My house is for sale. It is sad. I am emotionally attached to my home. Kelton and I have put in a ton of work to make it ours. When we bought it it was very plain. It had Formica, lots of carpet and laminate floors that I hated. The basement was not finished and the yard had nothing but grass. Since living here we have:

• repainted the entire house
• finished the basement to add 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and lots of storage
• built a shed
• finished the garage and built storage
• put in hardwood maple flooring
• put in granite counter tops
• remodeled the master bath
• poured a huge concrete patio and additional parking
• LANDSCAPING, LANDSCAPING, LANDSCAPING!

I hate to see it go. I am sure that I will cry when we leave. I feels like I am leaving a loved one behind.

Desert tortoise

Olivia and the desert tortoise at Hogle Zoo. I took this picture because the desert tortoise inhabits the area around Kelton's work. If someone at molycorp were to injure, kill, or disturb the habitat of the desert tortoise it is a $25,000 dollar fine. Ouch!

Expanding my cooking horizons...

I got some artichokes in my Bountiful Basket but really had no clue as to how to prepare it. After a little research, I ended up sauteing it in garlic and butter and then steaming it. It was really good. It was also a lot of work for a minimal amount of food. Not too sure that I'll do it again.

We are moving!

 

Recognize this city? In a few short months we will be living just outside of Las Vegas in Henderson, NV.  Kelton is running off this Sunday to enjoy the sunshine and start his new job while the rest of us stay in the cold Utah spring waiting for the house to sell. When Las Vegas is hottest (July) we will be arriving. Probably not the greatest time to move there!  We have promised Olivia a house with a pool. She recently added the following to her list: pool table and air hockey table. It had better be a big house :)

All of the times that Kelton and I relocated have been without children. Having two kids and three dogs brings this move to a whole new level of complication. However, I have done this before. I am a veteran of being lost in strange cities. At first I was afraid, I was petrified...I will survive...I will survive yeah, yeah!

Easter 2010

Jack the chef

Of my two kids, they both love to bake, but Jack loves to cook. When he sees me starting to cook, he runs to get his stool and pulls it around the kitchen island to help out. He loves to put the ingredients into the bowl. He will let me measure out the ingredients, but it is his job to pour. He will remind me, "my job" or "I do it by myself". On this day he was shredding potatoes for Easter dinner. Maybe one day he will be Wolfgang Jack.

Jack & Thomas

Some of the sweetest sounds I hear as I go about my business each day is Jack in his room playing with his Thomas trains. I can't think of anything better to listen to than the tiny voices of my children as they play (not when they are fighting!).

Dinosaur tails

I stumbled across these adorable dinosaur tails on Etsy.com. I thought that the kids would flip when seeing them in their Easter baskets. Olivia put hers on and proceeded to dust the floor with it :)

Easter egg fun

We colored eggs the night before Easter. 

This was Jack's first time and he had fun. Both Jack and Olivia added their own art work to each egg. 

Then they ran off to bed so that the Easter bunny could come and fill their baskets.

Jack's first duck feeding

On the first nice spring day of 2010 we took the kids to the duck pond to feed the ducks/geese/swans.

Jack had never fed the ducks before so he really enjoyed it. 

Olivia was a little nervous because the last time she fed the ducks she was bit by one.

The ducks get fed a lot and are not shy. On this day, they had enough bread and weren't too hungry.

The second tooth comes out!

Olivia has lost her second tooth. 

She pulled it out on her own and Kelton soaked up the blood. 

Olivia actually said to me, " I hope that it bleeds because I like the taste of blood."

What are you... a vampire??

Tea party at Color Me Mine

Our fun friends, Melissa, Haylie and McKaela invited Olivia and I to an Alice in Wonderland Tea party at Color Me Mine in Ogden. We had tea (apple juice) and cookies while we painted a tea set for the girls. Olivia dressed up as the Cheshire Cat and I wore bunny ears to be the rabbit. It was a lot of fun to be with such wonderful friends. We love you girls!

Disney on Ice

We took the kids to see Disney on Ice in March.  We made it a surprise and didn't tell them what we were doing. Olivia figured it out as soon as we entered the arena because there was Disney stuff everywhere! The first act was from the movie Cars. When Mater came out Jack couldn't stop waving at him. It was so cute. Olivia was completely entertained by Tinkerbelle. When the fairy queen flew above the ice, Olivia was in heaven. It was a fun day as a family.

The Superhero Mask

It seemed natural to me that my little superheroes had masks to match their capes.

My Hero...

We gave the kids superhero capes for Valentine's Day. Olivia declared herself the "superhero of love". It is so fun to watch them zoom around the house with their capes flowing behind them. Jack and Olivia off to save the day!

Quotes from my dear Olivia

It is always unexpected. I try my darnedest to remember every single one. Olivia's random thoughts and comments are some of the things that I love most about being a mom. It always makes me wonder how her little mind views this crazy world we live in.

Most recently, on Valentine's Day we gave Jack and Olivia superhero capes. Jack's is blue with a yellow lightning bolt and Olivia's is hot pink with a yellow lightning bolt. Olivia and Jack played in them all day racing around the house and making flying sound effects. Olivia stopped abruptly to inform me that she is the "superhero of love". Belly laughs ensued.

We were talking about how Olivia NEVER takes a nap. The conversation then turned to her frequent nightmares to which I said, "You always have nightmares." She replied, "Yeah, but only at night."

One day on the way home from swimming lessons, Olivia said "I didn't want a little sister or a little brother, I just wanted to be alone." OUCH!

One day while I was preparing dinner, Olivia said, "Mom, your big belly looks like it has a baby in it." Here I am thinking that I have lost some more of this baby weight that continues to plague me only to have my hopes dashed by my 5 year old. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

We made it...

Another yucky January has passed. I HATE January. Dreary, gray, cold and miserable. Did I mention that I HATE January? On February 1st the sun was out. It was still cold, but the gray, smoggy days seem to disappear. Today is another beautifully sunny February day. Just the fact that the sun is out lifts my spirits that winter will soon be over. Kelton's birthday is January 30. I celebrate his birthday and the end of the worst month of the year!

Ride 'em cowboy!

Jack and Olivia both love the new horses at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. Giddy up!

My boy

Jack rides his plasma car around the house in his sock monkey pajamas and his fireman boots. What a cutie!

The missing tooth

 

Olivia lost her first tooth on December 28th, 2009. My baby is growing up!

The ear piercing event

This is Olivia and I before she got her ears pierced. We don't have an 'after' picture because she was crying. When we left the mall I asked her if they hurt and she said, "not really". I asked why she was still crying and she said because she wanted to. Go figure!

Christmas Village

 

Right before Christmas, we took the kids to the Christmas village in Ogden. It was just as fun as seeing the lights at temple square and much closer to home.

Making crayons

During the winter break, Olivia, Jack and Kaylee made crayons out of the old bits and pieces of crayons in our many crayon boxes. We melted them in the oven and made very colorful crayons that looked a lot like Reese's peanut butter cups.

Fun fall leaves

 

Kelton came home from work one fall day and used the leaf blower to blow all of the leaves in the backyard into a HUGE pile for the kids to play in. The had a ball playing in the leaves until dark.