Daddy's girls. . .

Tonight was the Daddy/Daughter Dance at the  school.  The theme was "Enchanted Amazon".  The girls shared their "enchanting" daddy and danced the night away in a colorful rainforest.

Mothers Day

Love these kids so much . . . 

It was a great day, starting with french toast and strawberries, church, visiting with family, reading homemade cards (my favorite part), and  ending with playing at the park at night,  driving home, and sleeping children.  Ahhhh. . . . 

My little guys. . . 

Justin got to be taller than Ryan in this pic.  Ryan wore this same suit to Brian and Danielle's wedding reception!!  Justin loved matching his big brother.  Ryan gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting today, Thanks Ry, it meant a lot to have you do this on Mother's Day.  You did a great job!  

We went to see Mimi after church for dinner.  (this pic was taken at Ryan's game last year.)  We are so lucky to have her nearby.  The kids love to go to Mimi's house!!

After dinner, I got to see my mom!!  She was nearby visiting my grandma.  It was dark by then, but we met at the park and let the kids play in the warm night air.  I wish I could have taken her home with me.  We miss you Nana!!  The visit was short, but sweet.    

Moms, muffins, and peaches?

This morning at the preschool, Justin had "moms and muffins".  The kids sang a sweet song, the teacher read a story, and for about 20 minutes, we cuddled, and had muffins and juice.  He was very excited to have this time with me.  After getting home, we went in the backyard for a bit of swinging.  I noticed that there were a few peach pits around the tree. . . 

We started gathering them up and putting them in a pile.  Justin wanted to count them, the numbers got a little crazy after "twenty - ten".  I think there must of been about 75,  and we did not even gather them all, I was getting a little grossed out:)

He is getting much more comfortable around the camera.

Apparently, this mesh fence, serves well as a ladder.  This is becoming a real problem.   I am not sure what to do.  I heard home depot has a way to trap them without hurting them.  

Or. . . Alan has a better idea involving target practice and an old BB gun.  

Our Little Thief

It's that time of year . . . flowers are blooming, birds are singing,  and among other things, the peaches are starting to grow on our tree.  This is about the time where we need to "thin" them out.  Luckily, we have a little helper/thief.  Today, I caught him in the act, just before his escape under the fence. . . 

Justin named him "Sam".  Awww, he's so cute, mom.  

We see Sam almost every day,  it was fun to get his photo today, especially with the stolen peach still in his hands.

My tomatoes are blooming. . . I hope Sam doesn't like these.

It's on the List . . .

On Sunday, after dinner, Alison started sweeping the kitchen floor.  She then preceded to sweep the dining room, hallway, and entryway.  When I thanked her and commented on what a great job she was doing, she said, "Well, it's on the list, Sunday says sweep."  She took me up to her room and sure enough, that is what it said.  I can't wait for Saturday!

I kept this checklist she made at Disneyland last year . . . 

What would we do without lists?

Youth Conference

This weekend Alan was away at Youth Conference with the young men and women of our stake.  They went to participate in a pioneer trek by pulling handcarts and experiencing a taste of what it may have been like for the pioneers to cross the plains.  They left on Friday afternoon and drove about 2 hours away to Riley's Farm in the San Bernardino Mountains near Yucaipa.  It is a place where they do these types of reenactments (ie: colonial times, Civil War, pioneer, etc).   They pulled their handcarts about 3 miles to their campsite and then on Saturday they hiked again pulling their handcarts, this time taking a trail about 2 miles, most of which was up a very steep set of switchbacks which was grueling on all involved.  As they began the days journey the boys were taken to participate in the Mormon Batallion and the girls were left to go the first mile on their own.  They reached a particularly steep hill and began their ascent.  It was extremely difficult and they struggled to move their handcarts.  Alan was assigned with 11 other leaders to act as "Angels."  They dressed in white and when the girls had struggled up the hill about half way and were feeling overwhelmed they would descend from the top where they had been hiding unseen and assist them to pull the handcarts up to the top of the hill.  This was to symbolize the angelic help that many pioneers testified of receiving in their struggles and also of those "Angels" in our lives who help to lift our burdens when they seem insurmountable.  Below are just a couple pictures of Alan in this portion of the trek.  They returned home a little after 11:00pm on Saturday night exhausted, but grateful for the experience and with a greater appreciation for the sacrifices of the pioneers.

Alan is the "angel" on the left side, pushing uphill.

Bookcase Review. . .

This weekend while Alan was away, I decided to help Alie organize her bookcase.  Can I just say, I hate bookcases.  They never look neat, and they seem to fill up with much more than books.  The green post-it notes were her way of starting to organize this mess.  She is a great labeler, labels everything.  Checklists are a favorite.  She also really, really appreciates order.  (Obsessive compulsive, maybe?)  Anyways, here is the before . . . 

(A close up to one of the post-it notes)

The after. . . 

Still, not too many books, but she wanted a shelf to display "special things", a shelf for her "rare" dolls and critters (in the small hat boxes that used to be in her closet), two shelves for books, notebooks, journals, and pencils, and a shelf for her stuffed animals.  The last items are stored in the plastic cylinders, which are actually just trash cans (appropriate).  I glued ribbon around these lovelys, Alie liked this touch.  We found some cute painted tin containers for $1.50 at JoAnns for pencils and crayons.  She is happy, I am still not an advocate of bookcases.

Nice and clean, for now . . . 

That was fun, now what?