We Like Spring

We've been terrible at taking pictures over the last few weeks. We've taken a few trips out of town recently and forgot to charge our battery the first weekend, and forgot our camera the next. Sorry for the cruddy pics. Most were off Kyle's cell phone.

These kids had so much fun playing outside after church today (though they don't show it in this picture). Brooklyn discovered how much fun it is to play in this little car, and Ethan didn't want to miss out on the fun so he jumped in too.

We've really enjoyed the great Spring weather we've had over the last few days. Yesterday we even mowed our lawn for the first time this year. It was so great to start off the new season by filling the air with the smell of freshly cut grass. Our peas, spinnach, lettuce, and radishes are up now, and we're excited to get the rest of the garden planted.

Last weekend we went to the baby blessing of Rob and Christin's baby Julie. She is such a cute little thing. We had a great time visiting with family and the kids had a fun time seeing their cousins and other family.

We've mentioned it before, but Ethan LOVES the alphabet. He has learned so much over the last few months. He can write and spell several words now, including his name. He was excited today to write his name on his coloring page in nursery. We were drawing with sidewalk chalk yesterday and he practiced writing "Brooklyn" and the entire alphabet (I wrote them first and he copied them).

Ethan has also found a new fascination with his bathtub alphabet. The other day Kyle walked into his room, and Ethan had half the alphabe laid out across his bed (note that the letters are in reverse order - he still doesn't ahve the whole right-to-left writing thing figured out yet). Kyle helped him finish the rest of the alphabet, and then they sang the alphabet song. Ethan often says the funniest or most random but we usually forget them before we write them down. The other day when we were kissing him goodnight he said, "Sometimes fireworks make a loud sound. But balloons don't. Balloons fly." We often wish we could see what's going on in his little mind.

This is a pretty old picture, but we found it on Kyle's cell phone and had to mention it. Brooklyn has gotten to the age where she hates sitting in the shopping cart. She can't stand not knowing where we're going so she always turns herself around so she can see. It always looks so uncomfortable, but she just won't stay turned the right way even though she is always strapped in.

Jordan's Wedding

Our family traveled to Rexburg this weekend for the wedding of Kyle's cousin Jordan. It was the longest car trip that Brooklyn had ever been on, and the second longest for Ethan. We drove up to Logan the night before to break up the car ride for them, but Brooklyn still cried and fussed a lot. We were all happy to finally be to our destination.

The wedding was beautiful and it was so fun to be able to meet with so many of Kyle's extended family that we so rarely get to see. The Rexburg temple is so gorgeous and the ceremony was performed by the temple president, Val R. Christensen who is also a former general authority and has the service center at USU named after him.

The kids loved swimming in the swimming pool at the hotel we stayed in. It was Brooklyn's first time in a big pool and she loved it. Ethan had a harder time getting over his fear, but he eventually did and didn't want to leave. Sadly, although we remembered to bring our camera, I failed to charge the battery and forgot the extra one.

Although the weather was clear on the day of the wedding, it was cold. It also was snowing the morning we were going to travel home. We looked forward to the nice weather that we believed would be in the forcast at home. We drove home, only stopping for lunch in Ogden and the kids did great. We were sadly surprised though when we got home to several inches of snow. It has since melted though and we are looking forward to enjoying weather in the 60s for a few days.

"No Flu Shot!"

Whenever we go anywere resembling a doctor's office, Ethan always throws a fit and screams, "No flu shots!" If we're going to the dentist, we hear, "No flu shot!" If we're going to an appointment for Jen, we hear, "I don't want Mom to get a flu shot!"

We like to schedule Well Child visits for the kids together whenever possible to avoid spending time in the doctor's office. So when we went to his 3 year check-up this week and Brooklyn's 15-month visit, you can imagine how excited we were. We tried to explain to Ethan that he didn't even need a shot, but he was not a happy camper. Thankfully our pediatrician's office has a fish tank filled with nearly every fish in Finding Nemo.

Here are the stats for our kids.
At three years old, Ethan is:
31 lbs
70th percentile for height (we can't remember exactly - he was so uncooperative with the nurse that we weren't paying attention to details at this point.)

At 15 months (ok, she'll actually be 16 months old this week):
19 lbs 9 oz. (7th percentile)--We were really hoping to break the 20 lbs mark, but she really unloaded in her diaper twice right before she was weighed.
31 inches long (60th percentile)

Both kids have met all their milestones just fine.

The other day, Jen decided that it was time to trim Brooklyn's bangs. Here are a few pictures of her after the trim.

Ethan is 3!!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

We celebrated Ethan's birthday a day early with his grandmas and grandpas here for a small party. Last year I made a race track cake for his birthday and thought he'd want a different theme this year, but was very clear that he wanted a Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen cake (when he has the new paint job). He was so excited watching the process of his cake being made, and was very particular about all the details on his cake.

I've only used fondant for a cake once before, years ago, so I was a little nervous to try it again. This fondant recipe was very simple. It was made of marshmallow, water, and powdered sugar.
Kyle made the cactuses (yes, the green blobs are cactuses). It was a lot of fun to make but took all Saturday to put together. It was all worth it though to see how much Ethan loved it.

Ethan did a pretty good job blowing out the candles, but his aim was a little off so Grandma Taylor helped a little.

We asked Ethan which slice he wanted and he said he wanted the big "95" on top which just happened to be the exact middle of the cake.

It is great that Ethan is now a pro at opening presents and that he gets so excited about it. Most of his presents were from Disney's Cars, as it is still his greatest obsession.