Utah Hogle Zoo

We had so much fun at the Zoo!!  I took 300 pictures... so even though there is a picture overload on this post it is only a fraction of what I really took!! =)  We went with my mom, sister and brother... Nik is taking his big test tomorrow so he was home studying. =(  There is a baby elephant at the Zoo.  She is so cute and playful and little (for an elephant).  We had fun watching her play!!

Ian's head got stuck in this crocodile... it was really funny!This monkey really liked Miranda (I think it is because she looks like a monkey!) and as soon as we came over to the glass it climbed over on a limb right above us and just sat there!!  Miranda's expressions were so fun to watch!  She loves animals and gets so excited to see them!!

Playing in the gift shop before we went home!!  What a fun day!!  Thanks Grandma!

MOVING

Well we are moving to our new house TOMORROW!!!!!  I can't wait!  I'm actually headed up to the house now to help the people clean so we can move in faster!!! =)  I'll post pics as soon as I can!!! 

Fun Random

This is what Miranda looks like after pigtails! =)

Miranda likes to color and is really good at it!

My roommate Julie from College!! It is so fun living by her! Our husband's go to the same school and we have kids the same ages!

Ian & Miranda watching Baby Einstein in their chairs from Grandma!

So cute by the pool!!

She is getting to the age where she plays so cute! She was playing with this Hippo and the next thing I konw...

Her diaper is off and she is pushing it in the Hippo!!! =) It was so funny! That is the first and only time she has ever taken her diaper off!!

Helping me do the laundry!

Bathtime fun!

So Exciting!!!!!

The kids at daddy's school!!

Yay... Nik finished his first year of Dental School!! I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work (and it has been hard work!) and studying!! It seems like it went by so fast... probably because he was so busy all the time! Now he is just studying lots for his boards. He'll take them on June 25th and then we get the rest of the summer off!! Yay!! We have no big plans except for moving and our trip to Utah coming up her pretty quick! Can't wait!

This is how Miranda folds her arms! Every time we say lets say a prayer she does this. She even tries to say the prayer in her baby gibberrish!! It is so sweet! The other day we sat down to eat dinner and she folded her arms before we even said anything about a prayer. She just waited until we were ready! Love her!

This is the house we are moving into!! I can't wait!! Notice the palm trees in the front yard... I love them! I just love everything about this house! I don't have any pics of the inside yet, but I'll show them when I get them!! I'm just ready to move!! But while I'm waiting we have been swimming a lot and just enjoying that we have Nik home a little more often now that school is out!

Happy Birthday Miranda

My Baby is 1 today. I feel like her life has gone by so fast!!! We had a good day today. We played and took naps, signed a lease for our new house, went to the park, went swimming, had pizza, opened presents and had cake.

Pics are a little out of order, but still fun to see!

Doesn't know how to blow yet so Ian had to help her blow out the candle!

Was excited about touching the cake and was a little surprised that we let her! It took her a few minutes to really get her hands in ther, but she did it!

Messy Girl!

Cleaning off in the sink!

Presents!

She got twins and loved them! She also got these squishy ball pig things and liked them even better than the dolls!! =)

Loves to swing!

Swimming! (This is our friend Brandon) She has a short attention span while swimming so we rotated her from person to person to keep her happy!! =)

She is such a sweet girl and we love her so much!! She has such a caring, loving spirit about her. She has a big smile that melts our hearts and a scream that breaks our eardrums!! =) She is so smart and learning so many new things! She can do some sign language, say a couple words, sleep through the night, wave, blow kisses, find her toes, nose and hair, and she is getting close to walking. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow and we LOVE her so much!! Happy Birthday Miranda girl!

Finding Joy in the Journey

Last night our Stake had a wonderful Relief Society night where they talked about finding JOY in the journey. It was such an inspiring night and I just wanted to say how thankful I am that we can recieve direction from our Prophets and leaders. I have really been wanting to enjoy my kids more and my husband and have more play time and less "hold on a minute, I'm busy" time. One of my good friends taught a class last night about finding Joy in Motherhood and it was so inspiring. Her biggest point was TIME.

• Make time for those special moments.
• Make time and don't overschedule yourselves.
• Make time to create harmonious homes and flowing laughter.
• Make time to do service.
• Make time to Pray, study and teach the gospel!

And then we will have the greatest Joy in Motherhood!

President Monson said "Don't let a problem to be solved more important than a person to be loved."

