This guy is slated to win American Idol, I guess. I can't say for sure though since I don't watch the show. I think this song, and the version of this song especially, is so relaxing. Puts a great end to a wonderful day with Brady and the boys.

My bargain

These are the ties I got for Easter. I spent $10 total for all three. Aren't they cute? (both the boys and their ties, oh yeah, and Brady too :))

On Mother's Day

This is my first Mother's Day away from my Mom. Since I can't go visit her today, Mom this video is for you! I love you so much. Thanks for being a good example to me so that I could learn how to be a good mother to my own boys. I hope you have a wonderful day! I miss you!

I just checked on the boys to make sure they were asleep. I found Ammon hanging his snake over the side of the bunkbed to try and get Zenock to respond. Thankfully he was out already. When I saw what he was doing I snapped my fingers and he laid right back down. I'm thinking he won't take a nap today, but I'll be danged if he gets to come out of his room before 3:30!

My new life

This helped me put my trials into perspective today.

Fun stuff in April

I noticed most of the pictures I wanted to post were of Zenock. So to be fair, here are some of Ammon too. This first one is of Ammon and Izabella's first day of preschool at the Silver Springs Recreation Center. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the rec centers here. They have so many classes for the kids to get ready for kindergarten. In a couple of weeks I am putting both Ammon and Zenock in an art class and a science class when the current session of preschool is over. And then we get to do swimming lessons. Hurray!!! We moved last week to a townhome, but unfortunately we had to move wards. Fortunately the Whitney Ranch Rec Center is just down the block and around the corner, and Ammon's elementary is also just down the block. Another note of really good news for me...Ammon's school is a year-round school. They go to school all 12 months but they have 2 or 3 week breaks all over the place. On the news last week we learned that in order to save the school district money, all 12 month schools will be converting to 9 month schools starting this fall. So that means our schedule will no longer be potentially weird, and I don't have to worry so much about being gone during the summer to visit Idaho when the rest of the regular people are out of school. When Brady and I heard this change we both clapped and yelled because we were so excited. Ammon and Zenock were wondering what the commotion was about. It was funny!

Playing in the park, boy style

Zenock brushing his teeth with the new (and SUPER annoying) musical toothbrush Grammy got the kids in the Easter pinata.

Chillin' watching a movie.

Yup. It's official. Bath water tastes even better than water from the fridge!

Playing a monster truck game on the computer. Ammon always has a willing audience!

A friend in the ward gave the boys a bag of costumes. Zenock latched onto the Batman one even though it is even too big for Ammon. The day he got this he insisted on wearing it to the store. I bet Smiths felt so special to have Batman shopping in their store. And rest assured, there were no bad guys in sight!

The kids playing out on the patio. Man, I love that they could go out to play and have fun while I was trying to make dinner tonight. It's so nice to have a little space. It's not as much space like our home in Idaho, but it's still nice...and no annoying music from upstairs either. Music to my ears I tell ya!

I miss...

Today I decided I really miss shopping at Winco. We spent 2 hours driving to 3 different grocery stores so that we could get all the things we needed for the next week on sale. It just so happened that we had a carload of stuff to take to DI too. So we did that and then ended up doing all our shopping closer to there than our house since it should have been faster. So we shopped in what some would say the heart of Vegas today...it was a pain in the butt. We got home and I was so tired and grouchy because I realized that if we had been able to go to Winco, we would have spent just as much money in half the time and much less in gas going to all these stores. Don't get me wrong, I love getting stuff on sale, but sometimes it seems like it's not worth it. But on the other hand, I did end up saving almost 40 bucks today...and we are having a killer fruit salad to go with dinner tomorrow too...so that's worth it I guess. Zenock is happy too because strawberries were on sale so I bought some since they are his favorite. In fact, yesterday he had the world's biggest tantrum because he wanted strawberries for lunch and we didn't have any. He ended up standing in the corner twice before lunch was over because he was freaking out so bad about it.

