Scott's 34th Birthday

Our new clothesline, we were able to put it up a few weeks ago and today we are trying it out. it is still pretty cool here, but breezy enough it should dry.

Scott got and airplane for his birthday!

Birthday pie.

For Scott's birthday, on March 26th, we got up and made him breakfast in bed. He had to work, but after that we had dinner and apple pie. The airplane had not arrived, so we gave him a little treat with SkipBo attached that we got here at the scrapbooking store. we drove all around trying to get balloons and that did not work out, so we were bummed. On Monday the plane arrived and so now he can say he has an airplane. It has been pretty windy, and the other day the plane did a cartwheel so it needs some Krazy Glue, but he'll get it figured out. The girls absolutely love watching him fly it. He got some money and an amazon giftcard also and has bought better topographical maps for his GPS and a fancy knife. I think it was a good birthday, nothing too exciting, but that's how Scott likes it.

Abby's first piano recital

Abby's piano teacher had a recital for her students at the beginning or March. Abby played "Christmas Bells are Ringing" with both hands. I taught her the song and then she figured out how to do it with both hands in unison. She is really amazing and I think if we spent more time at it she could really excel. I am so happy she seems to like it and picks up her little practice songs so quickly. She also teaches Isabel a little. I plan on working with her this summer and she will start lessons in the fall. Abby also played a song called "Bugle Call" She was shy to go up and practice, but when it was her turn she went up and played beautifully and said she was not nervous. Neither Scott nor I play piano much, although we both were in band,so we are hoping to give this skill to our children.

Bluff

In the meeting hall

Teepee

Pioneer girls

Wednesday we took a little trip south to Historic Bluff Fort.

It is about 40 miles from home. We had never been there yet. The weather was great, almost too warm. The fort has been restored somewhat by the hole-in-the-rock foundation, who are a lot of the decendants of the original pioneers who crossed the state. There are a lot of little cabins, a meeting hall, and some of the other buildings there. They also have a few Ute and Navaho things there. The girls really liked it. In the visitor's center they have some pioneer outfits and the girls got to put them on and pose for a picture or two in an old covered wagon. On our way back we stopped for dinner and it turned out to be a really fun outing. Made us thankful for our nice big house after seeing the 10 x10 cabins they all lived in. The town of Bluff is tiny, but they do a lot to attract peole there. They do a big balloon festival, which I would like to see, maybe next year. Otherwise we have spent spring break doing a little bit of everything. Some cleaning, organizing, yard work, puppy prep, and working on the Blazer. We took a trip to Durango, CO on Thursday and saw the train museum again. We had a picnic by the river and park, we went into a few little stores and the girls FINALLY bought some earrings to change out the ones they had when they got them pierced. So they were happy. On the way back we made a stop at WalMart to do a little grocery shopping. It was also a good day. We have enjoyed our staycation and having Scott around for a few days.

Call Me Crazy...

Here is the first picture of our future puppy! Ahhh! I am a little excited, a lot terrified but have been looking into getting a dog for years now. I think it all started when Scott was in Georgia for months and I was home alone. At night I just wished I had someone there. I also have a friend who had a cute little dog and I really liked him, after never really being a dog person. Long story short-I have spent way to much time on the internet researching and ended up finding a breeder who has mini goldendoodles. The name is weird, but the dogs are great. This litter is a golden retreiver mom with a toy poodle dad. I am not sure on the logistics of that, but together, they produce medium sized dogs who shed very little and have a great personality. Should be quite smart as poodles and retreivers are among the top 5 intelligent breeds. Our plan is to pick up the puppy on our way back from Dan's wedding in May. And then we have all summer to play with her while Scott works insane hours. I am completely aware that this will be my dog, the girls are excited and have wanted a pet, but they were not begging for a dog. I have not talked too much about it as we have been deciding, but as it comes closer to reality we are working on habits that will keep the dog, our things and our house safe. I am sure a few dolls will have to be sacrificed. Anybody plannning on a big 30th bday present, you can donate to the puppy fund :) I am thinking this will be my May bday\mother's day\anniversary present all wrapped into one. Scott is not terribly excited about the idea, but isn't saying no. He would rather have no pet whatsoever, but hopefully we will all be happy with the decision. We are soon putting up a fence to keep the girls (and the dog) in. That will be a big project but will be so nice when it is done. The only downside is that for the second time, we are footing the bill for neighbors who are building sometime in the future, it sure would be nice to share the cost. Oh well, there's not really a way around it. We can share a small section with our one and only neighbors.

