3 Months With Ethan

Our Ethan is three months old!

Look at that sweet face!  Look at it!  I love him completely.

This month has been a happy one.  He has started smiling so much!  His smiles comes easily.

He has also started to let a few giggles out.  

He has also started talking in the last couple of weeks, and boy does he have a lot to say!

This last month Ethan had his first Easter and looked so handsome in his little suit.

Ethan has tried to roll over onto his stomach a few times 

and I suspect he'll be doing it sometime this next month!

We gave Ethan his first hair cut this month.  His hair kind of was growing like an old mans.

Bald on top and full on the sides and the back!  So Louis fixed him up a bit!

Before

After

And a cute little smile!

His sisters continue to love on him like crazy!

Louis and I can't get enough of him either!  He is such a great snuggler

 and we love trying to get a giggle out of him.

We have a picture like this with all our kids!

It is amazing to see these little ones grow so quickly.  

Ethan is our sweet little buddy boy and I look forward to the rest of the year to see what changes are in store for us!

26th Birthday

I turned 26 this last Monday!  I had quite the fantastic day!  We had gotten home late the night before from my grandparent's house and we all slept in until 8:30.  Which was awesome, but we were meeting some family at Kneaders at 9 so we had to rush out of the house!  We enjoyed a very yummy French toast breakfast!  I also got a free birthday eclair which was delicious!

As I was about to get in the van to go home Alisha said, "You're coming with me."  What?  She had been enlisted to occupy my time while Louis got my present ready.  We went to the mall and tried to find a photo booth that worked.  They were all broken.  Alisha's phone has a photo booth function though so we were saved!  We also went to the arcade for a bit!

We got back home and Louis had put together 4 dates in a box for my gift.  For this gift he got together all the supplies we would need for a date night and put them in a box.  Game night, spa night, mario kart night, and a hike.  So all I have to do is pick a box and that's the date we're doing!  After that we went on a walk as a family.  It's one of my favorite things for us to all do together.  It's getting tricky with three kids though.  I wore Ethan, Mary was in the stroller, and Avery walked.  We stopped at a little park on our walk and took these fun pictures.

Later in the afternoon Avery and I went out for ice cream with the Coldstone gift certificate I got from my sister Jessica.  Avery really enjoyed the one on one time she was able to have with me.  So thank you for that Jessica!

After ice cream and while the two younger kids were both napping I did my nails.  I love Jamberry nails and did something extra fun and out of the ordinary (for me) with them!

That night Louis and I were able to go out to dinner together.  We went to the Beehive Grill, we have been there two times before and like it.  We just happened to have a gift card and that made it even better!  

It was a fantastic and relaxing birthday!  I am very grateful for Louis for making it such a happy one.  Thank you for all of the calls, texts, and messages.  It feels great to be 26!  Even though it's scarily close to 30.

Also I got this as a present from Celestial :)

Birthday Trip

This last weekend we made our way up to my grandparent's house in Nampa, Idaho.  The drive up went very well!  We only had to stop once for me to feed Ethan then we were on our way again!
The first evening there we met up with my grandparent's at Chuck-A-Rama for dinner then just headed back to the hotel.  I went swimming with the girls that night and they both had so much fun!  Mary was so happy to be able to splash to her little hearts content and Avery loved being thrown up in the air.
The next morning after breakfast we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's to weed their garden and plant some flowers.  Avery and Mary enjoyed it and made me wish we had a larger garden they could help me with.  Mary loved playing in the dirt and climbing up trees while we worked.  Avery enjoyed helping to dig holes and putting the flowers in them.  I loved seeing Louis so willingly help my Grandpa even though he was not feeling well.

After the garden was done we went to Grandma Donna's good friends 60th wedding anniversary.  

This is where we got these awesome picture!

We then headed up to the Bird's of Prey.  We got to walk around to see the birds they have there and sit for a presentation where they brought out a couple birds and told us about them.  Mary was more interested in the fish in the little stream they had, but the rest of us enjoyed seeing the birds.

This picture would be cooler if the eagle was facing me

After Bird's of Prey we went to eat at Sizzler's, I think I've been there maybe once.  The food was okay and the service was really good.  We headed back to the hotel after dinner and put the kids in bed.  Mary decided to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and didn't go back to sleep until 5:30, which is of course when Ethan decided to wake up!  We did all sleep in until 9 though so that was nice.  Grandma and Grandpa J had stake conference that Sunday so we found a random church building and went to their sacrament service.  After church we had a great lunch made by Grandma Donna and birthday cake for Grandpa and me!  They were very sweet to include me even though it was Grandpa's birthday.

We talked and played for a while after lunch then got in the car to make out way back home.  The drive home was just as good as the drive up.  We were all happy to be home, but really enjoyed out little trip to Idaho!  We love our grandparents so much and love being able to spend some quality time with them.  We are excited to see them again in a few months when they come down for my parent's homecoming.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

And just like that it was Easter!  This year Easter was the same weekend as General Conference and I loved it.  General Conference and Easter should always go together.  It helped me to focus more on the true spirit of Easter.  That is of the resurrection of Christ.  I am so grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and for the prophets and apostles that are on this earth today.
Our Easter celebrations started the week before Easter when we got together with the Brandley's at Pug Park for an Easter egg hunt.  The girls both had lots of fun!  Avery had fun running around and playing with the kids and Mary had fun climbing the trees!  I wish I had a picture of it!
The day before Easter we headed down to Ogden early in the morning to be at Louis' parent's house in time for the morning session of conference.  It was a wonderful session and I was actually able to listen to some of the talks even with the girls running around.  After the session was over we hurried out the door to meet up with Ben, Sarina, and Lizzie at Ogden Regional to meet the Easter Bunny and go on an Easter egg hunt.  Avery and Mary both did okay with the Easter Bunny.  They didn't want to give him a high five, but they didn't cry or run away either!  Better than last year.  The hunt was fast and both the girls did really well and had fun.

On Easter Sunday we started our day with finding the Easter baskets that had been hidden for us.  Avery and Mary both loved going through their baskets.  Even though Mary doesn't look like it in the pictures!

After they had looked through their baskets and eaten some chocolate I made some pancakes.  I attempted to make bunny shaped pancakes, Avery and Mary were satisfied so I was too!  Even though Mary shouted out Mickey Mouse when I put her pancake in front of her.

After the first session of conference we had a lesson on Christ; His last days, His crucifixion, and His resurrection.  Nothing in my life has brought me as much joy as teaching my children about the Gospel and seeing them gain their own testimonies of Christ, our Heavenly Father, and His plan.

"He is not here:  for He is risen."  -Matthew 28:6

"Today we celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, 

every sorrow we have ever known."  -Jeffrey R. Holland

St Patrick's Day Fun

Avery loves holidays and it is so fun to celebrate with her!  We did a few fun things the week leading up to St Patrick's day this year and I thought I'd share my favorites.

This was a super fun craft I did with the girls.  I drew lines on the paper and Avery helped me cut them out and did really well following the line.  I'll have to do some zig zag lines for her to see how well she does with those.

On St Patrick's day morning a sneaky leprechaun turned out waffles green!   I had to convince our serious Avery of this.  She asked if I had seen him, but you know leprechauns!  They're so sneaky and if you blink they're gone!  

After breakfast we found a note from the leprechaun saying he had left us some of his gold and we needed to follow the colors of the rainbow to find it.  So we headed outside and were lead to the gold!

We made some rainbow cupcakes later in the day.  They were lots of fun and Avery has decided she wants a rainbow cake for her birthday now.

It was a really fun day and I'm excited for next year to continue these fun traditions!