Good Boy Jar

Zack keeps outgrowing our discipline techniques. He's just too smart! My sister, Britta, gave me the idea of earning tokens for good behavior. He also loses these tokens for misbehavior. So, we went to the craft store and bought wooden tokens and wrote amounts on the tokens. We have 1's, 5's and 10's so we can teach him how to get change as well. He gets to use his tokens to "buy" things he wants, like movies, toys and treats.

Then we let Zack decorate a jar for him to use as his Good Boy Jar. He had a blast! Letting him do this helped him take this to heart. He loves earning his tokens, and gets very upset when he loses some. It's working great so far!

Happy Birthday Zack!

Last weekend we had a party for Zack's 4th birthday. This was our first party that wasn't just family invited. We had a pretty good turnout of friends from preschool. CRAZY! I know my little guy is full of energy and is all over the place, but to add some of his little friends into the mix and they all just feed off of eachother. Bless their teacher!

Anywho! So, I asked Zack what kind of party he wanted and he told me he wanted a Wall-E cake. This kinda scared me. This was my first year making the cakes instead of buying them, so to throw a pretty complicated one at me on my learning year, I was pretty intimidated. I found a Wilton cake pan, that has a helpful paint-by-numbers instruction on the insert that I figured I could do. I learned last week after doing Lexi's cake, that I would need to make all the frosting along with the cake the night before if I wanted to frost it by the time the party started.

His birthday weekend started Friday afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Bates decided to take him out for his birthday. They picked him up from school on Friday and took him to lunch and to the bookstore to pick his present (All he asked for this year for his birthday was books!). Then he got to go to their house and spend the night. What fun! This made it a little easier for me to get started on the cake too. We put Lexi to bed at her normal time and I got goin'! Aaron greased the pan for me so well, that it just slid right out. Whew! What a relief, because I needed to used this as a guide for frosting, I am not an artist, so this was important. I made the frosting and seperated it into the colors I would need and got to bed around 11. Not bad!

I got up and got started on the cake by 6 Saturday morning and it took me 3 hours to finish. But look how cool!

The party was a success. I found a few fun robot-themed games to play and we opened presents. I say "we" because I don't think Zack got to open a single one by himself. Overall, the kids had fun, and that was the most important part. And I realized how small my house feels with that many people crowding in for a seat!

Thank you to everyone who came and helped Zack feel special for his day!

We love you, Zack!

Alexis' Birthday

Today our beautiful little girl turned one. It's hard to believe that it's already been a year. It is truly amazing to watch a child grow, and it has been an adventure as well.

We had a small party for her with family. I made a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake. She LOVES Mickey. One of the things that I remember the most from growing up is the cakes my mom made us for our birthdays. Aaron has the same kind of memories. It's fun to carry the tradition on with our kids.

She loved eating her cake. At first she wasn't sure what we had put in front of her, but after Aaron gave her a taste of it, she dug right in. This just happens to be my favorite part of their first birthday!She had fun opening presents for the first time. It took her a while to understand that it was ok to rip the paper, but once she got into it, she really got into it! It will be fun to let her do it again next month for Christmas. Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts, she's been playing with all of them this afternoon.

We love you, Alexis and we are so glad to have you as a part of our family!

Halloween

Ok, I know I'm almost a month late in posting this, but I'm posting it anyway.

So, as many of you know, we had kind of a rough lead-in to Halloween. Shortly after my last post on the blog, we all got the swine flu. YUCK! It knocked us back for a good week. The coughs are only now just fading away. So, we didn't get to picking our pumpkins for carving until 2 days before Halloween, and didn't get them carved until the morning of. But we had fun doing it anyway! The night we went to pick our pumpkins was one of our first ventures out of the house after getting sick.

