HaPpY BiRThdAY BriELLe!!! ♥

Its official, my baby is 5!!! I can't believe it, where has the time gone? 5 is such a big year, you will start school, and probably loose a tooth.... you're growing up!

I LOVE you so much. You bring so much happiness to our house. You can always manage to make me laugh. You have a love for music, just like me and its so fun to sing along to songs and dance in the car together. You are always willing to help me and rarely complain (I am so grateful for that!) and you are so sweet and complimentary. You tell me almost every day how cute my outfit or hair looks (thanks!)

I am so impressed at how smart you are. You love reading (and being read to). You remember lyrics to songs so easily. You are very coordinated and have GREAT balance and rythm (not sure where you got that from??)

You are going to be the most amazing big sister! I am so excited to see how loving and helpful you can be to our baby. I know you will be a great friend, just like you are to Katie!

Thanks for being amazing! Love, Mom

We decorated your room while you, Katie, and Ella slept on the floor. It was pretty fun to tiptoe around you and freeze evertime you stirred. You were so excited to wake up and see the decorations! Happy Birthday Brielle!!!

Nana and Papa came and picked you up right after breakfast and took you to Build a Bear. They have taken each of the girls when they turn 5 and it was finally your turn! When Katie went, you were just 3 and you were sooooo sad, you couldnt go too. I hope you enjoyed this special time with Nana and Papa. You picked out a cute kitty you named "Lily Breanna Jones" (not after Lily the cousin but Lily, Hannah Montana's friend) She even has a microphone and sings a song when you press a button in her hand.


We had a birthday dinner for you and Nana (who's birthday is tomorrow!) on Sunday and you got a special birthday treat

We went to Planet Party (formerly known as Incredible Pizza) for your Birthday Dinner and "party". This year we didnt do a friend party but we had so much fun spending the day together as a family! Nana, Grandma, Tyler, Holly, Ella, and Lily came. We spent 5 hours at the pizza place playing games and riding rides... and eating 2 meals at the buffet.

Sweet's

Mrs Emily's preschool had a fieldtrip to the Sweets Candy Factory. We have been several times and its always fun to wear the cute hats and the candy is always yummy!!

we {heart} babies!

I have been babysitting some cutie babies for a few months. Normally I have one just on Mondays and the other on Wednesday and Friday's but this week because of Katie's Valentines party, I had both babies for a few hours together. Brielle was LOVING it to say the least. She is such a little mommy, and is actually really good at playing and taking care of them. She is going to be such a huge help when this baby comes, I'm so excited!

I ♥ Valentines Day

Greg and I celebrated Valentines day a few days ago. We went to dinner and to our Stake Valentines Dance (as soon as I figure out how to scan I'll share some fun pictures) . It was so much fun! We decided to spent the actual ♥ day with the kids. We made yummy yummy red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and had a delicious dinner by candelight. I LOVE my family and even though I show them and tell them every day it was fun to celebrate this special day together!

I have really enjoyed being room mom for Katie's class again this year. Our Valentines party was on Valentines Day and we had a GREAT time! The kids in her class are so much fun. We played some games and of course had lots and lots of sugar!

Special announcement:

Many of you may know that Greg and I have been wanting to have another baby for several years (3.5 to be exact) and we got a WONDERFUL surprise on Christmas Eve:

We are pregnant again (FiNAllY)!!!

(this cartoon in no way says that I am placing blame on Greg and his "swimmers" LOL, we actually don't know why we couldn't get pregnant... all tests showed normal??)

Boy are we excited and a little nervous to return to the baby stages again. Its been a while =)

I'm due August 24th which is just a few days before my kids go back to school. I can't believe that Katie is going to be in 2nd grade and my "baby" Brielle will be going to Kindergarten!!! The timing is a little crazy but the time alone for a few hours every day will probably be a blessing.

I'm just over 12 weeks and the baby is healthy, we had an ultrasound at our first appointment and we were able to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. I have been tired and a little nauseous but overall I have been feeling pretty good, hopefully my energy is starting to return a little and I am "looking forward" to the hot hot summer and being huge pregnant...

you'll find me at the pool (you won't miss me!). At least this baby will have a summer birthday- looking forward to that :)

Piano Recital

Katie did such an awesome job at her piano recital. Her cute little class did an ensemble performance (Katie played the triangle) and then she got up to announce her piano solo's and said "My name is Katie, and I'm 6" .... (long pause) cute little laugh ... "oh 7" ha ha it was so cute, and I'm so so so so so sad I missed recording it because I forgot to put the SD card in my camera and my internal memory ran out of space seconds before she went on stage (AGHH!!) Oh well it was so cute, she's always cute!
She did such an amazing job playing "Mousie, Mousie" and "Fiddler, Fiddler". I am so proud of her, we really struggled at the beginning of this year and she HATED practicing but lately she has gotten so much better and I LOVE seeing her get excited when she can finally play something that was hard at first. Way to go Katie!!!

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my beautiful Grandma's 81st Birthday! Doesn't she look amazing! I love love love her! She is the most vibrant, kind, giving and loving woman. I can't believe how much she does at her age, she just never stops!

It was also my aunt Peggy's birthday so we met for lunch at Thanksgiving Point. I feel so blessed to have such amazing women in my life.

RED and BLUE lets GO!

Copper Canyon Elementary had their 1st and 2nd grade Talent Show on Friday. Addison and Katie wanted to do a Cheer-leading performance. I have to admit at first I was a little nervous for them because they didnt even start figuring out what they were doing until Thursday after school and when they showed me their "routine" it was pretty unorganized. So we sat down and at first I tried to convince them to do something like telling jokes or playing piano, but they were determined! So we used some of their cute moves and added a little cheer in the middle and it turned out SOOOOO cute! I love these girls and I'm so proud of them.

They started out with the "chicken in a hen house" move

(this is their name for the move, not sure were it came from??)

Then they did the "RED and BLUE, lets GO!" cheer. No, I was NEVER a cheer-leader so I had to google easy kids cheers and we learned how to do this cheer on line :)

Then Addison did a cart wheel and Katie skipped around

Then they ended with the "monkey in a treehouse" move, and yelled "We love Copper Canyon!"

I really thought Katie would be nervous but she never ceases to amaze me. She was so brave and both girls did a fantastic job! I don't think i would have ever gotten up and done something like this when I was little. I hope that Katie continues to feel confident and excited about sharing her many many talents (even ones I didn't know she had...like cheer-leading!)

Brownings Drive-in @ Flaming Gorge

Last weekend I went with my Mom and Grandma up to Flaming Gorge to visit my Aunt& Uncle who recently opened a restaurant and motel in Manilla. Even though it is winter and not much is going on at the lake they have been doing really well just feeding the locals and the fishermen/hunters that come through. There was a big fishing tournament up there last weekend so they were providing food at the concessions stands at the fair grounds and they were feeding all those hungry fishermen at the restaurant. They had their biggest Saturday ever and my cousin and I did a lot of the waitressing. It was fun and exhausting.

So if you are planning a trip to Flaming Gorge this summer and want to eat at a really yummy family oriented restaraunt, check out the Browning's Drive-in in town. Their food is really good. There is also a motel with about 12 rooms if you don't like camping.

We took a break from working and went to the park for a little while. The kids did so good just playing, while I was working and neglecting them most of the weekend. :) I'm so glad they are old enough to entertain themselves!

On our way up to Manilla just before Evanston we saw this Moose just on the side of the freeway, so we pulled over and watched it for a minute.

Then we looks over just about 20 feet to the left and there was this herd of Elk just standing there. We hadn't even noticed they were there at first.