MUM'S DAY!

So Happy late Mother's Day out there to all you fine women! I have such great examples of wonderful mother's. My mother and my mother in law are awesome... and of course so are our grandmothers!!! I also really appreciate the many things I learn from my sister and sister in laws. You are all such great mothers- you teach me so much! And not to be forgotten, all of you moms out there who's blogs I read-- I get such great ideas and inspirations from all of you. Most of the time I just end up realizing how many things I SHOULD be doing with Tianna, but I appreciate having some inspiration to be a better mother. So thank you all you mother's in my life!!! And thank you Tianna for being such a joy to mother!!!

Okay- back to business... we have had a busy few days so this post is going to be long... so read on only if you wish.

Friday evening we drove down to Salt Lake so that I could attend the graduation of my long time best friend, Janelle (Bruno) Robinson. She graduated from the MBA program at the U with a double Master's degree. Seriously, that girl is a genius! (hah- i had to use spell check to even spell genius correctly...) Anyway, it was awesome to celebrate this momentousness occasion with her.

On a side note- I also want to congratulate my brother Jason for his graduation from BYU in the Construction Management program a few weeks ago. He's also amazing and I'm so happy for him! You GO BRO!

Saturday we woke bright and early to get hackin' in the garden! We planted our garden.. which may be too early for Logan... so pray with us that our plants survive! It was really fun working together as a family. Tianna thought whatever we were doing was the greatest thing ever. She gets so excited about everything! The highlight of her day was planting the pumpkin seeds. She is such a determined little toad that while we were doing the tomatoes she kept burying the pumpkin seed packet in the ground next to the tomato plants because we weren't fast enough for her. She wanted the pumpkins in the ground and she wanted them NOW!
Anyway... we planted corn, peas, beans, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow zucchini (not squash-oops) and PUMPKINS! Hopefully more things grow than did last year. Basically out of last year's crop we got a half ear of corn, 2 orange pumpkins, several tomatoes, and a WHOOOOOOOOOOOOLE bunch of Zucchini. (and a whole lot of weeds. I hope to be better at keeping them at bay too)

Sunday was just plain awesome! I vote Mother's Day should be every Sunday! :) Luke was so cute-- he and Tianna made me breakfast in bed. The funny thing was, I was up before either of them so i could work on my lesson for YW's. He came up the stairs carrying a plate loaded with yummy food and said "Get back in bed!" So I obeyed.... then he realized I would end up eating alone, so he brought Tianna's high chair up and they ate in my room with me. Again, Tianna thought that was just the coolest thing.
Then it was off to church and that of course was good. When we got home we went on a little walk while our dinner cooked. It was followed by a delicious meal! Steak, baked potatoes, salad, steamed carrots.... can you say YUM?
When we were done eating, Tianna got her backpack on and informed us she was going to "Work/School." (I think she's seen her daddy leave the house a few times) She put her shoes on herself and then tried to go out the front door. Thankfully she' can't open it by herself, so she asked me to do it. I sent daddy out the door with her and he got some cute pictures.

Since we weren't really sure where her school and work are we decided we had better tag along. We made a second trip around our block. The heavy backpack slowed her down so preggo-mommy could keep up with her better!