Fortunately, we were all feeling MUCH better by Halloween night and it was a beautiful night for Trick-or-Treating! It was only chilly, so we were fine putting jackets under the kids costumes. We were very excited to try out the treating in our own neighborhood for a change. Zack had a blast running up to the doors. He didn't want to keep his mask on for long though, as it got dark he really had a hard time seeing, so I was glad he took it off. By about half-way through he started telling us to stay on the sidewalk and he would go to the front door all by himself. Little Mister Independent! Lexi was glad to be out of the house. She had fun just watching the chaos and getting passed between Mom, Dad and Autie. Aren't they adorable in their costumes?!?!

Jungle Junction

Here at the Bates' home we love to watch Playhouse Disney. The kids like it for the bright colors and the music. I love it for the things that they sneakily teach my kids. Their newest show, Jungle Junction, just started last week. When watching the following video please note how long this show has been on.

So, as you can tell, Zack is a fan. We've watched it at least twice every day since it started. I love to watch him get excited about things. This is how he reacts to almost any theme song though. He loves to dance and sing along.

Safety Nets Needed!

Aaron has been trying to teach Lexi to climb the stairs for a few weeks. She was only comfortable climbing one step and then she was done. He tried to bribe her with things at the top of the stairs, but no go.

Last night I was on the phone and when I turned around this is what I found:

Angie, my sister-in-law, came down the stairs and saw this and we decided to get her to climb the rest of the stairs. This seemed to be the time that flipped her little switch. Every time we brought her down, she'd turn around and head back up.

She even decided once that she needed to take her blanket with her. She's great at getting up the stairs! Now, who volunteers to act as a safety net for her until she learns to go down? Anyone? Hello? Where'd everybody go...

She Moves!

Alright, I am a huge slacker. I have been meaning to post this video for everyone's viewing pleasure for about a month now. When Lexi first started crawling it was more like a crawl, crawl, belly-flop, aaarrrrmmmyyyy cccrrraaawwwwl! It was funny to watch as her head dipped down and bobbed with her body. She did this variation of a crawl for a week, and moved on to crawling really fast. She can bolt across the floor now.

While I'm bragging about her mobility, I want to show how good she is at climbing up now too. Now that we've fed her food from our plates she wants to eat every time she sees someone with food. The other day Aaron sat down on the couch with some food, and some buttered bread. He sat the bread down on the arm of the couch. Lexi saw food, and needed to have some. So, she got herself up there and got it. I loved the way she tore into the bread as soon as she got it. It's so fun to see her explore and figure out the world around her.

Zack Goes to School

My baby is old enough for preschool! I really can't believe how fast this seems to have happened. He really has grown so fast. Well, he has been very excited about going to school ever since his cousin Abby started going last year. So, we found a preschool right down the street that we really liked, and enrolled him for this year. He gets to go two days a week, which seemed like a good start to us. We showed him where his school was when we enrolled him, and he spent the next few months begging us to go. He had a hard time waiting for it, maybe we should have waited to tell him.

Last Tuesday was his day to meet the teacher, and then he started class on Wednesday. So, for Family Home Evening we decided to go and let him pick out his backpack. He had been waiting for this day for months! I wasn't sure how long it would take him to pick something. They had all kinds of characters to pick from, and most of them he really liked, but he knew which one he wanted the minute he saw it. He picked Cars (bet you thought I was going to say Thomas!). Aaron tried to show him all the other options, but they were a no-go. He had found his backpack, and no one was going to change his mind. When did he get so opinionated?!So, on Wednesday I took the morning off of work to take him to his first day of school. They wanted the parents there for the first half hour, and I decided to be the one to pick him up from his first day too. The first day went perfectly smooth! We went in and he got to introduce himself to the other 7 kidlets and show them his favorite toy, this time he really did pick Thomas. I thought it was interesting to watch how all the kids had such a different personality when they got to stand up and talk about their toy. Most of the kids were fairly quiet and reserved, unsure of how to handle this new situation. Zack loved the spotlight! He had a difficult time letting other kids have their turn, and when it got to his he was far from quiet and reserved. He proudly showed off his favorite toy and told everyone about it.
I think one of his favorite things I got to see was the way the class goes from room to room. Each room is a different station with a different theme, like phonics etc. Well, when it was time for the kids to move to the next room and leave their moms, they all lined up at the door, put their hands on the kid's shoulders in front of them. The teacher blew her train whistle and the kids were the train! Zack was so excited to be a train! This is something he does everyday in his head, so it was fun to see him get to act it out with others.

