Birthday's Birthday's and more Birthday's!!!

Well, this month has been birthday party after birthday party! We celebrated my nephew Austin's 6th birthday first and we went to see How to Train your Dragon. Which I have to say is probably my new favorite! The girls loved it too and I was suprised but Vienna even kept her 3-D glasses on the whole time. We had a Dragon party after and I must say...I think my Tynners makes the cutest little Viking! :)







Next in line, My baby! I can't even believe she is one! In fact I am pretty bummed about it. She has been the best baby ever and now that she is getting bigger I am worried that her big sister is going to rub off on her!! :) Although, she can handle herself that is for sure. The other day Vienna was bugging her and Tynlee hauled off and smacked her! I struggled not to laugh because Vinny was pretty ticked off!! Anyway, the party went well. Tynlee had her own cake and Austin and Aspen came to celebrate with us. (But, just so you all know...this was the smallest birthday party I have ever hosted and I am not happy about it!!) It was still fun though! Oh and my favorite part...Tynlee got a tutu for her birthday and I think it is the cutest thing I have ever seen!!! She wasn't thrilled at first, the fabric was pokey! But she got used to it! :) (I loved it so much I couldn't bare to take it off of her!) -I know, I know- what a mean mom!!!!



After Tynlee's party it was Aspen's! She turned 8 this year so she had a big bash!! We went to Bounce Jungle and it was thi big building with tons of blow up toys. The girls had a blast...they played so hard that their cheeks turned hot pink! I forgot my camera fo this one and I was so ticked!! It was a fun day!



Then it was my Vienna's turn. Honestly, I was really hoping that miraculously she would wake up on her third birthday and the demon horns would be gone and a golden halo would have taken it's place...but I quickly saw that not happening!!! When she came down the stairs she immediatley yelled at me to go back up to her room and get her blanket! :) Then she noticed that I had decorated with Tinker Bell signs and balloons and she let me know that she had wanted Princess and the Frog! (I looked everywhere but it wasn't happening!) At least I made a princess and the frog cake, if not I think she could have taken things to a whole new level!! I love that kid!! Anyway, her birthday was great even without the right decorations! Mandy and Will and their kids came and spent the evening with us and we had a great time!







So, in between all of the parties we found some time to go to the pool! My friend Bryn and I took our kids to this fun little splash park...kind of like Ross Park, but less crowded! Anyway, it was a fun day in the sun and all of the kids had good time! Bryn has a little boy named Dax who is Halle's friend (except Vinny says that she is going to marry him!) He looks so much like Zachy I can't even believe it! I wish I had taken a picture of the two of them but they were pretty busy! Bryn's younger little boy is Wyatt. He is the male version of Vinny and as you can see they make quite a pair! He is so stinkin cute! Tynlee just hung out and loved the water! She did so good all day! She missed her morning nap and you would never have guessed!

Anyway...we miss all of you and can't wait to come home in 2 months!! 9 weeks to be exact!!!!!!!

Family Time!!

This morning while I was in the shower I was thinking about the movie What about Bob. (I know...I do my best thinking in the shower, what does that tell you!) Anyway, I started to realize that my life is very much resembling Bob's right now! I wake up in the morning and give myself the "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful! " speech. I have to gear myself up to leave the house in the morning out of fear of what my second born is going to put me through that day. (Get lost, steal, break something that we haven't payed for, and/or scream through the entire store!) :) And last but not least, I think I have developed terrets! Most common phrases - YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! NOT AGAIN!!! and OH SH@*!!!! On occasion all three at the same time!!!! I'm just kidding, I don't swear!! :)

So anyway, the last few weeks have been eventful. We had a great Easter. We spent the weekend with Trav's family. (Minus Macy....who we miss and wish she could have been there!) Derin, Jess, Kim, and Jan all came into town and we had loads of fun coloring eggs, hunting eggs, and eating lots and lots of chocolate eggs!!! All and all it was a nice weekend!

Tynners loves her grandpa!!!

The water was freezing if that makes anyone feel better!! :)

Mom, I know you are going to be mad at me for posting this..but I just thought it was so cute!! Vinny has always been yours! (which, some days I would be willing to give her to you completely!)

