Happy St Patrick's Day

The kids woke up to a surprise left by our little leprechaun friend... A little something green to wear and a few gold coins from his pot of gold :) 

They loved their light up lucky clover necklaces.

Ivy getting into St Patrick's Day mischief :)  

Ivy 8 months

We all love this little bundle!!!  

What happened when Miles tried taking her ball...  She's such a ball hog :)  

She loves sitting on shoulders....

She's so cute up there :)  

Usually I run on the treadmill while Ivy is napping, but sometimes she wakes up early...  I tried to finish, but she wasn't having it.  #momstruggles

Will made her a fort for her toys.

Finishing up some choc chip banana bread :)  

Oak Hills Presents High School Musical starring MORGAN DEHNER

Oak Hills Elementary puts on a musical every year.  This year they put on High School Musical.  Morgan played Susan - one of the auditioning thespians.  If you ask me, she stole the show :)  

The Thespians

Inside the program:  

Morgan during her solo...  She rocked it!!  

Our little actress :)  

Grandma came to watch and took the superstar out to dinner afterwards.  Grandpa stayed home because he was having an allergic reaction to some shrimp he ate at the Costco sample booth that didn't mix with his gout medicine...  Poor guy.  His throat closed up to the point where he couldn't swallow at all, but since he could still breathe okay my mom felt okay about leaving him.  I can't believe my mom wasn't freaking out, they are always so chill in these kinds of situations.  

Thanks for dinner mom!!  Grandma and Grandpa really spoil us too much (but we aren't complaining :)  Nice job Morgan!  You're a STAR!

Elder Ballard's Comb

Last month we had our Bountiful Heights Stake Conference.  Elder Ballard came and spoke to us.  It was neat for the kids (and all of us!)  to have an apostle of the Lord in our midst.  He gave a wonderful talk on the importance of temple work and doing family history.  It was really special.  

After the meeting was over we hung out in our seats for awhile until the parking lot cleared. Before we left, we went up to the stand to thank our stake president and I saw a comb sitting on Elder Ballard's chair...  I told Miles to pick it up and give it to President Lake since Elder Ballard was long gone.  President Lake said he was sure that Elder Ballard wouldn't mind if Miles kept the comb.  It's been a fun thing to have around to remind us of Elder Ballard and it gives Miles the coolest hairdo :)  (I secretly hope some of Elder Ballard rubs off onto Miles every time he uses it :)  

Piano Recital

Another successful piano recital!  We have been with Kristen for a couple of years now and we have found the right piano teacher for us!  She's great!

I feel in love with this yellow baby grand piano the kids played on.  Beautiful!  

I wish I'd documented their recital pieces in the past, but I guess it's not too late to start now.  Morgan played Ice Skaters and Caprice a la carte.  

Miles is quite the memorizer.  He memorizes music with very little effort.  It's quite impressive :) 

Miles played Bat that Ball and Ardvark Boogie

Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa took them out for a much deserved dessert.  

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

Meg loves her Grandma.  She begs to visit and when she does, she chats my poor mom's ear right off.  I don't think she stops talking for one second :)

My parents were nice enough to help me out with the kids while I took Morgan to New Beginnings since Mike was out of town.  My mom entertained Meg with all kinds of crafts.  Look at those adorable paper dolls.... 

I think they are the cutest!  The buttons and crown are my favorite.  

My dad helped by getting Miles to his basketball game.  It sure is nice to have help when Mike is traveling for work, and my parents are always more than willing.  I sure love them!  

Grandma taught the kids to have a proper tea party.  She talked in her best English accent and stayed in character best she could.  There were all kinds of little treats to eat that fit perfectly on their tiny little plates :)   I love this picture of Meg and my mom.  They were having such a great time.

Grandma taught them to hold their little pinky finger out while drinking.  Will thought he had to do it with both pinkies :)  

Come and join in, pip pip cheerio!

Morgan

Morgan is our good little student.  She's maturing so nicely.  I rarely have to ask her to do her homework since she just takes the initiative and does it on her own.  

I love this poem she wrote.   I decided to take a picture of it so I wouldn't have to store it :) 

Clever huh!   

Morgan had New Beginnings for Young Womens this month... WHAT!  Look at this cute group of new beehives!  She has such a neat group of girls her age. 

These two seem to go in waves with how well they get along, but for the past few months they've been such good buds.  It makes me so happy when I see them enjoying each others company.  Isn't that what every parents wants??  I hope my kids are good friends for life.  

Miles

Miles with his new shoes... I feel like I'm buying this kid shoes all the time.  His feet keep growing, and boy is this kid hard on shoes.  He wears them completely out!  

Evidence....   

Here's a picture of Miles' comp team.  Let's just say this season wasn't anything to brag about, but the boys had a good time.  Next year they'll be a little taller and a little more ready.  They were a year or two younger and a foot or two shorter :) than the other teams.  Just wait!!  Good things are in store for them.  

Will

Will adds so much laughter to our house.  He's just a ball of energy and fun.

A few weeks ago after I finished running on the treadmill he said, "Mom, you're so hot!".  I looked at him startled and said "What??".  He repeated, "you're so hot, look at all that hot sauce all over your face."  I started laughing realizing he was talking about the sweat on my forehead.  Then he said, "you know, some girls are really hot".  I asked him to explain what that meant and he said, "you know, like when a girl stands in the sun for a long time and it makes her head hot".  Haha!! I love this boy!!

His favorite thing lately is to watch for the clock to say 11:11.  He usually misses it, but last week he started screaming, "it's 11:11, I'm making a wish!"  

Later that day he said, "I wished I could learn to tie a shoe."  I decided to make his wish come true.  We got out a shoe with laces and I taught him to tie it.  It only took 2 times of showing him and he had it down!  So then I had to take him right out to buy new shoes!!  He feels so big that he's one of the only kids in his class that has laces.  Good job Will!!  

Will can land his backflip!  He's our little dare devil.   

Last week I texted Mike and said that Will needs a new bike.  It was like Christmas morning for Mike.  Within hours he had Will's bike ordered from his favorite bike shop and it was on it's way.  I don't know who was more excited about it, Mike or Will.  Will's loving his fancy new bike.  

Will is simply THE BEST!  We all love him.  He can get Morgan to giggle more than anyone.  We all have a soft spot for Will.    

making our house a home???

I'm happy with our house.  It's been a great place to raise our kids, but there are a few thing that have been driving me crazy...  Peek behind Ivy's stocking...  See that UGLY brass fireplace cover... I've been looking at that thing for 5 years now and one day I said to myself "WHY??".

So I ordered a new fireplace door and slapped a little paint on the bricks...  Why does it take me so long to get around to this stuff?  Such simple things can make such a big difference.

I didn't take a before picture, but I found this one with it in the background...  

Soooo much better.  

Our master bedroom finally got shutters that match the rest of the main floor...  It only took us 3 years to get them all in :)  Now we just need to do the kids windows downstairs...  I'm sure it will take another 3 years to get around to that...  And the wrap on the lamp shades may come off someday too...  It's been weeks :)  

But really, the kids don't care about shutters or pictures on the walls.  As long as we have some sort of basketball hoop they are happy.  I'm grateful to be surrounded by people that are so easily pleased, because really who knows if I'll get around to anything else.