Whitney is proving more and more every day that she is a full-fledged girl. She loves sunglasses, coats, putting dresses on at all times. Her other obsession is shoes and I don't think a day goes by she isn't wearing a pair or seven, of all sizes. She is very demanding and will bring the item she wants on, and insist you help her. She is speaking a lot more and repeating words. She also manages to put a lot of things on herself. It's pretty cute. She is loving her sisters and they love to chase each other around screaming. Whitney also pretends to be a puppy all the time, ever since we went to a Christmas party with a small dog present. Sara is sure Whitney will love to chase our puppy around and play tag with it.

Whitney will be two at the end of May! She really is a sweet girl and she loves her momma. Nursery is still hard and she doesn't go very often. If we do get her to stay, she usually promptly fills her diaper, so we'll keep working at it.

Otherwise, life goes on as usual. We are making plans for our Canada trip and working on spring plans for the yard. We planted some seeds inside and they are sprouting amazingly. But we have a lot of work to do on the yard to get our garden ready. It may not happen 100% this year, but we're taking it one thing at a time. Scott is busy at work and the girls are busy with school and friends. We've had our share of coughs and colds, but nothing too serious.

As the weather gets better, I really want to let everyone know again that you are welcome here any time. We will babysit if you want to run across the street to the temple. It is a beautiful area and we have lots of room. It takes about 4 hours from Orem with kids\potty break.

Spring break is this next week and we are staying close to home and doing some day trips. I will take lots of pictures and post them. A few days we are going rock hunting to build free walls around flower beds, we may head to Colorado to "civilization" to go shopping, and also spend some time spring cleaning. It will be not quite as fun as a trip to Disneyland, but much less stressful and expensive for us, and the girls are just happy to spend time together and run around in the mountains.

Here's hoping, that for all of us, spring will realize it is here and change the weather accordingly.

When Scott's away, Amy will decorate...

The painting Scott did for me a long time ago.

Boring before

working it out...

ta-da!

So I was getting in the mood to paint our main living area. There were also some other things I wanted to do, like a tile backsplash in the kitchen(it's all one big room so I wanted to coordinate at the same time). The beige was getting old. However, some things came up and I decided against painting right now. Anyways, I have had all these frames and older pictures, plus newer pictures I just printed out a few weeks ago and I just decided to hang them. if I do end up painiting, I'll just figure out the nail hole situation. Scott is in Reno for the week and somehow I usually end up doing some sort of project when he's gone. One time I did paint my whole house when he was in Germany, another time I painted out bathroom here and added reall cool vinyl wall art.

So, I also was able to finally figure out what to do with a beautiful painting Scott did for me waaaay back. I love it, but the paper was an odd shape and small. I wanted to scan it and print it out, but it ended up being easiest to just take a picture of the painting and I then printed it big on canvas. It turned out really nicely, although the wrap took off more of the edge than I was expecting. Now we can enjoy the picture always. I love it.

I also painted a shadowbox that was pink. I got it a while ago on clearance and thought I would put it in one of the girl's rooms, but I thought it would work. The last major thing was the saying, it says "it doesn't matter where you go in life, it's who you have beside you." I had gotten the vinyl last year for my birthday with an Amazon gift card, but I kept waiting and wondering if I was going to paint, obvioulsy I would put it up afterwards. But i visited a friend and she was nice enough to give me the idea and the frame to put it on glass.

So there it is, Whitney wants to be picked up and look at the pictures all day long, and it will be a surprise for Scott when he gets back. We'll get this house in shape, one thing at a time.

