Natalie's 3rd Birthday

Natalie is now 3 and according to her she is a big girl now. For breakfast on her birthday Preston made pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse (one of her favorite things) and the #3. Just love her bed head in this picture.

The Saturday after her birthday we had a family party. We did a dinner spread of a lot of finger foods like nachos, wings, meatballs, taquitos, veggies.

Natalie before opening her presents.

Opening presents.

Momentous side note. While Natalie was opening her presents, Taylor lost her very first tooth. Taylor came home from school on Wednesday the 24th telling me that she had a loose tooth. She continued to play with it and wiggle it with her tongue and voila out it came 3 days later.

Blowing out the candles.

The reason for my recent blog neglect

WE MOVED!!!! The first weekend in August we moved out of our cozy home that has been full of memories the past 11 1/2 years. We were pretty cramped and excited to get a bigger place but it was still pretty emotional moving.

The month of July was FULL of improvements on our old house to get it ready to rent. Preston did this custom backsplash in the kitchen.

He also spent MANY hours tearing out the linoleum and laying 18" tile in the kitchen, dining room, entry way, laundry room and bathrooms. Confess that he ran out of time to get it all done himself so we traded some security work with Preston's uncle who owns a flooring company and one of his laborers came and finished the job.

I repainted Nathan's room to a tan color and replaced the wallpaper border in the girl's room.

Along with all the home repairs, packing, getting the kids ready to start school, training a new office assitant, to name a few things July was INSANE.

The following are some pictures of our new home. We are loving all the space. This is a picture of our staircase. It is beautiful. I should take a better picture of it because this one doesn't do it justice.

Our pantry prior to moving in.. It is so nice to actually have my food storage in my pantry instead of underneath everyone's beds.

Our kitchen

For a history record of what our kids looked like when we moved in to this house.

The outside of our new home.

We are close to being settled in and adjusting to our new home. Natalie is still scared in this home if she is ever left on the 1st or 2nd floor by herself. The first couple of nights Natalie would cry that she wanted to go home. I think she has finally come to terms that this is her home now. She is still getting used to having her own room but once the baby comes she will share again. I am getting more used to the stairs and believe it will be easier when I am not pregnant. Our new ward is HUGE there are 650+ members. 400+ that are consistently in sacrament meeting and there are about 200 primary kids including the nursery. It is a big ward but is friendly and we are trying to get to know the other members.

Disneyland Trip March 2011

Well I don't have the time to put a lengthy post on our trip to Disneyland that we took over 3 months ago. So instead I will post some of my favorite pictures and maybe a few small captions. We really did have a great time. The kids are all at a fun age when they can interact with the characters and go on most of the rides. It rained on us a few times and the weather was sometimes chilly but for the most part the temperature was great. It never got too terribly hot.

Our 3 little monkeys :-)

This is on the ride Big Thunder. Nathan loved this ride. Natalie was not tall enough and I couldn't go on it because I am pregnant but Preston, Taylor and Nathan went on it a lot.

GO gadget coaster in toon town. The kids all liked this ride. Natalie was a little apprehensive but enjoyed it overall.

We all were able to ride the matterhorn bobsleds. It was another one the kids all liked and we did it a few times.

I bought the kids Disney autograph books at a nearby Wal-Mart. They liked having them and they only cost $1.50 each.

Ready for the Toy Story 3D ride.

These here are some very expensive toys. :-)

Girls in line to meet Tinkerbell. I was so impressed with Taylor. We had to wait about 1 hour to meet Tinkerbell and friends and an hour to meet some princessess. Taylor never complained she would just stand by me and we would talk about different things.

Jungle Cruise

My kids really do get along pretty well most of the time.

Toon town- Such strong men in our family.

Oh the tea cups. The kids love this ride and they went on it a few times. I don't particularly care for it even when I am not pregnant and more easily suffer motion sickness. So I opted to sit out this ride every time this trip.

May events round 3

Finally finishing May 2011 events. Nathan received the Respect and Responsibility award at school. We were very proud of him. He is really a good kid.

We went to Eagar for Memorial Day weekend and had a really nice time. Nana did the girls hair.

The kids rode the neighbor's pony.

For the record in real life I don't look as pregnant as this picture looks. The wind was blowing my shirt out. I only posted this picture because of Natalie's cute face so pay no attention to the pregnant lady behind the pony.

Nana the girls and one of the kitten's that has made a home in Nana's garage.
The kids riding the 4-wheeler. Preston worked his magic to get the little one working. On Saturday cousin Daniel (8) fell off the big 4 wheeler and fractured the bone above the elbow of his left arm. Not the greatest way to start summer.

Okay so the next pictures actually occurred in June if you want to be technical. Preston went to Lake Powell for 4 days with the Young Men so the kids and I played a little. One of the days we went to Mcdonald's for lunch and play after we saw the Movie Hop at the $2 theater.

We also went to the local library to start the summer reading program. Played at Grandma and Grandpa's house. My sister watched the kids on Friday while I got my haircut. She had all kinds off fun stuff to do. Like playing with shaving cream, drawing with sidewalk chalk, princess game that was like pin the tail on the donkey, and making donuts for national donut day. She is such a fun Aunt.