I know that i haven't been enjoying my kids as much as I'd like to because I let other things get in the way of me just being with them and playing with them and creating laughter with them. I find myself doing everything but that sometimes. I need to just not worry about all that other stuff and focus on them, because they truly are the most important thing in my life and so vulnerable and teachable. I can only imagine what a lasting impact it would have on them if I spent more time on the floor playing with them, and talking to them, and loving them, and teaching them. I feel like I have been missing out on their lives and it's not going to happen anymore!! Thanks Brooke for your great lesson!!!!!

What we've been up to...

Aren't these chair cute? Thanks Annette... we love them!!

We have been looking at houses... we are going to rent a house now instead of an apartment (SO EXCITED) and this is one of the ones we looked at... we don't know where we will be yet, but hopefully we will find out soon!

Ian has found his true love! JK but this was so funny!! Hailey's dad wasn't too excited about this. We went to the Temple with our ward and some really nice people in our ward take their kids down with them... so their kids watched our kids in the visitor's center and on the temple grounds. It has been such a blessing being able to go to the temple!

Playing in the sand! The weather has been fabulous!! I love Arizona!!

Flying Ian's Easter kite!! It was Ian's first time and he thought it was pretty awesome!

Miranda likes to help us do the dishes! Such a good helper!! =)

Swimming with friends!!

Ian wanted his "numbrella" in the shower so it didn't rain on him!

Just chillin... so cute!!

Happy Mother's Day

I feel so blessed to be a mother! Today was such a great day thanks to Nik and the kids and a few times today I got teary just thinking about the Joy I get from being a mother! It is so hard to put my feelings into words. It is such an amazing feeling (overwhelming at times) to be responsible for and in charge of everything they learn. What a huge responsibility and job we have as mothers, but also what a huge blessing it is in our lives!! I think you get what I'm trying to say!

This was my favorite Mother's Day ever! Nik woke up early with the kids and let me sleep in. I heard Miranda crying a little and sat up in bed. When she saw me she got the biggest smile on her face and crawled as fast as she could to get to me. Then when Ian found out I was awake he came running in and said "Happy Mother's Day" and gave me a big hug and kiss.

Nik made a yummy breakfast of French Toast (this is him trying to look surprised) and he had let Ian and Miranda color me pictures while I was asleep. Ian was so excited to give me the picture he colored.

The kids were playing so cute today! They are so funny and I love them so much! Being a mom is the best! There are hard days (sometimes really hard days) and times when both kids are crying, the house is a mess, and I just want to pull my hair out or get sent to my room, but there are other times when it is truly heaven on earth... and those are the times that make it all worth it!

The mother's day festivities started on Saturday! We went shopping and I got two new swimming tops (I desperately need them) and then we had a late movie night in the family room! The kids loved it and I did too because we were all together! We watched "101 Dalmations" and had popcorn! It was so much fun!

Thanks to Nik and my kids for making this the best mother's day ever!!

My Handy Man

I just have to tell Nik how much I appreciate all he does! This week we needed to get the brake pads changed in our car (front and back) and I got quotes from two different places and they wanted $350-$400 just for the brake pads. There was no way we were going to pay that much for that kind of job! So Nik had me go to Autozone and buy brake pads (total $52.00) and then he put them on himself. Thanks to our friends who let us use their garage!!!!! We then had to get a brake flush ($45.00), but after that they were like new!! So because Nik knows how to do that kind of stuff he saved us over $200. What a blessing!! Thanks hun!

HORRAY!!!

Oh Miranda... Her latest is to not nurse during the day and then she wants to nurse all night long. Seriously, the nights I give in I'll feed her two or three times. I have let her cry it out (and always do the first time she wakes up) but she wakes up 30 minutes later and wants to eat again. Well I got sick of it and Friday night I let her cry every time she woke up... She cried all night. Starting at 12:30am she cried off and on (mostly on) until 5:30am. She started crying again at 6:30am and that is when I fed her. Well it was a hard night, but it paid off!! Last night she slept all night and didn't wake up until 7:30am. It was amazing and made me so happy!! So it was officially her first night sleeping through the night! (Too bad she is almost a year old) Now I just need to get Ian sleeping through the night (he wakes up to pee at least twice and won't go without me) and I might actually get some sleep!! =)
P.S. I know I'm a bad mom because she still has crib bumpers, but she loves them and cuddles up to them when she sleeps!