When I came back to pick him up he was very happy. I could tell that he had a good time. As we were climbing into the car he asked me, "Mom, can I go to school again tomorrow?" It was hard for me to tell him that he had to wait a whole week, but he was ok with it. What a big boy!

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

Ok, I know I don't have it that bad. My life is perdy darn good. But I need to whine to all four of you for a minute.

We have had a rough week. First we got sunburned pretty nicely. Ok, the kidlets are good. We remembered them, thank goodness. But I really should know better! I've always been the lobster queen in the summer. But for some reason I totally skipped the sunscreen on myself. I was only out in the sun for an hour! Ouchies!

Then this last Monday I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a herd of elephants. I had the body aches from hades, a fever of 101 and a pretty nasty sore throat. I used up all my sick and vacation time for my maternity leave so I had to get up and go to work. I loaded up on the Tylenol and Aleve and just decided to tough it out as long as I could. I got to work and called the doctor's office to schedule an appointment. Turned out to be strep throat. Not fun! I decided to get the penicillin shot instead of the antibiotics, less money this way. Those are painful! As I was sitting on my sore bum all day I was thinking that there was no way I expected it to be that bad! Ouchies, again!

Tuesday night, as I was finally over my fevers and aches, I noticed little Lexi had a bit of a goopy eye. I decided to keep a close watch over it. The next morning it was about the same and instructed my sister Ranna, who was kind enough to take the kids for the day, to keep a close watch on it, and to call me if there was any significant change. Sure enough, I got a call at about 2:30 letting me know that it had moved to the other eye, and it was worse. Plus, she hadn't slept all day. So, I called the docs office and took her in. Yup! Eye infection! And a cold, the poor tired girl. Despite the swollen, sore eyes, runny nose and no sleep she was a pretty happy girl that night though. She played on the floor with whatever crossed her path, giggling with delight every now and then. What a little doll! But looking at her face, your heart just breaks for her!

It's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. I think we'll move to Australia.

Flashback Friday - Grandpa Pace

Ok, so I've been meaning to steal the Flashback Friday idea from my sisters for some time now, and I finally thought of one I really want to post. This is inspired by Britta's post last week about our Grandma Pace. Reading her post got me thinking of all the wonderful memories of our grandparents. It was kind of funny because I had a pretty memorable experience brought to mind the day before I read Britta's post.
I was out to dinner with some of the gals in the ward, a fun little girls night out. On the drive home we started talking about voicemails. (Can you believe there are people out there who still don't have it? Neither could we!) This made me think back to being a wee child (ok a teenager, honestly) and when my parents got their first phone with an answering machine. We got a new cordless phone for Christmas, and it was sooo spiffy because it came with an answering machine in the base. The whole family was pretty darn excited about this technological marvel! That was the gift that we told EVERYONE about. As we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Pace we of course told them of the newfangled contraption that my dad had set up before we left. Grandpa decided he needed to test it out, of course. So, he called. With all of us sitting there. "Hello, George! This is Al. When you get home, give me a ring. Unless it's late, then tell him to wait." We loved this message. We kept it on the voicemail for a while, just for the fun of it. My brother Joel even had a variation of it for a while as his voicemail (he still might...I haven't left him a message in a while). His jokes have been the fondest memories that we share. The slightest mention of this message will get a recitation from everyone around, in unison. George also used to be his go-to name whenever he needed something generic. There was another phone incident which is quite memorable. We were having an open house for my brother Dirk, either mission homecoming or farewell...I forget which one. The phone rang and Grandpa was the closest one to the phone, so he picked it up. "Hello, George! This is Al." Seeing a pattern? Needless to say, Dirk's friend was quite confuzzled.
I am so glad that I have these fond memories of my grandparents. It makes not being able to see them anymore, in this life, easier to handle. I am also greatful that I have my wonderful family to share them with. Most of the time when we laugh about our inside jokes like this our spouses will share a look, that I'm pretty sure interprets as something like, "What did we get ourselves into?!"