The rest of the afternoon was really nice too. While Tianna napped, Luke did too, and I read. Then Luke's aunt and uncle came over for cake. His uncle raises lab puppies and with the mention of puppy's, Tianna decided she was going to their house to see the puppies. She got her shoes on and said "lets go!" Thankfully they were okay with that so we spent the rest of the day at their house. It's nice having some family up in the great north!
****
Tangent time-- I give a HUUUUUUUUUUGe shout-out to any parent who has successfully potty trained children. I must say, it is a HARD job! Tianna has been sporadically using the potty since before she turned 2. She was all sorts of interested then, and it quickly dwindled until she had no desire. First I was sick, then busy, then tired, and just plain too lazy to push it when she wasn't even interested.
Well, last week a friend of mine was potty training her little girl and I felt inspired. So we bought the cute little princess undies and that was basically all it took for Tianna! That, and a potty chart with bribery!
Sunday before and after church was our first attempt. She did really well actually! It wasn't until our second walk right after dinner (and of course a drink) that we had an accident. Luckily it was on the grass in the backyard. If we had gone inside about 2 minutes sooner it wouldn't have even happend.
Monday........ she had an accident a half hour after getting her undies on but was good the whole rest of the day. Yesterday we made it clear until evening without any problems. She's doing so well I am just sooooooooo proud of her!
But, that doesn't mean it's easy. It's actually quite exhausting to ask them every half hour or so... and taking them every half hour or so. The worst part is in public.... especially when you are standing in the nasty, dirty, hot, cramped bathroom at Walmart when you know they SHOULD need to go and won't...for what feels like an eternity. Then as soon as you give up and get to the other end of the story and they decide they do need to go after all.
It will be worth it in the end though!

Monday, her reward for filling up the row on her chart was an icecream cone. She couldn't have been more excited!!!

Okay, enough potty stories. (sorry BTW, but this is like my journal so I gotta post things like that)

Monday we were also privileged to have my parents come stay at our house. My dad had a work-related thing to attend up here and so he of course brought my mom along with him. Monday night we went to the Old Barn theater and watched, "Peter Pan" together. It was a cute show!

Yesterday my mom helped me orgazine the baby things in the kid's room. They brought all the rest of our baby stuff up with them from Price and so we needed to find a place to put all of it! It feels good to be a little more organized and prepared.... In some ways i feel like we're jumping the gun on putting out all of the babies things but then I remember I am at week 35 out of 40 and the last 3 weeks we'll be busy. So if not now, then when, right?? When I get their room a little more put together I will post pictures so you can see the really cute crib set I got! YAY!
So the next question is-- our house is about ready for two kids, AM I?!?!?!

All the Pretty Tulips!

Miracles do happen-- MOST of my tulips are still in tact. Last year the neighborhood "delinquents" as I unkindly refer to a hoard of little girls who live by us, clipped just about ever single tulip I had in my front yard. After some serious talkin' to's and threats... they have left them mostly alone. Funny story though-- the other day, we were taking off for the weekend and I told Luke I better go take a few pictures with his camera phone just in case I came back and they were all gone. As soon as I had gotten back in the car and we were backing out of the driveway we see one of them walking down the sidewalk with a handful of flowers and bent down next to the neighbors dafoldils. Luke jumped out of the car to go and stop her.... but upon a closer observation he realized her hands were just full of dandelions (by all means, TAKE THE DARN THINGS!!!) So again, he warned her not to take any flowers from other people's yards unless they are just dandelions. Okay.... so we're paronoid. But too bad! Muahahhahahhaaaa....

When we returned Monday I found that 5 had been picked, but I can live with that. Last year they only left with me with about that many.

So here's my gorgeous girl and our happy little flowers!

And here comes May!

I love the month of May! I'm not sure if it's because school lets out... it's usually the perfect temperature, the flowers bloom.. or what. But I love it and so far, the month has not been disappointing!

This last weekend we went down to Price to attend my niece Natalia (Nati's) baptism. It was a great experience to witness her making those special covenants. We're so proud of you Nati!

One of the many perks of such events is getting to see family members that don't get to see as frequently as you would like. One of those is my ADORABLE nephew, Jacomo! I haven't seen this little guy since February and he's already turned into a little heart breaker!

That is definitely not the best picture of me... but what do ya do?
Anyway, I got a great picture of the rest of his family and my parents so you get to see that one too!

I also just couldn't help but take pictures of this little funny girl-- Harley, my sisters baby is getting to be quite the character. She posed and posed for me as I took pictures, but my camera was being dumb and most of them turned out a bit blurry. The one with her and her mommy is pretty cute though!

On Sunday we got to celebrate with Miss Camryn who turned the BIG 2!!! We were so happy to be available for the family get together. We usually miss out on those things.
I loved this picture because she had just woken up and was SO not in the mood for party'in yet.

