Happy Easter!

We had such a wonderful Easter. Little children truly make holidays fun and exciting. Sierra was thrilled with her easter basket which contained snacks for church and books. I made her a little "Jesus book" that she thinks is a singing book. I had to take it away during church because she was singing a little too loud at all the wrong times. She also got two easter dresses (thanks Grandma Miller) and had to model them before choosing which one to wear. She is such a little girl! We got to eat two delicious dinners- the advantages of having both our families so close by. Saturday we dyed eggs and had an egg hunt at my mom's house. Sierra was more interested in the swings and just wandering outside than in finding easter eggs so my 5 year old nephew and I got to enjoy the hunt all to ourselves.

Last week I was also able to visit with some of my high school friends Laney and Holly. It was so fun to chat and catch up on our lives that have gone in such different directions. I am ever so grateful for friends who help us through the many stages of life. What would life be like without good friends?

We also welcomed two new boys to our family last week. My brother Josh and his wife Juli who live in Austin, Texas had a little boy- Stewart last sunday. Yesterday my sister Allison who lives here in Sparks had a little boy- Isaac. There's nothing like new babies to celebrate springtime.

Missing Arizona

I know everyone is swimming in Arizona this time of year and we sure are missing it! Sierra talks about swimming all the time and even "swimming" in the big bathtub doesn't cut it. It is starting to warm up here in Nevada so maybe soon...

Road Trip!

Craig and I just returned from a quick road trip to Utah and back. We left Friday night, and after a gazillion stops to secure our load of furniture and after using two rolls of duct tape on it we finally arrived in Provo early Saturday morning. My little brother Tim and his darling bride of three months are living there in a cute old house without any furniture. We unloaded the furniture to the happy and grateful couple (they now have a couch to sit on). We then stopped by Sandy to have lunch with Craig's grandparents. Sierra insisted on having her own "to go" box which she filled with rice (which promptly fell all over the car). My Grandma Loveland in Ogden was our next stop where we stayed the night. Sierra loved playing with her two puppies and I loved sitting by the warm fire. Sunday morning we hit the road again for home. The amazing thing was how wonderfully behaved our children were. I couldn't believe that they sat in the car the whole day with hardly a whine or a cry. Sierra read books, colored, sang and talked and talked and talked. Gideon just slept and played with his car seat toys. Wow I'm ready to go on a longer trip now.

Gideon with his Great-Grandma Loveland

House Flipping

We've been watching a lot of HGTV episodes about house flipping lately and acquired our first flip. It's an eight room Victorian fixer-upper that Sierra LOVES. Ok so it's just a doll house, but it'll be fun to give it some TLC. My mother-in-law had it in the goodwill pile so I rescued it. We've already had a lot of fun with it. I'm not sure how we will move it when the time comes, perhaps we can find another little girl who would enjoy it.

This is Gideon experiencing cereal for the first time. Nope, he didn't like it and cried the whole time. He's a pretty fussy boy so I wasn't too surprised.

Jump Man Jump

Yesterday I figured out how to glue gun my hair! Today I'm trying to figure out how to get it out! I was fixing Sierra's princess tent in the bathroom using a glue gun and picked off some extra glue and piled it on the counter. A while later having totally forgotten about the glue I pulled out my curling iron and inadvertently set it right in the glue. Of course the glue melted all over the curling iron unbeknownst to me and I used it to curl my hair. I laughed pretty hard when I finally figured out why my hair was all gunky. Good thing I don't have anywhere important to go.

Today we went to a birthday party at Jump Man Jump and played around on inflatables. We had a blast racing down the slides, playing in the ball pit, running through the mazes and jousting each other (ok Craig had a fun time not me on this one). Since it's snowy and cold it was nice to be able to run around indoors. Here are a few pictures.

Blessings Abound

I've been thinking a lot of all the blessings that we have received of late. The first and foremost is that my children are HEALTHY! We haven't had health insurance for four months, which is risky with an infant and a toddler. However, we haven't needed it. Yes it would be nice to find out if Gideon really does have eczema and what his projectile vomiting is all about but he is growing and developing well. I know with so many sicknesses in the air and the near misses of serious injury that we have been blessed in this regard. Another huge blessing is that we have been able to spend some serious family time together. I love having my husband home during the day. He loves to play with the kids and does so often giving me a little time for other things. It'll be quite a transition when he goes off to work again. And lastly we both have awesome families nearby that have been extremely supportive. Sierra loves playing with her cousins and I love that our parents get to do so much grandparenting. I am so grateful for these seemingly simple blessings that mean so much to us right now.

Gideon sacked out after a long day

Sierra making Valentine Cookies with Grandma Forbush

My Grandma's Legacy

I just have to share my major accomplishment tonight- I finished my Grandma's Life History. A year ago I began this project with a bagful of tape recordings of her life story to transcribe. Some of the tapes were quite old- in fact on one of the tapes my baby babblings can be heard. Anyway, I got all the tapes transcribed then pulled all the transcriptions together into a cohesive story. It was a labor of love that filled many nights (thanks to my patient husband). I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn so much about my grandma's life. She is one amazing woman! She endured the depression as an immigrant family from Hungary, met my grandpa during World War II, (he proposed in a letter after two dates), learned about the Mormon church and got baptized, drove for the first time in Los Angeles, raised 5 children, oh I could go on about the adventures of her life. She is 84 now so I'm not sure how much longer I'll get to visit with her. What a blessing it is to have a legacy of love to have before me.