Nap Time

Zack has unfortunately been starting to outgrow his naps. He still needs one the majority of the time, but he is more prone to fight the naps now that he's gone without them a few times. Last weekend we put him down for a nap. He was exhausted! But for whatever his own reasons were, he decided to play instead. Aaron and I tried multiple times to convince/threaten him to go to sleep. It wasn't working. After 2 hours we decided to let him come downstairs. He told us he couldn't take a nap because he wasn't tired. We were watching a movie, so he cuddled up next to Aaron on the couch. Not even 5 minutes later we found him like this.

Not tired? Riiiighhht!

Forts

One of the best childhood memories is making pillow and blanket forts. I remember making some that took up the whole family room! Ranna, Christina and I were experts. Unfortunately the bigger they were, the less time they lasted. It was always a bummer to tear them down and put all the blankets away. And all the fat encyclopedias we used as anchors.
Well, Zack has joined in on this honored tradition. We have a lot of pillows that came with our couches. Since these are sitting couches, not decorative couches, we rarely use them on the couches. For now they sit in the corner and are pulled out as we need/want them. These pillows have been great fun for Zack. He likes to make "Zacky Sandwiches" with them. His latest use for them is his "castle". It's a simple pillow fort made in the corner of the two couches with a blanket for the door. He insists on the blanket because he wants it "darker and darker". With the convenient location and small size, we've been able to keep it up for quite a while for him.

Peek-a-Boo

Lexi has caught on to peek-a-boo. It's her new favorite game. When she doesn't have a blanket, she'll just use her dress and pull it up over her head. Shortly after we shot this video, I had her on my lap. She looked over at me, gave me the cutest "look at me" smile, and started it all over again! I love new tricks!

Special Agent Zacky

There is a new show on Playhouse Disney called Special Agent Oso. Zack has taken a real liking to it. It's a fun little James Bond-type show. Oso is a special agent who helps kids complete tasks like wrapping presents and making party hats. It's a cute way to show kids that they are capable of doing many things on their own. Each "special assignment" has a name that kinda resembles Bond movies, like Birthdays are Forever. Fun little add-ons for the parents. Oso is given 3 special steps to help him accomplish his tasks. Each assignment then helps Oso complete a training exercise that he was working on prior to receiving the assignment.
Anyhoo! Zack has fallen in love with this show. It's his new favorite. The other morning, while Lexi was napping, I decided to bite the bullet and try and weed our front flower bed. Zack came out with me to play outside and help me dig. He dug for quite a while, then started running back and forth down the sidewalk. After a little while of doing this I heard him talking to himself when he was on the other end of the sidewalk. Then he would come running up to me. "Mom, say Special Agent Oso, what are you doing here?" He would then tell me he was here to help me dig:

"Step One: Find a shovel."
"Step Two: Start digging."
"Step Thee: Dig the hole!"

I'm excited to see him applying his new found skills to his play time! This will come in handy when I need to teach him new activities. What a cute little smarty pants!

Dinner: Impossible

We love the Food Network channel! We love many of the shows they produce. But our favorite has to be Dinner: Impossible with chef Robert Irvine. For each episode, Robert is told to show up at a certain place, he is then given a challenge of making food for a different amount of people every time and a deadline. Sometimes it's for a huge party with only 9 hours, and sometimes it's for a smaller group and 12 hours. But they always throw some twists at him. We love to watch him handle the stresses of small kitchens, under supplied kitchens, and ingredient restrictions. It's fun to see how he pulls together such wonderful meals, and always right on time. Last year Food Network found out that he had lied on his resume (who hasn't?) and fired him. Aaron and I were very upset about this! But we decided to give his replacement chef a chance. We watched one episode with the new guy (I don't even remember his name) and gave up when he made chocolate covered bacon. We weren't happy about it, but that night we deleted Dinner: Impossible from our DVR list.

