Oak Lane Deer

We saw a bunch of deer on our drive this afternoon. As soon as we turned on Oak Lane, we spotted 4 deer on the hillside. Collin thought their big eyes were so pretty. Of course we only had a cell phone camera to capture the scene, so you'll have to excuse the grainy photos. We stopped to let them cross the street. We saw 3 more deer just a little ways away. The kids were so excited to see seven deer at one time. It was so neat!

Other highlights of our drive today:
1. Collin and Allie laughing about Collin's car seat tag (the "TONGUE") that kept blowing in the wind.
2. Seeing the Life Flight helicopter with skis (to aid in snow landing).
3. The beautiful tulips and white, pink, and springy green trees. Why didn't I think of doing blue pansies with red and orange tulips? They looked so good. Of course BYU almost always comes up with the prettiest color combinations.

Pint-sized 5-month old

Watching TV!

Maddie is often referred to as our "little pint of love" by Allie and Collin.   She is now 5 months old, and is beginning to show a little personality.   She still won't take milk from a bottle (even if it's mom's milk), but thankfully sucks on a pacifier now.  She has also mastered rolling over from back to tummy, plays with her feet -- she can lay there contently just watching her feet and legs move and bringing her feet to her face.  At 12.5 pounds, she is our smallest baby at this age.  She weighed that much last month, which means she lost the weight she had put on this month.  She is 24.8 inches long, which puts her at the 50th percentile in height.  She started to show signs of separation anxiety at 4 1/2 months old (a little early I think).   She is taking after Allie, who started this stranger-danger deal when she was 4 months old.  Last week Friday, she cried when Kevin held her after he'd been gone for four days.   It took all of Saturday morning and a bunch of diaper changes by Dad to get her to warm back up to him.   She also likes to make "brr" sounds, laughs out loud when tickled, and prefers to sleep on her side (prefering to turn right than left).

Where's my pants?

This is what happens when you're set on wearing BLUE JEANS, and can't find any in your drawer. And nothing else would do, not jean shorts, not khakis, just plain nothing.

Lost Tooth

Allie lost another tooth on April 26th! That would be her right lateral incisor, if I'm not mistaken. She was so concerned about looking funny with one of her teeth missing, but came home from Primary and told us nobody said a thing about it, so she was glad. She is so silly about stuff like that. The tooth fairy also forgot to leave her some $ two nights in a row (ouch!), so she made a card for the tooth fairy and finally taped the tooth to the front of the card so she won't miss it. Oh the fun creative things this artsy girl does!

The 30 Club

Yup, yesterday was the last day of my 20's. Today I woke up to a birthday banner and got homemade cards from my sweet kids. Collin asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday, as he was going to bake one, only that he needed my help to do it. What a thoughtful boy! He said I needed one since it was my birthday. So funny!

Later in the morning, I received beautiful white roses from my handsome hubby. He knows I love white roses, so he's given me mostly white roses for 10 years (and counting, he he). He had them delivered to our house since he's in AZ til Friday.

My sisters Andrea and Aireen had a birthday cookie delivered, and then after Aireen came over after work, we had Olive Garden takeout for dinner. Overall a nice and quiet way to celebrate my joining the 30 club!

Last week, the Harris' celebrated my birthday by taking me to lunch at Gecko Grill. Kristie, Megan, Lorraine, and Shelby were good company and those cheese enchiladas and green sauce -- oh so good food!!!

Maddie's Blessing

Maddie was blessed on April 13 in her Grandma and Pop's home in Arizona. Kevin gave a wonderful blessing, and enjoyed some good BBQ for dinner after.

Men in the circle: Bro. Payne, Bishop Butler, Tony, Kevin and Maddie, Jack, Chad, and Adam

Maddie in her blessing dress slip.

A Fun Conference Weekend

We love Conference Weekend! We have been looking forward to hearing Pres. Monson speak for quite some time. The kids were quite good - they actually sat and listened to a few talks, and did really well the first three sessions. I got creative and prepared their Conference activity books beforehand, and then bought them new drawing materials which they only get to use during this special time.

Early on Saturday morning, Collin came downstairs with his materials and asked "When is Conference?". Then during the first Sunday session, I was helping him color a page when Pres. Packer started to speak. He said, "quick! turn the page to the ties, I'm going to miss it!" Coloring the ties was his favorite activity. He also drew a picture of Elder Perry and "marble" and "keys" - just random words he heard from the talks.

Allie was content with all of her word-searches and coloring pages and playing hang-man with phrases like "Sunday is the Sabbath day" and "I am a Child of God". The two spent the last session playing pretend, and came in for the last part of Elder Ballard's talk (directed towards children).

After dinner today, Kevin took the kids on their usual Sunday walk, which the kids have come to look forward to. It is a special time with Dad!

What a great blessing Conference is! It was so neat to participate in Solemn Assembly to sustain Pres. Monson and our new apostle, Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Until next time!

Bung-ga goes Bowling

Last Friday (April 4), The Finns (Danny and Aireen) took the kids out for a fun night of bowling at the BYU Games Center. Andrea also went with them, as she was home from Salt Lake for the weekend. The kids always look forward to spending time with their fun aunt and uncle -- Danny and Aireen like having them over at their house for sleepovers once in a while. After grabbing a bite to eat at KFC they went to BYU to play a game of bowling and some arcade games. Bung-ga happens to be Collin's pet name for Allie (don't ask me where he got it from).

New Photos of Maddie

Ready for bed!
She's holding on to her little rattle while she sleeps.
Huh?
She was babbling when I took this photo.

This week:

-Maddie rolled over from back to tummy but couldn't figure out how to get her arm out, so she didn't like it very well.

- She is becoming more and more vocal.

- She is more coordinated when aiming for a toy. She can hold her rattle for quite some time.

- She plays with her hands, and sometimes her feet.

Our Valley's Best Boy

Collin likes playing pretend - he's a cop at 9 a.m., firefighter at 10, maybe a garbage truck (yes, not the driver) the next. The other day he decided he wanted to be a "Valley's Best boy". Kevin's parents own an air conditioning and heating company in Arizona called Valley's Best Air Conditioning. We don't talk about Valley's Best much at home, except when I am working on their website, which I designed and maintain. On that particular morning, he knocked on an imaginary door and told me "I'm here to work on your house." The rest of the conversation went like this:

me: Hmmm.
Collin: I'm from Valley's Best.
me: Oh ok.
Collin: Something's wrong with your air conditioner, so I'll work on it.
me: Ok.
--- he then goes into the playroom with some tools and comes out a few minutes later.
me: So what's up?
Collin: Well, your air conditioner isn't working. It's blowing hot air!

Later on, he decided he was also going to mow our lawn (carpet), and clean the carpet upstairs. He made sure to introduce himself as "Valley's Best Air Conditioning Mowing Lawn and Carpet Cleaning". There's an idea for Grandma and Pop, if you're wondering what direction to take your business! This post will make the day of those in the family working for Valley's Best.