just wanted to put these pictures up

Some days I do feel as though only a cage could keep these two rascals contained. Or maybe its me that needs a cage?

The wheels on the park are great for hiding in!

I used to fit in this wheel like this too.

(Luke, Parker, Ethan and Hunter)

Mae turns 25!

We had a great time celebrating Mae's birthday with her at the beach, dinner and cake and singing! Happy Birthday, Mae!! We love you.

p.s. Now that I have the pictures from our boat ride I can talk about it. We all chipped in and rented a boat to "drive" around Balboa Island. It was a lot of fun. Mae and my dad had a great time steering the boat around and we all dreamed about owning one of the majestic homes along the island.

Happy 30th Steve!! We love you.

We had a fun day celebrating Steve's 30th birthday. We went to K1 Speed and raced the karts there. My brothers in law Clay and James came too. Their wives are pregnant so they couldn't race. The racing was a lot of fun. Steve came in 2nd place, right behind my brother in law James. But James had already been and he had the head start so we don't know about him....haha...just teasing James. Those little karts get going really fast, I even spun out once....it was a blast! We had to keep the action going so we went to see "Spiderman 3." We had a tasty dinner at Macaroni Grill. The boys had a little rough start at the restaurant wanting to run around and be goofy but we got them settled down (its amazing what a couple trips to time out will do) and we had a pretty successful restaurant outing. Dinner was followed by lots of birthday singing, cake and playing with Steve's new toy for the Xbox, Guitar Hero....thanks to Claymation and the Johnsons for that fun gift! Steve and Clay stayed up playing until almost 11pm! We are so glad to celebrate another year with our wonderful Steverino, we love him so much. Goodbye 20s, hello 30s and even more fun than the 20s were....ooohhhhh yeaaaahhhh.

paying my dues

If you're a frequent visitor to my blog and to Anna's blog you might be noticing some similarities. I just need to pay my dues and thank Anna for all the inspirational posts she does that I end up copying. Thanks Anna, you're the best! I just want to be like you.

hooray for babies!

Everyone is having babies! They're dropping from the sky. We can't wait to meet these precious little creatures.

Here is Stone Averett (love the name) born to Steve's brother Brian and his wife Denice. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 oz.

This little darling is Olivia Sue born to my cousin Ryan and his wife Angela. She is the smallest, weighing in at 5 lbs. 7 oz. I just love her huge pink bow.

This is Austin. He was born to my good friend Diana and her husband Josh. He weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. We sure miss having Payton around to play with but are excited to see pictures of his new little brother.

Last, but definitely not least, is Alyssa Trishelle born to Steve's sister Sherrie and her husband Wil. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. This girl is all pink and I just love it.

The fun is not over yet though! Both my sisters, Evelyn and Mae, are due to have babies soon too. I'm so excited for them. Evelyn is due in August and Mae is due in January. Hooray for babies!!!

Slide shows are fun

We had a fun day at the Stake park day today. We had a beautiful California day and the grass felt so good beneath our feet. One of the boys from one of the wards in our Stake brought some of his cars to play with but didn't play with any while he was there. Ethan quickly snatched them up and asked to borrow them (with some help from me). So Ethan spent most of his time playing with the cars in one of the sand pits but Luke had a blast exploring everything. His favorites are to climb up the chain ladders and slide down, then repeat, repeat, repeat. He also loves the tunnels. Every once in a while he'll take a break and go dig in the sand. Ethan and Luke also like to play the "race" game. We basically line up and I say "on your mark, get set, go!" Then we "race" and turn around and start all over again. We had all the children doing it at one point. Turns out lots of kids like to race. I think we got everyone good and tired. Here are the pictures I took from our park fun.

its amazing!

After Ethan and Luke woke up they climbed in bed with Steve. They were laying next to each other and normally this wouldn't last very long. Usually Steve has to be between them because Luke hasn't quite understood his own strength and Ethan can only take so many kicks to the face. Luke isn't trying to kick him but he's a wriggly worm. This morning was different. I came in to see how things were going and I hear Ethan telling Luke "I love you, Luke." At first Luke was quiet but then he started telling Ethan he loved him too (with a little suggestion from me). Ethan was telling Luke he is a cute brother and they were being so gentle with each other, giving each other hugs. Luke even scratched Ethan's back for him; Ethan LOVES having his back scratched. I am glad I got to capture some of it on the camera. These are the moments I live for.

I moved out the high chairs and now we're working on sitting at the table. This is our first attempt. Ethan did really well. Luke was a little more of a struggle but we made it, he's just such a picky eater!

Two of Luke's favorite people

Whenever Luke is around his Tia Mae-Mae he says "Come, Mae-Mae. Sleep." He then proceeds to take her by the hand and guide her to the nearest couch where he climbs up, lays down, and pulls Mae to do the same right beside him. He loves to cuddle with his Tia (translation: aunt). We think this practice all began in Provo when we were staying in Clay and Mae's house for Mae's graduation. Mae would bring him into her bed with Clay in the morning after Luke woke up. Ever since then he can't help but sneak in a cuddle. Sometimes Clay is lucky enough to squeeze in too.

Luke and Ellie are such good friends. Being only 4 months apart they see eye to eye. Ellie lovingly calls Luke "Hukey" and Luke calls Elle "E-we." When they aren't together they love to say hi to each other on the phone. They can already recognize each other's voices when they hear them in the background.

I just couldn't help snapping a picture of Ellie with her new shades. She thinks she is the coolest thing and we all agree.

Ethan's computer skills

Ethan never ceases to amaze me. He has gotten pretty good at the computer. Today we were sitting playing some Curious George games on the computer and he told me he could do it himself. I knew he could handle my parent's mouse but I thought ours was a little more complicated. Little did I know he's a pro! He sat down and played the matching game all by himself. It was kind of nice because I could go and do some dishes. On the other hand, it was kind of sad because he didn't need me to play any more. I love my Ethan-ator.

amateur

A friend of mine has inspired me lately. She goes out and takes pictures of ordinary things and blows them up, frames them nicely, and puts them on her walls. I'm always impressed with her art display. I'm no photographer but I'm getting a little tired of looking at the same things on my walls so I'm thinking of trying out her technique. This is my first attempt. I took one of the Gerber daisies Steve bought for me out of the vase and put in on our front lawn and took a picture of it. The other three pictures are of plants we have growing in our flower bed out front. Any suggestions?