Two weeks ago, after the kids were in bed, we were watching Food Network. We had to rewind the commercials to make sure we saw what we thought...a new episode of Dinner: Impossible coming up with Robert Irvine! We were so excited! I even jumped up from the couch and started clapping. I decided to get online and send the good people at Food Network a note to let them know how happy we are that they re-hired this magnificent chef for this show. We then made sure it was set to record again. It feels so good to have our show back!

What an Adventure!

We went on a family adventure today! Aaron's wedding ring has had some problems over the year. The gorgeous black jade inset in the ring kept breaking. We were tired of repairing it, so we decided to talk to Farr's about options for replacing. They said we could trade it in for current value for another ring. Aaron picked out a ring that is a similar design, but with antiquing instead of stones inset. The ring has been ready for us to pick up for a few weeks, but we haven't had a lot of time now that Aaron is out mowing lawns on Saturdays again. When we found out it was going to be rainy all day today we decided today would be a good day to make the trip.

We decided to make an adventure out of the trip. Since Zack loves trains so much, we decided to take TRAX and the Frontrunner up to Ogden. Farr's is less than a mile from the train station, so then we could walk up to the store and pick up Aaron's ring. When we told Zack that we were going on a train ride he was expectantly excited. We took off early this morning and drove to the TRAX station on 90th. We then rode it to the end of the line where we got on the Frontrunner up to Ogden. We had so much fun! Zack was sooooo happy to be on a train!

When we got to Ogden it was pouring rain. Good thing we were prepared! We had umbrellas, warm jackets and hoods. We had Lexi in the stroller, warm and dry, and Zack had his own umbrellas. Unfortunately, he only made it a block before he wanted to be carried. So, Aaron made the rest of the walk with Zack on his shoulders. By the time we made it back to the train we were soaked! Poor Zack was not happy about it. Fortunately, the train was warm and dry, I brought snacks and downloaded a movie on my ipod, so Zack was happy again in no time.

When we got back downtown we went to Happy Sumo for lunch. Aaron loves his sushi! I was just excited that Zack ate his lunch, after 3 pieces of string cheese and 2 packs of fruit snacks on the train. By the time we were done with lunch and back on the train, the kids were exhausted. We rode TRAX back to our car and came home for a much needed nap, for all of us. What a fun way for us to make the trip to get Aaron's ring. I certainly appreciate my car more now, I wouldn't want to take the kids on public transportation every time we needed to go somewhere, but it was fun for today!

Family Home Evenings

This year we were very excited for Easter. Zack is finally catching on to traditions, and holidays are so much fun because of it. I am really getting into it too, this is one of the fun parts of having kids! I got my new Easter baskets done, and they look so pretty! I went to Michaels and bought some matching baskets for all of us. Then I bought some springy ribbon, one for each of us. The boys got the ribbon around the basket and the handle, and the girls have a bow as well as the wrapping. I am so proud of them. While I was getting into the traditions of the Easter Bunny, Aaron reminded me about the importance of Easter and that he wanted to focus on the real reason we celebrate; the resurrection of Christ. Later that week I was talking to Britta about how excited I was for this Easter, and about the conversation Aaron and I had about the reason for Easter. She told me about her tradition with her kids, she does her baskets on Saturday, so they can focus on Christ on Sunday. I love this idea, so naturally I'm stealing it.

As part of our focus, we made sure our family home evening was about the resurrection. I put together a lesson about how Christ died and was buried in a tomb, then he came back to life. I cut out a tomb, a stone and a picture of Christ for us to color, and showed him how Christ was laid in the tomb, the stone was rolled in front and three days later, he came out resurrected. I hope he caught on to the concept, but it's hard to tell. It was exciting to see his face as he was learning new things. He will now answer the question "Why do we celebrate Easter?" with "Jesus was resurrected!". It's times like these that I love the most about spending time with my family!

