April Birthday's

So April is CRAZY for birthdays for both Toby and my side of the family.  We had a last minute get together for my Dad and Morgan.  Nothing special but it was a bunch of fun.

Russell and Landon were on the floor and for the first time Russell got really interested in Landon.  Maybe a little too interested.  Russell acted like he wanted to hug Landon (not something we taught him to do yet) but then it turned into more of a strangling thing.  No one got hurt but we were all confused about what Russell was trying to do because he was all smiles and laughs. 

Landon had some good defenses though.  I didn't post a picture but Russell kept putting his finger in Landon's mouth and Landon would bit him.  It was actually extremely funny.

My parents got Morgan a picnic table for their new deck that they are building.

We were going to try to get my dad a new lawn lower but when we were doing our sneaky way of asking him about getting one he said that he didn't want one.  My dad's birthday was April 1st.  So we wanted to play a April fools joke.  We got a key and put a John Deere key chain on it and Toby said, "Sorry we couldn't help ourselves."  

This is really what he got.  Ryker had the best timing.  When we reveled that he wasn't REALLY getting a lawn mower Ryker yelled, "APRIL FOOLS HAHA"  We all just started cracking up (If you know Ryker's laugh this would make more sense why it was so funny.)    After, we felt bad because I think he would have really liked a new lawn mower.

We had some delicious cheesecake and this wonderful chocolate mouse cake thingy from Costco.  I love Costco.  Morgan and my Dad had a milk war (milk war is when you run out of milk so you take someone else's milk when they aren't looking) and I think Morgan had some milk come out her nose.  I don't think I have laughed that hard in a while.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL YOU OLD PEOPLE!

Russell is walking

I have so much to right about but this is just so exciting that I am just going to skip it for now and get this up so you can all see what awesome things are happening here.

Parent's Bathroom

Living with my parents has been such a joy.  One of the things that Toby and I like is that we get to "pay" rent in creative ways.  They don't ask us to pay rent but we feel like we should contribute somehow.  So we get creative.  So through the years of living with them we have gotten them: a stove, a dishwasher, a vacuum and the newest one was remodeling their bathroom.  My parents wanted to pay Toby to do their bathroom but Toby thought it would be better if he just did if for our rent.  He wanted enough time to get it done fast so they aren't out a bathroom for to long.  So Toby decided that over Mother's Day weekend we were going to get it all done while my parents were in California for my uncle's wedding.  They had no idea.

 So here is a before picture.

 If you look at the top left part of the bath tub you can see part of it is peeling off.  It was much worse a while ago.  This is one of the reasons why my parents wanted to get the bathroom done.  So my dad was just going to get that piece bent back.  Toby thought that tiling it would look way better.  My dad was a little hesitant.

 So we decided that we were going to make the executive decision to tile it.

 Toby had to work a bunch so there was a lot of late nights and me making decisions by myself.  If you know me that is not something that I am good at. I don't like making decisions. SCARY!  Thanks Estelle for going shopping with me and helping me pick out the tile.  I love how it turned out.

 Toby and I really enjoyed working together on this project.

 We had a lot of fun together.

 

Here is a final product.

 So we painted, tiled the floor and the tub and we put up new base board.  We also put up new light fixtures and new towel racks and toilet paper holder.

 I know that this is a lame picture but here is what happened.  I kept close contact with my mom to make sure I knew when they were going to be home.  They left for their trip on Thursday in the late afternoon and came home Sunday night.  So Toby and I were seriously tight on time.  He was putting up the toilet paper holder when they pulled up.  When he was done he ran out to meet my dad.  He said, "Hey so I got that piece of the tub fixed but I just need a little help, do you think you could come help me for just a second?"  I was sitting on the toilet waiting for them to come and see.  I didn't get a good picture of my dad because we had the door open and so he could see from the bedroom.

 But we shut the door for my mom.

She was really happy.  I think she cried a little.  It was a lot of work but it was totally worth it.  Toby and I enjoyed working together.  The hardest part was deciding what they would want.  We didn't know if we should get things that would look really nice or things that were cheap.  In the end they were really happy with everything we did.  So this was our last rent we payed them and I think it was a hit.