The next week my mom and dad came into town!!! Yipee! It was so nice to have them around!! We shopped, went to the pool, shopped, ate great food, shopped, oh and did I mention we shopped!!!! It was great!!! Poor dad though, spent most of his time in therapy with Trav's sister Mandy getting beat up on. When they come back next month we will hopefully get a few more things in!! :)

So, I know most of you have heard the code yellow story but I have to put it in here, for journal purposes. My mom and I took, Halle, Vienna, Tynlee, and London (my niece that I babysit) shopping one morning. First we went to a place called World Market (my new favorite!) where Vienna broke a wooden spoon that I was not planning on buying. Then we went to Target where Vienna broke a glass lantern that I was planning on buying! The whole morning I felt like I was chasing Vienna and saying "put that down, don't touch that, sit down, stop screaming!...you know the usual! I kept thinking to myself, why did we leave the house this morning!!! Then, as we were walking around Target I look around and no Vienna! I walk around the isles that were near us and no Vienna! I head for the toys...no Vienna! I start to panic and my pace quickens!! Still no Vienna. Now I am sprinting...asking every person that I see if they have seen a little blond 2 year old. Honestly it was awful!! I was in tears! Thanks to all of the employees of Target, we found her in the little girls clothes. When I talked to her about it later she just looked at me and said "Mom why are you crying...I was just looking at the clothes." Seriously, I sort of wanted to kill her!!! Oh how I love that child!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I love you all and miss you tons!! Thanks mom and dad for a great week!!

Spring Break

So we finally finished our yard!!! The only problem is that all of the flowers that we planted, Vienna has gone through most of them and picked the blossoms off! :) I am really happy with it though. I talked everyone into putting grass in the front and I think it turned out well! They all told me there wasn't enough room, but I just couldn't get excited about a rock yard. I also planted my first pots!! It was so fun! I definitley don't have the green thumb that my mom has though becasue my pink gerber daisey pot is already looking like it's on its way out!!!

The last few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind...good, but just really busy!! Trav had spring break for a week, we didn't do anything too exciting...just worked on our yard and tried to get over all of the cold and flu that took over our house! Trav's back in school now which means a new term, things are less busy for him then and we get to see more of him! I feel like Primary is in full affect for me. I had no idea what I was getting into! :) We had a primary activity last week that was so fun! We did an Olympic theme and gave all of the kids gold medals. We did all kinds of races. I asked Halle which was her favorite (I was totally expecting her say my race, thinking that she would boost my pride) I was wrong! She liked mine the least, but I should have thought about the fact that one races consisted of dressing up....I can't compete with that!!

Halle, Vienna, and Tynlee are as fun as ever! Tynlee is everywhere! Into everything and eating everything!! :) Her favorite thing is bathtime!! She practically climbs into the tub herself. Vienna is...well Vienna! The funny thing is, that as much of a stinker as she is...she is my little snuggle bug. Every morning when she gets up, she comes in and gets in bed with me. It takes me a while to get moving but she is so patient...she just snuggies in and strokes my face until I can get my eyes to open. When I finally do, she greets my with a big binkie filled smile and says "I just love you mom!" I have to remember that moment all day long because it doesn't take long and she is screaming at me that I gave her the wrong spoon for her breakfast!!! :) Halle is still my big helper. She asks for jobs regularly and loves to be put in charge! The other day I had to go outside for something and I had just put Tynlee in her highchair for lunch...when I came back in, I guess Tynlee had been crying so Halle filled her outmeal with water and had started to feed her!! Seriously, she is wonderful!

Last night we had the chance to go to the Easter pageant at the Mesa temple. Trav and a few of his friends from school invited some of their non-member friends to come. Sad thing is that only one of them came. I guess that's better that nothing!! Anyway, it was a really awesome expireince. I had never been to anything like this so I didn't know what to expect. It was a play that they put on about the life of Christ. There were thousands of people there, I couldn't believe it. They put it on every night for two weeks and a guy we talked to said that it is packed like it was last night, every night. When we walked onto the grounds, everywhere you looked there was a missionary. It was pretty cool to see. The pageant itself was AWESOME! You couldn't walk away from it and not feel touched! It was pretty powerful. It was really fun to see Halle and Vienna. They had loads of questions and where so intrigued. Vienna kept asking if Jesus was wearing a dress. :) and there is a part that Mary dances, she loved it!!! Halle was really concerned during the crusifiction. When we were leaving she wanted to be sure that we weren't going to run into the "bad guys" (the soldiers). She asked me if Jesus was really real and when I told her that he was and that he was going to come again soon she was so cute, she said "Oh, I am so excited!!! and in her prayers last night she thanked Heavenly Father for Jesus and for him coming to see her soon!! I think that going to the pageant was definitley testimony building, but seeing Halle's reaction to it all was too! Anyway...I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter!

A few weeks ago we went to the Phoenix Zoo. In February, so funny! It was such a fun day! Vienna loved this elephant. When we got to it's pen, it was inside building while the zoo workers brought out her food. When they slid the gate open for her to come out she didn't really want to. We waited for about 10 minutes for her because Vienna was determined that she was talking to it. She kept making this wierd noise (it resembled the whale call on Go Diego Go) :) The elephant finally came out and she was awesome!! It was Vinny's favorite!

