The Beach

This was Maggie's first trip to the beach. She wasn't so sure of the sand
Daniel was digging before I had his sunscreen on

Maggie loved the water

Daniel and Maggie were both the same age when they took their first beach trip. Maggie has more hair but I think Daniel is chubbier

Girls.
(Notice my hot hiding husband in this picture?)
A beach tradition is to make a sand turtle.
We buried the boys

Grandpa hid under the shade so this is the only picture I have of him

I love this man

Our week with Jake (and Grandpa)

Jake came to play for spring break
Daniel played a lot of games on his ipod


We took a trip to the zoo even though we didn't see any cool animals it was PERFECT weather
We also went to the aquarium (we have a pass to both so we take everyone)
Grandpa treated us at Chuckie Cheese "where a kid can be a kid" according to Daniel

Jake got a little relax time but not without a babyWe played at the beach

Daniel "buried" JakeThey shared a towel
and then we said goodbye. It was really hard to see him go. We really miss him. Jake is an exception when it comes to teenage boys. He always has been. What 15 year old would choose to drive for 2 days straight just to spend his spring break week with his nephew and niece? When Daniel was born he would walk to my house after school. He would come in and just hold Daniel while I frantically got ready for the day or did laundry or cleaned up. Their bond started early. I don't know anyone like him. He is Daniel's best friend. Daniel loves him and really looks up to him and I couldn't hope for a better friend. As Daniel put it "I want you to stay forever and ever." We love him our house feels a little empty tonight.

reunited

weekly round up

So we had a crazy last 3 weeks!

BYU made it to the Sweet 16 bringing more visitors from "home"!!! (Thanks Jackson)
We were able to go to the game for free, which was crazy exciting!(again thanks Jackson)

Maggie did great at the babysitters (thanks Loader girls)which means I got a much needed break from my sweet little angel.The Emery family stayed with us. Which meant 24/4 entertainment for Daniel. He was SO excited when they got here and loved playing with them especially old maid and teaching them not to use bad words.
More family came for the game, my grandma, and half of the Jensen family.
We hit up the French Quarter for shopping and good food

We all ate alligator

While on the river walk Daniel sang the ABC's with this 87 year old man it was so cool. I didn't get the video out fast enough.Everyone went home which left me really homesick

Patti kept her promise to Daniel and is sending Jake back. (Daniel said she could only go home if she sent Jake back to him. He and my dad should be here by Sunday!!!)

We enjoyed conference weekend with our NOLA family having yummy dinners (grilled burgers and homemade Cafe Rio) and yummy breakfast, cinnamon rolls, peaches and cream French toast and pancakes.

Maggie now pulls herself up to the standing position in her crib, the high chair and any other object regardless if it's sturdy or not.

Daniel decided to try out polygamy He was playing house with two girls and they were both his wives he called them saying "come on sweeties." No worries David set him straight.

Click the link below you won't regret it.
Las Morning

Feeling sick,

homesick that is. I think this is the first time since we moved that I really have felt homesick. Why all of a sudden is it hitting me? This week we were so blessed to have more family come into town. My cousin plays for BYU and they just "happened" to play down here, weeks after we moved, bringing more visitors. The difference is these visitors are from "home" they are a taste of what it was like when we weren't so far away. It's been so much fun having them stay at our house and interact with our kids, watch them play, hug and kiss them and of course spoil them. They have to go home in the morning and the thought just makes me cry. I've told David I love living here and I do, I just feel like a part of us is missing and the past two weekends it was filled. Thank you for coming to visit us. Heavenly Father really is aware of my needs. He knows that I need my family to come and visit, and so he sent them down here for spring break and the sweet 16, now I know that's not the only reason that BYU came down, but I feel like its a gift for me from my father in Heaven. Its going to be rough going back to reality after they leave. Daniel told them that they could only go home if they bring Jake back to him. I'm holding them to that promise and hoping they will go the extra mile and send a few more people our way. Families are so wonderful and I'm so lucky that I have a great one. Miss you all!!! and of course WE LOVE YOU!!!

Last week at a glance

Had our first visitors
Some welcome
One Not!!!
Spent a HOT day at the zooAnother at the Aquarium and Jackson Square(no pics of Jackson Square)Ate
Beignets Craw-fish
(or bugs according to Danielle & Daniel)Gumbo, Jambalya, Craw-fish Etuoffee and Red Beans and Rice (really so good)Planted a garden
Played Pirates
and in the dirt

We had so much fun with the Childress family. Thank you for spending your spring break with us and showing us around our new hometown. We can't wait to make the trip up to see you. Love Y'all!!

