Cabella's, Birthday, Swinging!

We jam packed a whole bunch of fun things into this last weekend.  First, I got all of Jason's b-day gifts ready to go for his early birthday party at my parents house...he still has no clue about his one present...which is awesome.  He is seriously impossible to surprise, mostly because he's too snoopy/excited and can't wait till his birthday.  Not this year!  Hahahaha...

So we started off the weekend by going down to my cousin Taylor's Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  We are really close with his folks, my Aunt A'donna and Uncle Dwight...so much fun.  So we went down to support Taylor, and represent everyone from my fam, who were ALL out of town.  Disneyland, Bear Lake, and St. George...where the heck is OUR vacation??
Right before we exit the highway to go to their house, we stopped at Cabella's.  Jason was looking at guns...his new obsession.  Found a really nice rifle that he *almost* purchased, but wanted to talk to his "gun buddy" some more about it first.  I found myself a nice Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 that I told him I liked.  He said it's the same one his brother Austin is getting, so that was kind of funny that I picked the same one!
Here is Kayla in front of the giant mountain in the store.

 And little B, chillin' in front of the raccoon.

 Makayla is holding up a penny that Bryon pressed for her there.  And of course, the fish tank there is pretty cool.  She was fascinated.

 Me and my cutie hubby.  This was his "I don't want to take a picture" face.  Notice the forced smile.  I love him....little stinker.  :)

 Birthday party at my parents house.  He was SO surprised with his one gift.  I got him a started EMT/Paramedic trauma bag.  Got all the fancy stuff inside it.  He's going to have fun adding all kinds of things to it.   He loved it!!  Success!!  First time in 7 years that I was able to really truly surprise him with something!

 We took a walk up to a canal about a mile away from my parents house.  It's SO pretty, just a nice grassy trail with ducks everywhere, a rope swing and the canal was nice and full of water.  Kayla took off right as we got there to feed the ducks, and apparently she had fallen down bank, which is quite steep, and about a 4 foot drop straight into the water.  No one heard ANY screams or anything, and luckily Jason had just hopped on the rope swing and could see her in the water.  So we all went running down and she had gone all the way in, and was barely able to stand and get to the side to hold onto some weeds.  YIKES.  I was totally freaked out.  A nice old lady who was out working in her yard saw the whole thing and gave us a towel so she could dry off. 
Obviously Makayla wasn't too traumatized cause 10 minutes later she was down on the platform with her uncle Bry feeding the ducks again.  This was after she fell in, about 30 minutes later.

 Bry getting the rope swing.

 My dad checking it all out from the tree bridge.  That's new this year.  The owners on both sides have really made it all nice and cute with benches and new logs going across.  It's really nice.

 The ducks...there were probably 20 or so down there.  Even though only 2 can be seen here...:)

 Bry playing in the water.  We all dared him to get in.  It was pretty cold.

So we started off the weekend by going down to my cousin Taylor's Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  We are really close with his folks, my Aunt A'donna and Uncle Dwight...so much fun.  So we went down to support Taylor, and represent everyone from my fam, who were ALL out of town.  Disneyland, Bear Lake, and St. George...where the heck is OUR vacation?? 

So close

We are so excited that summer is SO close...we can feel it.  So of course Makayla has already busted out one of her new swimsuits to get ready.  She wanted to run through the sprinkler the other day but it was just not quite warm enough yet.  But warm enough to run around in a swimsuit I guess!

Makayla and Parker coloring rocks with sidewalk chalk...because, well, why not right?

 Carsen, Parker, Kayla and Brookie...too cute not to capture all of them sitting there playing.

 Ok, I have to brag for a sec.  I kept bugging Jason that I wanted to makeover our bathroom, cause I just didn't like it.  Sparkly yellow walls, literally...it sparkled in just the right ligh.  Some kind of textured sparkle paint or something.  And standard big builder mirrors glued to the wall...Just not cute.  So he said, go ahead!!  Meaning, go ahead, but I really don't want to do it....haha.  So I did!  All by myself.  Figured out what color paint I liked, had to go light cause there are no windows in there, so we need all the "light" we can get.  Went with a really pretty light grey.  Re-painted the trim, re-caulked shower and counter, and framed in our giant mirror.  I am in love.

 The "before" shot of the mirror.

 First ones down...

 it helps to have toddlers making faces at you while you work. 

 Finished!  Now we just need the finishing touches...new light fixture, new rugs and shower curtain, and some cute accent pieces for the walls.  I want maybe some bright teal colored something or other...just for a nice bit of color.  We'll see.  Don't worry, the brown towels are all going...haha.  They don't match anymore and are old and gross.

So I guess I'll still have one final "after" photo once I get those last few things done!  It's been so fun doing it all by myself!  Now I just need to tackle the other 2 bathrooms!

Nonstop

The title pretty much sums up how life has been lately.  Going at full speed, no stopping, no slowing down...just plain crazy most of the time.  So here's just a few quick things to sum up the month of April for us.
This little cutie turned 2!!  She's finally able to just hold up 2 fingers now when she says she's "two!"  

 This was how I found her the other day.  I had to check on her during nap time cause she was being SO loud for the longest time, when usually she just goes right to sleep.  Turns out she and her diapers were having a party!

 This is how we spend most of our day now that it's warm.  I sit in the driveway in a lawn chair with a book and a drink, and the girls and their friends just mill about and have fun.  Perfect.

 Our "electric" trees.  These things had SO many bees in them.  It was fascinating to watch.  We'd just go stand by it and watch hundreds of bees do their bee thing.  It was really neat.  All three trees were just FULL of them.  The buzzing was so loud we joked that the tree sounded like it had electricity buzzing through it!  And they were so pretty, I had to take a picture.  All the blossoms were fully bloomed, and it smelled like Heaven.  Mmmm...

 Makayla excited to show off her cute new shorts from Ashley. 

 And now for the sad news.  We had to get rid of the dog :(   We talked about it for a while and just felt like the girls were too young, the dog was too big, and the time just wasn't right.  I think me and Jason just both wanted a dog so much we talked ourselves into it.  But the girls really couldn't handle her size.  I heard alot of screaming all.day.long.  Every time the dog would go near the girls, they'd scream.  It doesn't take long for that to wear on a mom's nerves....and sanity.  I felt like a ringmaster, keeping kids and dogs separated for most of the day.   She was my snuggle pup, and I think I am going to miss her the most.  I was so emotional the day she left...but she went to the perfect home, and she will be happy.  The lady we sold her to has even sent me pictures of Harley all happy on the trails down in St. George with her new Husky boyfriend :)  I'm sure she is loving it. 

 The one and only picture of Makayla and Harley actually playing nice.  Not screaming, not jumping all over...haha.  And this was on the day we sold her.  I'm glad I got this pic though.

 Then this little one was just too cute.  I had to put this up.

 We can finally get all of her hair up in pigtails, and it is SO adorable.  They curl up and look so cute!  And it makes her look so big! 

 Walking to go pick up Makayla.

 Reading a book with Grandma, one thing Brookie has REALLY started to get into the last few weeks.  She loves to pretend she is reading.

 And to end the month, we got Makayla's preschool pics and they are absolutely adorable.  I look at this pic so many times during the day.  How can I not?! 

 That's about it.   It's starting to get really hot and we are planning some fun projects for the backyard.  Hopefully they happen sooner rather than later!