Lately we have seen a monster come out in Zenock. Brady says it is because of all the changes he has experienced in such a short period of time. We moved Monday, we stopped watching Izabella and Gabby because they moved back to Arizona on Friday, and Brady finally started working on Friday too. So in order to cope with those changes, Zenock has been reacting in the only way he knows how, mega tantrums. I will be so glad when everything settles down and we get our life back in order so that he can calm down. It seems he mostly acts up when it is meal time and nap/bedtime. This on top of being tired and hungry just compounds the level of the tantrum. It's aweful. Thankfully Ammon is doing amazing!

Tomorrow we get to go to a new ward, and it starts at 9am. This means the boys get a nap on Sunday again!!!! I am looking forward to going to a new ward. I hear the primary is huge, which hopefully means our kids can find some friends their age...and maybe some of them will have parents our age too. That would be super nice. I miss my friends in Idaho Falls, so making friends here would be a huge help, especially if we could trade babysitting.

My theme song

I love this song remake. It totally describes how I felt when we missed John Schmidt on the 16th. This is totally my theme song right now with everything going on...except I make sure to shower every day...it's just gross not too!! Enjoy this video!!

Dinner

I have a new favorite food...fajitas. As a kid, I HATED it when we had fajitas for lunch at school. They were so gross. And we never had fajitas at home growing up, so school lunch was my only experience. Well, as an adult, I have finally figured out how to make them tastey. It's gonna be a summer staple dinner. Super easy, and super yummy.

Tonight we also had interesting dinner conversation. Ammon: When we lived in Idaho Falls we were talking about the planets. So let's finish talking about it. Brady: Okay, so what do you want to know? Ammon: What makes fire and the Sun? And they're still talking about it. He asked if Heavenly Father made the Earth, and he asked where Heaven is. Brady is having fun telling him how planets and the Sun are made. It's really cute. Although today wasn't the best day...at least it was better than yesterday...and tonight makes up for both of them. I love ending the day on a good note. Bring on tomorrow!!

Elder Perry

Elder L. Tom Perry came to do a special Stake meeting with the Green Valley Stake. There were two sessions, and since Brady is in the Stake Choir he got to attend both meetings. Ronny and Christa brought the girls over this morning so they could go to the morning session, and they took our kids so I could listen to the second session uninterupted. It was really nice. It would have been a little bit better to have Brady sit with me, but the choir was really good anyway.



President Romney, our Stake President, talked for a few minutes first. Then the Las Vegas East mission president, President Christensen, spoke next. Elder Perry took up the remainder of the meeting. It was so wonderful. And Elder Perry really is a LARGE man. The pulpit was raised up all the way, and it was just barely the right height for him! He talked about making a plan with our lives and allowing for the Spirit to direct our plan as needed. We need to live our lives so that we can help the missionaries teach the gospel. I felt impressed that perhaps that is one of the reasons why we were supposed to move to Nevada. I really feel that sometime in the near future we will have a family missionary experience with someone who works with Brady. So when he finally starts working it will be interesting to see what happens. I really hope we can make friends with a couple who have boys the same age as our kids so there will be someone else to play with besides all these wonderful girl cousins. I guess I am hoping for the same thing in our new ward.


Brady said in the morning session he asked the men to take out their wives on a weekely basis. Even just a walk around the block is sometimes enough time to continue the bond of a healthy marriage. Maybe that's why my parents walked around the block so much when I was a kid. It was one of their ways to reconnect during the week. And it was really fun when they would let everyone come with them. Most often it turned into a family bike ride, which I LOVED as a kid. I hope that next time we have a chance to do something we can find a sitter in time so we can reconnect too. I mean I love going to the temple together, but that's all we can do right now since it is free, and once a month just isn't enough sometimes to get away for a couple of hours. Hopefully things will change soon so we can do other things as a couple. Any other free date night ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Today while the sun shines...

