Young at heart (other parts slightly older)!

Another year has passed and I seem to be asking myself, "How did I get to be 34???" Saturday (April 18th) was my birthday and yes, I'll admit that I'm over the hill. I woke up that morning to a fabulous breakfast made by Brandon and then a day full of fun! We went hiking in Snow Canyon with our good friends, Jason & Trisha. Then we came home for some pizza and yummy ice cream cake! Turning 30 was quite a shock for me but now....I'm in my mid-thirties!!! That's worse! Oh well at least I have a younger husband and two young children to keep me young at heart! :-)
This canyon is gorgeous (and only 20 minutes from our house)!
The kids were so excited to go hiking! It was a beautiful day!
We explored some caves and had tons of fun!
Ethan was so exhausted from all the hiking he did! ;-)
Happy Birthday to me!
I don't mind turning 34 if this is my birthday gift! Brandon bought me a new car--an Acura MDX! I'm in love (with Brandon too)! He also spoiled me with a gift certificate for a massage and a jogging watch and pedometer. Thanks, babe!
My twin brother, Ivan, and I have always done everything together. I wish we lived closer so that we could celebrate our birthday together. Here we are at our 30th birthday party. Happy Birthday, Ivan!

Easter 2009

Easter was so fun (and busy) this year. We decided to drive to California for Easter and my nephew's baby blessing (Emily's baby, Ezra). The kids were so excited to wake up and see that the Easter Bunny had left them some treats in their baskets.

Brenna had fun decorating Easter eggs at Grandma Bluhm's house.

My brother-in-law, Spencer, gave baby Ezra a beautiful blessing and my mom made him the cutest white suit and hat.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Lauritzen's with all the cousins.

We made a cute Easter Bunny at preschool.

Ladybug Central

We were at our local nursery recently and thought it would be fun to buy some ladybugs. We sat in the backyard and had a blast watching the ladybugs crawl all over. Ethan kept trying to eat them!

General Conference

General Conference is one of our favorite weekends, not only because we get to hear from our beloved prophet and general authorities but because we get to do it in our jammies!!! The kids love it when Brandon pulls/drives them around the house in the laundry baskets so they wanted to watch conference while sitting in their "cars"! We tried not to monkey around too much but we did eat monkey bread for breakfast! :-)

Ethan's Shenanigans

One of Ethan's favorite things to do is to climb--thus making it almost impossible to load the dishwasher.
Climbing the mountain of laundry.
Dinnertime is always fun (and messy)!
"If mommy won't get me a snack, then I'll get it myself!"
Brenna & Ethan thought it'd be fun to dump out the box of pancake mix on the carpet. Brenna said, "It's snowing in here!"
Ethan sitting in Brenna's doll crib!
Ethan loves to put hats and other things on his head. He found Brenna's jean skirt and thought it would make a great hat!
Playing (eating) in the dirt.
Ethan loves his new sleeping arrangement! ;-)
Ethan trying to drink some of daddy's unopened Mountain Dew (a habit I'm trying to break--for Brandon, that is).
Future drag queen?
Reading books (or should I say, emptying the bookcase?).

Little Miss Independent

As I've said before, Brenna is very independent. She wants to do everything by herself and has wanted to do so since the day she arrived! Well, Brenna loves to look at the temple (we are so lucky to live so close) and many times we've driven slightly out of our way so that we can drive by the temple. Usually Brenna starts singing "I Love to See the Temple". Here's how our conversation went on this particular day...
Brenna: There's the temple!
Mom: What do we do at the temple?
Brenna: Get married!
Mom: Who are you going to marry? (thinking she'd say "daddy")
Brenna: Myself.
Mom: How can you marry yourself?
Brenna: 'Cause I want to do it myself!

She's our "Little Miss Independent"!

Brenna-isms

Kids say the funniest things! Brenna is no exception. We are constantly laughing at things she says or observations she makes. Recently we were driving through Las Vegas on our way to California and Brenna points to the Rio Hotel and says, "Wow! That's the biggest shirt I've ever seen!"


A different day the kids and I were driving around town doing errands and this was our conversation--
Brenna: (Looking out the window of the car) Jesus made the trees.
Mom: Yes, and he made the flowers and the sky and our bodies.
Brenna: (Pointing to a field of dried weeds) Why did he make yucky stuff like that?


On rare occasions, we get to sleep in on Saturday mornings but usually if we're not awake before Brenna then she'll come in our room and announce, “Cock-a-doodle-doodle!”