March 2009

Lynn has been super busy at work (thank goodness and knock on wood) so he has been working pretty much every Saturday lately. Isn't too much fun, but we are definitely grateful things are still going well with the business considering the economy at this time. However, him working Saturdays means we haven't been doing too many extravagant activities. I've been busy with Young Women stuff and went shopping in Ogden one day and I even hate to admit but I went to the Twilight movie with some friends (interesting). We've had fun watching some of the March Madness games, even though neither one of us did very well in my family brackets. We also had a few nice days so we have been to the park and even had a BBQ with some friends. One might look at the picture above and think we are celebrating something really great. However, take a look at the picture below and one will realize that our life must be really boring if we are really that excited about our truck reaching 100,000 miles. That is about how exciting our month of March was. Lynn really wanted to be driving when the truck turned to 100,000 miles so one day after church we took a ride just so that he could witness the excitement of it all.

Madi had her last day of the 6 week tumbling session so we got to go watch and see some of the fun moves she has been learning. The class is very basic tumbling, but she seems to have fun and it burns some energy which is always a good thing. Way to go, Madi!

Madi with her best friend Annie at tumbling.

Thanks to our good friends Val and Lannis, Lynn had the most pleasant opportunity to go to Disney on Ice with Madi, Val and Annie. He loved spending time with Madi, but said the Disney on Ice was tough to sit through. Madi was thrilled to death and loved seeing Arial, Mickey and Minnie.

Madi and Annie playing the usual game of dress-ups. Aren't they such cute princesses?

Parker had his annual Piano Recital. He played the song "Fuzzy, Wuzzy Worm" and did an excellent job. We are so proud of you Parker!

All the piano students singing their goodbye song.

One Friday night we even had the Christensen family over for some fun pizza making and catching up on the Amazing Race.

Few Random Things in February

Everytime I sit down to write a post for the blog, I think it hits me how fast time is passing me by. I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote last. So here is February in a nutshell. Lynn has been working almost every Saturday so we haven't had a chance to do too much on the weekends, but we have gone swimming a few times up at the University (which the kids absolutely love). Both the kids had a blast at school on Valentine's day. It was a lot of fun going through their Valentine's with them. It brought back many memories from when I was a kid, however I am a little sad that at Parker's school they don't let them decorate their own Valentine's box and take it to school. They just had the kids staple together a big envelope and color that to carry all the Valentine's. I think creating my own box as a kid was my favorite part of Valentine's because it was fun to see the different ideas we could come up with. In fact, I think we had a mailbox shaped one that rotated through my brothers and I and we each just decorated it differently when it was our year to use it. Fun times. The kids also had a secret admirer deliver the Disney DVD Bingo game to the door on Valentine's night. It was fun listening to them try to figure out who could have left it on the doorstep. Instead of fighting the crowds that night for dinner, we fed the kids dinner and then put them to bed and Lynn and I ordered chinese take out. It was delicious.

Here is Madi with her face painted from her preschool Valentine's Day party. Madi also gave her first talk in Primary on the 22nd. She did a such a great job. I thought she might be shy talking in the microphone and even though she was a little quiet, I was so excited that she did it. The topic was "I came to earth as part of a family". So she told everyone who is in her family (including the pets) and then she told ways that we can always be a happy family and my favorite was that she said "If we swing together then we will be a happy family". Can you tell she really wants to go to a park (don't we all). Parker had his first program at school that parents were invited to go see. His kindergarten class sang a Red Robin song (hence the red streamers and hats with feathers) and had a few dance steps in there as well. It was really cute to watch and again I was impressed that he participated. The morning of the program, he gave me about every excuse in the book as to whey he couldn't go to school because he really didn't want to dance and sing, but by the time it came around to performing, he did great.

For the last weekend in February, we had our 3rd Annual Mullen Gals Retreat. And once again it was filled with lots of fun, good food, good shopping and staying up way too late. We went to Salt Lake on Friday and did some shopping and then went to dinner at P.F. Chang's. It was delicious and of course I ate way too much. Then that night we went to a 10:00 showing of "He's Just Not That Into You". It was a pretty good movie, there were plenty of parts I didn't like, but it was ok. Then we stayed up talking until about 3:00 in the morning.

After breakfast we headed up to Park City to do our serious shopping and ate lunch then headed home that evening. I really had a great time and it is always nice to get away especially to get some shopping done without kids. Thanks again for all the laughs, everyone.

