What do you do over Memorial Weekend?...

Why, go fishing and trapshooting of course! YEE-HAW!!! And that is exactly what we all did! We went with my whole family and had an absolute ball!

Grandma Retta & Allie... Easton & Papa.

Easton and Paul fishing for a big one....

....and they get one!!

Allie hated how the fish squirmed around on the line..she was happiest just feeding them, but she did catch one with her Dad.

Me and Easton.

My kids LOVE their cousins. It's pretty cute to watch them all together.

All the kids ended up on my mom's floor eating chocolate creamies....A perfect day.

The next day, we did the trap shoot. This was a riot! We all took turns shooting-even the little kids took turns shooting. That's right...I said kids! We don't mess around, after we take the sippy cup away..we hand 'em a gun. KIDDING!! We wait until they are at least potty trained. hahaha : )

I have a real weakness for men that are into guns. So lucky for me...this one is MINE!! Paul is an awesome shot, in fact my Dad told me one time that Paul is one of the best he has ever seen.

My cute mom shooting "her" gun. Yep-she drives a Lexus and shoots a gun! Check out how cute her hat is! Me and my sister kept calling her "Anastasia." She is too cute to be a grandma-don't ya think?

Here I am. Shooting a gun. I have to tell you...this did more for my husband than any little black nightie would ever do! HAHA!! I think he has always hoped that I would head out hunting with him. I'm too much of a girly-girl for full-on hunting, but I may have to try trapshooting more often.... ; )

Easton's first shot. I wasn't kidding when I said that even the little ones tried it. Paul was so proud of his boy and Easton was loving every minute of it. He didn't even flinch-he just wanted to keep doing it. I was so relieved that he wasn't afraid of it. Now Paul knows for sure he has a little hunting buddy.

And here is Krystal....who (of course) could actually hit 'em! This girl is amazing at everything she does! Total athlete.

Here is Nate...he was actually good at this. I think he would rather be watching basketball though!! He kept sneaking in to watch the game!

Here is Aunt Jemima...a.k.a BJ. He was wearing a rag on his head because the nats were out and driving him(& everybody) crazy. BJ is such a neat freak-he was cleaning up our shotgun shells before we were even finished!

"Aunt Jemima" taking the kids on a joy ride....

This is my Dad's newest toy. Its kind of like a sand rail-but kind of like a four wheeler at the same time. It is so fun to ride around in! My Dad took the kids on ride after ride. I think they would have rode in it all day.

And last but not least...my FAVORITE picture. She is going to kill me for this, but I'm sorry-it doesn't get any funnier than this....She is like "pregnant Annie(or Aubrie) get your gun!! "

We had such a great time this weekend! I have always loved hanging out with my family. They are all such awesome people and I'm so blessed to have them in my "life boat." I can't wait to meet the newest member in a couple of weeks!!

Our Sweet Allie is SIX!

Six years ago, I was handed a beautiful, golden-haired, screaming, little girl....my Allie. She was the most beautiful (and scary) thing I thought I had ever seen. I remember the nurse wiping her head off and handing her too me and the first words out of my mouth was, "She's blonde!" I thought all babies started with dark hair, so I was shocked to see light hair from the beginning! Then came the crying. Allie cried the entire first two hours of her life, without stopping. Nothing would calm her down and I remember looking at Paul, like "what have we done?!!" But she did stop crying and it was her Dad that calmed her down. Its still pretty much this way. Paul & Allie have a special little bond between them and he gets and understands her when I am throwing my hands in the air! I couldn't love a little girl more though, and I was over the moon when I heard the words, "Your having a girl." I always tell Allie that I used to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to send me the sweetest, most wonderful little girl that he had. And then I tell her..."and guess what? He did."

Here are some of the things that we love and know for sure about our Allie Cat:

1. She is sweet. Most people that know Allie will tell you this. She is very rarely a brat-let's hope I can keep her this way through the teenage years!! hahaha!

2. She has slept with the same blanket/teddy bear her entire life. Its called her "seepy guy" I know...weird, but she named him!

3. She is crazy for her grandparents. When she sees them, she runs and catapults herself into them! I love that she loves them this much.

4. She has her daddy's smile.

5. When I drop her off at the bus stop, she always looks back and says, "I love you mama!" I know this won't last forever, so I cherish it now.