She is such a fun little girl who loves loves loves her baby dolls. What a cutie! And oh does she have attitude!

It was sad to leave all of the fun, but unfortunately the weekend came to a close. At least Tianna got her first taste of a trampoline before we had to leave. She was a bit apprehensive about it at first but quickly learned that it was really fun to play ring-around-the-rosie with Rylie and Payton! The trick was getting a good shot-- so you'll have to settle for funny one's instead.

I just love how her pants are completely off her little bum.

And then there was Payton who was just being cute.

And last, but certainly not least, when we got home... I only found 5 tulips had been picked out of our front yard-- so far sooooo good! For further explaination see posts from last May!
Since this is already long and full of pictures, I'll post my tulips in my next entry! Let's just hope they are actually still outside in a few more days! :D

She Says the Funniest Things Sometimes

Obviously this picture is not at all current. It's from Christmas time 2007 but she just looks so cute in it that I thought I'd share. If it weren't for the demon-red eyes I'd say she looked angelic in this picture.

Since I don't have anything really exciting to blog about other than LUKE BEING DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR THE SEMESTER!!! (Minus an extra credit assignment he plans on doing this week) Although this is pretty exciting stuff, one can't really create a whole long post with just that.. I guess I could share the detail that he was at the school lab Saturday morning until almost 4 am finishing up his last lab project. Poor guy.

So I thought I'd just tell you a few of the funny things that Tianna has said lately.
Last week we were playing at the neighborhood playground when she started yelling "Moooooom!" from the top of the slide. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I'm talking to a bee!" I said, "Oh yeah? What did the bee say?" She gave me a DUH look at said, "B." So... if you ever wanted to know what bees would say if you could understand them (and no I'm not having a Bee Movie moment) they would just say the letter B.

Today I was completely shocked by something that came out of her mouth. I have my Les Miserables music book sitting out and she brought it to me and said she wanted to go to Paris. HELLO!? Where did she learn about Paris? TV? I don't know. So I asked her for more info on this Paris stuff and she said she wanted to go to Paris to visit her friends. Well okay then. Since she probably would require a chaperone or two I guess Luke and I should take a vacay to France. Anyone want to pay for it?

Loving Stuff

I am totally LOVING THE WEATHER! Loving going outside a lot. Loving that Luke's school semester is about up, Loving having a funny, happy, adventurous and lively little girl to spend my time with, Loving being pregnant ... (okay not so much that part)... and Loving my new haircut.
I'm just in a good mood right now, can't ya tell!

I just mentioned a new haircut so to start things off, here are the before and after shots. The first pic is funny because these are all of the YW leaders in our ward who are preggo. There are only two others who aren't... so girls camp should be interesting! haha..
We stood in order of due-dates right to left. The one in purple is due tomorrow and I'm due June 17th and the one in black is due in July and the one in teal is due in August. It's been fun to be pregnant with all of these cute sisters! But... back to the point- see my hair (DIRE need of a new style) The picture doesn't show how bad it was... but trust me.


Next is the new version. It's shorter than I've ever had my hair... but I like it! Sometimes I think maybe I don't but when I fixed it today and saw how quickly it went from wet to finished.. I again REALLY liked it! What do you guys think?


Friday night was fun... Luke had to attend a Gallery Walk which is basically a bunch of different stores on Main Street featuring local artists work in their facility. It was fun just kickin' back and enjoying time with each other as we walked around. Then we came home and the whole household was in bed before 10:00! Anyone who knows Luke will be shocked!

Saturday I was lucky enough to have a "mommy's day off" as I attended my Stake Relief Society Enrichment. It was awesome! The first hour was a man who has written over 40 books on organizing, cleaning, and dejunking our homes. It was really cool! Then we got to choose two other classes to attend and was followed up by our Stake President speaking to us. I definitely needed some time off and I can't think of a better way to spend some free-time.
Meanwhile... poor Luke :) He and Tianna had to get some things done on the car so they had to wander around Logan for over 2 hours. They had fun though I think! They walked past Villiage Inn and Tianna pointed and said "Go there. Eat pancakes!" So they did! And no, we don't go there often to eat she just has an impecible memory.

