Not a Lot of Words

But a lot of pictures!

Just wanted to share some from a birthday dinner with friends and Natalie's preschool field trip to ride horses.

18 Month Old Business

This monkey is 18 months old. 

Gosh, I love her.

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?

Some things I might want to remember about her in 20 years:

-She is an extremely picky eater. The foods that I can usually get her to eat in some way or another are mandarin oranges, oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, bananas, and cottage cheese. She LOVES her daily gummy vitamin. I am a strong believer in exposing her to foods and always trying to get her to eat new things, and then just waiting for her to outgrow this.

-She wakes at about 6:15 every morning. I get her a bottle of milk, and then she comes and lays in bed with us while she drinks it. 

-She is very much a momma's girl. When Nate gets home from work, she clings to me for dear life. Not because she doesn't love him, but I think she knows I am going to be trying to hand her off. She knows daddy is the fun one though, and if they are going out to ride bikes, she will be out of my arms in a second.

-She likes nursery ok. She cries when we leave her, and  on Sunday spent the entire last hour on someone's lap. I think things will get better fast though.

-As I mentioned before, she LOVES to go ride bikes in the culdesac. She loves exploring in the backyard with Natalie, and has brought many pails of sand into the house.

-She likes Jansen and Natalie to be a part of whatever she does. She's always saying, "Mon!" It means, Come on!

-She's still drinking a bottle. I don't really want to face the facts on that one, so I just keep ignoring it.

-She hates having her hair washed and having her teeth brushed. For some reason, she does so much better when Nate brushes her teeth. Which is awesome, it's his job now! As for the hair, sometimes I feel like I am abusing her as I try to hold her back from climbing out of the tub as I wash her hair. It's an awful experience for both of us.

-When I give something to her she often says, "Here go" in the cutest little voice.

-If she is feeling shy or doing something she knows she shouldn't, she looks down and blinks really slowly.

Can't imagine life without her!

Benihana

Last night we left these guys with a babysitter and went out to dinner for my birthday. Jansen's been having a hard time when we go out lately, so we try to make the night fun for him and Natalie by throwing some treats in a bowl and letting them watch a movie. Lately they are loving a fighter pilot documentary called Operation Red Flag. Out of all the movies we have, they just keep wanting to watch that one. It cracks me up. 

 Nate and I went to Benihana. It was in a hotel near the Strip, and the ambiance inside the restaurant was really awesome. It's fun to be entertained while eating.

 I got yakisoba and Nate had filet mignon and scallops. Our meals included onion soup, a salad, vegetables, rice, some shrimp, and a bowl of ice cream. And I just now remembered I have some leftovers in the fridge. Excuse me for a minute.

 My ice cream had a candle in it, and after they sang to me and I blew out the candle, our waitress asked if I  had made a wish. Some cheesy part of me put my arm around Nate and I said, "It already came true." Hahaha. Well, that's really how I feel though. :) The Japanese waitress was just incredulous that we had kids at home. 3 of them! She thought we were both single and just on a date. I laughed because if we had been at a Benihana in Salt Lake, everyone would take one look at us and  think, "I bet they are Mormon, married, have a few kids, and have been married for 5-10 years." But not in Las Vegas!

It was a wonderful night. Couldn't think of a better way to start off my 30s!

How an Almost 30 Year Old Parties

The adult Easter egg hunt we host every year just gets better and better. There were over 600 eggs strewn across our neighborhood park this time. I think we had 13 couples from our ward there. 

Julie and I had our baskets on display as everyone came in...I'm sure it was great motivation. The "golden" basket went to the couple who collected the most eggs, and my "nasty" basket of shame was filled with awful Easter candy and went to the couple who gathered the least. Notice the framed Easter egg cross stitch.

 Here are the troops. Some were penalized with a late start for turning their eggs into us late or arriving late to the party. We don't mess around.

Looking high and low for those eggs...

I gave everyone a mini LED finger light before we started to aid in the hunt.

I'm sure it's a blast collecting the eggs, but the real fun starts when everyone returns. We go around the room, one couple at a time, and open all the eggs. One rule: if you open an item that can be worn, you must put it on. You don't have to wear it correctly, it just needs to be displayed somehow. We started off with a bang:

 There was no shortage of thongs. Although I started to wish there was...

The disposable adult diaper made an appearance.

 And whatever these things are...

 Just look at the faces in this one. Oh my gosh, we were all DYING. That thing is so nasty hilarious. 

 There were also lots of awesome prizes, cash, gift cards, candy, and coupons. It takes a couple hours to get around the room and open everyone's eggs, but the time flies. We had so much fun, and I feel like I am already on the look out for ideas for next year's eggs!

Christmas in March

The night before my mom and sister came to visit, I told Nate it felt like Christmas Eve to me.

I like them that much.

Our first order of business was to get Emmy to warm up to them.

 These two are already very warmed up to Grandma Becca and Lexi.

Maybe it's the freckles? Freckles bring people together.

 We had a movie night. Jansen and Natalie didn't care what we watched, but Grandma requested Puss in Boots. Which I quite liked. I like most things that are accompanied by pizza and cinnamon sticks though.

 The kids have been begging for a trip to the science museum. They wanted to see Curious George, who is on display there. 

 Jansen opted for things like this, rather than the hurricane simulator. (He has a terrible fear of the wind and severe weather.) 

Grandma let Natalie have some makeup and nail polish adventures. I quickly confiscated the lipstick...Natalie cannot be trusted with a tube of her very own lipstick.

And now our little guest room is empty once again.

It was a little easier saying goodbye knowing we'll see them in a few weeks during a trip to Utah on General Conference weekend.

Painting

Anyone else's heart sink a little when the kids want to paint or do Play-doh? Always right after you've finally cleared off the counter? And swept? And their clothes are clean? I guess as long as they're having fun, right?   RIGHT!???

Service

As I was driving down the freeway today, I glanced at the billboard for the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. I thought of all the people shopping there today...having a good time. I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to go there today? Ooooh, and what if I got to shop there almost every day?"

My second thought was, "You know what? That actually wouldn't be all that fun. Sure, I love to shop and would love to go there, but if I had the choice, money, and time to shop there several times a week, I would never in a million years do it." 

I thought about how I would feel at the end of the day, every day, if I filled my hours with shopping. Pretty empty inside. It really gets me thinking about what I can do each day to really feel fulfilled when I go to bed at night. A friend texted me a few days ago and asked if she could bring my kids slushies. No particular reason. It made their day, and mine. It made me think about how I can incorporate small acts of kindness into my life more often.

 I'm so thankful that out church is so service oriented and provides me with many opportunities. Last Saturday morning our ward cleaned, swept, weeded, painted, and gutted a nearby park. We brought the whole family. 

 Nate gave Jansen these shears to bring...despite my concerns. ;)

 Nate also let Jansen do some painting...despite my concerns. He's so lucky to have a dad that lets him learn and experience when I'm reluctant to.

 Natalie, Emmy, and I did a lot of weeding and garbage collecting. Emmy mostly dumped dirt and rocks into the garbage bags. She's my little helper. :) 

It was an awesome way to start our day.

On Catching Lizards

If at first...

you...

don't...

succeed...

smile anyway!