Joanne the Party Lady...

While we were in CA this summer, we got to have dinner with Joanne. Joanne is the party lady of California. She started bringing dinner to my sister shortly after Andrew (my little nephew with Down syndrome) was born. The first year of his life was pretty hectic. He spent most of his time in and out of surgeries, hospitals, doctor visits, therapy... and with 4 other kids at home, life was pretty busy. So, Joanne is in their ward and started bringing their family dinner once a month. It became such a huge tradition that even still (2 years later) she still brings dinner and a party once a month. She chooses a theme then GOES ALL OUT! Costumes, gifts, food, games... you name it!

2008

May I remind you of last year's Jungle Party?...

Hats, glasses, blow up giraffe's monkey and elephants, and lots of meat for dinner.

Katelyn, Anna and Davey Walker sportin all the jungle paraphernalia!

Jack hitting the monkey pinata!

Not only did we get invited to join the Jungle party last year, but her 2 grandsons came as well. The JUNGLE party was so much fun!...

2009

This year we were invited to the "WELCOME TO SPAIN" party. She of course went all out. She had visited Spain just a few months before this party and brought gifts back for the entire family.

The night started off with some Silly String left over from a previous Joanne party. It was ALL over the front yard and the kids were covered.

She gave this darling little "Bull" to Jack because after all, he is a bull fighter!

We greeted John at the door with our mustaches. He was a little hesitant when he went in for his "welcome home" kiss! I don't see why?

MUY GUAPO!!

Then we chowed on a delicious dish from spain that has rice, beans, meat (can't remember what its called). She brought yummy rolls, a huge pan of jello (because that's Danny's favorite) then no matter what the "theme" is for the month, she always brings individiual bags of olives for all the kids (because they LOVE them). Joanne is the best :-)
Joanne ALWAYS "accidentally" brings 2 desserts!

Thank you Joanne for yet another FABULOUS dinner party!

6 weeks old...

This is JACK at 6 weeks old...

This is JONAH at 6 weeks old...

I'd say they look like brothers!...

Yoga with Children

My back has been hurting lately (perhaps 6 different mattresses in the past 4 months is to blame). So, I thought I'd strengthen/stretch it out with a little YOGA. Usually I love YOGA but today's experience was a little different:

**Relaxing music= Jonah crying upstairs
**Upward and Downward dog= continuous barking from my 2 year old
**Various YOGA positions= tunnels (my legs) for Jack and his cars to go under and through
**Extending leg high up in the sky= a moving object to swing at with his plastic bat
**Inability to concentrate.... (I wonder why?)= losing balance and falling over
**Falling over= a very fun game...incentive for 2 year old to purposefully push me over
**Need I say more?....

I love them to death, but tomorrow I think I'll go to the gym!

Easter Sunday

I love Easter! We started off the day with delicious orange rolls...

I never get sick of this easy, delicious breakfast treat.

9 Am church+ 25 minute drive= crunch time.

This is the only picture I got of him (running out the door) in his cute easter tie. oh well!...

While they were gone at church Jonah and I had some great bonding time. I put on a MOTAB CD (consider the Lilies) and gave him his first real bath. His umb cord had fallen off the day before. He was so peaceful and loved being completely in the water. Then I fed him then rocked him while I read the scripture account of Christ's Crucifixion/Resurrection... although I didn't get out to church, I definitely had an uplifting day.

I love his little grumpy old man sad face. He was hungry!
*Tradition in John's family is to hide Easter baskets all over the house. After the bathing, feeding, snuggling, reading etc. I hid their baskets! Jack found his basket in the cupboard of our microwave cart (right behind him). He thought it was so cool that his "basket" was a truck. He's such a boy :-)

Searching for baskets. Sabrina's was in the bathtub.

AmyLyn and John still searching for baskets

Amy found John's basket (in that tub under Jack's crib) and John found Amy's basket (hidden in the dryer) but neither one of them could find their own! The older you get, the harder they're hidden!

Jonah's was on his dresser

Happy Easter everyone.