Russell's New Thing

I LOVE THIS!!!

Russell is 1!!!

My baby is 1.  I am freaking out!  We celebrated his birthday the Sunday before his birthday with Family.  We had some great food and it was loads of fun.

 Here is the AWESOME cake Toby and I made. (It's a pond.  And the frogs are on lily pads if you couldn't tell)

 Brice really liked the food.

 Like every other kid Russell was more engaged with the wrapping then the gifts.

 They even tasted better.

 This was a gift from the Somers.  It is a lavender scented hippo (to help calm him down at bed time) with an awesome cloth diaper that my sister made.  She has been selling diapers for a little while now and things are going really well.  It's really exciting.  So if you or someone you know is into cloth diapering consider MonkeyDoDiapers.

  Here are the shoes that Toby and I got Russell.  I LOVE baby shoes.  So I think this gift was more for me then it was for Russell.  But hey I worked hard last year on his birthday.  Right?

 Also Toby and I have been wanting to get Russell some bongos for MONTHS.  Russell had always been interested in the sound different surfaces make when he hits them.

 And he likes them!! 

 Then it was cake time.

 Russell has one of the plastic frogs from the top of the cake in his mouth with the head sticking out.  

 Oh he was such a messy pig.  I loved every second of it.

 "How big is the birthday boy?" 

 "BAAA" Translates to "This is the best birthday EVER!!" 

 "Here dad try some.  It's so good."

 Then on Tuesday (March 29th his actual birthday) we just had a little dinner and cake again.  This time it was going to be just Toby, Russell and I but some friends who couldn't make it on Sunday came Tuesday.  This made the night feel like more of a celebration.

 Such a happy little guy.

 This is Kayla.  She really wanted to give Russell his cake.  I think she did a wonderful job.

Toby had to play referee because Russell likes to grab fire. 

 

 Oh look at this face

 

Kayla and Mercedes.  Sweet little girls.

Thank you Kane family for spending the evening with us.  And thank you everyone else who was able to celebrate Russell's first birthday.

At the end of the day I though about the day Russell was born and what a great day it was.  I feel so grateful to be able to have this wonderful child of God in my life.  I am very thankful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to a mother to Russell.  I am also so blessed to have the spiritual guidance I have to rely on while I try to do my best to be a good mom. 

I love being a mom and I am so happy that we have survived the first year of parenthood. (Though there have been some close calls.)

A Beautiful Day

The weather here in Utah has been so crazy.  One day it will be almost a blizzard outside then the next day it's shorts, t-shirt, lunch out on the grass kind of day.  So one of the GREAT warm days was the one after our pilot peak trip.  It was fun to come home from church to have my sister and her family all here to play.  The kids wanted to ride the horses.  Now I think I have posted about the horses before and how they are barn sour (really grumpy by being handled by humans.)  Brice grew up with horses and feels really comfortable working with them.  So he got the kids all set up for some bare back riding.

The rest of us watched and played in the sun.

When you don't know Alaina as well as I do I find it really hard to capture her cutness on camera.  So when I look at a picture I think it is WAY cute because I can see what she was doing when I was taking the picture.  But I find that that pictures don't do her any justice.

Here she is wearing a kitchen towel skirt her mom made.  She looks like a little pilgrim.

She was the first one to want to ride the horses.  She is fearless. I love it.

She LOVES her daddy.

Ryker was next. Here is Brice teaching Ryker how to turn around.

Ryker was a natural. 

He handled this situation like a pro.

So proud to be riding all by himself.

 Then it was Raelin's turn.

Brice teaching her how to steer. 

She got the hang of it nice and fast.

Granddad hangin with Landon.

I guess Alaina got thirsty.  

Here is Sadie and Cody playing.

Last Halloween Toby and I got this coat for Sadie so she could be an eskimo but it was WAY to small. (Not sure what we were thinking.)  So we gave it to Cody.  It was so funny to see him running around with it on.

It was a great day!!!