Our Little Princess

Since the last few posts have featured our little guy I thought that I would share a few pictures of our little angel. Sarah is now 3 1/2 months old. Time has flown by and I can't hardly imagine our lives without her. She is definitely a daddy's girl. He can make her smile almost anytime and she settles down so easily with him. What a lucky little girl she is to have such a great dad. These pictures were taken today Her little smile just melts my heart. I am truly in love with my family.On a side note, Sarah slept through the night last night for the first time. I sure hope that it is the first of many.

Alex and Eden at the Park

Right now Alex's best friend to play with is Eden. She is just a few months younger than Alex, but these two have so much fun playing together. Today was a beautiful day here and what better way to get out some excess energy than to play in the park. Here are a few snapshots of these two playing together and having so much fun. We played on equipment,swung on the swings , ate lunch, played with a very friendly squirrel, played a few more minutes, and then with two tired kiddos, off for a nap. YEAH!!!

You Up for a Challenge???

Copy Cat Give Away

:::COMPLETELY COPIED FROM Trisha's BLOG:(It's sounds like a fun idea):I did copy her word for word!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a song. It may be a self portrait or maybe even some creation I haven't yet dreamed up. I may draw. I may bake you something and mail it to you. It may not be big or impressive. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely do something amazing. =) So come on, sign up!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Popcorn Popping

Alex loves to have the popcorn song being sung to him. He even gets in on some of the action with his 'poppers". I wish that he wasn't so distracted with us taping him doing the actions. He really is too cute.

Our Little Man

I just had to do a post about our little young man in the family. He is such a joy to have around the house. He is so helpful and is always so observant. Here are just a few examples of this wonderful quality that I hope stays with him forever. His future wife will be one lucky lady.
Whenever the dishwasher needs to be unloaded, he is right there and almost knows where every dish goes. He even puts away the silverware, tupperware, and measuring cups in the right drawers.
He loves to help with the laundry. He will take it out of the dryer and put it on the couch so that it can be sorted and folded.


He also loves to help feed the cats. Yesterday morning he saw that their bowls were empty and picked up the bowl and brought it to the pantry, where the cat food is kept, and was trying to get the bucket open to fill the bowl.
He is quick to put toys away and loves to help me when I am cooking. Anytime he sees baking something he always says "help" and pulls the kitchen step stool out to lend me a hand. He loves to dump ingredients into the bowl and helps to mix whatever I happen to be making.



The most recent example of him being so helpful is that he saw me vacuuming and wanted to do it himself. There is a short clip of him vacuuming the living room (it's kind of loud).

He is the first to give loves in the morning and is so affectionate throughout the day. We learn so much from his example and are so blessed to have him teach us everyday what it means to be childlike. I learn everyday from you Alex. You are amazing.

We've Escaped... and Returned

Yes we have escaped and were missing in action last night. I decided to "surprise" Eric and plan a family camping trip at a local camp ground about an hour away. I use the word "surprise" loosely, because almost every surprise that I have planned has been discovered by Eric or some other person unintentionally. This little get away was no different. About a week ago a friend told me about this campground that they go to as a family. Since Eric had this coming Friday off and the weather seemed to be cooperating, I decided to plan a secret get away. Well a few days later while equipment was being collected, packed and prepared, Eric happened to see me looking at a camping website that I was looking at. Even though I closed it as fast as I could the damage was done. So, yes Eric, we are going camping!
We picked Eric up after work on Thursday and traveled to the campsite. It was a great location, one that we plan to use again (thanks, Kim). We set up our tent and got the preparations going. Thanks to the Eagle scout in our family, we had a blazing fire in no time. A little while later our bellies were full with hot dogs, chips, fruit, and smores. Yumm Yumm!!!
We got Alex ready for bed and said prayers. Alex slept really well in the pack'n play. Sarah slept like a trooper. She slept while we set up camp, ate, and also while putting Alex down for the night. We woke her up and fed her. Eric and I enjoyed looking up at the thousand stars up above and chatting the night away. Although it wasn't the most restful night's sleep Eric and I had we were glad that we were there as a family.
There were only a few minor mishaps, (Erika- burned finger, Alex- bug bites and a few scrapes, and Sarah- a few bruises wiggling out of her car seat while sleeping at night) but that is what makes the camping trip memorable.
After a breakfast of French toast and juice, we packed up and enjoyed a nice drive back home. What a fun time to spend as a family.

Double Vision????

A few weeks ago we were able to watch our friend's children for them while they went to our ward's temple night. We had gone to the temple earlier in the week while they watched them for us. We have children the same age so our two oldest ones are partners in crime together while the little ladies are just content to be held. Here are some pictures of the fun double trouble. I can't believe that we were outnumbered that evening. In the bottom picture Sarah is on the right and is about 3 weeks older than Brielle, but about 3 pounds lighter than her. They are just two precious little girls.

Cute Little Valentines

Here are some more pictures of our cute little valentines. Alex is getting more excited to take/pose for pictures for us.

Love is all around

I am just posting this video of Alex giving kisses to Sarah. He was excited to give them to her. This was the first time that he actually came back to give her extra love. He is a very affectionate little boy, and I am glad that we got to capture it on video.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

We have been waiting a long time for these. I am blessed to have a wonderful photographer and friend in our ward, who is willing to come and take pictures of you newborn baby as her gift to you. Ginger, I can't say it enough, You are amazing. Thank you so much for your gift to our family.

I was blessed to have her take pictures of Alex for us when he was so tiny too. Eric wasn't able to be at the shoot with Alex, but he was able to be here for Sarah's pictures. Daddy's little girl. She has him wrapped around her tiny little fingers.
It is amazing to see how much they change in a few short months. The new picture on our blog title is one that she did. She came over last night and brought the disc of the pictures she had taken. I love them!!! Here are just a few that she had done of Sarah and the family.