Fast Sunday Tradition

We recently started a Fast Sunday tradition. For those of you who don't know what fast Sunday is, in our church we fast the first Sunday of each month for a specific purpose that we may be needing help with in our lives. Yesterday was not the first Sunday of the month but we have conference this Sunday so they did it a week early. Our tradition actually has nothing to do with fasting, but rather we chose to do this on Fast Sunday as an easy way to remember to do it.
Recently I went to a women's conference where a few of the speakers spoke about Personal Priesthood Interviews, or PPI's. This is a time when Dad (the Priesthood holder in the home) gets to have some one-on-one time with each of the kids and interview them.

Until recently I figured this will happen when the kids are older and actually have relevant things to talk about. I was surprised when a these women spoke about doing PPI's when their kids were quite young. The theory is, your kids will feel more comfortable talking to Dad about things if you start the habit young, and so that is what we have begun. While the kids are having their special time with Dad, the other kids get to help Mom make a special treat. This has proven to be an amazing experience for all of us...

Andy having his interview with Zac

Sibling love

Andy asked Hayden to talk to him first. Hayden's little mind however realized that if he went first he would miss most of the "cookie making" time, ie: cracking the eggs, pouring things in, using the mixer... And so he very kindly told Bryn she could go first, how nice...

Brynley got to do a little bit of the mixing and she did a great job forming the balls for the cookies. As we were mixing I asked her what she talked to Daddy about. Her response... "We talked about my "Spre School" (Pre-School) and my teacher." "You don't go to pre school yet." I said. "I will go in Tuesdays." (Not sure if she meant two days or Tuesday). She said Daddy also told her not to shut Hayden's door anymore. This is one of her ways she teases Hayden and it makes him nuts. She runs upstairs and closes his door before he can get to it, he gets so mad!

Zac was most interested in the fruit basket. He yanked it toward himself and promptly got every lemon, one at a time, and tried to get them on the cookie sheet.

More lemon sorting

Lemon sorting gone awry!

Cookies finished, a few glasses of milk, and what a way to end a good Sunday!

I was telling Andy's mom about doing this. She commented that she thought it was a great idea. Growing up, if Dad called the kids in for a PPI, they immediately thought they were in trouble!

First official swimming day

The pool was finally full by the time we got home from church on Sunday. The kids were so anxious to swim! Normally, swimming on Sunday will not be allowed unless it is a special occasion. Andy figured this is a special occasion - the first day the pool is full! The water was seriously freezing. The kids didn't care, I made Andy get in for a bit but he wimped out after a few minutes. Hayden and Brynley were happy to spend over an hour hanging out in their tubes, gotta love the simple life of a child.

Brynley - she stayed like this for the whole hour I think!

Both kids swimming

Zac taking a dip - he hated the cold water but eventually got used to it

Hayden grinned from ear to ear the whole time!

Thanks again Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe- can't wait til you come and try it out!

Cinnamon Rolls!

Have you ever seen such a delightful picture?

Yum!
I don't bake, most people know that. My biggest claim to fame are my cake mix cookies with M&M's, you can't go wrong with those! When I decided I wanted to make cinnamon rolls, I was a little nervous but figured why not? So here they are. I made them a few weeks ago before we went to Utah for Spring Break. I thought I would be the best daughter in law and make a big batch to take to my in laws. Little did I know that Andy's mom had just started a strict diet and so they were not very well appreciated and half of them got thrown away because the kids and I are the only ones that ate them! They were pretty good, could have used a little more Cinnamon and sugar, maybe next time...

Enrichment Night!

Thursday night was our ward's Quarterly Enrichment Night. I was really looking forward to it, we had such a great theme and I knew the decor was going to turn out amazing! The night's title was, When Life Hands You Lemons... We decided to go with a black, white, and yellow theme. We served a baked potato bar, green salads, homemade lemonade (I robbed my dad's tree a few weeks ago and squeezed a couple of gallons worth of lemon juice), and lemon cheesecake bars. I gave a short talk on the history of Relief Society and how we can use the Relief Society to help us in turning our lemons into lemonade. We then had three great ladies speak from our ward. It's always nice to have everything done and to be able to breath a sigh of relief... And so until June, we can relax a little bit...

A few of the tables set up

The food table... you can't see it very well but we had B&W fabric drapes on the table where all of the serving bowls would be going.

One table close up

The beverage table

The dessert table

We were so thrilled to have all but one seat filled that night, which meant we had 55 ladies there, when does that ever happen? We may need to start setting up more tables!

Filling the Pool!

As most of you know, my awesome Aunt and Uncle built a 2nd home right next to us. We've been watching for the last month and half as the pool as been taking shape and today, we got to start filling it! I remember Kristin posting last summer about letting her kids play in the pool while it was fillin up, what a brilliant idea! Hayden had some friends over so we got swimsuits out for all of them and they had a blast playing in 12-18 inches of water. The water is cold though, and for some reason they kept wondering why we didn't have our suits on! They had a blast playing for at least an hour or two until they got too cold. Enjoy the fun pictures below!

Don't you love the water in this picture?

Zac is trying to crawl right into the water

Sweet Daddy

11 Months Today!

Baby Zac is 11 months old today. I know I say this all the time but I cannot believe how old my little Zachar Man is. I love this little guy so much, it's amazing how much he melts my heart. At 11 months Zac can...

