Greats and Grands come to CELEBRATE!

We celebrated both Mabel and Elliott's birthdays together 

with as many of their GREATgrandparents and GRANDparents 

as could come. They both loved being the center of everyone's attention! 

::party::

So yeah, I realized that making cakes is not

my strong point! (I needed your expertise Lindsey!)
It was a lot easier in my mind.

Cake Boss would have had a good laugh but hey,

the kids loved them and they tasted goooood.
Rainbow chip really is nostalgic AND tasty.

Mabel wanted pink sprinkles...

I think I got that covered!

I strung up Elliott's monthly white chair pictures:

Growing up!

The weather was perfect so we were able to 

eat and play outside:

Elliott would eat outside every meal if he could!

::presents::


She got an electric toothbrush from Aunt Kelsey
and it has changed our lives! She actually
WANTS to brush her teeth now.

While Mabel was opening presents Elliott took a nose dive 

into the cement while trying to pull himself

up on a little plastic chair.

Poor buddy! It started to look worse and worse
as the afternoon progressed.
Nothing like birthday battle wounds!

Mabel got this cool inflatable ball that you get inside

and roll around in and Grandpa Rick was on inflation

duty. He quickly realized that pumping up a zillion

sections was bigger job than he thought!

Dress up bride clothes...makes me cry

happy tears thinking of her as a bride some day!

The bride curling Kelsey's hair:

Elliott got his very own soccer ball!

He actually tries to kick it, it's pretty cute.
You're looking at the next David Beckham right here. 

Meanwhile, Mabel helped Rick finish

inflating the human gerbil ball!

Our little hamster gives it two thumbs up!!

More presents for the ONE year old:

 

 

Elliott wanted to give it a try:

::cakes::

 

I don't know what I was thinking when I set

Elliott's cake in front of him with the candle lit!

When Mabel turned one she didn't try to grab the flame,

BUT THIS BOY DID!

I barely got it away in time...as he was grabbing 

for the candle he got a little frosting instead.

I love this shot of him looking at it on his finger!

 

He dug right in! 

 

 

Birthday pics with mom and dad:

This boy was covered in cake and frosting and

had to be scrubbed off in the tub!

Mabel's friend Reese stopped by for a cupcake!

New water table from Nana and Grandpa!

GREATS

GRANDS

We are still so happy to have Grandma and Grandpa

Tew home from Austria! 

It was a fun afternoon celebrating!

Strike a Pose

Cutest little bedazzled dancer!

I guess we need to work on her knee pop
because that ankle looks wackadoo!

Oh goodness - that face. 

Mabel's Class at

Miss Bonnie's Dance School

2014-2015

sunday.may.tenth.

Nate didn't have any morning church meetings - 

YAAAAAAAAY!!!! He got up with the kids and made

me a tasty breakfast in bed!

Mabel was beyond excited to give me her

present. Nate took her to paint something

at Color Me Mine (since I loved my butterfly

birthday dish she made there last year!) and now I have

a cute mug too. :) She did really well at keeping the mug

a secret even though I know it was super hard for her.

Nate got me this necklace that I

absolutely LOVE! Since I am currently having

some sort of allergic reaction to my wedding ring

(trace amounts of nickel in white gold?) it's nice

to wear a piece of jewelry from the Mr.

I am really bummed about my wedding ring though.

After my lovely breakfast I was getting ready for church

(I had to speak!) making sure my bread was sliced (I signed

up to bake bread for the sacrament), getting kids and the diaper bag ready, 

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED:

 

Kelsey came upstairs saying that there was water in her room!
AGGGHHH!! We had lots of rain the night before and I guess

our sump pump couldn't keep up with the ground water, or maybe we 

have a weird downspout pipe issue...we still aren't sure but

her room was a soggy sad mess. This was at noon, our church 

starts at one. Good times!!

We got all of her stuff out and piled into the living

room and luckily nothing was damaged.

Nate called one of his contractors who typically doesn't work on Sundays,

but just so happened to be finishing a project at a house that was only

five minutes away from us. What a blessing.  He came right over 

and pulled up all the carpet and got his big fan drying the floor.

We left for church with our carpet drying on the driveway.

 

PS: Our condo also had major roof issues and 

severe water damage a few weeks before...

such a headache!! 

 Rain rain go away! Well, stay because we need

water. But just not in our houses please.

Jill, Jamie, and Jessica!

The bishopric's wives were the speakers at 

church...I love these gals.  

Came home and promptly got right back into 

my jammies! Nate got home earlier than usual from 

church and grilled an awesome dinner.

Minus the basement water issue I could really

get used to this kind of Sunday!

Have to give a shout out to my mama Sherrill!

I love you mom and I am so grateful to talk to you 

everyday and have you as my support, strength,

and example. 

"Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers' love is because it typifies the love of our Savior.  As President Joseph F. Smith said, 'The Love of a true mother comes nearer to being like the love of God than any other kind of love.' " (Bradley D. Foster)

(weren't the 80s so good?)

Elder M Russel Ballard tells us to recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in his arms; He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. ~ Isaiah 40:11

I love you when you're happy, I love you when you're sad...

Mabel has been taking a dance class from Miss Bonnie

for the past 8 months and she had her big spring recital

a few weeks ago! She has been practicing her dance

for weeks and weeks and she did awesome. I love seeing her

dance around the house and teach me the names of certain moves.

(Next time you see her ask to see a Jazz Posse - it's the best!)

Here she is the week before when we got her dance

pictures taken...isn't her costume great?!

Sequins never go out of style. :)

(She comes up with all her own poses!)

At the dance studio they took individual shots (I can't wait to

 get them back!) and a group shot with her class.

These girls are a crack up!

So excited at the dress rehearsal! She did such a great
job listening and following instructions...it got a little
crazy with so many dancers!

Ready for her performance!!

Mabel thought Brayden looked so beautiful!

Brayden (who is our neighbor) and some of the other older girls 

helped out with the little girls backstage. I think Mabel felt

pretty cool because she knew one of the older girls! :)

Mabel got to watch Brayden dance at the dress rehearsal and

she was mesmerized. 

We loved having lots of family there...it sure

made Mabel feel special!

Elliott barely made it through...he had two dum 

dum suckers and once Mabel danced Nate had to 

take him out for the rest of the performances.

He is a busy body who doesn't like to sit still!

I love this shot!

We are so proud of her!
It takes a lot of courage to dance in front of
a HUGE audience and she did awesome and had a lot of fun! 

All the dancers came out for the finale to wave
and blow a kiss to the crowd:


Pictures with all her fans!
(except I didn't get a shot with Kristy and Dave, rats.)










She got a lot of flowers so we put them together in one
 big bouquet and it surprised me how much she loved them.
She was so excited when several of them started to bloom.
I guess I need to get fresh flowers more often!
Kelsey and Mike also got her a little bucket full
of treasures. She was one happy little dancer!

First Ice Cream Cone