The Kiddos!

Owen is now 19 months this month. Just in the past two weeks he has had a speech breakthrough! The boy is saying new words daily and you can actually understand them! Just today, he was wanting some fruit snacks so I asked him to say please and sure enough he signed and said it. After giving it to him he proceeded to tell me and sign "thank you!" It is so exciting to hear him talk. He is just the cutest little man around! He has such a fun personality. He loves to climb on everything, his laugh is so contagious, and he tries so hard to be like his big sister. He loves watching Baby Signing Time. We have to pull out both the little portable TV and the IPad so both the kids can watch their own shows at the same time. What silly little kids.

Vanessa keeps getting smarter and smarter. I can't believe that she turns 4 this year. My little baby is growing up so fast! She loves to draw and "do her homework" I sure do hope that sticks with her as she grows up. She loves to boss her little brother around. I have to keep reminder her to let me be the Mommy. She is a great helper and I just love her so so so much! She never ceases to amaze me. We have the two greatest kids around! We love having them both in our family!

Joy School Week 1

Yesterday was our first day of Joy School. The kids came to my house and we learned about Pirates! I got the idea from Mark's cousin Jen. She has so many great ideas! Overall the kids did great! I had one little boy that cried for a bit but then joined us when we started doing the activities. We learned about the letter P, R, and X and read the book called Pirates Ho. We also went on a treasure hunt to find our snacks and made pirate hooks. The kids had lot of fun being together. I think this will be a great way to help them get ready for preschool.

Offer Accepted!!!

So just recently Mark and I started the process of looking to buy a home! I can't believe that it is finally happening! It is quite exciting to start this process. It always seemed that we would never get there but now it finally here! We were able to meet some awesome people who are helping us learn about this process and find a home. Over the past couple of weeks we have gone to look at some homes. At first we were a little bit discouraged. The homes that are in our price range just weren't what we wanted. We have put together a little list on what we want and it was just not matching up!

But alas, we were able to find the cutest home in Roy for just the right price! It has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 family rooms, a huge two car garage, fully fenced yard, patio, and a place for a garden. It is just 8 minutes from Mark's Ogden office which will make commuting a bit easier! It also has been updated with nice paint colors (expect we would paint the bedrooms), slate floors and new carpet. What more could we ask for! We felt that we needed to put an offer on it quick so we did. We heard back from the sellers the next day and they accepted our offer! We are so dang excited! It's a short sale so now we just need to wait for the third party (bank) approval to go through. This is the long part. It can take anywhere to 4-12 weeks for the approval to go through. We are not in any hurry so we are very willing to wait for this house! So we are hoping in the near future we will be homeowners....FINALLY!!! Keep your fingers crossed!

Here some pictures of the home!

Weekend in Delta

We were able to go down to Delta this past weekend. It was sure fun being able to spend time with my family. The weekend always seems to go by so fast when we are down there. I wish it would go slower so we could do everything that we wanted to do.

We were able to take the family swimming. It is much cheaper to take the kids to the pool in Delta then it is up here so we took advantage of that this time! The kids loved it! We forgot our camera so we didn't get any pictures :( Vanessa loved playing in the water! I was sure we were going to have a melt down when we told her it was time to go but we didn't thankfully. Owen didn't like the coolness of the water at first but after he got used to it he really enjoyed it. It was so much fun being able to do this family activity.

We were also able to help my parents install some storage shelves so they could use it to hold their food storage. They were really nice shelves and we decided that we need to get some like it soon! We went to my parent's stake conference. It was nice to be able to be with them and the kids did really well. Afterward, we enjoyed a nice Sunday meal and time together before we had to go. We were also able to slip in a visit to my grandma's house right before we left. I really wish I was able to see her more ofter. I miss her terribly and I know that as time passes, my chances to visit her are diminishing. What I need is to spend a week down there so I can just soak up time with my grandma and family. I have been really wanting to quilt with her. I haven't quilted in so long and it would just be so much fun. That is on my to-do list :)

We really enjoyed this past weekend. It is always nice to get out of the house and to visit family! Thanks Mom, Dad, Reagan, Cody, and Maria for such a fun weekend! We love and miss you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day was pretty low key around here. I was trying to recover from a terrible cold so we didn't do as much as a would have liked. We woke up to find that Cupid came and left us some Valentine goodies and presents. There was even a trail of rose petals that led from our rooms to where the goodies were placed! The kids loved waking up and following the trail to be surprised with presents and candy! Who wouldn't! Vanessa got a pink Valentine shirt, princess crayons, princess candy, and a princess book! Owen got a shirt, car crayons, ball candy (which he loves), and a valentine book. We had fun coloring and reading our books all day long.

That night for dinner we had a homemade heart shaped pizza, pink juice, and salad. It was yummy! You can't really tell that it was a heart. I forgot to take a picture of it before we cut into it. And for desert we had chocolate covered strawberries! One of my favorites! I wish I wasn't feeling so sick cause I couldn't enjoy them to the fullest.

