Piano Recitals Galore

Mark and Dax both had a spring recital. They are currently taking from different piano teachers so that means two recitals.

Dax had a Disney recital and dressed as Shang from Mulan because he played a song from Mulan. He also played a pirate song. He was terrified of bowing, but he sort of did it!

Mark memorized his Sea Chantey and we were proud of his dynamics in this song.

I am so proud of both of them and how hard they work at the piano. They are awesome practicers and they are progressing so fast. I hope they will always love to play the piano like I do.

Bees Game

These have to be two of the biggest baseball nerds I know!

When we went to the Jazz Game, we got free tickets to see the Salt Lake Bees. We were so excited, and we had enough tickets to take Grandpa.

When we arrived at the stadium, we had to ride the free train that goes along the outfield fence. We missed it last time so I promised the boys we would go, and Seth loved it!

Even mom rode the train...

Mark and I don't take many pictures together. I'm trying to fix that.

The Bees played well and even though we left in the 7th inning, it was a fun night.

The best part of the night was when a bird pooped on Dax's hat. He said to me, "Mom, something hit my hat." So we all took a look, and had a great laugh. Poor Dax! At least it was his hat, and not his hair.

We had popcorn and ice cream which was what they all wanted, even Grandpa. And we saw the Bee which is the most important part of going to the Bees' game.

We have so much fun going to sporting events, no matter what the sport.

Seth doesn't normally like ice cream, but he ate it at the game!

Dax LOVES popcorn!

This is the highlight of the game for Seth.
Surprising since Mark was terrified of mascots until about 2 years ago!

Seth was really into the dancing at the game, even though he gets embarrassed when I pull out the camera.

Mother's Day!

I had an awesome Mother's Day this year. My boys (and Randy) spoiled me a lot. They took me out to dinner the night before and dropped me off for a pedicure. I got a new iPod since my old one wasn't working so well. Mark made me a cute necklace at school out of a domino, and Dax made me a handprint in clay to save. I also got a new crock pot so I can make two things at once. I was super excited about that one!

My toes still look good two weeks later!

On Mother's Day, I told Randy I would take care of the cooking. He always feels obligated to cook for me, but I figured if I wanted to eat something that I wanted, I would have to make it myself. So I made myself French Toast for breakfast and a ham dinner. I also made Dazzleberry Pie for dessert.

In the morning, we went for a bird drive out West to Camp Floyd. We had hoped to see some colorful small birds, but couldn't find any. We did see a Turkey Vulture sunning himself and a California Quail (my favorite bird). It was a beautiful morning, and just what I wanted for Mother's Day--to spend time with my family.

Turkey Vulture

California Quail

My crazy crew that I love to pieces!

And one with Randy...didn't want to leave him out!
He's the best husband I could ever ask for.
This picture is from later in the week at the Payson temple.

Dax's 6th Birthday

Dax turned 6 last week (okay 2 weeks ago...it took me that long to finish the post). We are so grateful to have Dax as part of our family after 19 hours of labor and an emergency C-section. He has brought a lot of laughter and love into our family over the last 6 years. Dax is kind, smart, determined, loving, and helpful. He is also very artistic, creative, and athletic. Dax is a good example and he is very obedient...most of the time.

Dax had originally planned to have a sports birthday party with some friends, but then he only wanted to invite a few cousins and 2 of the 4 live out of state, so we came up with another plan. We went bowling (which Dax loves!), then out to eat at Brick Oven (his favorite restaurant), and then we came back and had cake. It was a great evening. We had a ton of fun celebrating Dax's birthday.

Do these look familiar? Yep, I made these same cupcakes for
Dax's preschool class last year, but he wanted them again!

Dax had preschool the day before his birthday so he was the Super Star Student.
He worked really hard on his poster.

Dax brought this fish home from preschool and although
everyone took home a fish, he thought it was a birthday present!

Dax had a free cookie at Barnes and Noble.

He wanted to play at the park, and hit some baseballs.

I'm pretty proud of this cake.

Dax was a very determined bowler.

Unfortunately for Dax, Seth beat us all pretty badly.

Waiting together at Brick Oven

Dax had the balloon maker make a sword for him.

Seth gave Dax a new book.

Mark gave Dax a new basketball.

Dax loves to kiss me in pictures and I love any kisses I can get from my boys!

Silly!!

Jazz Game

So my older sister offered us tickets to see the Jazz play the Mavericks. Apparently she got banned from attending after a fight with an older gentleman over a Sprite ball that was launched into the audience (or something like that). At any rate, we were happy for the tickets.

Our kids love to see any Jazz game, and we've actually never seen them lose, which is pretty amazing since they lost more than half their games this year.

We were a little disappointed because we were asked to do a shout out on the bigscreen, but it never aired. Still, we were all decked out in our Jazz attire, and we loved the game!

These boys love basketball.

Ok, I like it too!

Mark and Dax taught Seth how to cheer.

Dax really believed that he made a difference on free throws.

Our intense 2nd child!

Seth loves to make silly faces!

These are the headbands that the boys won for making their shots before the game. See video below.

Mark's face was a little creepy!

Dax has high hopes of making it up on the Big Screen in this video. You can also see the baskets that they shot to win their headbands that they seriously wear ALL the time!

In the Dog House

Today I received a pretty big chastisement from my husband about this blog. Yes, I know I haven't posted in almost a month. Yes, I know that there are a million things to write about. Yes, I know that it still says Pi Day as the top post. Yes, I know that I should be doing better.

So, I apologize for being a slacker and not updating the blog. I feel like life around here has been non stop. With two boys doing sports and many other activities, trying to potty train a 2 1/2 year old, Randy gone a lot more for church responsibilities, me trying to juggle two callings, and everything else involved in being a mother, that the one thing I can let slip is the blog. I don't want it to slip forever because it is a journal for our family, but for a few weeks it can take the back burner and no one will care, or notice.

But apparently someone did notice, so here I am writing at 10:00 at night so that I can avoid another lecture about putting up some pictures from the Jazz game (which I'm actually not doing). I'm going to share a few moments that don't normally make it on the blog (this one or our adventure one). Some behind the scenes pictures that you might not normally see, in no particular order. So enjoy!

Randy really does have a lot of fun with our boys! He is a great dad.

Randy thinks that I'm not in enough pictures, so now I have to be in lots more pictures.
I'm not really liking this turn of events.

A beautiful Pinyon jay we saw at the Bountiful temple.

Lots and lots of letter hikes. This was the easiest by far...the FG in Fountain Green.

M for Mark

Every year we look forward to seeing our friend the yellow-bellied marmot
come out of hibernation. He is alive and well this year!

Dax was a perfect poser for all my flower pictures at Thanksgiving Point.

Being silly while we wait to see some reptiles.

Nice pose, Seth!

Dax has grown about a foot this year, and he has to climb on EVERYTHING!

Pure joy because he's about to throw that snow at his mom!

They teamed up against me on the one day we had snow this year...in April!

When did Mark grow up? He is such a great kid and I'm lucky to be his mom!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

You can enjoy a beautiful sunset even in the middle of SLC.

Being silly...always!

Wolves at story time.

I'm pretty proud of this picture I took of the Provo temple!

I love that Seth still takes naps!

And that he loves Oreos as much as I do!

Dax is always happy about a waterfall.

They love Wendy's hamburgers anytime.

Seth is always up for a selfie.

Red Sox season is here. Yay and Grr all at the same time.

We have loved having the Sandhill Cranes in the field every day this spring.

Mark at pack meeting showing his muscles. This was tonight!

I still love this guy even after the reprimand. ;)
I'm so grateful for Randy and that he is mine!