Kelly (my cousin), Kris (Jim's wife), Me, Candace (Kevin's wife), Mick (Todd's wife) and the creator of this whole crew, my mom.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

About a week and a half ago we headed up to Island Park to see my parents. They don't have as much snow as they have had other years, but it is still a beautiful winter wonderland. Jim and Kris came up the same weekend so the kids had some cousins to play with and plenty of sledding and snowmobiling to do. Lynn, my dad, and Jim all went snowmobiling in the morning while we took the kids sledding. When they got back, the rest of us did a little snowmobiling with the kids and then some warming up by the cozy fire. It was a quick trip, but as always, a lot of fun. I know I take way too many pictures, but Lynn's dad let me borrow his nice camera lense so I was having a lot of fun with some close ups.

There were swans all over on the river by my parents cabin.

Our puppy, Sketch was amazingly good while we were up there and has been better since we got home. Lynn and I are wondering if my parents dog, Sage, was able to talk to him a bit and tell him he needs to settle down.... I wish.

James, Claire and Madi all taking a break from sledding.

Grandma even joined in on some sledding fun.

Claire enjoying the hill.

I took quite a few shots trying to get a swan in flight, they fly really fast, but finally I got a winner.

Parker eating some snow.

At some point, while we were sledding, both of my kids had a cousin pulling them up the hill. I guess we need to work on some manners. Sorry James and Audrey. You guys were troopers.

Madi got her birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa while we were up there and I think she is now asking me daily when we can go fishing. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, she loves it!!

The kids also got some Valentine's from the grandparents. They were a nice treat for the long ride home.

We stopped to see Grandma Helen on the way home and the kids gave her some Valentine's. She looked really good and was glad to go on a little walk with us.

We also stopped over in Victor to see the kids new little cousin at Aunt Sharon and Uncle Lohn's house. He was born on February 3rd so he was only 5 days old when we saw him. I have forgotten how small newborn babies really are. His name is Sylas Reed and the kids seemed to love him. Madi keeps asking me when we are going to have our own baby. Who knows....

Dancing Kids

Madi has really been into dancing lately. Almost every night her and her dad have to do some dancing and then we go dancing down the hall to her bedroom when it's time for bed. The other day she asked Parker to dance and it was so cute because they even got in the right position and she was trying to do dips and everything.

This one is a little blurry, but I thought it was so cute how they are looking in each others eyes.

Madi really thought she was dipping all the way and Parker was trying hard to get her to dip further.

Sledding

Grandma and Grandpa Dahle have a perfect little sledding hill right by their house. It is tiny, but the kids love it and get their fill of playing in the now. This is a picture of the kids with their friends, Caleb and Annie, getting ready to go do some serious sledding. Parker, Caleb, Annie and Madi

My Baby is 4!

January 11th was Madi's 4th birthday. I can't believe my baby is already 4 years old. It doesn't seem like that long ago when we were traveling through a huge snow storm hoping to make it to the hospital (I still feel bad for passing someone that had slid of the side of the road, but I was in a lot of pain). I think we got about 12 inches of snow that night. We even had to wait extra long for the doctor to get to the hospital because he had to shovel himself out of his driveway. Madilyn is such a princess and loves anything that is pink or purple. She really has her dad's personality; so for those of you who know Lynn, she is very stubborn and is always teasing. "Pink" is still her favorite blanket and comfort and we are still trying to get her to stop sucking her thumb (again the stubbornness shines through). We are so glad she is a part of our family. The Friday before her birthday, we had a simple princess birthday party with some of her friends. It was very basic, but the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Everyone came dressed as a princess, we decorated tiaras, played a princess/cake walk, played Pin the Dress on the Princess and ate cupcakes and ice cream.

Princess/Cake Walk

Pin the Dress on the Princess

Opening Presents

The whole crew. Back Row: Lexi, Parker, Madi, and Abbie. Front Row: Annie, Porter and Lillian

Sunday was her real birthday. Lynn made her a toy chest (I will have to say he did a great job) and we filled it with very girly dress-ups. Parker gave her a matching game. She also got a Tinker Bell doll and some princess books. Grandma and Grandpa Dahle gave her a Dora jacket and some Dora toys. Thanks everyone for the fun birthday!

And of course the Belle birthday cake she has been begging me for. Happy Birthday Madi!