6. She loves her brother more than anything. When we brought Easton home, all she wanted to do is hug and kiss him and all I said to her for the next year was, "GET OFF HIM!" The other day she told me that she thought Easton was so cute that she wanted to just squeeze him!

7.She has quirky fears. This actually drives me crazy, but it makes up who she is. She has a ginormous fear of birds and elevators. We only go to one park and its the one that Seagulls don't hang around and the mall is a nightmare-Layton Hills is good because the elevator is glass! I'm sure we will be in therapy later... : )

8. She is a bookworm. When she was about six months old, she started going to bed (or crib) with a book. She would jabber and yell like she was reading to herself. She is still this way. She goes to bed with a big stack of books, and now she can even read some of them!

9. She LOVES pink, princesses and ANYTHING that sparkles and glitters.

10. She likes to ride her scooter that has fake pink flowers in the basket.

11. She is a little lady. Farting, burping or anything else along these lines is unacceptable. She is completely repulsed by all of it. ( I know, I know...I wonder if she is mine too!) I think she comes straight from Retta(my mother).

12. She loves home more than anything. When she was two, she had to have surgery and as she was coming out of the anesthesia, she said..."Me go home now." She is still that way. She loves to hang out as a family at home. When I talk about selling our house, she goes into hysterics! I love this about her.

13. She loves long hair.

14. She has learned how to match her clothes to her shoes and jewelry, hair bows...etc.

15. When I get sad that she is growing up too fast, I tell her to stop growing up and to stay with me forever. To this she replies, "Mom, it will be okay. I'm your best friend and I will call you everyday." She better.

16. She believes the princesses at Disneyland are real.

17. She loves going to church. (Again, lets hope this lasts...)

18. She loves music and her tastes are quite eclectic. In her room she has Hannah Montana, Wicked and Little Mermaid.

19. She is as stubborn as a gray mare.(as my dad would say!) If Allie doesn't want to do something, just give up...she won't do it.

20. In her prayers at night, she always prays that me and Paul will be safe and also that she can remember Jesus. No matter what my mood is...when she says her prayers, I melt inside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE!

I promise we don't favor Allie! I know my posts have been Allie-heavy lately, its just that she has had a lot going on! In fact, Paul often accuses me of favoring Easton...so there!! ; )

Singing,Dancing & Dinosaurs!

We have been crazy busy this last week. In six days we have had a singing concert, soccer game, mother's day program, dance recital, school field trip and a kindergarten program! It has been a lot of fun to see our little girl performing....but we are tired!!! It got to the point that Allie was like, "Are we doing stage hair today Mom?" Poor girl-I'm sure there is a build-up of hairspray residue in her lungs from all the ratting and spraying that we did to get ready for her recitals and pictures! Here are a few pictures of the week.

Allie absolutely loves her singing class. She loves anything to do with music and performing...so obviously, its her favorite activity. She told me the other day that she was going to grow up and be Glinda, the good witch in Wicked. (No, she hasn't seen the play, she just loves the music.) I told her that she should do it, but that she should be Elphaba(my favorite). Her reply? "Mom, I CAN'T be the green witch. I have blonde hair....and I'm not wicked!" Oh....okay then. : )

Next came the dance recital. Allie's dances were so cute this year. They danced to Fabulous from High School Musical 2 and then they tap danced to Rockin' Robin. She did such a good job! I love seeing her dance and I couldn't stop smiling and I'm sorry-but there is nothing cuter in the world than tights and tu-tus! She has a cute little style to her dancing and she even started to smile and make those dance faces while she was dancing! So funny!

This is when we were heading to the dance rehearsal. She told me that this was her stage pose! Rock on Allie-Cat.

This is her Rockin' Robin costume. I didn't get pictures of her "fabulous" costume, because we got professional pictures of that one. I will post that picture when we get it back. Here is a funny story-Easton has been wearing the feathers from this costume around the house, saying that he is a feathered dinosaur. haha!!We won't tell his dad.... Shake a tail feather!!

Big thanks to my mom, sister and Laura for sitting through the entire four hours with us. My sister is like 8mos+ pregnant and she still sat there not complaining once. I'm betting that she went home and used the preparation-H though!! hahaha! Your a good sport Aub, and I'm just warming you up for when you have your little girl!

