Cooling Off

I love these two little sweaty children. They are truely Jon's children. Not only do they LOOK ONLY like him, but they metabolize like him. (Pictured here is their favorite way to cool off).To give you an idea of how hot blooded they are - Everytime we walk through the door I remind them to take their shoes off. Within two minutes Rylee has stripped down to her underwear and taken out her cute hair-do. Then she proceeds to attempt to take off Brody's clothes. When I ask her what she's doing she says, "Brody's hot, Mama." What can I say, she's hot.

LDS Missionaries

As you know, my younger brother is on a mission in Uruguay, which makes me have a little extra compassion towards them when they visit our house. (FYI - 2 years is up for Tom and comes home June 26, 2009)
If you are already a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you may ask yourself, "What are missionaries good for?" (because we know what they can do for the non-member)I have found out they are good for mowing the lawn in a suit in 85 degree weather. I have been taking care of the lawn lately because Jon has had his hands tied with studying for the Captain's Test. They gave me the break I needed. They were so willing to give any act of service they could. I repaid them with 2 large bags of candy. (Jon appreciated that the most - ridding the house of the easter candy). I find it ever so funny that one did all the work and the other, well...he, appearently, was the supervisor.I cracked up watching this...mowing in a suit. What a great service they did for me that day! Thank you!

Easter Fun

Since our Ward didn't do an Easter breakfast like usual, we decided to join Mat, Aimee, Leah, Rebekah, and Emily at their ward Easter Egg Hunt and Breakfast. The girls and Brody had a great time.They were each alotted 12 eggs. And they're off!These smart girls didn't bother counting the eggs. As you can see Leah, Rebekah and Rylee came back with much, much more. Brody and Emily actually caught on and were in on the action as well. Here is Brody trying to sneak into the picture with the three older girls. Love the silly tongue action!They had a great time playing on the play ground with all the rest of the kids. Brody, the silly, wiggly, worm hates to sit still and just wants to RUN!Jon got home from work on Sunday and we all dyed hard boiled eggs together and attempted to talk about the real reason for "Easter", the Resurrection.How grateful I am at this time to remember what Christ has done for us. Without his selfless sacrifice, we wouldn't have a chance to change the mistakes we have made, and be better with each new day. Thank you, thank you.

Dress up...again.

Rylee put this outfit all together by herself, so I had to document it.I am so proud of her dressup skills. "All matching" she says!

Kayaking Lake Natomas

I'm so glad that the weather is starting to get warm. Jon and I both agree that kayaking is very relaxing and fun, especially when we are with Rylee and Brody. They are such great sports and go with the flow. It's very peaceful to pass right by the beautiful Sacramento Temple while on Lake Natomas.Rylee always wants to "I help". She has two Ariel barbies that she and Brody play with in the bath. She always has to grab them when we go kayaking. One for her and one for Brody. They love dipping her long hair in the water as we paddle really fast. She also longs to be so independent "I do it myself". I really admire that about her. She's attempting to paddle backwards.Sweet Brody loved the ducks the most and dipping side to side to put his hands in the very cold water.Thanks for such a wonderful morning!

"Ya-nastics"

Here is Rylee on the first day of gymnastics, otherwise known as "ya-nastics". She attends Technique and absolutely loves it!Some of her favorite things to do are forward rolls on the "cheese mat" bouncing on the trampoline, walking her feet up the wall into a handstand, hanging on the bars and squishing the bugs (on the bead board) with two feet. Her teacher's name is Miss Amanda, who she loves. Rylee is an excellent listener and suprisingly the only girl in her class of 5 boys. Poor Brody has a hard time watching her because he is just dying to be out there with her.

Walking the Levee

The past 30 days have been terrible. Everyone has been sick, and not just once. Jon and I started with a stomach bug, then I got another stomach bug, everyone got strep throat and Rylee got the scarletine rash, Brody got a big fat allergic reaction to the antibiotics and needed a trip to the ER.Thank goodness we are all on the mend. Since we were all feeling a little bit better we decided to take a walk on the Folsom Dam to enjoy the out of doors.We take our health for granted too often. I guess it takes us a a good dose of sickness to appreciate the health that we have been blessed with.My heart truly goes out to those who have chronically sick children...or husbands. Husbands are the WORST at being sick!!In all seriousness, thank you Heavenly Father for our health and the knowledge of medicine.

Happy Birthday Rylee!

Happy Birthday To You!
Happy Birthday To You!
Happy Birthday Dear Rylee!
Happy Birthday To You!
As you all know, Rylee is a huge fan of Ariel. This year we decided to have a Little Mermaid themed party. It was set "under the sea".Ariel left the girls a treasure hunt put on by Ariel herself. Ariel left a lot of clues around Rylee's house with a treasure at each stop. They even had to play "Limbo" to the "Under the Sea" music to get a treasure. The very last treasure ended with a "whack" on Ariel's pinata!At the end they all enjoyed my cupcake icecream cones! I am so proud of Jon and I. We had so much fun making these!! Don't they look so GOOD?A special thanks to Aimee and Jon for all their hard work...balloons, decorations etc! Thank you thank you! I couldn't have done it without you two!Later that day the rest of the family showed and we ate lunch, opened presents and bounced at Sky High Sports!! Rylee, Brody, Rebekah, Leah and Emily had a blast! Thanks to everyone who made the trip!

Dancing With The Stars

Rylee has been into the "Dancing with the Stars" TV show this season. She wakes up every morning puts on either a ballerina outfit or princess dress and asks to watch "dancing".She is nothing short of a full on GIRL! She is always asking Jon and I to dance with her when music comes on.Jon even asked for dancing lessons, so he will know how to dance with her. Ah, how sweet...but what about me...we actually have chances to dance, in public.

Can you say messy?

Jon decided to make his first batch of homemade applesauce.
It was fabulous! Can you tell the kids liked it? Can you say "messy, messy, messy"?Messes are not complete without a bath in the kitchen sink!