My Golden Birthday

This year was my golden Birthday as my sister Rachael pointed out to me a few months ago. I turned 27 on the 27th of April. How could my year not be a great one with that golden coincidence on my side? :) Kaleb spoiled me by taking me out to dinner like every single day leading up to my birthday.... I know I know, not very healthy! But boy was it enjoyable! :-D

Friday before my birthday, Carter spent the night with my in-laws so Kaleb and I went to Texas Roadhouse just the two of us (with a sleeping baby in tow) and it was nice just to have the time to ourselves. A few days later we went to Utah so Kaleb could work and I enjoyed time with good friends and family!

Tuesday night we stayed with our best friends the Whitworths in Bountiful,and I was able to spend all day Wednesday hanging out with Lydia. We sure do miss being so far away from you guys! We took the kids to the park and then went and checked out the new City Creek Mall in SLC. The best part of the day was just being able to talk and relax and catch up with her. Carter loved spending time with his good pal Addison and his new favorite baby Clark (next to Mila of course). He keeps telling me he wants a brother like Clark. :)

 Walking through the princess castle at the Disney Store

 Loving the water in the reflection pool on Temple square!

Wednesday night we headed over to Jesh and Brooke's house in Highland to spend the rest of the week with them. Thursday I met up with Kaleb at City Creek again to try out a Greek food place in the food court while Carter played at the amazing dinosaur play place. When I came back to Highland I spent a few hours with my sister Rachael having some much needed catching up time while eating cookies and ice cream. There is nothing like seeing your siblings to make you happy! I miss them all the time!

Thursday night we headed off to Provo to see Marianne, Brian and Haley! They are some of my best friends from college and I really love them. Brian just graduated from BYU with his masters degree and they are moving to Texas. I had to see them while they were still so close to us. I really enjoyed talking with them and having Carter and their daughter Haley play together. I am going to miss you guys when you move so far away!

 Carter with Haley

Friday afternoon for my birthday, my awesome brother Jesh took me out for Sushi in SLC! Kaleb and Brooke did not want to come since neither of them like fish at all so it was a delicious afternoon spent with my favorite brother just the two of us. I loved getting some one on one time with him since that never happens. The sushi was A-MAZING! He had me try new things which I loved. I tried some Nigiri for the first time and it was... ok. Ha! I didn't know if I would like it and I was too scared to try the straight Sashimi so we had the Nigiri instead. Now that I know which cuts of fish I like and don't like, I would try it again! Then it was onto my favorites of the day the Maki Bento! The spicy salmon tempura rolls were my faves. We even ordered an extra roll of them. YUM! Thanks Bro!

So... my brother doesn't like this picture, but it's the only one I got of him so I am going to post it. Look at that yummy food!

 The plate of Nigiri with some spicy tuna rolls

Maki Bento! Yum!

The rest of the day was spent with Brooke and Jesh and the kids playing. I really love this family! I could spend all of my time with them and never get too bored. Carter loves his cousins so so much and cries just about every time we have to leave to go back home.

All the kids together! (except Kate, she was sleeping)

Good big brother Christian with his sister Kate

Get a load of those chunky cheeks! Adorable. 

Collin wanted to get in on the action. 

Rachael with Kate. 

Too bad Mila won't let anyone hold her so I couldn't get a picture of her with anyone! 

Only a few short hours later it was time for my birthday dinner which I was really looking forward to! I had a free meal at Tocanos which we definitely cannot afford otherwise. Kaleb and I, Jesh and Brooke, Rachael and all the kids headed all the way back to SLC and had a fun evening full of the most delicious meat and fried bananas! Kaleb and I love to eat here, but you can't do it very often or else its a meat OVERLOAD! But boy is it tasty. :) After that, We tried out a place a block away per Jesh's recommendation. I can't remember what it is called, but they sell the most amazing waffles. Each waffle has huge grains of sugar in the batter and when it cooks, the sugar stays somewhat together so it is like biting into a piece of heaven. Did I mention that each waffle has a huge chunk of melted dark chocolate in the center? HEAVEN! Seriously. We are going there again someday, but until then I will only have my memories and my dreams of my celestial encounter to tide me over. :)

All of us at Tucanos

The yummy hole in the wall waffle place. Double Yum!

Ready for bed with a screaming baby. But the day was worth it :)

The next morning it was time to go home :( But not without stopping at Krispy Kremes on the way! I know what you are thinking... more fattening foods?!! But hey, we don't have anything around here that is this good! Kaleb loves doughnuts and I don't, except for Krispy Kremes so it is really the only time he gets them. And don't worry, Carter secretly ate most of them when we weren't looking...

That was the end of my magical food filled week. When we came home I started on a new healthy eating plan which was super depressing so I look back on these food memories fondly. I hope the rest of you get spoiled for your golden birthdays as well! Oh wait, I am the only golden one!!!! hahaha.

