a productive weekend.

this week felt good. james wasn't as busy as he was last week, we got a lot accomplished this weekend, and it just. felt. good.

kendall has been loving to try new foods lately, loves. does she always love what i put in her mouth? no. most of the time no. but if brooklyn is eating, she wants to be eating. it's so cute. if only i could convince her to eat like her mommy does... ok maybe not that good. the one thing she does love to do is climb the stairs. i let her do it about five times a day. i follow behind her, touching her back, and she just races up those stairs as fast as she can. she's growing so much. she has six teeth now. mind blowing. she'll be one before we know it.

the end of the week brought great things. while i was making dinner thursday night, i was snap chatting kayla and haley and as luck would have it, haley decided to come stay at our house for the night. she was there by the time dinner was ready. it was the greatest. we ate dinner, got shakes, and then made out like bandits at the dollar store. when we got home, we worked on learning a dance (something i love more than almost anything else!), and before we knew it, james was home from school. what a great night.

things got better. when i woke up the next morning, kayla was at my house. not only that, i swear she was waiting by my bedroom door because as soon as kendall made a peep, she swooped right in there and took her so i could sleep. how lucky am i?!!! brooklyn was so excited to wake up and have two aunts eating breakfast with us. we got ready for the day, grabbed some queso at cafe rio and headed to the park to enjoy some sunshine. heaven.

kayla left (to head to st george lucky duck!), the rest of us headed back to the house to relax. haley cut james' hair, she and i laid our for a little bit, and then i started dinner. we loved those rumbi salads so much that i decided to make them again. they have totally been hitting the spot. if you want the recipe let me know. because believe me, you do.

we went and got fro yo for dessert, said bye to haley, and then settled in for a movie.

brooklyn was in aunt heaven this weekend, because when she woke up saturday morning, aunt tori was here with us. and thank goodness she was. james and i have a nice little spring to do list and we were able to check two things off our list because tori helped take care of the girls. we fueled up with some sonic drinks, jammed out to some 90's hits, and knocked those projects right out. kendall even slept while we organized some things in her room. her daddy uses the closet in there and it desperately needed some organizing as well.

the butler's pantry. so fancy. and now, organized!

i think we were almost motivated to get things done knowing that we hate a date night planned after all of it. haley came down again, with a cute boy in tow, to watch the girls so that we could go out with some friends to dinner. a triple date. we went to arella in bountiful and i was impressed. that garlic cheese bread. ya i'll be going back for more. it was such a fun night spent with fun people. they must have been fun because we were there for three hours. they basically had to kick us out. such a good time. can't wait for next time already. 

with our social canteens filled, we raced home to our babies who were just getting out of the tub. we had the best babysitters. those guys. i got sourdough batter ready for sunday morning and we ended the night with a movie.

sunday came and sourdough pancakes it was. we had a slow morning. i got dinner in the crockpot, took time getting myself ready (because that never happens!), and then we were off to church.

but not before a quick family picture. tori was there to be our photographer and i'm so glad she caught this candid picture. just a small glimpse into our lives right now. i love it.

and the posed shot.

after church and dinner, jeremy and chelsea (ellie & unborn baby rue) came over for an easter egg hunt. we were a week late, but the girls didn't know. they raced around gathering eggs, or sucking on suckers. i think everyone was just happy to be outside enjoying some fresh air. afterwards, tori gave a little easter lesson and it was short and sweet. perfect for our family of toddlers. 

see? this week/end was so great. i'm kinda sad to see it go. but hoping for more of them in the near future. with summer on the horizon i don't doubt it. 

 h a p p y  m o n d a y 

spring is here!

oh this weekend was a good one. we welcomed spring with a bath in the kitchen sink. kendall was in heaven and thought she was being treated to her own personal swimming pool. she splashed and squealed the whole time she was in there. 

that baby chub. it's slowly going away and i am trying my darndest to just hold on to it. i mean, that double chin and that tummy. 

when james got home friday afternoon we went for a walk around the block and then did a little yard work. mostly he did yard work and i did my best to keep kendall on a blanket and dirt out of her mouth.

brooklyn put on her 'work boots' aka snow boots and wanted to help her daddy every second she could. she was in charge of gathering sticks. then, she got bored and decided to get out some bird feed that we have and she filled up about a hundred cups and slowly spread it around. i think the birds will be hanging out at our house for a little while. 

and because i'm so lucky, i got to have two my sisters come spend the weekend with us. they offered to let us have a date night and i jumped on it. brooklyn and kendall loved having those aunts all to themselves and james and i enjoyed a night out. we ended up ordering out and eating in our car in the parking lot at the temple but it was the best!

