it's my BIRTHDAY!

so this past Sunday I turned 34. it was great, except for the surprise gift of daylight savings. i know daylight savings is planned but it always catches me by surprise and the spring forward is the worst. it was a great day and i felt so loved. thanks to all of you who made me feel so special, especially to my amazing husband. he took me to my favorite restaurant (bombay house), ate fish food with me (my favorite icecream), and gave me irises to plant in the front yard (my favorite flower). a happy day to me. here's some pics of me with some of my favorite little people. 34 years and life is great.

kindy 500

Today was the much anticipated KINDY 500. Austin has been working on Wesley's cat dozer for over a month and I thought he was going a little overboard until we arrived at the school in the morning and found out that it must just be a dad thing. can't wait till the pinewood derbies ;)
just check out some of these fancy vehicles (yes, that truly is THE millenium falcon)

Easter clothes

I have been agonizing like crazy over what to make for the boys for Easter. We've decided we'd like to start a tradition of giving new church clothes for Easter and try to emphasize the importance of the Savior more and showing reverence. Pretty easy with the girls, there are so many options for dresses it can make your head spin. But for the boys a white shirt just isn't that thrilling. I've been trying to teach myself to knit, but I'm afraid I'm just not up to knitting the a whole sweater vest yet. But today I came across this blog and knew I had found the answer. This girl's blog is amazing!! I'm sharing with all of you because when you've found a good thing you just want to share the joy.
http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-boys-sweater-vest-from-mans.html

3 is fabulous!

Our little girl just turned 3 yesterday! I look at her little sister and think, "you were just this age yesterday it seems." She has turned into quite the big girl now and I think she is absolutely beautiful. Her name means fair, white, pure. She was not named after the Fiona in Shrek, though she can be an ogre in her own right at times. She was originally going to be Jane, but that never felt quite right. She is truly Fiona and we love her. Happy Birthday, sweets!

St George

searching for treasure




he loved burying his feet, but kept getting nervous that something would eat his toes


We just got back from a great vacation.
Saturday we played @ the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. The kids LOVE the sand. We could have spent everyday there and the kids would probably never grow tired of it, especially Wesley. He loves the sand. He loves to stick his head in it, rub it on his face (especially around his mouth), bury his feet in it, dig it, roll in it and basically be an absolute spaz. It was fun to watch. We even tried to find a geo cache with Ben & Mark's GPS. The search took us to a really pretty slot canyon, but we suspent someone took the cache and didn't replace it for the next person.
Sunday was spent in Enterprise. The funnest little town, mostly because that's where Ben & Jodi live. In Sunday school they passed out homemade butter cookies, yummy. And we happened to sit in front of the teacher from Sunday school during sacrament so she passed us a few more. After church we played with cousins (including Mark & Amberlee's kids, who were able to vacation, too.) The kids even had a cousins' pajama party with cheetos and chocolate sandwich cookies (great job Jodi). For dinner Grandpa & Grandma Deenie came down bearing delicious valentines cookies.
Today we went swimming. Lydia squealed in delight too many times to count, it was great. We went to lunch with Ashley & Aunt Edith. It was so good to see them. Next time we're hoping Ashley's house will be done and we can see it. It was great to visit with so many fun relatives.
On the way home we stopped at the Beaver cheese factory. We got icecream, salsa cheese curds (very yummy), and bubblegum (Ian really likes bubblegum right now). While standing in line for icecream, the boys bumped into Santa Claus. He was in regular clothes because he was on vacation, but the boys were not fooled. When they asked if he was the real Santa, he pulled out a small picture of him with his reindeer and gave a copy to each boy.
It was truly a great vacation, lots of family and fun, it just doesn't get any better

Wesley said we just 'had' to get a picture of a palm tree, good thing there was one right out the front door. All the kids got new swimsuits, too. Pretty good looking bunch (especially that hot guy in the back!)

Chicken of the Sea

We were watching "Prince of Egypt" yesterday with the children. Austin & I were playing with the girls when Ian came over and asked, "Mom, why did the ocean swallow the Egyblets?"
Austin & I just laughed and laughed. I couldn't breath for laughing so hard and I was close to lizzing (30 rock season 3 reference). Ian just kept asking about the poor Egyblets and every time he said it in his little voice I kept getting pictures of plucked chickens swimming frantically and could only laugh harder. When I was finally able to answer him I was breathless and my side hurt. It was a great laugh.

balloons

it's true that balloons can turn an ordinary trip to the supermarket into a fun-filled and extraordinary adventure with four kids. they even let me take pictures when we got home (very unusual for ian who is suddenly gone the minute the camera appears)
Lydia is getting quite the personality and is so much fun. I loved these pics of her with her balloon. She makes me laugh constantly. These children are the greatest and they're all mine! I love it!

I was recently released from the Primary presidency this past week and it's quite sad. I've loved being in there with the boys, it's the best calling I've ever had. I've been called to be in the Relief Society as the 2nd counselor. That means I'm now over enrichment (which really isn't called enrichment anymore). It has been so long since I've been in Relief Society I don't know if I'll be able to sit through a whole lesson. I think Primary has given me ADD. I'm sad to be leaving Primary, but excited to start something new so wish me luck and if you have any great ideas for meetings formerly known as enrichment meetings I'd love to hear them.

Prayer

Prayer is such a powerful blessing in our lives and to hear a child's prayer is priceless.
Our little family has made some changes in our family prayers. we used to do it right after dinner while we were all at the table. we've recently felt a need for more frequent family prayer and have made a commitment to prayer at least twice a day, once before austin goes off to work and right before bedtime. morning prayers have been much easier than i thought they would be mainly because of austin's dedication to getting us all up before he goes out the door. what a man my husband is! the hard one is our evening one when we're trying to get the kids to bed before we lose our sanity, we just haven't quite worked it permanently into our bedtime rituals.

Wes Wes

Happy 6TH Birthday!!
He wanted Pop the Pig and a scarf. He got both. He was so excited. And he picked out a hamburger cake (keeping with his pop the pig theme and his favorite food). We had a lot of fun celebrating his 6th birthday and making it a very happy day for him.

faith is power

Today in Relief Society our bishop shared a talk from Sheri Dew. It was powerful and reminded me of the great power that comes from faith. Speaking of Mary, Sheri Dew said, "Imagine also the faith required to mother the Son of God. Surely at times Mary felt a crushing sense of inadequacy--which could only be managed with faith....I am grateful every time my faith is stretched, because only if our testimony of Jesus Christ penetrates every aspect of our lives will we be able to do what we have come here to do."
As sisters we have all felt the inadequacy that could paralize us, but our faith in our Heavenly Father and in our Savior knowing how much they love us and the confidence they have in us can help us continue on to do great things.