Happy Birthday Grace and Aiden!

On Monday we had a very fun 5th birthday party for Grace and Aiden (cousins born two weeks apart). We celebrated at Chuck E Cheese's and I think everyone had a great time.

 

Pretty birthday girl!

 

 

 

Fun Costco Cake

 

Posing with the mouse himself.

 

 

 

Daisy dressed up!

 

 

 

Daisy came back from the groomer today with bows in her hair and we thought she looked just adorable! We love our Daisy dog!

Cincinnati Trip!

Hi Everyone,

We had a good, busy time in Cincinnati. I got a little worn out, but I think the kids had a pretty good time. We flew into Indianapolis and we stayed there for a couple days. On Sunday, we slept in after getting into town late, then we went to Church. Later in the afternoon, we were able to go have dinner with Kim Yorgason Flora and her family. We had wonderful food and the kids had a blast playing with their sweet kids. It was a wonderful way to spend our Sunday.

Then on Monday we went to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum. If you're ever in that area of the country, I highly recommend visiting there. They have an amazing Chihuly glass sculpture there, and some more glass pieces in the ceiling of the basement. It's so colorful and beautiful, I love it!

 

 

The main sculpture is four stories high.

 

There were lots of fun things to see and do at the museum. Here, Grace is pretending to go on a diving expedition to explore a sunken ship.

 

We found a fun place to play with dinosaurs in the basement of the museum. Sometimes it's the simple things that are the most fun.

 

 

There was a fun pretend flower garden, perfect for toddlers. There were lots of plush flowers to "plant" in holes in pretend dirt.

Then we went to Cincinnati on Monday evening. Tuesday was full of lots of tests and a doctor visit.

 

BethAnne had to have lots of finger pokes for one test. It was not fun, but she was a trooper.

 

After our day at the hospital, we went to the zoo, which was a bit of a hike because there were lots of hills, but we got to see some fun animals. The kids especially liked the petting zoo.

 

More pretty pictures at the zoo.

 

 

We went to the aquarium on Wednesday (and I didn't get any good pictures of that), but the highlight of our trip was going to King's Island Amusement park. They have an awesome kids area, with tons of fun rides. I wish I had taken more pictures, there were so many fun things to do. It was especially fun to see Joy ride some of the rides. She was so delighted. On this trip, BethAnne was quite the daredevil and she wasn't afraid of any of the rides in the kids area (even though some of them are for older kids). She went on two roller coasters and some other scary rides and had a blast.

Overall it was a very good trip and all the tests results were good or stable. The doctors are happy with how BethAnne is doing and we got some questions answered, so that was good. We'll probably be visiting there every year or two for many years, so at least they have fun stuff to do.

I hope you are all doing well. Love you all!

Love,
Aubrey

Yellow Dresses

Taking pictures before church is like pulling teeth (as witnessed by the face Joy is making in the first picture), but I tried a couple weeks ago anyway. They actually turned out cuter than I thought (I didn't think I got any keepers), but sometimes candid, unruly moments are the best. We got back from Cincinnati late last night. It was a busy, fun, useful trip. All the tests went well and BethAnne is doing great. More posts will follow about our adventures in Cincinnati. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Aubrey

 

 

 

 

Smores!

We had a great Memorial Day today. I got to sleep in, then Grace, BethAnne and I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 while Joy and Mark took a nap. Later we had a BBQ and ate outside on the patio (a first at this house), then we had FHE and afterwards we roasted marshmellows on the BBQ burner for smores! It was such a great day!

Grace kept burning her marshmellows, which frustrated her, but she had fun anyway.

Joy was just happy with all the new fun things we were doing. She loves the outdoors!

BethAnne was a marshmellow roasting pro!

Such a beautiful evening!

Joy really wanted to get the marshmellows down.

I think she was still thinking about how to get a marshmellow

Marshmellow success!

Sweet Daisy. We are really loving our sweet puppy who saves us so much time in floor cleaning. We had a bit of a scare with her this week because I accidentally dropped one of BethAnne's blood pressure pills on the floor and Daisy gobbled it up. Daisy is really small so we were worried that it would be a life-threatening overdose. The vet said we could bring her in to get her stomach pumped, but then Mark remembered that Daisy usually throws up when he takes her on drives. So he and the big girls took her on a drive (towards the 24-hour Vet), but she wasn't throwing up. So we asked BethAnne to say a prayer, and as she did, Daisy threw up. And she threw up twice after too. It was a neat experience and our Daisy is doing great.

Pretty Blue Eyes!

This is our garden this year. It has some herbs and a jalepeno plant and an upside down tomato plant. We wanted to plant a real garden but Daisy loves to dig up good soil, and she eats seeds and plants. So this was our compromise.

Have a great week! Happy Birthday Lisa! We love you all!
Love,
Aubrey

Sunshine Joy

I thought I'd take some cute pictures of Joy in her new sunshine yellow outfit. She's our little sunshine!

Kid Comedy and Cakes

This evening there is a carnival at BethAnne's school. As part of the fun, and to help out, we made and decorated some cakes (there will also be a cake decorating contest, then the cakes will be used for a cake walk). BethAnne decorated three (all by herself, ideas and everything) and Grace decorated one (the top picture). Grace's cake is more decoration than cake, but quite creative nonetheless.

Kid Comedy-

Last weekend I picked up some Ben and Jerry's ice cream for Mark and I (which we usually don't splurge on). I got two kinds, mine was Chubby Hubby, which has strange sentimental meaning for me because I got some for Mark on his first birthday that I knew him . Anyway, on Monday morning I came downstairs and Grace was playing on the computer and I looked over on the counter and there was the top to my Chubby Hubby ice cream. I knew where to find the carton because it's happened before. In the garbage can was the rest of the ice cream (she likes to eat some and then throw the rest away (she's been known to do it with half gallons too). Anyway, I was really upset and I told her that she was not allowed to have ice cream without permission (which she knows) and I told her that that particular ice cream was special to me. I had a hard time letting it go, so she got a few reminders that day about not doing that again. The next day, I came downstairs after putting Joy down for a nap and what does she have in her hands- a spoon and Daddy's carton of Ben and Jerry's. She quickly said "there's more left if you want some". She could tell I was mad so she said "Was this ice cream special to you too?"

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On a related note, we were driving to Grandma's house yesterday so the kids could be babysat while Mark and I went to the Temple. The girls were fighting a bit, so I told them "You guys need to be good at Grandma's house, no fighting. I need you to be on your best behavior." Then came Grace's voice, as serious as I've ever heard her- "Mom, I am ALWAYS on my best behavior."

Have a Happy weekend!
Love,
Aubrey