Bryce is a graduate

April 26th Bryce graduated from Weber State University with his Bachelors in Communications. It was a proud but bittersweet day. We are so happy he has made it this far, but we knew he would be starting right into his Masters program and things would get even busier. I can't express enough how proud of him I am. He has more dedication and determination than I ever have and I know our family will be blessed for his hard work.

"Healthy"

Today was Jayda's first time saying the prayer in primary. She was not nervous at all and told the primary president that she could do it all by herself. When it was her turn she didn't quite know what to do, so I went up to the stand with her, told her to close her eyes and fold her arms and say it loud enough so that everyone could hear her and she just went for it. She said, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day, thank thee that we could be healthy, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
Her prayers at home are usually a lot longer than that, so I was a little surprised, but so proud of her for doing it all on her own. She is growing such confidence in herself which makes me feel proud. I think that although daycare has been hard on me and sometimes hard on Jayda as well, it has given her confidence to be around other people and not just rely on me all of the time. I think that she would probably be more shy had she not been forced to be around other kids and adults. She has learned to adapt to the situations around her and looks forward to meeting new people. When she was younger she tended to cling to me more, but is spreading her wings more and more.
I also was not surprised that she said thank you for being healthy. She says that a lot in her prayers and we talk about it a lot. How the foods we eat affect how we feel, how too much sugar makes our tummies sick. We have also had a lot of sickness in our house this winter. I think that everyone has. We had the flu in November, December and January, along with colds and a terrible cough/cold combination in March. I am tired of the sickness and am hoping to do a better job of preventing it and strengthening our immune systems. I want to be able to be educated and take good care of my family so I am reading books, finding recipes and blogs, and cooking as much as I can. I want healthy eating to come naturally to my kids so that when they get older it isn't such a struggle to research and learn and do.
Watch out because I am quickly becoming a hippie. I am using essential oils, researching chemicals in the products we use, looking for organic foods, etc. I used to think that people were just too uptight about everything and take it too far, but now I think they are just more informed and educated on what they put into their bodies and in their homes and I am interested in being somewhat the same. I am on a quest to figure out what can work for our family without making everyone miserable.

Easter a day early

Our Easter started on Saturday this year because Bryce works from 5 am to 2 and we didn't want him to miss it. We kindly asked the Easter bunny if he could come early and he obliged.

Both kids love to read books, especially Bentley lately. He almost always has one in his hand and is asking me to read to him or he is looking at them himself so their baskets were mostly books with one toy and a few jellybeans.

 This is them waiting patiently on mom and dad's bed to go downstairs.

 At 10:00 we headed over to Hatch park in NSL for an egg hunt. They had firetrucks and ambulances and all of the local fire department there to hand out hats and badges to the kids.

 Bentley has been holding onto my leg lately (and what a lovely leg it is.) He will be playing and come up to hug my leg and then leave. I think it is sweet and something I want to remember about him. In this picture he wasn't quite sure why there were so many people standing around looking at a big square of grass covered in eggs and he was a bit nervous so he held onto my leg for a while.

 The hunt was over in about 30 seconds and the kids weren't ready to go home so we went to the park to play and fly the kites they handed out. Something I love about Bryce is how playful he is. He loves to play on the playground right along-side the kids.

 

 On Sunday as we were walking to church this tiny little dog came running up to us so we took her home and called her owner. It turns out that her owners were in California and had boarded her across the street at the vet's but she had gotten out. Jayda wants a dog really bad and loved having her here. She sang to her and scratched her belly and took great care of her.

 We also had the family over for dinner and to decorate eggs. Bentley died both of his hands green and looked like the Grinch for the rest of the day.

Girl look at that body

Girl look at that body. I work out!

 

 When I walk in the spot...

 this is what I see

 Everybody stops and is starin' at me.

 I got passion in my pants

 and I aint afraid to show it, show it, show it.

 I'm sexy and I know it!

Alright, so these are the many outfits of Bentley lately. He is OBSESSED with Jayda's purple boots. He wears them on a daily basis and yells "boot!" if you try to take them off. He also gets in Jayda's drawers and pulls out her clothes to put them on; the more the better and usually skirts. Below is more for you to feast your eyes on.
This outfit is pink gloves, pj's and purple boots.

 This is a picture of his boy clothes and Jordan hat so that my dad doesn't kill me.

 Also a tough guy look. He pulled a bar stool down on top of him and it landed right in-between his eyes.

 There are 3 skirts in this ensemble and he is trying to put little doll pants on as well.

 Ah yeah! Jayda got new underwear so he had to try it out.

And this is proof that he doesn't just cross-dress when his parents are home. This is what happens when you leave him with Nanny and Papa for a day. Oh, but he makes it look so good! He's sexy and he knows it!

-

My favorite

My favorite kind of decoration around the house. Whiskers and Penguin were spectators at the dance party we had today.

Christmas 2012

Halloween

 Painting their little pumpkins they picked out at the pumpkin patch.

 Jayda was "Tangled" this year for Halloween. I made a long braided wig out of yellow yarn and put flowers in it, but it was too heavy and she did not want to wear it. Miss Kim painted a crown on her forehead earlier in the day at daycare so I guess that was good enough.

 Bentley was appropriately a monster. 

 Ringing the doorbell at Nanny's house. They did great trick or treating. Jayda said it at every house and had it all figured out. The highlight of the night was when she threw up in someone's back yard because she had eaten to much junk. It wasn't embarrassing at all, but I am glad she wasn't sick.  Bentley did the same thing the following morning. We are great parents.