we got home and the girls had a fashion show ready for us. red carpet included. it was adorable and i only took crappy cell phone pictures. i'm so sad about that.

kendall as tinkerbell.

brooklyn 'designed' her own dress out of paper, stickers, and marker drawings. she was so happy and proud of her work.

 because we have one o'clock church this year, james and i have decided to take advantage of our mornings before church to put together good meals, watch movies, and FINALLY make sourdough pancakes. i can't believe it took us this long to finally make them, but we did, and they were delicious. the picture obviously doesn't do them justice!

church today was a nightmare, and here is the picture beforehand to prove it.

kendall made it halfway through sacrament meeting and then turned into a monster. needless to say, after sacrament meeting i took that grumpy girl right home to take a nap in her crib. and nap she did. thank goodness. i was sad to miss my other meetings, but i would have been in the mother's lounge with her screaming at me anyway. i think we may be growing some new teeth. poor thing.

the week ahead is looking good. we have a few fun things planned and we're hoping to stay healthy and we're going to take advantage of james not having class this week. yay for a new week!

h a p p y  m o n d a y 

thursday.

so we did end up having some fun yesterday. a few necessary things were also accomplished, but fun definitely squeezed its' way into our day and boy were we glad about that. here's how it went:

- morning jog for me

- make that a HOT morning jog.

-james gets an eye exam (lots of flex $ to spend in one day)

-brooklyn and i meander over into a toy store during said eye exam

- brooklyn turns into a tornado and takes everything off the shelves that she can

- i follow behind her like a clean-up truck on times square after the ball drop and put things back where they are supposed to go

- brooklyn has a blast and is absolutely over joyed in this toy store

- i get worn out

- we join james back at the eye doc to pick out glasses

-brooklyn gets hungry 

- nowhere to sit and nurse her inside the AC building

- we sweat to death in the car 

- meet my mom at fast food joint to switch cars

- she came to babysit

- james and i go on an afternoon date

- moonrise kingdom. cute and weird. 

- teriyaki crepe and a raspberry DC (so darn good)

- hand holding on our way out to the car

- come home to a very happy baby

- thanks again mom so so so so much!

- family nap attempt. fail.

- quiet time: reading, computer games, the likes

- leftovers for dinner

- rice krispie treats for dessert

- plan friday's agenda

- walk outside. fail.

- talk with neighbors instead.

- relax.

- good day.

our weekend is looking to be pretty low key as well. i'm looking forward to some more morning jogs and some rain. i really really want it to rain. i'm feeling cozy just thinking about it. either way, the weekend should be grand. 

thank you thursday for being an awesome prelude.

h a p p y  w e e k e n d i n g

and

h a p p y  f r i d a y  t h e 1 3 t h

oh and

h a p p y  b i r t h d a y  a u n t  s u z a n n e !

Jim Day!

James got this e-mail from one of his co-workers:

We love Red Robin, so it was a no brainer. My husband loves burgers. Loves them. A free gourmet one? Of course we were going to take advantage of it.

Our waiter was super nice and took good care of us.

The burger was delish.

It was a great 'Jim Day' night, name tag and all...

And I guess tomorrow could be called 'Dev Day'. That's right, 1 more day!

Brooklyn can't wait!

Friday Night

I am definitely a fan of Groupon. Last night we used one for Red Maple Chinese, along with half the other people there at the restaurant. We even ran into some cousins. Dayton cousins. We give the place 2 thumbs up. Mmm it was good!

The atmosphere was good and everyone was super friendly. Brooklyn and her daddy had a little bonding time while we waited for our food.

(2011 - 1986 - 1985)

The food was awesome! It tasted good and there was a lot of it! We definitely recommend this place. There was even a stage set up at the front of the restaurant, but we weren't lucky enough to see a band or enjoy any sort of entertainment. Maybe next time!

(and this was just MY food)

After dinner we went to pick out our pumpkins at The Great Pumpkin Patch, a quaint little place on Redwood.

They had a great selection of pumpkins. The prices were written on the bottom of each and that definitely helped decide our pumpkin fate. What was even better were the cute red wagons filled with hay to help you with all your pumpkin decisions. We were very happy with our purchase.

Brooklyn loved the pumpkin patch. There was so much for her to look at in every direction.

There was even a hint of scary!

The air was crisp but still warm enough to not need a jacket. We walked around for awhile and just enjoyed the fall atmosphere.

Brooklyn was good all night. She slept at the restaurant while we ate and then she was quite content at the pumpkin patch to just look around and be snuggled.

We can't wait for FHE on Monday so we can carve our little beauties up and eat some yummy doughnuts.

 

Hooray for nights like these!