Growing Up

What a beautiful little girl we have been blessed with! She is growing so fast too. We took her to the doctor at the end of March to find out that she is in the 93rd percentile in height and the 82nd percentile for weight...what a tall drink of water! She's all healthy and happy. So, we started her on cereal after our 4 month appointment. She's getting pretty good at it too, but we're still trying to get her to take the spoon without her binky following it! That's ok, we'll get there.
She's also getting pretty good at grabbing things she wants. We have entered the grabbing phase, what fun! The other night we had strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Aaron had her on her lap while eating his, and she sure liked the way that bowl of sweets looked. She started reaching for it, and she was persistent. Aaron would move the bowl away from her, but every time he brought it in front to eat some, she was coming at it again! It's no longer easy to eat with her on our laps...what a fun phase we're heading into!

Honey-Do List: Yard Work

One of the things that Aaron has looked forward to the most is getting a Honey-Do list. He loves to work with his hands, and couldn't wait to get started on projects in our new home. The first thing he wanted to take care of was our yard. Our tree out front was grossly overgrown. Aaron wasn't sure if our homeowners insurance would approve the policy until the tree was taken care of, it was rubbing up against the shingles on the roof. I was anxious for him to take care of it because there was a branch that would rub against our bedroom window, really annoying in the middle of a windy night! Aaron did a wonderful job trimming up the tree, it looks so nice! Unfortunately we did see some shingle damage after getting the branches down, but we did expect it.
Our next project in the yard is our garden. We have a patch outside our patio that will be perfect for a small garden this summer. We got all the ground cover pulled out, and most of the big rocks out of the patch. We're going to plant some tomatos and peppers, perfect for sandwiches and salsa. It feels good to have our own place to take care of!

Day at the Zoo

Today we planned to make an outing to the zoo. Zack loves to play with his cousins so we decided to invite Britta and her kids, Abby & Landon. We have found that going earlier in the day is better because Zack is in a better mood and all of the animals have been kicked out of their habitats for cleaning. Because we try to make it so early we also try to go to breakfast too.

This was all planned thanks to Aaron watching Food Network. There is this show, Diners Drive-ins & Dives. It's not one of our favorite shows but it happened to be the only thing on at the time. Anyways, this show was doing a showcase on the places that they had visited in Utah. Ruth's dinner up Emigration canyon was shown. Aaron had also heard good things about this place and it is just up the canyon from the zoo. So, we figured we could try out a new place for breakfast and then hit the zoo. Aaron also thought that it would be a great idea to get a wagon for the kids to ride in. It would make it easier to keep them in one place and free up hands. Zack was very excited about this idea. We told Britta and she agreed to meet us there.

Unfortunatly that morning we were a little behind schedule. We were trying to call Britta to let her know that we were a bit behind as she was trying to call us to let us know that the diner was closed for remodeling. Darn cell phone dead zones. So, when we pulled up Britta had already been waiting there patiently with her kids. We tried to remember if there were any breakfast places up in that area but couldn't think of any too close. As we drove trying to find something we decided to go to the Original Pancake House in Sugarhouse. Unfortunatly so had a few other people. We had to wait for about 30 minutes. The kids were great! Plus the weather was nice too, so we could wait outside. Once the food came around everyone was very hungry and everyone ate very well.

Once we were done with breakfast we headed back up to the zoo. Being that it was the first warm day of the year several other people thought it would be a good time to go as well. The place was packed. This can be a good thing sometimes. When the zoo is busy it will open the South gate. This is just above the Asian Highlands. We have experimented and have found that as far as routes go, starting from the Asian Highlands and working our way towards the front enterance works pretty well. However when we entered the South gate they had not opened the rental shop for wagons yet. So, Aaron volunteered to run to the front gate and rent one and then bring it back.

Aaron was very tired running all the way to the front and a little put out. When he rented the wagon, the sales clerk asked it there was anything else that he could do, being the polite sales clerk. Aaron quickly retorted the they could open up the South gate rental shop if they were going to open the South gate. Then the clerk stated that they had just opened it. GRRRRR!

