for a few days or a week before the fairy can actually make it to the house. My older sibling has pulled a few of those tricks on me in my day, and I JUST WOULDN'T STAND FOR IT!! So the "Sandpaper Fairy" went out and got a prize and stuck it under Izzy's pillow...The next morning, Izzy was ECSTATIC about the prize she got. When Olivia woke up and came out, Izzy told her it WORKED and showed her the gift, and Olivia's eyes bugged out and chin dropped to the floor. She just stood there dumbstruck for an entire minute, not realizing how there could be a REAL sandpaper fairy...
It was SO worth it!!

Japan Earthquake Relief: Operation Backpack

A friend had a link to this website which are some scout troops on one of the military bases in Japan. They had an idea to pass out backpacks to the kids who were hit by the earthquake and lost pretty much everything. Our family has been searching for a way that we can do our little bit to help, and I think this is perfect!! They are collecting backpacks and items until April 30th, but I was thinking of trying to get ours sent over by April 15th. If anyone else is interested in donating items, you can bring them to my house and I'll compile and ship them off, or you can create backpacks and ship them directly there. All the information is on the link. What a fabulous idea!!

Operation Backpacks for Japan

Luke Days: Air Show

We took a trip out to the air show this weekend. It was PERFECT weather, we got to see TONS of planes, eat some VERY expensive treats, and watch some AWESOME shows!
They even had a Breast Cancer Awareness PINK fire engine. Of course my girlies were ALL over that!!
Look Mom, we're ready for take off!!
Can Santa bring me one of these for Christmas??

Shayne has discovered that he is in the WRONG line of work,...he should have been a fighter pilot, MUCH COOLER!

It was really a fun day out on the Air Force Base. Bubba was so excited with each and every airplane. We are so grateful to those who have served in the military, and truly appreciate their sacrifices to keep our country free and safe...

I've got a good idea...

Papa is FULL of good ideas. However, his ideas usually have my children running from the room screaming. He thinks it is a good idea to give the girls a bath in the "little" bathtub. He'll just hold them upside down and flush to rinse their hair out... Today, he had another good idea. He told the girls that he could pull ALL their teeth out with his pliers, then they can put them under their pillow for the tooth fairy, and in the morning they can all go to Walgreens and buy HIM something with their money. Sounds like a great idea? My girls didn't think so...They weren't going to let Papa get ANYWHERE near their mouths, until Nana fell asleep on the couch. Then the three of them decided to pull ALL of NANA's teeth and put them under their pillows! The girls were totally gung-ho for this idea, but poor Nana woke up before any real damage could be done.

Papa told them that he did this "great idea" with their cousins Kate and Kara, and now they have NO teeth! They just have to drink milkshakes and eat ice cream and Jell-O. My girls immediately called up their cousins to see if this was true (yes, we are quite gullible), and Kate matter-of-factly told them that Papa was JUST TEASING, but what they really needed to do was hold onto Papa's mouth REAL HARD and then BASH it into the wall so that you could knock all of HIS teeth out! Papa better be careful when he goes to bed...

Spring Training

Spring Training is ALWAYS fun! During Nana and Papa's visit, we were able to watch the Rangers and the Rockies. The kids always love playing around the lawn seats, eating a picnic dinner, and of course...cotton candy!!

Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami

Last week, Japan had a 9.0 earthquake hitting just out in the ocean near Sendai. The earthquake caused quite a bit of damage, but the tsunami it created wreaked havoc all along the coast. They estimate that the death toll will be over 10,000 people. Our hearts have ached and our prayers have gone up consistently for the wonderful people in Japan over the past week. They are such an amazing people, and it is so hard to watch people you love in such dire circumstances. We've heard from most of the people we know over there, and they are fine, some haven't heard from extended family members, and ALL are just in shock with what is happening. We've wanted to help, but there really isn't much we can do from here other than donate money. Our kids have been really into watching the coverage and talking about the earthquake and tsunami, so we decided that we'd spend an FHE doing some stuff for the people in Japan. We decided to put together hygiene kits, and the kids all decided to do extra jobs around the house and donate the money they earn to the disaster relief. I'm really glad our kids could be involved a bit, and I just hope our little help can make a difference.

Horseback Riding

We took the kids horseback riding at a friends house over Spring Break. They had a BLAST!! They are BEGGING to go back again!!

Bubba Turns 2: It's ALL about Thomas!

