A Few Firsts

For the past few months Erick has been begging me to go to the zoo. He went when he was a baby in a stroller when I took Emma and Ben, but I am sure he doesn't remember that. So, I think he just knows about it from books that we have read and from shows that he has seen. He literally talks about it everyday and so I decided I had better take the poor boy to the zoo. So, we went with some friends and had a great time!



His favorite was the alligators.



My favorite was the gorillas, it is amazing how "human" like they are! They are fascinating to watch.



While we were watching the elephants, I had turned my head to look for Cami when I heard Erick say "can I pee here Mom?" I turned towards him quickly to say NO, but it was too late! His pants were down to his ankle and there was a nice fountain of yellow pouring out! How embarassing! He just wanted to be one with the zoo animals I guess. He loves to pee outside at home and often does when I am not watching. What a kid. Anyways, we had a good time at the zoo.

On Monday, Emma had a soccer game that had been rescheduled (they are usually not on Monday nights), but our family went to it that evening at 6pm and it was so beautiful outside! The weather was perfect and we basked in it. Monday night agreed with Emma's team as they had a great game. Emma had her best game ever. She was really on defensively and saved lots of goals and even kicked a ball all the way to her team's goal and another girl on her team just tipped it in the goal and scored. We told Emma that it counted as a goal for her. She even won the MVP for that game and got to take home the team's webkin and keep it for a week as a reward. Way to go Em. Here is a pic of her with the webkin.



After our school carnival on Saturday, we went to Sam's club to get milk. While there, we decided to knock out dinner, so the kids got hot dogs and we sat and ate. Ben started crying and complaing about his tooth! This tooth had been hanging by its last thread, seriously, it should have been gone a month ago! Anyways, it came out right there at Sam's Club. My boy's first tooth! Congratulations Ben! The tooth fairy did come and you can bet Ben had lots of questions about that fairy, "what does she do with the teeth?", "how big is she?", "how can she be so quiet and not wake up the kids?"





Finally, do you notice anything different about Emma? (Besides the rose on her cheek?)



Yep, my girl got her ears pierced! The plan was to get them pierced on her 8th birthday because that is when I got mine pierced. But... I was kind of getting annoyed with her wearing her fake earrings. Her "fake earrings" were just for dress up in the house, but she kept asking and begging me to let her wear them to church and parties and out of the house and trust me, she had some long and gaudy fake earrings. So, I decided we would put an end to it and so she and I went on a date and I surprised her by letting her get her ears pierced and then we went to dinner and did some girl shopping. It was so fun! She is so happy! She is constantly looking at the mirror and I hear her squealing with delight every once in awhile. A fun girl thing!

Well, this post is long enough. It was a fun week and I am so grateful for such a fun family. Today in church, both Don and I ended up bearing our testimonies and I am just so grateful for the gospel and to know about our Saviour and His atonement and be able to use the atonement in my life. How grateful I am for the priesthood in my home and that Don and I have common goals and we work together to teach our children. We don't do a perfect job and often wonder if we are doing any good at all, but we are trying and I know the Savior will take care of the parts that we can't do as long as we do our best. We love you all.

Happy Birthday!

I had a great birthday. Don bought my cake the day before my birthday to celebrate or really mourn the last day of my 32nd year on earth! He put 33 candles on the ice cream pie bit left one unlit since it was the day before my birthday. With 33 candles (32 lit ones), there was a lot of heat coming from that cake and the smoke when I blew out the candles? Ya, there was a lot of smoke! I am getting old!



On my actual birthday (the 12th) we had soccer games and Ben had a birthday party of one of his classmates to attend, it was a busy saturday, but that night my friend Wendy came over to babysit while Don and I went out. We went to La Hacienda which has THE BEST steak fajitas and chips and salsa in the world! Love that place. Then we were so full, we needed to walk around so we went to the mall (I know, we are so boring and yuppish), but it was too cold to walk around outside and we didn't want to go home because heaven forbid if Wendy had not gotten the kids to bed yet! Turned out the mall wasn't so bad, I ended up with this purse as my birthday present.



Thanks to everyone for their kind birthday wishes especially my parents (both sides) for their love and support. I love you! Emma asked me what my favorite thing about my birthday is and I quickly answered that it is having my birthday in April. I have always loved having my birthday in April, I love spring and the weather is beautiful and refreshing after the cold winter. I have always wanted to have one of my children in April, so far that hasn't happened and I don't know that it ever will! But, at least my birthday and my sisters' is in April, happy birthday Jan by the way!

Oh, I will just include that Don and I talked about things we could do together that would be fun on future dates. We decided we are going to try playing racquetball (sp?) together at the gym and that when the kids are older we are going to buy motorcycles and tour around the country! I will keep you updated!

So, I am 33 and getting older, but I don't feel bad, because my life is so rich and full of people I love and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for that blessing!

Holly Homemaker

So, I had a really Domestic day on Friday. Check this out!



Erick helped me make homemade freezer jam which is so easy its silly! Then we made homemade wheat bread, I had to have something delicious to put my jam on!



Later that day, I made homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner! Wow, that is too much homemade goodness! We all enjoyed the treats and the beautiful weather that afternoon. It kind of freaked me out how many homemade things I made that day, that rarely happens!

Playdate on Steroids

So this happened a few months ago and I know it is a very fuzzy picture but I think it is so funny. Erick just loves his friend Carter and loves to have him over for playdates. Well, both of these boys for some reason suffer with a type of asthmatic cough every few months. They don't really get "sick", but they just get this terrible cough. Anyway. . .

Wendy (Carter's mom) knew that I had been giving Erick breathing treatments and so when she dropped Carter off to play, she asked if I was planning on giving a breathing treatment anytime soon since she hadn't had time to give one to Carter. So, for the playdate, the two boys sat on the couch, watched Dora and breathed in those fresh lung opening steroids. Now, that is a fun activity don't you think? I know this is a terrible picture, but here they are sitting on the couch with their breathing masks on. I don't know it struck me as funny for some reason.



Now, something else I have been meaning to post is this picture. . .



This is what I come home to about 9 times out of 10 when I leave Don with the kids and go somewhere. He LOVES legos and blocks and of course making towers. He also loves airplanes and starwars and often times I will walk into a room and find him on the floor (not even with the kids), just by himself, playing with planes and making the noises and everything! He is a kid at heart and I love him!