Aaron found Amanda, Britta and the kids by the giraffes. They kids were all very excited to see the wagon. They all piled in and we were off to check out the zoo. Aaron pulled the wagon for the most part. That is until Abby and Zack decied that they wanted to pull it. They both started to take turns pulling. This was great that Zack was willing to share and take turns. We have really been working on that. As Zack and Abby took turns Landon was quite content to just sit in the wagon and be chauffered around the zoo.
As we made out way to the front of the zoo, Amanda & Britta took the kids on the zoo train. We can't ever go to the zoo and not ride the train, it's the highlight of Zack's day. As everone moved off of the train, Abby asked to see the bats. So our next stop was the children's play area where you can see the bats as well as play near some of the animals. Here are some of the prairie dogs that we found. Aw, they are so cute.
By this point the kids were tired so we headed to the cars. Aaron told Amanda that if she would like to, she could ask Britta to go shopping and he would watch the kids. Both Amanda & Britta were very excited about this idea. So we all headed to our house and fed the kids. Then Amanda & Britta went out shopping and had a great time. Over all a very good day!

Our New House!!!

That's right everyone! After almost 5 years of being married and two children later we have finally purchased our first home! We are very excited. It was a very arduous process. Being that it was a short sale (I don't know why they call it that there is nothing short about it!), from offer to close it took about 2 1/2 months. But we finally signed our lives away (at least that's what it feels like after all that paperwork) on Feb. 27, 2009.

We have been in the position to purchase a home before but things fell through. We felt kind of stupid after telling everyone and showing off the house that we were looking at purchasing, just to have things not work out. So because we were warned that this home could take some time, we decided to keep things on the "down low" until we had worked things through. So sorry to those that are just now finding out.

We had a pretty good turn out for those that helped us move. Moving out seemed to take a lot longer then moving in. I guess 3 flights of stairs would have something to do with that. Between Aaron, Randy, Joel & Nun's trucks we made it all over. Nun also had his trailer as did Aaron. Thanks to all of those that helped out, and those of you that didn't (you know who you are) we hope that you had good excuses! J/K

Each of us has our own reasons to be excited about the new home. What made this move so great for Amanda is that she finally had her Christmas present delivered. She was a good girl last year and Santa had a refrigerator and freezer waiting at RC Willey to be delivered. They were delivered while we were still packing up the apartment and Aaron got this call saying that the fridge was too big for where is was going to be placed. Fortunately between Nun, Randy and Aaron they were able to make it fit. Well kind of, a giant hole in the wall and losing the pantry door later they made it fit. But hey, Amanda has a great big new refrigerator! She is also excited about the large new freezer that she has in Aaron's new garage. Amanda's sister, Britta, does a dinner exchange with freezer meals and Amanda has been wanting to get into it as well. It works out great when both parents work. Just pull it out in the morning before you go to work to let it thaw out during the day. When you get home all the prep work is done so you just pop it in the oven and serve. Makes things a lot easier.

Aaron was excited to finally have a "Honey-Do List". Sounds crazy but not if you know Aaron. The point behind a "Honey-Do List" is that Amanda gets to find all of these projects around the house that she would like to have done. So when she says "Honey, will you please make some storage shelves in the basement", she just puts it on the "Honey-Do List". Aaron loves to build things or even just fix things. He just loves to work with his hands. Plus the added benefit of doing things for his wife and family just makes his day. Amanda hasn't wasted any time getting started on that list either. Aaron is also excited to have a yard to work in of his very own. Weird huh?!

Zack has a great time with his "new house" too. For anyone that has come over to see us or for those who still haven't, plan on getting the grand tour from him. He loves to show off his new room. Mary Beth gave him a great area rug for his room that has train tracks and road ways on it. He is getting pretty good at building his own train tracks and can play for hours all by himself. Hope that he enjoys that while it lasts. Little sister will be wanting to play with his things here pretty soon.