After a leisurly afternoon we ended the day with some Mini-Golfing with our good friends and then played some games and ate strawberry shortcake. What a great day!


Tianna was SO funny as we golfed. She had her own little club and ball and she had the best time hitting the ball around, then running and picking it up (and occasionally moving all of our balls too....)
She's becoming such a fun little person! It's not even like having a baby with us anymore. She loves participating in almost everything we do and MOST of the time is well enough behaved that we can enjoy ourselves too. I am however grateful that we have some friends who although they dont have their own kids (yet), don't mind that we bring ours on all of our excursions.

Easter Weekend

As usual, our trip down to visit with our families started later than we wished... Luke had to attend a play for school and so we didn't even leave Logan Thursday night until 11 pm! (yes, I did say PM) So we arrived at my parents house around 2 and then the poor guy had to stay up another hour and a half to work on an assignment that was due. (Pretty much WAY excited for the semester to be over with in a few weeks)
Anyway, after sleeping in.. yeah right... Tianna woke up at 6:45 because she was so excited to see her Grandma. We got up and headed out to meet up with all of the other campers. We camped at a cool place near the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.

I'm posting a slideshow of our weekend but there is one drawback. One day when I get on the stick I want to print out my blog for a book and I don't know what to do with the slideshows. But for now, ENJOY!

We had such a good time. Friday the weather was a bit chilly but beautiful. I even made out with a sunburn (woooooot woooooot) Tianna had tons of fun running around with her cousins and friends (we had a really large camping group which consisted of my family, my brother-in-law's family, some of their in-laws, and a couple of other friends) Luke enjoyed shooting guns, riding horses, playing with the men-folk, and riding four-wheelers around. I spent most of the time sitting by the campfire and chasing Tianna around the camp. I went on a couple of good walks/hikes on the rocks and stuff near our campsite. We ate lots of good food and loved spending time with everyone.

Saturday was raining and cold.... but we made the most of it. The Easter Bunny made an appearance between breaks in the storm and it was so fun to watch the kids find their eggs in the rocks.
Tianna had so much fun with it that she kept saying, "More eggs?? Let's go find more Eggs!" So.... we rehid the eggs she had already found. It entertained her for a bit longer. :) Basically the entire rest of the day she spent her time digging in the dirt. I never imagined that would last for hours on end but it did!
Another funny thing she did while we were out there was falling in love with the many dogs running around. One in particular became her favorite. His name is Kozmo but for some reason she renamed his Goofy. The other dogs were Pongo and "other Pongo"-- neither of which were their real names either.

Now on to Easter Sunday. Late (again) Saturday night we made it to Luke's parents house and visited with his parents and his sister and boyfriend who flew in that day from Nebraska. After church on Sunday we made the rounds at the grandparents houses. First we went to GMA and GPA Peacock's house but they were headed to Uncle Gary's for dinner so we tagged along. (Luke's parents and siblings were out on the desert so we were sort of nomads.) Dinner at their house was really fun and Tianna enjoyed playing with their kids.
After that we made it over to GMA and GPA Lake's house for a good visit. After a little while Luke's immediate family had gotten off the desert and started trickling in to visit too.
Evenutally we made it back to his parent's house and had a late family dinner with them. It was a rarety to have all of his family under one roof.... so... of course we ended up staying way too late again. We left Castle Dale around 10 PM... at least it was an hour earlier than Thursday night..hahaha.

"Tianna, do you know what Easter is about?"

Yesterday morning while getting Tianna ready for church I asked her, "Do you know what Easter is about? It's about Jesus."
She looked at me as she twirled and said, "Yeah.... and my pretty dress."

So, I may not have gotten the message through to my two year old that Easter is a very sacred and important holiday about our Savior Jesus Christ, and it's not about the new pink dress she got to wear to church (or the Easter Bunny who hid eggs the day before), but hopefully I can help share the true meaning with you. We'll keep working on Tianna.