Update!

A quick update on my kids... since I know that is all you care about :) Mila and Carter are my favorite people (next to Kaleb of course) so I love bragging about them every chance I get!

Carter 
-Growing like a weed! Finally getting into 4T clothes

-Knows his alphabet completely and can recognize and identify each letter 

(both capitol and lowercase)

-Starting to identify small words when he sees them

-Can spell his name and attempts to write it (not the best at it, but he tries!)

-LOVES to sing, especially to his baby sister. He makes up all sorts of songs and sings 

them while playing by himself as well as to mommy and daddy at bedtime

-Loves loves LOVES his baby sister. He tells me all the time how much he just loves her. 

He sings to her and cuddles her and pretty much smothers her with love

-Even though he loves his sister, he wants his own time with mommy and daddy

 (especially daddy!) without baby sister involved

-Is very independent which leads to trouble most days

-Likes throwing temper tantrums OFTEN. It's pretty much his way 

or the highway (or so he thinks)

-Still the sweetest kid in the whole wide world. He sure knows how to melt

 our hearts with his love and kindness

-Still having a hard time with peeing the bed at night (GRR!)
-Has told me over and over that he wants to be a Dinosaur Pilot when he grows up... if that is possible, I am sure he will accomplish that goal!
-Obsessed with Dinosaurs! (as made obvious above)

-Loves his Heavenly Father and big brother Jesus. 

-Loves saying prayers all by himself

-Learning to be responsible by doing chores and earning pennies

Had to get his picture taken in front of the temple! His favorite place to see.

With his favorite person ever!

So independent even with his hair! 

 With his three favorite things; pop-sickles, his stuffed bear, and Diego!

 My handsome boy

Mila

-3 months old now!  She is growing much to fast for my liking

-She is our chunky monkey! Weighs 15 lbs

-Already getting too big for some of her 3-6 month clothes

-A daddies girl through and through (darnit! :)

-Has a bit of colic especially at night

-Loves when daddy bounces her (only he seems to be able to do it right so that she stops crying)

-Loves standing more than sitting or laying

-Hates tummy time! 

-Started rolling over a month ago to get out of having her dreaded tummy time

-Can't hold her head up too well yet- also because she won't do the tummy time!

 (but she is getting better and better everyday)

-A very happy girl! Loves to smile and laugh every second 

(when she isn't screaming her head off because of the colic)

-Still sleeps through the night (a good 12 solid hours! Hooray for me! knock on wood!!)
-Loves to sing! Makes me so happy I have 2 kids who love music.

 I sing to Mila while rocking her to sleep and every time she starts cooing and gurgling along with me. (LOVE IT!)

- Starting to chew on EVERY thing she can put in her mouth

Holding her head up! This is the best she does. So adorable!

"Who is this weirdo staring at me?" Carter newest favorite toy Phineas 

Loves sucking and chewing on whatever she can get in her mouth

My big girl! 3 months just flew by!

Me and my lovelies!

Easter 2012

This may be my longest, biggest post ever! Sorry!

This Easter was the best I have ever had since I was a kid. Carter is now old enough to understand what it is all about which made me realize how important it was for me to teach him about it. A good friend of ours gave me a bag of Resurrection Eggs which was absolutely perfect for Carter. A few of the points were lost on him, but because there was a "surprise" in every egg he sat and listened to me explain what each egg was all about and read the short verse in the scriptures that coincided with them before he opened each egg and discovered what was inside. And since you do one egg each day, we didn't have to worry about his short attention span at all.

 I explained to him in terms he could understand that the man he loves so much was betrayed by his friend and that no one believed that he was our Savior and they didn't understand what they were doing at the time, but they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross. And that was how he died. Carter was so sad. He flinched when I told him about them whipping him and putting a crown of thorns on his head. He didn't want me to talk about the nails in his hands because it made him too sad. He kept asking me why his friends would do that to him? He didn't quite understand that not everyone was friends with Jesus- I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with someone so wonderful right? And since we talked about the death of Jesus, Carter has become more aware of the concept of it all.

Just today he told me he didn't want me to die and leave him, even if he was old old old and had his own kids. He wanted me to be with him forever. What a teaching experience! I once again sat him down and told him that nothing on this earth is forever, that we all need to die at some point. I asked him where we go when we die and he told me "to live with heavenly father and Jesus... but mom, I don't want you to go without me!" Haha, I love my boy. He knows that heaven is sooo much "cooler" than this place but that we all have our time to go there and its all part of Heavenly Father's plan for us.