Alexis is happy with the new home. Well as much as one little girl can. She definitely could tell how stressed out we were about getting this home. The last week before closing on the house, she had this astounding sense of the stress and didn't like it one little bit. Now that we are moved in and things have moved into the normal routine, she is much happier.

Over all we are very happy with our new home and the great new area that we have moved into. The ward has been very welcoming as have our neighbors. It's located near everything and the new Day Break temple is just down the street too. We think that we have made a great move and are happy to have been able to make it our home!

Super Hero!

Zack is entering the age of super heroes. What fun! Aaron bought him a t-shirt that says "My Dad is My Hero". Zack insists that it says "Zack is My Hero". The other day Aaron and I were watching Lord of the Rings. Zack came in the room and saw that there were people in trouble on the TV. He quickly informed us that we needed to rescue these people. He was Batman, daddy was Superman and I was Spider-man. He always gets to be Batman in these situations. Today I got a phone call from Zack while he and Aaron were getting ready to go. He had something he needed to tell me:

Zack: "Once upon a time there was scary monster eating all the people."
Me: "Oh no! What are we going to do about it?"
Zack: "We need to rescue the people! I am a super hero and I will rescue the people!"

What an awesome phone call! It absolutely made my day. I love getting little glimpses into his imagination.

Bonding

I love this picture because it shows how much Zack likes to dote on his sister. She sure is starting to respond well to him too. At least 10 times a day Zack insists on giving Lexi kisses. He loves to talk to her and look at her. He even shares his toys! We'll see how long that lasts when she actually wants the toys :). I can't wait to see them interact when he can make her laugh and smile by showing her how silly he is. He loves to be silly, show off and make people laugh. This kind of reminds me of the days when I was little. I remember when I was in kindergarten Ranna was very jealous that Christina and I left or school and she was left at home. Christina and I used to act extremely silly just to make her laugh before we left, hoping this would make it easier for her. I have a feeling things like that will be a common occurance with my children in the future.

"Brother's been picking on me in my sleep!"

Blessing

We blessed our new bundle on Sunday. It was so much fun to see everyone who came! We have been looking forward to doing this for months. Aaron has always wanted to show my family what real barbecue tastes like and the timing has always been off. We asked his dad if he would be willing to smoke some brisket and pork shoulder for the occasion months ago. He said that he couldn't do it in the winter because it would be too difficult for him to maintain the heat of the fire in the cold weather. So we bought the meat while it was still warm out, smoked it, then froze it until this weekend. It tasted wonderful!!!! (If I hadn't just told you it was frozen you would have thought it was smoked the day before, guess I just spilled the beans!) Aaron's parents were also wonderful enough to let us use their house to host the party after the blessing. Our apartment is just not big enough for this kind of function. Aaron helped out at their house a lot last week to help them get ready. They decided they wanted to re-do the kitchen cabinets before the blessing and it turned out so beautiful! Thank you so much for letting us use your beautiful home!

I am also so thankful for a wonderful sister in our ward. When we blessed Zack we were surprised when she caught up to us after sacrament meeting with a notes of the blessing for us. What a wonderful gift! It is now in his baby book and is a great reminder of that wonderful day. I was very grateful to see her after sacrament meeting this time with the same thing for Alexis. I am so excited to have these wonderful blessings in writing. Aaron can never remember what he says when he gives a blessing, side effect of following the Spirit I guess, and he has enjoyed being able to read what he said. He is so eloquent when he gives blessings, I love it!

Mostly I am thankful to be married to such a wonderfully spiritual man. So many blessings have come to our family because Aaron is close to the Lord and knows how to listen to the Spirit. Having the Priesthood and a worthy Priesthood holder in my home is such a comfort in trying times and good times. I am grateful that the Lord has blessed us with the power and authority of His Priesthood on this earth. I am thankful that I was raised in a home with the Priesthood and it's blessings. My appreciation and testimony of its power grows with each use. Thank you to all who joined Aaron in the circle for the blessings of both our beautiful children!