When Mark came home he surprised me with a dozen beautiful red roses, a card, some new throw pillows and that night surprised me again with some pearl earrings! He definitely is my sweetheart and I love him to pieces! I was able to surprise him with a new tool set, a homemade card, and some yummy cheese cake! We got to eat that while we watched a movie after the kids were in bed.Overall it was a great Valentine's day. We were able to enjoy the day together as a family. What more would I ask for?

Markers!

So I have been looking for simple but fun ideas to do with the kids while stuck inside the house. Can I just say that I really really really want Spring to come! I think we are all driving each other a little crazy being cooped up in the house all day long. Anyway, I found an idea for the kids using a mirror and washable markers. I couldn't take down our big mirror in the entryway so I settled for the mirror on the back of our bedroom door. Things got a little messy but thankfully it was washable. Vanessa and Owen loved coloring on the mirror and accidentally on the door :) I am just happy that I was able to entertain them for a bit and that they enjoyed it. Vanessa was very proud of her drawings so we left it up until Daddy came home so he could see it.

Owen had a little too much fun eating the markers. I couldn't keep them out of his mouth! I'm pretty sure they don't taste that good.

Our Little Artist!
I am starting to think that being an artist is one of Vanessa's many talents that she is developing.

Joy School

I decided that I was going to be ambitious and try and start a Joy School for Vanessa and some other kids her age in the ward. I was able to get 4 other moms and their kids to join us! I am super excited to get this going. I think it will be a great way to keep Vanessa busy (well at least for one day a week) and for me to get to know some of the ladies in our ward better.

We had a meeting today at my house and all of the ladies seemed excited to have this group formed. We went over some of the things that we wanted accomplished and threw out ideas for themes. We finally decided on theme. We didn't want it to be too much that the kids couldn't handle it. Most of them haven't been to preschool so this is their first experience in a "school setting." So what we decided on doing is basing the activities (song, treat, and activity) off of a book. We will be choosing a fun book to read to the kids and then doing a fun activity together. I really liked this because that way we can focus on a wide variety of topics. It will be nice to get the kids together so they can learn and play. I hope this works out and that it will be a good experience for the kids and moms. I am sure excited! If you have any good books for kids and fun activity ideas, please leave a comment :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

On Saturday and Sunday we were able to help celebrate Mark's mom's birthday. We ate some yummy meals and had lots of fun playing and being together! This year I made mom some holiday subway art for her birthday. They turned out so cute! I forgot to take a picture of it so I will have to post it on here when I get one. Vanessa and Owen loved helping Grandma open her presents! They were such great helpers. They even had more fun playing in the boxes that the presents came in. Both of them got in the boxes and so we pushed them around and played bumper cars! They absolutely loved it! We got some awesome laughs and smiles out of the two them.

They also enjoyed helping Grandma blow out the candles. Grandpa couldn't get them lite fast enough before Mr. Owen would huff and blow them out! He just loves blowing out candles!
We love being able to help the family celebrate birthdays! We are so grateful to have such an amazing mother and grandmother in our lives! Thanks for all that you do for each one of us! We love you so much and hope you had a great birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM & GRANDMA!

Just Like Daddy!

This past weekend, Mark was fixing up some laptops and playing with some of his computer stuff so Owen decided that he wanted to help him. He grabbed a screwdriver and a part to the laptop, took it in the front room and got right to work! He was muttering to himself all the while. He definitely loves being able to do what his daddy does. What a little daddy's boy!

Pictures!

The other day I took a survey for Kiddie Kandids and they emailed me a 50 dollar coupon! Sweet! I love when I get free stuff! So I booked an appointment for the kids to get some pictures taken. I was a bit skeptical if we could actually get the kids to smile and be happy for the pictures. So when picture day arrived, the kids were actually happy and I didn't even have to fight to get Vanessa to wear what I wanted her too! Things were looking good, until...

we arrived at the studio. It was a totally different story! Owen hated every single minute of it! He kept grabbing our hands and pointing to the door. He wanted out of there as fast as possible! We let Vanessa go first in hopes of that calming Owen down. Vanessa did very well. She smiled and posed and looked so cute! Owen calmed down just enough for them to get a few pictures of him (he wasn't smiling but at least he wasn't screaming in all of them). We were able to get a few good pictures of the two of them. The best part about it was that we didn't have to pay for them!

Click here to see the proofs

Countdown to Kisses!

So while surfing the web for some Valentine craft ideas, I came across an idea for making a countdown to Valentine's Day. I loved it so much that I just had to do it. So I got together my Robert's coupons, waited til a Tuesday (because it is double coupon day at Roberts) and went and bought me a board and stand for $4.00! I was super excited to get home and start on the project and finally get to use my new Sure Cuts A Lot Circut software! Which I absolutely love by the way!

Anyways, I couldn't wait for Mark to get home to drill the holes so I got out the power tools and got to work drilling the holes myself. Can I just tell you how much I love power tools! There is something satisfying in being able to work them myself :)

After drilling, sanding, painting, cricuting, and modpodging, I was finally able to finish my project! It turned out so darn cute and the kids love being able to countdown til Valentine's Day by eating the candy kisses.

Click here to link to site for instructions on how to make it!