*Roll all over the place*Give a high five (but only to Daddy)*Wave - when he wants to*Get up on all 4's and rock back and forth*Stand up against anything and just play*Has two teeth still*Sport a fantastic fauxhawk*Smile like a seasoned model for the camera*Eat anything we give him, though he doesn't really like to eat*His favorite food by far is yogurt*Go into a spasm when he sees a bottle of formula coming his way*Laugh when he is tickled*Still wear size 6-9 months*Sleep all night and take two fantastic naps each day*

So, he's not crawling yet and he's not walking but I'm not going to rush him! I love my little pip squeak, even though he has grown seriously attached to me, more so than either of my other kids. That's alright, I'd snuggle him any minute of any day! Love ya bub!

The lighting was horrible when I was trying to take this quick picture before church today

A Cute picture of the 3 kids. They sat like this reading forever the other day, it was cute!

A Busy Saturday...

We had a lot to accomplish today, and we got a lot of it done! The biggest undertaking was placing boulders in our backyard before our landscapers come in next week. The Landscaper was going to charge us about $700 for 5 boulders. We paid about $140 for 8 boulders, including delivery, one problem... we had to move them to the backyard, dig a hole for them, and place them where we wanted them. No problem! They only weigh on average 300 pounds a piece! Thankfully, I have a super strong husband who will do anything to keep his wife happy... (his wife's not a bad teammate either!)

Andy trying to get a little shade after digging his 3rd hole

The first two boulders we placed

Hayden loved helping


Hayden's trowel did a lot of good in the process!

Hopefully in just over a week, I'll be able to post pictures of the finished backyard! I am so excited to have it done finally, the dirt is making me insane.

As I look at the pictures, the boulders don't look as big and impressive as they do in person, but believe me, they were a pain to move and digging in this horrible dirt was not fun.

Easter Decorations...

I love this time of year. Springtime in Arizona is amazing, the sun is out all day and the nights are cool. We can actually sleep with the windows open still. With Spring comes the Easter holiday, I love Easter. We have such an amazing gift to celebrate at Easter time. In addition, I love the decorations. As a child I collected bunnies... Most of that collection is gone, a few pieces remain, but mostly I have scattered the house with eggs this year. I wish I could leave the decorations up until Halloween, I love the look of the sweet pastels that scatter through the house!

As you walk into my house, this sits on top of the piano.

This sits on the other side of the piano - the basket of eggs were made by my Grandfather many years ago... Also in the living but not pictured is a cluster of eggs hanging from the key on my secretary, so cute!

This display sits in the corner of my family room. The tree is decorated with little carrots and eggs, larger sparkly eggs, and cute sparkly bugs.

Close-up of the Apothecary Jars

These flowers sit on my table all year long. I need to get some less bright stems for this time of year. I just added the bugs to the vases!

Chandelier over my kitchen table

End table in my family room

My pantry door (obviously...)

The Training Wheels are off!

I would be willing to bet that most 5 1/2 year olds have been without their training wheels for awhile... Hayden however, has been pretty scared and gets mad at us any time we mention it. To his defense, I will say that for the 7 months prior to moving into this house (when we were in our rental) we didn't do much (none, actually) playing outside in the front yard. Last week I think Hayden realized that if he wanted to keep up with the big kids in the neighborhood, he needed to be done with the training wheels. And that was it, he came up to me at 5:30 one night and asked if he could try riding without his training wheels. I said sure, so we bent them up in case he wanted them back on later. After getting fully decked out in his elbow and knee pads and his helmet, I grabbed on to the back of his bike (thinking I would have to run behind him) and he told me to let go, so I did. Off he went... Never looking back... He didn't even need me to run behind him!

Concentrating... Notice the pads!!!

Rounding the cul de sac for the first time

A few days later, Hayden realized that the knee and elbow pads were not so cool. He is supposed to have his helmet on, not sure how that slipped by me!

Hayden and Brynley riding around together in our cul de sac. I love it! There is nothing better than playing outside in this gorgeous weather! Sadly... it will only last a few more weeks before it is too stinkin hot to play outside!

I can't believe I almost forgot the funniest part of the story... The night after he learned to ride with no training wheels, we had the missionaries over for dinner. At one point during the meal, Hayden got up and walked around the kitchen to get to me. He whispered in my ear, "Maybe we should tell the missionaries that I can ride without training wheels." I say OK, elders, Hayden would like to tell you something. Hayden goes on to tell them about riding his bike and sits down. Two minutes later Hayden gets up and walks around the kitchen again to get get to me. He whispers again, "Maybe they would like to see me ride without my training wheels." So I ask them if they would like to watch him before they leave. They said of course. Hayden sat patiently at the dinner table until it was time to leave, at which point he ran out to his bike and showed off a little for the missionaries!

Been in a total blogging funk...

I don't know what's wrong with me, I want to blog every day and I have so many fun pictures and stories to share, but I can't bring myself to do it. The last three weeks have been nothing short of crazy around here and by the time I feel somewhat caught up, another event, illness, party, meeting... you name it... comes first. And I think for the first time in 3 weeks I can get to bed before midnight if I get off the computer right now. So that's what I'm doing! Don't cross your fingers as to when I will get a real post out. I mostly blog as a source of journaling which is why I want to get it done so badly, we'll see!

One funny story to share for a little laugh before bed...
A Conversation between Hayden and I tonight:
(I was wearing a pink, VERY low cut V-neck shirt with a white Shade Shirt under it.)

Hayden: Hey mom, maybe someday you should wear this shirt without the white one underneath it.
Meredith: Yah Hayden, I don't think your mom will ever forget to wear the white shirt under.
Me: Why Hayden?
Hayden: Because your boobs would show - snicker, snicker...
Me: We don't want mom's boobs to show
Hayden: Yes mom, because that would be "awesome" if your boobs were showing! (said with much enthusiasm)
Me: Why would it be awesome?
Hayden: Because your boobs are awesome!

Yet another testament to the fact that this kid is indeed a boob man!