Anyway, to get back to Easter- Carter did not like the part about Jesus dying at all. But once I got to the part about them putting him in the tomb (or as Carter calls it, the cave- like batman's cave! haha), and the guards placing a BIG stone over the door so that no one could come and take Jesus he was all ears. I explained that an angel of God came and rolled the stone away while the guards were sleeping, and Jesus was alive again! He was resurrected and now lives with Heavenly Father. He LOVED that part. He got all giddy and excited that Jesus was alive again. I mean, Jesus is like the biggest superhero to Carter and that just reaffirmed how amazing he is to Carter. Nothing can stop Jesus! hahaha, that is totally how Carter feels about him. That was my favorite part of all of Easter this year.

Saturday before Easter Sunday we made our favorite fattening and sugary breakfast of waffles with real whipped cream and sausage. The waffles are Kalebs pride and joy because he has tweaked them to perfection. I colored all of the waffles and the whipped cream different bright colors just to make Carter smile (since we forgot to do it for St. Patricks day and kaleb and I were so disappointed). Carter of course loved it! Carter shoved every last bite in his mouth, along with Kaleb and me :)

 Our colorful creation

YUM!

Plate licking good!

Don't mind my crazy "I just woke up" hair and my old makeup I never washed off! :)

That afternoon we made resurrection rolls. I have never made these before but I thought it would be yet another fun thing to do with Carter to help him understand the real meaning behind Easter. I was wrong. He did not really want to help at all and the rolls ended up not turning out because the fell apart in the oven. Oh well, I tried!

 About to start "helping" me

 Showing me what "he" did. Haha

Sure, they fell apart and didn't work out how I wanted, but they sure tasted YUMMY!

After that came dying the Easter eggs! I am still not sure why we did this since Kaleb hates eggs and Carter apparently does not like them either. We only made 10 hard boiled eggs, but that was 10 too many! But it was fun for carter to color and dye his own eggs. Kaleb and I also had fun even though we discovered we are terrible at making them look even half way decent. But we tried super hard and had only 2 or 3 that turned out looking pretty good.

 Mine are the top 3, Kalebs the middle 3 and the bottom left one, Carter are the bottom 3... Can you see the cracked egg? Good thing these were hard boiled! 

 Mine and Kalebs

 I tried to block out the bad looking cracked egg. Who am I kidding? We accidentally cracked like 4 of them! :)

I put all the eggs in the fridge and told Carter the Easter Bunny would come and get them while we were at church and hide them around the house so that Carter could have his own Easter egg hunt! This is Carter's favorite part each year so I was looking forward to it as well.

We have church first thing Sunday mornings so it worked out well to have the rest of the day to do Easter stuff. We came home from church and Carter started giggling when he saw all the "hidden" eggs. He had to look for his basket that the Easter Bunny hid and then he was off! He found all the eggs in record time. He had a little help from some of his friends :)

 Found his Easter Basket!

 Already found two eggs!

 Look mom, an egg!

 My best looking egg. It sure looked cool, even though it was an accident ;)

 Found daddies sparkly green egg! This was my favorite of them all.

 Getting a little help from some friends 

 Carter's Buddy Doll wanted in on the Easter hunt too

 Daddies other awesome egg

 Look at that haul! 

This was our first Holiday EVER since we have been married that we wouldn't be with either my family or Kaleb's. I was looking forward to it just because I wanted to try my hand at making a big dinner since I never have. I didn't make anything too fancy, but everything turned out sooo yummy! We made deviled eggs (which only I ate), rolls, carrots, harvard beets, roasted rosemary and thyme potatoes, a yummy ham with a yummy citrus peach ham glaze (which turned out oh so scrumptious!), and to drink we had some Pineapple-Apricot Punch that I found here. We didn't make very much since it was only the 4 of us, and Mila can't eat food yet. But it ended up being perfect for us. Oh and did I mention that I made my very first cheesecake and it turned out AMAZING? I am not a huge fan of cheesecake, but Kaleb is so I decided to make one just for him. It was White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and it made me a believer. I thought it would be so much harder than it was. I even bought vanilla ice cream just in case we needed a little extra something to swallow it down with, but it didn't need anything at all. It shined all by itself. Go me!!

 My super yummy cheesecake! 

 Our spread! Looks dinky compared to what we are used to seeing with our huge extended family holiday meals, but we sure were proud of it! 

 My dark blue egg was cracked when I started dying it, and this is how it looked once we were done and peeled it. CRAZY! 

 It almost looks like it has veins! Ugh! 

Overall we had such a great time. We sure missed being with family, but it is nice creating new memories of your own. I am so glad Carter is learning all about the true meanings of these sacred Holidays. He is growing into such an amazing, unique and special boy. He makes us laugh sooo hard and brings such joy into our lives. We can't imagine life without both of our precious kids. We felt so blessed this Holiday and look forward to many many more with our family in the future!

 My two Easter cuties. Sorry, I took Mila out of her dress right away without even thinking about pictures! Doh! 

Can't help but love that big smile and that adorable double chin!