Easton, Allie & Jacee B(Allie's best friend)

I went with Allie's class for their field trip to the dinosaur park on Wednesday. I took Easton with me, because he is crazy about dinosaurs, and also because I feel like he has been shuffled from one grandma to the next during this week. He had a great time impressing everyone with how many of the dinosaurs he could name. He informed a teacher that the Allosaraus used to live in Utah. (It did!) Yeah....he kinda takes after his dad in the brain department!

We are now done with everything! Wahoo!! There is nothing on our schedule but a summer full of swimming, camping and trampoline jumping!

WE HAVE HAIR!!

So, it has taken six years but we finally have hair! I have never cut Allie's hair-NEVER! What you see has taken her entire six years to grow...but it is finally long! She has wanted long hair her whole little life. Can you believe this is the same girl that was bald for the first three years of her life?? Seriously people-she had to wear those headband bows for so long that she began to think of it as another appendage! At least we got some hair before the teeth start falling out!! ; )

Race 4 the Kids-5K

This morning I was able to do a 5K with my mom and my daughter. It was a blast! It was early-but worth getting up for. All the proceeds from the race will go to Primary Children's Medical Center. I have been a walking partner with my mom since I was about 12 and it was neat to bring my little girl into the tradition. Don't worry-she didn't run the whole thing. After about a 1/2 mile, she crawled into the jog stroller. She didn't want to ride though! I think she would have stuck out the whole thing with us, and if she didn't have a soccer game right after, I probably would have let her do it! Allie even won a prize-a dozen doughnuts from The Hole. (If that doesn't make it worth it, I don't know what would..) It was a fun thing to do and I can't wait for another one, but next time I am leaving the jog stroller home! OW!

My Mom and Allie.

Allie & Me

Bending it like Beckham?

I decided to put Allie in soccer this spring-I mean even a princess needs to know how to kick a ball-right? Well, up until today, she hasn't really got the point of soccer-at all. Most of the time we were lucky to get her to run in the right direction and as far as kicking the ball??? Forget about it! But today she was amazing! It was like watching a different kid. It must of just clicked for her. I'm putting this video on for her cousins Landi and Libbie(who are amazing at everything they do!) Hey-she just may end up being a soccer star after all! ; )

p.s.-She is the one in red and is #1

Tulips... and Moon Boots!

Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year! I love everything about this season and I often joke that it was no coincidence that I was born in the spring time. So as you can imagine, I am feeling pretty ripped off with our current weather situation. I mean....COME ON SPRING! I'm still wearing a hoodie and its May 1st! I'm craving shorts and flip-flops! On Tuesday though, we actually got a glimpse of really nice weather, so I took my kids outside and we played in our yard pretty much all day. I LOVE sitting in my yard. I love weeding, planting, digging, gardening...all of it! I could stare at my trees for hours. If you lived in an apartment as long as we did,(thank you graduate school!) you completely understand my love for yard work. (Jess-I know you get it!) Anyway, last fall I had my kids help me plant tulip bulbs. We talked all winter about those bulbs being underground! I kept telling Allie & Easton, that when the tulips come out...that means spring is here. Well, the tulips are here...and they are BEAUTIFUL, but they are currently being snowed on!! Here's hoping that spring returns quickly, but in the meantime, I got some great pictures of my kids.. and my tulips. Here are a few...


This one is my favorite! Allie loves to try and catch butterflies with her butterfly net. Before Allie, I always wondered-do kids really play with butterfly nets?? I thought they were kind of a stupid toy. She loves her bug net(even though I don't believe she has caught one single butterfly!) and I was able to get this picture without her knowing I was taking it. Check out her face!

Easton was able to catch himself in his bug net!!

If Allie sees a camera she completely poses(think jazz hands!)...hysterical! I didn't tell her to do one thing. Can you tell she lives with a camera in her face? hahaha!

See what I mean??

Now my Bubba is not such a fan of the camera. For this picture, I had pulled him away from some serious excavating with his Tonka truck! (geez mom!) He wanted to play, not pose! You can't see it...but he had on his Thomas the Train moon boots in this picture. uuggh! I've got my very own Napoleon Dynamite living with me. He currently wants to wear them everywhere. Not a good thing when you have me for a mom! I have agreed to let him wear his boots around the house..but no where else! Pick your battles right??