It's been awhile...

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. These past few weeks have been so busy-in a good way. Between spring break & family in town I haven't taken the time to update. But here ya go:

As you know from a few posts ago- Averee has turned 5. We got her a scooter for her birthday-she has wanted a 2 wheel scooter for awhile & she loves it! Luckily, Adee is content with Ave's old scooter. The weather has been great & we have gotten a lot of walks in lately. The girls are getting so good at scootin'...

remember when we didn't even bother to wear shoes let alone safety gear?

One of Averee's birthday presents was some sidewalk paint-she couldn't wait to use it! Knowing what a mess it would make I was a little hesitant to get it out-but I finally caved in. They had a ton of fun-but what a mess! I think the pictures speak for themselves...

Owen REALLY enjoyed the sidewalk paints

The package said 'non-toxic', but EEEWWWW!

Averee lost interest in the paint pretty quick so she stayed pretty clean, Adee had it mostly on her hands & feet, but Owen (as you can see) had it EVERYWHERE! He had quite the colorful fro when he was done :0)

During the week of Spring Break, my Grandma Funk (yes, that is her REAL name) was down from Richfield to visit & staying at my parents house. We had them all over for FHE & the girls loved having Grandma Funk there. We love you grandma Funk! Of course we had to roast Smores-our favorite past time lately...

Grandma V, Grandma Funk, Adee, Averee & Owen enjoying the fire pit

Papa helping Owen roast his mallow

I am so glad my kids love Smores as much as I do!

We had a great Easter weekend full of fun & family. Saturday morning the kids had fun discovering their Easter baskets & that the Easter Bunny ate all the carrots that we left out for him! :0) Later we met my mom at the park for lunch & played in the beautiful weather. Then that night we got to see my nephew Beau recieve his Eagle Scout award-AWESOME! Way to go BEAU! Then we went to their house for the rest of the Easter festivities-mainly the egg hunt. The girls got even more candy & had fun chasing with their cousins looking for eggs. Owen was content with a piece of candy and room to run! What fun!

Averee & Adelyn got lanterns & magic wands from the Easter BunnyOwen got a racecar from the Easter Bunny-but of course he just wanted to play with the grass!

At the park with Grandma V

Just give a boy a ball...

Owen did stop running around long enough to find a couple eggs-thanks daddy!

Here are the girls with their Easter loot-yum!

Well, I think that about does it for the update of the last few weeks. I hope you all had a great Easter as well!

9 years...already?!

Today is our 9 year anniversary & I can't believe we have been together that long already. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! Shortly after we were married & we babysat our niece & nephews for a week. While we were there I saw a note that my sister-in-law had written to her husband that said something like 'Thank you for 10 great years'. I remember thinking how weird it was that they had been married for 10 years-that seemed so long at the time! Now we are almost there ourselves! I thought it would be fun to share some of our wedding photos. I scanned them in from our wedding album so I could make something for Danny. We sure look young-especially Danny-what a baby face! I was almost 20 & Danny was 21. He had only been home from his mission for about 3 months. It was a bit of a whirlwind putting together a wedding that fast-but it turned out so beautiful. Here is some of what I remember...

I remember that I wasn't even that nervous to get married-it felt so right. I was more nervous for the honeymoon! :0) We got married around 10 in the morning-which should be plenty of time to get ready & not be late right? Well, I was late to the temple! It took my BFF Christan a little longer to do my hair than we thought. Poor Danny was probably getting a little nervous! But I got there & dressed just in time. The ceremony was awesome-so many people we love were able to be there. Tons of family & friends. Mostly my friends parents since I was the first of our group of friends to tie the knot. I remember feeling so extremely grateful to be in the temple with Danny & sealed for time & all eternity. What a blessing!

After the ceremony we had a small luncheon at my new in-laws house. It was nice & small-just family & close friends. Then the rest of the day was spent decorating their backyard for the reception that nite. At least that is what everyone else was doing. I was busy trying to avoid Danny because he kept trying to corner me in empty rooms & take advantage of me! Can you believe that! :0) The reception was so beautiful. I loved it! My in-laws have an awesome view of St. George from their backyard. We served ice cream sundaes & cake. We had tons of fresh flowers everywhere & it was so beautiful. Even my cake had fresh flowers on it. So many wonderful people came to see us-it was a little overwhelming. But in a good way. We have been so blessed to have all these great people in our lives. After we cut the cake & said our good byes-we headed for our hotel. I think this was the most nervous I got all day! But it was a wonderful nite full of great memories. (I won't bore you with those right now) ;0) The next morning we headed to Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain. Danny's parents had a cabin up there. We spent several days up there all by ourselves & basically snowed in. Which was fine with us! Where were we going to go anyway?! :0) All we needed was there in that cabin... Well, hope you enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane as much as I did. It was such a great day-I wish we could do the whole thing over again-& I wouldn't change a thing! Thanks for 9 awesome years 'HotStuff'! Life can be a bit of a roller coaster with a few surprises around every corner, not to mention the ups & downs. But I am so glad we have gone thru it all together. We have learned so much from each other & grown so close. Danny is so good for me-I think we complement each other so well. Plus, he can always make me laugh-even when I don't want to. :0) I honestly couldn't picture my life any other way. Why would I want to? I am so incredibly blessed! Can't wait to see what the next 9 years have in store for us-I love you Danny!

Look who's 5!

I can't believe Averee is 5 today! How the time flies! It seems like only yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child. I had always pictured myself with all boys so I was surprised to be getting a girl. Little did I know that #2 would be a girl also! I will never forget the overwhelming joy I felt the first time I saw her. She looked just like I had dreamed she would. What a blessing she is in our lives! Averee has always been such a beautiful girl. Even as a baby everyone said what a beautiful baby she was. She has her dad's bright blue eyes & blond curly hair. Lucky! Not to mention a smile that can melt your heart.

Averee is such a sweet & sensitive girl. She is very aware of hurting others feelings & I love that about her. She is such a great big sister to Adelyn & Owen. She is usually pretty good to share with them & wants them to have whatever she has. If she gets something (like candy at church) she asks if she can have some for her sister & brother-how cute is that!

Averee is very artsy crafty-which I love! I can't wait to have a live-in scrapbook partner! She already likes to 'scrapbook'-mostly she glues pieces of paper to a bigger paper, but she gets the idea! She loves to color, paint, or do any kind of craft. She is getting so good too-I can almost always tell what she is drawing. :0)

Averee is such a girly girl. Which has taken some getting used to for me. I am not that girly-but she is rubbing off on me! :0) She LOVES to dance. After watching the Nutcracker last year she informed me that she was going to be in it next year & that she wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. The lead! You go girl! She loves everything pink & princess. She loves to wear dresses, jewelry & have her nails painted. Lucky for me-she still wants me to do her hair every morning. That may not last too much longer though cuz she is getting pretty picky about how I do it...

I love how independent she is getting. She can do almost everything for herself now. Which is great for me. She is so smart-she is even starting to try to read. It is so cute cuz she has one of her books memorized so she loves to 'read' it to us. It won't be long now. I really hope my love of reading rubs off on her.

She is such a social butterfly! She loves to be with her friends or cousins. Every morning she asks if we are going anywhere or if anyone is coming over. I guess I must bore her? :0) She is really into playing 'house' right now & it is hilarious to hear the stuff she says while they are playing. She is always the 'mom'-so I better be more careful!

What a cutie! Averee we love you so much! We love having you in our family & can't wait to see what you accomplish this year!