Mini Cheer Camp

Last week the girls did a cheer camp the high school cheerleaders were doing. They spent two hours a day for three days practicing a dance and some cheers and tumbling. It was a crazy week. On Thursday they performed at the halftime of the girls' and boys' basketball games.

Abby and Isabel both had a great time and learned the cheer quite well. Sara, not so much. She spent most of the time laying on the floor, crying or heading to the bathrom and them leaving her pants there. ( she had on a dress, with pants under for warmth) She said she missed me and i tried to stay and help but she just wasn't into it. Still, i kept trying. Finally at the game, she seemed excited and she went for it. I was expecting her to be the kid on the floor, but she did really well and obviously had absorbed something. The dance was to the song "I whip my hair back and forth" by Willow Smith. If you haven't heard it, look it up. It has to be one of the most ...ummm.... obnoxius songs in the world and you can't get it out of your head! Isabel had a sore neck from whipping her hair, seriously. Anyways, they were all excited and it was cute, the ask daily to watch the video we took of the event. If i get it figured out I will post it on here.

It was a crazy but fun week, and I was able to get out a bit more than usual. I took the girls to the first game, and then we all went to the boys' game as a family. The girls love the social scene there, and it is fun to be involved in the community. It's definitely different from where I grew up and didn't even have stands, and where Scott grew up, he was in the band and the school had thousands of kids. Oh, and we won both games. Go Buckaroos!

Sara's Pirate Girl party

the cake, if you couldn't guess...

Opening presents with her friends.

Sara had a three day birthday extravaganza! We went to Orem for the weekend to attend our niece Trinity's baptism. We drove up Friday after school. Scott and I were able to sneak away for a little date and had delicious Rodizio's. It is a Brazillian steakhouse that is not for the vegetarian. They bring the meat around constantly and you take a small chunk of each. Then we went to a new LDS film called Midway to Heaven. it is based on a book and has one of the girls off the Bachelor acting in it. It was ok, not great but it was squeaky clean and that is good. Then we went for a drive out to Eagle Mountain and headed back. Anyways, Saturday morning we went to the baptism and then did some shopping. All the cousins were together so we had a little party for Sara and her cousin Ashley who turned 2. We then took the girls bowling. it was not as easy as all the Wii bowling we have been doing, but it was pretty fun.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed for home. We made it in time to change and go to church at 1pm. So that night Sara got a few more presents from us. She got a unicorn pillow pet. I have been avoiding those things, but they had one at grandma's house and she loved it. She has been having slight problems with sneaking out of her room during the night and being afraid of the dark, so I thought it might help.

The next morning we were up and getting ready for the friend party. She invited all her little friends from church. As always, i forgot how much fun 3\4 yr olds can be and things did not go exactly as I planned, but I think they all had fun. Here's some advice: don't try musical chairs with girls this age. sheesh. anyways, we had the cake and Sara got cute presents and everyone went home pretty happy so it was a success.

Sara is a sweet girl with a big imagination and an even bigger vocabulary. Yesterday she said "mom, last night I had the stwangest dweam..." she still cannot say her "Rs" but it is pretty cute and i am not worried about it. She is still loving all things princess, rapunzel from Tangled is the big one lately, but she loves them all. She still does not color much, nor is she interested in sitting down to learn her letters, but she can spell and recognize her name. We know she's smart, she's just a little more stubborn than the first two. She is sweet to Whitney and is a great big sister. i love how she treats her and talks to her like she's a real little person. Sara gives great hugs and lots of kisses, including fishy kisses where she makes fish lips (if she can while laughing) and then plants one on ya. Sara also loves getting into things she knows she's not supposed to, especially things in the bathroom. Usually it's my makeup, she applies long-lasting lipstick to her eyes, squirts entire new tubes of toothpaste into the sink, or yesterday, when she put deodorant on her stomach. She is definitely momma's girl, she loves to be a mermaid and run around in her underwear all day. We love our Sara and are so happy we've had 4 years to spend with her.