I thought this guy resembled Trav! Okay maybe not in looks, but definitley in stench!!! LOL! Just kidding! (sort of) Anyway, Halle's favorite part was the monkey's. We got to go in the cage with these little monkey's that were zipping over our heads. They were so fast and palyful! It was really cool, except that it was a little nerve racking because there were all of these signs around saying "watch for poop" and all of the zoo people kept warning us not to let the monkeys be above our heads. Apparentley they poop on people every chance they get! Kind of funny!! (Sorry Nat and Heath, I know how you feel about that word) :)




It's hard to see but in the middle of this picture is a huge turtle. It was pretty cool! Vinny got really mad when we got to this part because she couldn't see him and everyone else could! He sort of looks like a rock. (When I say mad..I mean screaming at everyone until she finally figured it out!) It was a classic Vienna moment. All in all, not too many fits, a couple of blow outs, and a picnic....it was a good day!







My little Vinny...I made a salad and then left the room. When I came back she had two spoons and was eating as fast and as much as she could!! What a kick in the pants! She is at a difficult but funny stage right now! Her latest thing is saying "shut up". Not that funny!! I'v put soap in her mouth, I've spankder her, I was feeling like I couldn't get through to her but just this week she stopped saying it!! Yea right! Excpet instead of saying that she now screams "shut the door" instead. The first time I heard it I couldn't help laugh...which made her more mad! :) I really can't wait to see what kind of person she turns out to be!






My sweet little Tynlee! She pretty much just gets lugged everywhere her sisters decide to take her and she just puts up with it!! Halle stuffed her into this bag one day, ...she thought it was pretty funny!! She makes her own trouble though! She is into every cupboard in my kithen and bathrooms! And her poor cousin, London,(who I babysit three days a week and is 3 months younger) is terrified of her!! Tynlee attacks her everytime I set her down. She steals her binkie, grabs her face, and pretty much tries to lay on top of her! Which is really sad since Tynlee is a chunky monkey and London is a pint size!! (She makes Vinny look like a fattie at that age!! ) :)



And my Halle...she is so cute! She is making friends like crazy! She drives her barbie jeep down to the park and takes all of the kids there for a ride. She even set up a bus stop where all the kids wait so that she can make sure that it is fair for everyone. She has grown up so much in the last little bit. I'm so proud of her! I feel like she tries so hard to be helpful and she takes such good care of Tynlee and London. I am dreading next fall when she'll head off to school.







For me there's not a whole lot going on this week, just play groups, tantrums, and runny noses!! For Trav though it's been a crazy week! He's had finals all week (six tests in four days) not fun. He has spring break all next week though! We are really excited for the weekend, we are finally putting our yard in!!! I guess if you can call it a yard...basically our front yard consists of rock, rock, palm trees, oh and more rock! (yuck!) It is going to take some getting used to thats for sure! Our back yard however we are going to get some grass, Yipee! And, if I get my way, hopefully a burried trampoline. I'm still trying to work that in somehow! :) I just really want there to be something for the girls to do out back. (Besides the really cool club house I made them!) :)Hopefully by this time next week I will be able to put some pictures on of our progress.

Officially A Blogger

I never thought that I would ever do this, but I decided that I need to start keeping a journal, and I think that this is the best way for me to do it!! Plus I think I need to start keeping track of all the things that Vienna aka...Vinny does!

I feel like I need to do some back tracking... We have now been in Arizona for nearly 3 1/2 months and so far so good! We got here at the beginning of December and it was craziness right away...moving at the same time as trying to put your christmas up....I wouldn't recommend this! :) We finally got settled and then it was Christmas! Trav's parents, Macy, Derin, and Jess all came for the holiday and it was really nice. Having them all here made it easier for me, not having my own family!

The new year rang in with little excitement...Mandy (Trav's older sister) Trav, and I all stayed up until 2 a.m. playing sorry and scrabble. We are serious party animals. (Between sorry and our new 9:30 bedtime, I am starting to realize that Trav and I are getting old!!)

Since then, Trav and I both started new callings. I'm the second counselor in the Primary, and Trav is the Sunday school teacher for the 16-17 year olds. He actually just got his last week so we'll see how it goes, and mine is nuts but I'm loving it!! Halle and Vienna are both adapting to our new ward really well. Halle is making friends left and right, and Vienna is making enemies left and right!!! LOL :) Just kidding, she is actually less of a fighter these days if you can imagine! They both however are missing their cousins like crazy!! Vienna threw her cereal at me one morning because I told her she couldn't go to Jonah's house and Halle tells me everytime she gets in trouble that she "just wants to move back to Idaho!" (At grandma's house you don't get into trouble I guess!)

Things have been busy for Trav and I both. Between his school and my babysitting and well, just life, time has gone by fast! I guess that's good. It's better than sitting on my couch with a box of cookies in one hand and a gallon of milk in the other drowning my sorrows of how much I miss my family! (That only happened once...it made me sick!!) :) No, really...I have done suprisingly well! I do love my family and I miss them all so so much!! By the way, I think I need to remind everyone of how beautiful the weather is here and I know it's cold and grey up there, so if you need to get away...I have an exta room!! :)