Later that night we took my sis and her little girl to Duke Gardens. I love a nice Sunday afternoon walk through those beautiful gardens. We took a few pics and had a great time.

Over all... a perfect Easter.

Easter Saturday

When Jack was born I had a 2 week old at Christmas time. Now when Jonah was born, I had a 2 week old at Easter. It has been so fun to have tiny new borns at the Christ centered holidays. It's such a beautiful time of reflection and appreciation. I love it.

This Easter my sister AmyLyn and her little girl Sabrina were here with us. Amy came to help with Jonah and it was so fun to have her here. We played a lot more than my 2 week post pardom baby body should have but we couldn't help it! It was so wonderful to have her help. She introduced me to tonz of new yummy salads (she's a health nut), she woke up with Jack every morning so I could sleep in, changed Jonah's diapers, went grocery shopping for me... and all that other stuff that is so helpful after you have a baby! Thanks so much Amy... you're the best. While she was here we celebrated Easter:

Jack colored Easter eggs for the first time

Colorful hands!

EASTER EGG HUNT!!
Our good friends (Ryan and Megan Spiers) headed this fun easter egg hunt. The kids had a blast.

On your marks... get set...
GO!
Look how excited he is!...
What you finding Sabrina?

At this point, I don't think they realize there's actually candy inside these eggs :-)

BFF- Jack and Ethan Pelfrey
Ethan, Jack, Ezra, Soren. Why isnt' Cohen in this picture? I Love these boys!
Cutest Easter Bunny I've ever seen.

"What's in your basket?"

John Gets in Fight...Loses Badly!!!

It was a beautiful 4th of July weekend when we decided to head to the beach. Everything was going beautifully until... John got into a fight... with the Ocean! He and Niel had gone out body boarding and he was having a great time. He had even almost mastered how to catch a wave. As they headed out for a final run he tried to dive under a huge wave. Unfortunately, his boogie board got wedged in the sand driving his feet back over his head and his face directly into the ocean floor. He was scared out of his mind by the power of the wave. And believe me, it wasn't pretty. Jack was very concerned!

Day #1
(hours after meeting the ocean floor...)

Day #2

4th of July parade

Day #4

back at the beach for our FHE crab bake

Day #6

Disneyland with Jack

Day #8

Back at the beach, but notice... not in the water :-)

Can you believe how fast he healed? We're now true believers in Neosporin...

Congrats

My younger sister is engaged!! We're so excited for you Jenica and Josh...

Visit to Burley

We went to Burley for a week and as usual, had so much fun. It flew by, but no wonder look what we did: We went camping (pictures coming soon), John did a couple interviews (in SLC and Pocatello), we went to the temple, took family pictures, saw Harry Potter, went to the fair, had picnics with cousins, went shopping (in Twin), and last but not least, John took the boys to see the farm! Grandpa was hard at work, but took a quick break to see his grandsons.

We took family pictures with John's family while we were in Burley. We planned on meeting at China First for dinner but on the way home from pictures, John's sister got a flat tire... so instead of wrestling our boys at the restaurant, we pulled over to let Jack run around a little while. Of course, I had to take a few pics myself!...

By the end of the photo shoot, Jack was having a complete melt down. No amounts of bribery would convince him to stop crying, hold still, or even smile. The point being, we didn't get a chance to take a "grandkid" picture. So, after church the next day, we did a little photo shoot of our own. Granted, still not very good, but until next time... :-)


We usually visit John's family in August sometime before school starts and if we're really lucky, we hit it on the same week as Fair week. Unfortunately, John, his dad, and Jack left one day too early for the fair this year. But I was lucky enough to still be here. My mother in law took Jonah to a baby shower while I went child free to the fair. It was pretty fun. We did the usual tour of 4H, photography, the pigs, tractors, ate corndogs and hamburgers and last but not least.. ate the famous maple bars! It was a little weird to be there without John, I'm really sad we missed the rodeo, and I know Jack would have LOVED it. But now we get to look forward to the NC state fair!

Yet, another wonderful visit to B-town (as John calls it)! We love Burley.