April Showers

The 3 ladies reading a bedtime story (Potato Man). We have been working on finishing painting the girls' room and cleaning out the garage.  

Tomorrow is our 7th wedding anniversary!  We will be celebrating with an anniversary party FHE- bowling and ice cream.  Bryan spoke in church today and did a great job.  This week I am getting a pedicure and going the temple.  We also went out Saturday night to Cafe Rio and then hiked the 'B,' which anyone who has been to there will laugh.  

I am 33 weeks along, so 7 more to go.  Projects still to do include painting the baby room and finding a baby name.   In prep for baby we got a new van- 2006 Honda Odyssey.  Emily says it's dark blue/black/gray.  My favorite part is the automatic opening side doors- I feel so luxurious with my magic clicker.  

Easter

We enjoyed beautiful weather today for Easter Sunday.  We gave the girls flower seeds potted in ceramic Easter eggs which they loved.  We had lots of beautiful messages of Christ's resurrection at church.  Then we had the Fosters over for Easter dinner and did an Easter egg hunt.  The girls loved their ring pops which turned their mouths dark blue.  Fun and cute.  Here they are in our front yard with our gorgeous spring time flowers!  

The girls got 'Chinese' dresses from their Grandpa Hanks who went on a business trip to Singapore.   They loved learning about another culture and practicing bowing.  Emily totally got into it and spoke Chinese, got out the chopsticks and wore a golden necklace as a crown all morning.  

For Ashley's birthday they got some bathtub crayons from Grammy.  There are smiles drawn on their backs.   They giggled during the whole bath.  

On good Friday I got to sing in an Easter choir.  The music was written from the perspective of Christ's disciples.  There were songs from the point of view Peter, three people who got healed, Mary & Martha watching Lazarus, the disciples before and after his death.  The experience was awesome- the music so uplifting and I loved singing in a choir again.  I love too that the music is in my head so I keep singing messages about Christ.  

Ashley's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Ashley's birthday on Sunday with the Fosters who came to share cake and love with us.  They gave both girls presents so Emily wouldn't be too jealous and they both got new Barbies.  

Bryan made Ashley an awesome pink castle cake which she loved.  On Monday the 30th we celebrated lunch at Carl's Jr playland with friends and that night ate cake then played drums on the dinner dishes.  We also got lots of phone calls from family sending their love.  

We Discovered the Magic

  On Friday Feb 27th we got in our car and headed for Los Angelos, California.  We arrived at my Grandma Judy's house on Saturday afternoon and got to spend the day with my mom, grandma, aunts, uncle and cousins.  

The three girls also got haircuts.  Sunday we went to church and took my mom to the airport.  Monday - Wednesday we went to Disneyland!  We also went to the beach on Tuesday afternoon but found that the wind made the temperature drop too much.  So Emily dug in the sand for 25 minutes and then we left.

  

  Disneyland was fun!  The first thing we saw on the first day was Mickey.  Ashley wasn't so sure how she liked characters at first.  After she saw 5 princesses she decided she really liked characters and by day three she was hugging Pooh and Tigger of her own choice.   The weather was cloudy the first day, the second day was hot and then rainy our last day.   When I asked her what was her favorite part Ashley said it was Ariel's bathroom (in Ariel's Grotto and was green with seashells on the floor).  The picture shows the two princesses with their prince on the way to lunch at Ariel's house.  

 Emily said her favorite rides were the fast roller coaster rides with dad (Space and Splash Mtn).  Ashley's favorite characters were Pooh and Tigger and Emily's was Chip the chipmunk.  I think Bryan really enjoyed that he didn't have to work and he got to ride lots of fun and fast roller coasters.  And although I was looking forward to the beach, I really enjoyed that no one got sick or hurt and we all got to spend time together for a week.  We got home late Thursday night and are glad to have gone and glad to be home.  

  

Maegan & Molly

I am now 25 weeks along and thought it was time to post a picture of myself since both grandmas have been asking. Here's me in Bryan's basement office. Emily's latest name she has picked out for baby is Aladdin.

Also, we had a chance to dog-sit a golden retriever named Molly (8 months old) for 9 days. We got to see what having a dog is all about and found many things we liked and also some we disliked. In the end we decided not to keep Molly for now and just work on having one addition at a time. We love Molly and miss her already.

Today we are headed to Disneyland for a few days of vacation. Sunny California here we come!

Legos

Bryan bought the girls duplo legos for Christmas. Not just a few- but 600+ pieces (enough to fill up the brown 1-6 box).  I dreaded the endless cleaning up but Bryan saw the potential.  On Christmas Day we had my two brothers, Bryan and I and the two girls all building.  And since then the girls will beg for a special time when they can build together with their dad.  Here is a collection of their robots that they've been building.  Emily built all the small ones herself and the big ones with help from dad.  They all love them so much and can tell you the special powers. 

Temple & Kids Museum

The Draper Temple right now is open to the public for tours.  We went through as a family and had a great time.  The girls were very excited to see inside.  Emily said her favorite room was the married or sealing room and Ashley said she liked the cookies at the end.  

A few weeks later Emily asked, "Mommy where is heaven?"  I thought a lot about this question and I told her heaven could be in two places- on earth and up in the sky.  I told her that on earth heaven could be in temples, and then Emily interrupted and said, "Yeah like in the married room, where there was a big happy feeling in my heart.  Like Jesus was there inside me.  And angels were in my heart."  She was incredulous when I told her heaven could be up by the stars.  "Like in outer space?  That's silly mom."  She knows how to put her feelings in words.  

The girls went on a field trip to the kids museum in the Gateway Mall.  They got to stay for 1 1/2 hours and loved every minute.  Emily's favorite place was the farm/garden where she could put food toys into buckets (planting) and then pick them and make recipes with the food.  Ashley's favorites were 4 tall soft pink and yellow flowers which she carried around guarding them from other kids.