Service

Yesterday our Relief Society lesson was on Service. Whenever I think of this topic I think of my mom. She is an amazing example to me of serving other people without expecting anything back. She told me once that when you are asked to do something you just do it, even if you don't think you can or have the time to, you do it. I thank her for her great example and hope that I can be half as good as she is. Miss you mom and of course I love you!

Here are pictures and some videos of what we've been up to...

our 1st successful zoo visit

Maggie's hair curls

Zeus Parade

Oreo

(these are all from my phone so if the quality is poor sorry, I'm working on it)

NOLA

Thanks to my resourceful husband I've now got the internet. Its great to feel connected again. How funny our lives are now, we are so dependent on the internet. Lucky for me I've had my iphone and not been completely disconnected. Although I must say it was really nice to not have that distraction now I'll just have to exercise self control and monitor my usage. Hopefully I'll be able to get pictures loaded soon of what has been happening around here but for now I'll just fill you in.

We left Utah on the 21st of February. We woke up to both kids extremely sick and running high fevers. I asked David to give them a blessing and we had the family doctor check them out although the fever was gone by the time he had arrived, (priesthood blessings are amazing). He wrote us out a prescription that we picked up on our way out of town. We said our tearful good-byes and drove like crazy. we had 1,720 miles to get to our new home. We had to drive both cars. The first night we were able to make it all the way to Albuquerque. It was a long start to a really long trip. The kids were troopers and did so well. I think they did better than I did.

Our second day was our longest leg and through the most boring country EVER. Never drive from Albuquerque to Dallas. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing but flat land and more flat land. Every once and awhile a little hill in the distance but mostly FLAT LAND. Plus the road is crazy because your driving at a good 75 mph and then hit a city and have to drop down to 35mph. The only way I made it was through prayer. I even caved and drank A LOT of caffeine, I haven't had that stuff in over 15 years and I honestly don't think it did that much for me. It was defiantly the prayers. We finally made it to our destination rather late and I really don't know how I got there because I was so dead tired. We spent the night at our friend the McGregors house which was so nice of them. They kindly waited up for us and then fed us a yummy breakfast the next morning. It was so nice to not have to pay for another hotel.

The last day was the best drive. We totally took our time and the scenery was so beautiful. The woods are so cool. We stopped at McDonalds and the ladies behind the counter were talking in their southern accents about their hair dresser. I couldn't help but smile. I love the way they talk down here. We arrived at our house late Wednesday night. The Realtor had told us originally that there was power and water on but it needed to be turned over to our name. Well that wasn't true and we didn't have anything on when we got here. We ended up staying in a hotel and getting everything taken care of the next day.

We anxiously waited for our stuff to arrive and every time we talked to the movers they pushed the time back. Our stuff didn't get here till Sunday at 4pm. We were so excited to actually get to sleep in our beds. I would recommend not going with movers, they really have no care for your stuff. They broke several high price items that can't be replaced for the measly 60 cents a lbs they give you for broken items. Not so happy about that but I'm still going to get what ever I can from them. It is nice not to have to load and unload a truck and then drive it across the country. But next time we'll just get a Uhaul.

Our house has a lot more space than our apartment. Also lucky for us, its really nice. We only saw two pictures and our friends had peeked through the windows, so we didn't really know what to expect but feel really blessed to have this place. Its super clean and we are so happy with it. Its also in a really nice area close to a lot of fun things.

Mardi Gras was out of control. We went to 2 parades and I LOVED it. Now parades are serious business here. Parents have these 6/7 ft ladders and they make boxes to screw on the top and put there kids in them so the kids have a better chance at catching stuff. I took a picture I'll have to post it. People don't just sit back and relax either they walk/run right up to the floats. They throw beads out like crazy and no you don't have to do naughty things to get them. We got tons of beads a frisbee, plastic knife, footballs, stuff animals. Lots of crap. At our second parade the kids both were tired and done and I was the one pushing them to stay. I don't know what it is but I love parades. They have this cake called King Cake and its only at this time of the year. Its pretty good kind of tastes like a cinnamon roll, the one we tired had a little to much frosting but it was a fun treat. I want to post a picture because they look so trashy, but everyone loves them.

The weather so far has been great. The first week we were in shorts this weekend we had a crazy storm that flooded our street up to Daniels knees and the lighting and thunder storms are so crazy. The lighting doesn't stop it just keeps going like a strobe light. It woke both David and I up. We found out the next morning that 3 tornadoes hit down in NOLA. We've decided we'd better get educated on the storms here or we might be in trouble.

We have really enjoyed our time here so far and hopefully it stays that way. We feel really blessed to have this opportunity for our family to grow.

bad day?

