Look who's 5...

I cannot believe that Matt is 5 already. He will start kindergarten in a month. For his birthday we all went around as a family and told him what we love most about him. Here are some of the things we said... We love how much he loves his sisters, so much he can't keep his hands off them. He is so smart. He is so kind and generous, always sharing with others. He has a lot of energy and loves to run, play and laugh. We love having this special boy in our family.

What we've been up to...

I just looked at the pictures in my camera and realized we've been really busy and I have a lot to update...

I started running again a few months ago and I did my first 5k since college a couple weekends ago. I have been training with a couple friends to do another half marathon in June. My 5k time was 27:00 minutes, I was happy with that time since I usually run around 10 minute miles, but Brandon told me his last 5k he "thinks" he did 26:30. I can't believe Brandon can beat me now. I don't like the 5k much, I'd rather run a longer, slower race. At least there is no way Brandon could beat me in the half :).

I also signed the kids up for the 1k kids run. The also did it with some friends and both seemed to like it. 1k is .6 of a mile and I was impressed they ran the whole time. My camera ran out of batteries right before the kids race, so this is all we've got. (by the way, I got a new battery and hopefully I won't have this problem anymore).

Brandon took Kate on a date to the Daddy daughter dance at school. Kate wanted so badly to wear a dress. I took her to the store and let her pick out what dress she wanted. This is what she chose.

And then she found one in Annie's size, oh yea! I wouldn't of picked this dress, but I am a sucker for matching girls, so Annie has one too. Look at her pose, she loved it.Last week we went to visit my mom and grandparents. It was a short trip, but mom kept us busy with lots of fun activities. One afternoon we took the kids to the University farm to see the baby cows. I remember going there when I was young and seeing the baby pigs. When you walked up to the cage the cows stuck their heads out wanting to eat. Matt was brave and was petting them, but as you can see Kate didn't like it.

We also went to the Children's Museum and the beach(which was freezing cold).

Right before we left my grandma invited me to see some of her quilts. I really enjoyed looking at them. Here are my favorites...

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Morro Rock, Morro Bay, CA-I use to go to Morro Bay for Cross Country Camp in High School and just love how this quilt reminds me of those fun time.She made this quilt for a contest in the Ensign magazine with the theme "Worldwide Church". It has the temple in the middle and all different types of house you find around the world, with an umbrella over the whole thing. The quilt was displayed in Salt Lake City with other contest winners and a picture was in the Ensign. The most amazing part of this quilt is the beautiful hand quilting.

Going home....

Annie is the perfect little baby and has been so good on all of our outings this month. Here is a recent picture of her and another I took today.

Vacation

Our very good and generous friends Andrea and Scott invited us to stay with them at their place in Newport Beach for a week. My camera ran out of batteries the first day there, so I don't have many pictures to document the great and fun week we had. The weather was prefect for a beach vacation and was even warm enough to swim in the pool. Scott and Andrea have 3 kids exactly Kate and Matt's age and they had a blast together, with only a few minor incidents (sand to the eyes and fingers in the door, we believe one was retaliation for the other :) ). We went to Legoland one day and Disneyland another. They were both a little crowded from spring break, but the kids enjoyed it anyway. We mostly enjoyed hanging out and relaxing at the beach or pool with our friends. Andrea, I miss you already, let's plan to get together this summer.

Easter Pictures-a little late

April Fool's!

The reason I love holidays so much is because I love to make and have family traditions, a way that only our family celebrates something year after year. I have never really cared for April Fool's Day, mostly because I never could think of any good tricks. Today was such a fun day though because now the kids get it and love to play tricks. This morning when the kids woke up I told them that Annie learned to walk and Matt looked at me all serious and said "can I see?". I told him to use that joke on his teacher at school. After school he told me that he told his teacher that Annie started talking and then said April Fool's. His teacher told him "good one". I got this next idea out of the current Family Fun magazine. I took a small bag of Cheetos (regular chips for Matt because of his allergies, but the Cheetos worked better), and opened the bottom of the bag. I took out the Cheetos and put in some carrots and a note that said "April Fool's. Kate's off track so she had lunch at home with me. When she opened them she looked at me all serious and said "these aren't Cheetos, I think their carrots". I said "are you sure? Try one." She pulled one out and put it to her mouth and said "yeah, it's a carrot". She was all serious and concerned and then she found the note and I said "Gotcha". She said I didn't get her because she knew they weren't Cheetos. I put the chips in Matt lunch which he eat at school today. As soon as I walked into Matt's class to pick him up he said to me "Mommy you got me today". I said "what did you think, wasn't that funny?" He said "Yeah, you freaked me out". All day they kept saying funny things then saying "April Fool's". We had a good day. Do you have any other idea of tricks to play, maybe for next year? Did anyone get you good? Happy April Fool's Day

Happy Thanksgiving?

Here is my latest quilt. I made it with my turkeys and leaves from my quilt block exchanges. My mom quilted it for me and did a beautiful job. Now I have to wait until next November to hang it up.

Brandon's Blog

Brandon has just started blogging. He says it will be about random stuff he feels like talking about, but mostly about medical advice, and since he is a pediatrician it will be mostly about kids. If you know Brandon you will understand and appreciate his humor. Check it out here! If you like, you can add him to your blogroll.