This whole week has been such nice weather. We have been swimming 4 times, and Ammon tried to talk me into going again today. I tell you what, swimming is exhausting. Actually, dressing everyone and convincing them to get out of the pool is the most exhausting part. But I love the sunshine, the light breeze, and spending time with my family.
We were going to follow the prophet's counsel and go on a date other than to the temple last night, but we couldn't find a sitter...there was a young women conference in our ward, and all our family were busy. So poor John Schmidt missed us. He was at the Henderson Pavilion for a free concert, and we were going to go for a ride on the motorcycle. But alas, that was not to be. I miss having friends to trade babysitting with. All the people with kids the same age as ours are in their late 30's and 40's. And the couples that don't have kids are our age or younger, so it's been a little challenge. I hope that our new ward will be better.
I am really excited to move into a house with 3 bedrooms. We are renting a townhouse, and it isn't much bigger than our 2 bed apartment now, but I think it will be better. There is more storage, and a garage...which is what I have always wanted. We should be moving the first week of May. It will be the first move since 2005 that has not been during a snowstorm or below freezing temperatures. So for that, I am also excited.
Today we spent the day cleaning, reading, playing with the boys, and I spent several hours in front of the sewing machine turning Ammon's jeans into shorts. He was excited that mommy could make him some shorts for warmer weather. I am excited I didn't spend more than $40 this year for his summer clothes, including pajamas. A couple months ago I made him pajama shorts out of mine and Brady's old pajama pants. He thinks it's cool to wear daddy's tiger pants as shorts. I am so thankful to my mom for encouraging me to take a sewing class in junior high and helping me with sewing projects in high school and since then. I love to sew because I get such a sense of gratification when I look at something I made. My next project is a skirt/blouse set with some fabric my mom gave me before we moved here. I think I might start that after we move into the new place though.
We had a movie night tonight with Shark Tale and air-popped popcorn. Zenock ran around the house yelling, "Yeah! We're having a movie night, yeah!!" It was so cute. And not 5 minutes into the movie he asked for popcorn. I love that we can have such fun together for free. It's nice to be together!!
Tomorrow we get to have a special conference with Elder Perry. Each ward was assigned a time to come to the Stake Center so we all have a chance to be in the same meeting with him. Brady is singing in the Stake Choir, so he gets to hear him twice. It should be a really good meeting. I am looking forward to it.

More Easter

I forgot to post the kids playing when we found a beach to eat lunch at. We had wonderful hot dogs and chips and carrots. I think everything even tasted better because we were out on the lake together. It was a great time!! Maddie, Max, Zenock, Izabella, Ammon. They were all building various sand castles and shell towers.

More sand fun.

Ammon eating his hot dog. Christa found these awesome disposable grills at the grocery store for $4. So we cooked the dogs on that. It was so tastey!!

Christa and Cicely turning the dogs.

The Easter Bunny left some super fun things for the kids this year. He found awesome sales on squirt guns, foam swords, and a really fun toy for each of the boys. Ammon got a rocket/airplane that shoots up in the air with an air foot pump. Zenock got a material handler kind of like the one Ammon got from Santa. So now, they both have material handlers to play with. I found matching ties for the boys for 3.25 each on sale, and I found one that closely matches them for Brady for 3.50 on clearance at Kohls. Man, I was so excited to find that deal. It was a $32 tie! Brady put a movie, Sweet Home Alabama, and some earrings in my bag without me knowing. So I had a suprise too. It was a wonderful Easter! I enjoyed being able to go to Debbie's house Sunday morning to watch conference live. I never thought that after leaving Idaho I would be able to watch conference on tv anymore. This weekend was so great.

Playing with the swords.

Checking out the suprises in the bags.

More candy digging. I found some "How to train your dragon" gummies for $1 and Zenock picked a dragon egg treat for Ammon and himself for a suprise. We got some mini M&M tubes and a Toy Story egg and some peanut M&Ms. Everyone loves those.