One week and yes we are still here. Today was well, horrible I'll just list the events in the order they happened.

Ready to go to the Zoo
Daniel is quiet, not good, find him in extra room "mom I'm bleeding" He wanted to use my rotary cutter and cut his finger
Cleaning said finger announces while I'm holding him "I had an accident"
Clean up messes.
Arrive at Zoo, pouring rain
Drive through crazy traffic to aquarium
Halfway through aquarium visit Daniel announces "I had an accident"
Buy $20 pjs at gift shop. (Now we've gone through 2 outfits and 2 pairs of shoes.)
Daniel in pjs barefoot running in the rain to parking garage
Realize we didn't get our parking validated
Run back in the rain(left kids with neighbor)
"We aren't validating this weekend due to Mardi GRAS"
Run back in the rain
Daniel gets on empty elevator...ALONE
PANIC!!!
PANIC!!!!
Wait FOREVER for another elevator
Find him on next floor barefoot in pjs with cute teenage couple
Pay $15 for parking, yep $15 we were just over 2 hours had it been validated only $5.
Drive home get separated from person I'm following.

POSITIVES:
No stitches needed
I've got a working washer and dryer
We have a pass to and awesome zoo/aquarium
Daniel has a cool new pair if shark pjs
I got in a little exercise
I found my way home
****A cute sweet young couple found my little boy and waited with him till I got to him****
I am blessed sometimes it's just hard to see. We've enjoyed a nice quiet (accident free) evening as a family and yes it's made my day. I will now say a quiet prayer of thanks for keeping my family safe.

My little big boy

He's three! I can still clearly remember the day I found out I was pregnant. What joy and hope I had for this little baby. Then when we found out it was for sure a boy. The day he came into my life has changed me for the better. I am the luckiest mom ever. He is so sweet, and full of life. He loves me and I know it. He tries so hard to be a good boy. He looks up and frequently copies his dads every move. He takes such good care of his little sister, she absolutely adores him. He loves to play and play hard. He loves his family. He loves nursery and his friends. He LOVES chicken nuggets and french fries. He is my happiness in this trial of moving. I know that he will be there in this new strange scary place and it makes it all OK. I'm so scared to take him away from his family, the people he loves and adores and looks to for guidance. Yet I'm so excited for the person he will become because of this experience. For the people we all will become. For the chance to be a better mom because we don't have family to fall back on. I hope that I am able to be strong for him. His little world is about to be turned upside down. At least we will still have dancing and McDonalds. I love him I never imagined I could ever love someone as much as I love him. I am so grateful he chose to come to our family and be my son. Here is to the best 3 year old and our grand adventure! Love you little man!

The Big Easy...

Well it is officially official, David put in his two weeks notice today. If you haven't already heard through the grapevine we are moving. Not just moving but embarking on a great adventure. One that will change our lives forever. We are packing up our little family and two bedroom apartment and moving to...New Orleans. I know crazy right! But what is even more crazy is they want David to start on the 28th of February. If you walked into my apartment right now you may get a glimpse at why I'm stressed out, its a complete mess. But now that its official I have this sudden burst and need to clean and de-junk. I've got mixed emotions, I am super excited for this new opportunity but super scared because the farthest I've ever lived away from family is Provo (20 mins). I do know that the Lord will bless us and that even though this is going to be a huge trial I'll make through a better person.

My sense of Humor

http://www.wimp.com/babieslemons/

Little Miss Fancy Pants

is 6 months old and now weighs a very dainty 18.07 lbs. She is 27 inches long (both 90% for girls). She sits on her own, sleeps through the night and rolls all over the place. She grabs everything and of course whatever it is goes straight to her mouth. She loves to play with her toes and when she gets tired she very lightly rubs her eyes (I've got to post a video its so cute). Maggie went through the stranger anxiety phase really early, she wouldn't go to anyone and I felt bad leaving her. Luckily over the Christmas break she did such a good job with all the family around, she actually is starting to like people now. She loves the sound of her own voice and talks a lot, or "sings" when she hears music. She started eating solids, so far her favorite is plain old rice cereal or a mix of cereal and carrots. Any of the foods by themselves are a little to strong for her taste buds. She cut her first tooth this week and the shots she got yesterday have left a HUGE red, very tender, bump on her chubby little leg, she is not a happy camper.
Everywhere we go people tell me that she is such a sweet baby, which is something that I knew from birth with her but is a good reminder especially on those days when she's screaming because someone spoke to loud or touched her chubby thigh or her teeth are killing her. Its just a phase, hopefully very soon I'll have my pleasantly plump Little Miss Fancy Pants back.