Quinten just turned 2! He is CRAZY about Thomas and trains, so we decided that would be our theme for the weekend. There are SO many reasons we LOVE having Bubba in our family:

• We love his "nuggles"
• his OBSESSION with anything trains, he is ALWAYS holding one train or another.
• He can hold his own with the girls: both getting picked on and doing the picking on.
• He can talk up a storm
• He LOVES to sing songs, especially ones about trains, and doesn't care if they are real songs or made up ones.
• His favorite pass-time is running, he would like to do that ALL DAY LONG (while holding a train of course)
• He always wants someone to play trains with him, but you are not allowed to touch any trains, and can only touch the track IF you are fixing it. Otherwise you have to sit right next to the track and watch...
• He still lets us rock him at night...usually

We had a yummy birthday dinner, but of course it had to be decked out in Thomas gear.

Presents!! All he cared about was...Thomas stuff.

The girls made a new "bacon" (blanket) for him. He LOVES the fleece ties around the edge.

Could we get more Thomas? Really?



The next day we went to McCormick Stillman Train Park to continue the celebration! It was a GORGEOUS day and we had a TON of fun!!

We all went for MANY train rides. That's all Bubba wanted to do ALL day!

We had a picnic lunch.

And played on the many playgrounds and playsets throughout the park.

We rode the carousel a few times.

And watched all the miniature trains that the enthusiasts have set up. It was quite a show!!

There was another miniature train that we HAD to try out!

And we ended the day with ice cream cones from their ice cream parlor...YUM!

This is how we knew it we were done and it was time to head home.

Happy Birthday Bubba-licious! We LOVE you so much!!

Crazy Bird

Skeeter is pretty hilarious. We could all sit and watch him all day as he does his little acrobats through the cage. However, lately, little Houdini has taken to fit himself into his entire food dish and just sit there. We're wondering if maybe our little man is actually a little woman looking to nest...

Family Movie Night

Olivia's school does quite a few family activities throughout the year, one of them being 'Family Movie Night'. We headed to the school library to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua II the other afternoon. The kids all LOVED watching the show, eating popcorn (Bubba spent the entire time crawling through the 'chair tunnels' and eating all the popcorn that fell on the floor which was quite a lot), they even had a raffle and Izzy WON!! She got a ginormous (yes, that's a word) bar of chocolate which couldn't have been a cooler prize for her!

The Faux Addidas Pants

Shayne's absolute FAVORITE outfit of mine is an oversized T-shirt (one of his old ones), and my faux addidas pants. These pants are the most sexy thing a wife could wear, and I wear them proudly. He gets so excited to walk in the door from a long day at work and see me in my faux addidas pants...there are so many things that he loves about these pants: they are a FABULOUS sweat-suit material, they are a FAKE addidas brand (notice the AWESOME 2 stripes!), they are actually MATERNITY pants (they so have a drawstring which totally helps in the waist, but I have to admit they are a BIT baggy everywhere else...which just makes them SO DANG COMFORTABLE!!). These pants have become quite the topic of conversation between Shayne and I lately, and they always have to be refered to by their entire name: "the faux addidas pants". Although he has recently convinced me to purchase a new pair of lounge around the house pants, I think I will need to hold onto these and bring them out on those rare occasions when you just want to wear 'something special'.

Hiking with the missionaries

The missionaries in our ward have NEVER been hiking, ever. So we thought we'd take them out to the White Tanks State Park and let them see what REAL Arizona desert is like. There is a hike to an AZ waterfall (a tiny trickle down the side of the rock) which we made 1/2 way, but the sister missionaries went all the way and were amazed at the abundance of saguaro cactus, the petroglyphs, and the signs warning you to stay on the trail or you might run into some poisonous snakes.
Izzy posing in our beautiful countryside.
It looked pretty cute, but really Bubba and Mariam fought over who was holding who's hand the entire time.
This is Sister Kolo with the kids. Sorry, I didn't get a picture with Sister Burton in it...

Rock to sleep

Bubba has decided that he's too big for us to rock him to sleep anymore. However, we do still have to be in the room, we can't leave, but the rocking, that's all him...

Grandma and Grandpa Visits

We had Grandpa and Grandma in town for an entire week, and LOVED every minute of it!! Shayne was really busy starting the new job, but the kids soaked up all the attention they could get. It was a week full of snuggling, stories, bike riding, playing outside, shopping, etc. etc.
Of course Grandpa made his famous cookies...yummy!
We also enjoyed a picnic to the park and some bike riding around.
Daddy showed off all kinds of mad tricks on his snazzy bike!
Thanks for coming out Grandma and Grandpa, WE LOVED HAVING YOU!! Come again soon!