Tylers Baptism

Tyler turned 8 this year. 8 is the age that children are deemed old enough to be accountable for their decisions and actions so they become old enough to be Baptised and become a member of the church. Tyler was baptised on April 10 2010.
He was baptised by his father.

Tyler was so excited to be baptised. His family was all there from the kitchen side and those from Mesa on mommy's side plus Grandma and grandpa, Deia and Eli came from California. I'm so proud of Tyler and his decision to be baptised. Tyler has a great respect for right and wrong. He is quick to keep the rules when they are not set forth by mom and dad :). I look forward to watching him grow and gain a stronger testimony of the gospel as he matures. I look forward to the day that he will go on his mission and even more to the day that he will take a girl to the temple to be married for time and eternity. I love you T.

Trying to help Daddy

Our edger was not working and Aiden thought he would help Daddy get it started.

Confrence Weekend

Easter Sunday and Conference fell on the same day this year. We stayed home and watched conference on the Internet.
Chad listened while he worked on his pinewood derby car/ school bus.

Casey and Tyler put together some balsa wood projects that the Ester Bunny brought them.

Easter

We fit in egg dying. It was close...in fact we dyed them Easter day. We left a note for the Easter bunny that we ran out of time ands didn't get around to dying the eggs and that we would make sure to hide them ourselves. we also apologized and promised that he could do the honors next year.

In the morning we came down to a basket and gifts from the Easter bunny and a note back to us that he understood about the eggs and he looked forward to next year.

April Fools!

Chad was home from work on April fools day and when he realised what day it was he wanted to come up with a great prank to play on the kids. Casey became the victim.

Casey's teacher made them "Stress" balls out of balloons filled with flour. The kids had to bring them home after a few broke in class. Casey is really into his stress ball and it is very important to him. He should not have left it laying around.
While we were out running errands Chad picked up a bag of balloons and staged this mess right before the kids got home

I thought it would be perfect if Aiden was playing with the mess when Casey walked in, but figured I should not sacrifice the 2 year old to Chad's joke and Casey's wrath. fortunately Aiden had ideas of his own because with perfect timing he was up on the table, scissors in hand when Casey walked in.

It took Casey a minute to take in the scene, but he did notice and as you can see had a great reaction. To save Aiden and Casey anymore heart ache I quickly called Chad down to "Take care" of the situation. Casey was quick to join in the humor. Happy April first.

Natash and Steele

Congratulations to my cousin Natasha and her now husband Steele. They were married at 6:00 on March 29th at the home of Steele's parents in Mesa AZ. It was beautiful. We wish you all the luck on this new adventure of marriage. Remember if you move to AZ you need to look on the west side :)

My contribution and wedding gift.

Girls night out

All of us girl cousins in AZ got together Saturday before the wedding to have a girls night out and to take Tasha shopping. We had dinner at this great Mexican restaurant in Mesa (thanks to Beth for the recommendation) left to right - Beth, Chelly, Morgan, Mandi, Me, Kiara, Natasha.
After dinner we took her shopping so Mandi could buy her a bridal gift. They had a wig section at this store so the girls had a good time trying them on. I did not because my hair is to poofy to allow a wig to sit nicely on it. See if you can match the girls in the wigs with their real look at dinner.

We had so much fun hanging out with each other. I wish we all lived closer and got to do these things more often. Congratulations Tasha and thanks for making time in your busy wedding schedule to hang out with all of us

Here is how it started

My cousin was getting married March 29th. She called and asked if i could do her wedding cake, so I said of course. Here is what I started with. I made the roses weeks in advance and in the days leading up to the wedding I made the frosting and cakes. I wasn't sure how physically exerting this would be on my 38 week pregnant body, so I wanted to spread out the work as much as I could. the end result will be soon to follow in a post of the wedding.

Getting Ready

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm ready for the baby and my response is no, not at all. Well now I can say yes. A friend of Chad's from work offered us a crib set that they were no longer using. I have never had a crib set for any of my kids so we said sure. when I saw it sitting in the garage it inspired me to set up the crib. Aiden and I took on the task and let me tell you it was fun with Aidens help :). he loved it though and will proudly tell you that WE put it together. After doing each step at least twice, sometimes three times after figuring out that I had it right the first time, we were done!

Aiden is especially fond of the mobile and asks me to turn it on over and over again.

I was worried that in putting up the crib I would create a temptation for him to play in the crib, but he has been very good at not climbing in. He did once, but I took him out and sternly informed that it was for Brody and not him. ONLY for Brody, he has been fine since.

Temper temper

Tyler had to go to timeout one day and he was not happy about it. He got to his room and continued to yell down the stairs at me about how unfair it was that he was sent there in the first place and that I was not even listening to him and so on and son on. Eventually he stopped yelling and served his time peacefully. When his time was up and I told him he could come out he came down stairs and calmly told me he needed me upstairs, he need to tell me something and he was going to be in trouble, and that he did not want to tell me in front of the other kids. So upstairs I went, warned and ready to react in a calm and together manner to whatever he had to confess. Here is what waited for me....
He punched a hole in his wall!! OK. I looked at it and said "yes he was going to be in trouble." I didn't know what to do so I said "well, we will have to wait and show Dad." I warned Chad about what he would find when he came home and by the time he came home he told Tyler that 1 - He was lucky he had not punched two inches to the side because he would of hit a stud and probably broken his hand. 2 - it was good that he earned some money dog sitting over spring brake because he would be paying for the repair which would take most of his money. He also had to weed the garden area in the back yard. Thank you Tyler for being so responsible when it was time to confess your mistake. It is amazing to me how I can respond in a calm manner when the kids are actually repentant and remorseful for their mistakes.

Time out

This is the second time he has fallen asleep in time out, but the first time Court woke him just as I was about to take the picture.

RC Track

This is where my husband goes every Saturday, this is why I am a weekend widow. Luckily he takes Casey and Tyler with him and now Court is trying to get in on that action. This particular time he took Court and Aiden and I came out later to see how things were going. The boys work hard while they are at the track. They Marshal for Dad and help out some of the other drivers too. They run from one end of the track to the other flipping over cars and resetting them back on the track.


They have an upper deck for better viewing and driving, this is where we were most of our visit.

Chad gave each of the kids a chance to drive.

He even let me drive...that did not turn out so great. I broke the boys car, but it was only a $15.00 piece and he even had a back up part already, so it was OK....right :)

Sorry boys!

It was so fun to watch the boys be pit crew for Dad. They know how to fill the gas when dad comes in for a refill. Court even learned how to set the car back on the track so dad could continue.

As we were getting ready to go I noticed this sign. The track is called the nitro pit. but wait look at the sign bellow it... Yes the Danger one. This is where my kids come to play every weekend. When they are not helping daddy they are gallivanting off with the other kids, playing in the dirt, the desert and hopefully looking out for desert critters.

Check out my mad skills. Notice how great I am at keeping the car on the track where it should be :)