Ethan

This evening Ethan drew this picture of Jesus and Mega Man. Jesus is at the top with clouds surrounding him and Megan Man is at the bottom with his mega blaster and helmet on. Pretty cute! I love how Ethan has a love for learning in general and also for the scriptures. He loves us to read from a few different children's books we have about the Bible or Book of Mormon. Tonight we read about Daniel and the Lion's Den and Jonah and the Whale. I hope he continues to have a love for the Gospel throughout his life. He knows his scriptures well for a four year old!

I have also been playing memory with Ethan and have been amazed at his ability to remember where the pairs were once flipped over. We are playing with a Toy Story memory set that has 70 cards so it's a large game and he can hold his own. I just had a parent teacher conference this week with his preschool teacher and she raved about what an excellent student Ethan is. She talked about how smart he is and how obedient he is as well. She never has to redirect him and wishes she could have more Ethan's in her class. It's always nice to hear this even though you know it. I can't believe our little boy will be in Kindergarten next year. I am really worried about it actually. He is such a sweet little boy and I hate to send him off into the world. I know he has a good head on him and we are very involved so he will be fine. The last few months I have been applying for schools to get him into next year. Our local school is rated at a 4 out of 10 so that's not too promising. So far we have not won any of the lotteries at the schools to get into another but in May the open enrollment starts so I have high hopes for something to work out there.

A wonderful life

Today has been a fun day with the boys. This morning Ethan woke in a wonderful mood which makes everything so nice. We started the morning off with a game of memory followed by a doughnut run. We were hoping for sprinkled doughnut holes but since they only had glazed I told Ethan he would get a sprinkled doughnut as well. He was pleasantly surprised and thought that was a great idea. In the car I asked if he would share a bite of his sprinkled doughnut with Tanner and he said, "I have a better idea, I will give him half." I thought that sounded great. The boys then rode their bikes up and down our street to one of our neighbors' homes who had just had his 91st birthday. Their garage was open and inside they had five mylar balloons and those are Tanner's favorite. They were done with them so each boy got to attach some balloons to their bike and off they went. It was so cute to see Ethan leading the way as Tanner tried to stay closely behind on his little Winnie the Pooh push bike. I wish I had a camera at that moment to capture the joy I saw on the boys' faces. I wish I could take mental snap shots and play them through my head forever. As we turned into the house Jared pulled up from work and it was only noon. What a treat! I love being a wife and mother to a wonderful family.

A trip to Utah

I just got back from a trip to Utah with Dad and Mom. It was originally a trip to take Molly to see Utah in general but more importantly to see Temple Square, BYU and all the many church sites we love. This was going to be such a great trip for her but last minute she backed out. This made our very busy schudle drop to a more relaxing trip focused more on seeing Elise for the first time and to attend Doug's BYU graduation.

Little Elise is so cute and I got to hold her a lot! She is a good baby and settles easy. It was fun to hold a baby and especially a little girl. It was funny as I burped her the first time and she gave me a bump I said, "good boy!" just out of habit. I'm excited the Christensen gang will be heading down to the OC for good at the end of June!

We attended Doug's graduation on Friday. Way to go Doug! We now have three of the five boys in the family that graduated in Information Systems from BYU. Doug has one more class to take this spring and then he will start a full time position at Ernst & Young where Danny works as well. We had a nice time after the graduation visiting with Doug's family at his Grandparents house in Pleasant Grove for a graduation dinner.

The trip would not be complete without a few of our favorite restaurants visited and of course our many craft stores. This may be the only trip that none of us came away with some new home decor which is probably a good thing. I am grateful for our families who made it possible for me to go. Jared's parents watched the boys for us and my parents were kind enough to let me tag along.

Happy 2nd Birthday Tanner!

Today little Tanner is two! Tanner has such a sweet and loving demeanor. He is a listener, is really good at sharing, and an all around happy boy. He loves "gardeners" lately and will run to the window when he hears a lawn mower or leaf blower to see the gardener. He loves trash trucks, dogs, balls, balloons, coloring, play doh, dancing, playing with Ethan and most of all, his blankie. He still sucks on the tags/corner of his blanket while going to sleep. When you hold Tanner after a nap or before bed he tucks his little hands into your chest. He sleeps that way with his legs folded in as well. He is really becoming such a big boy, though is still every much our baby. He is talking a lot and can let you know pretty much everything he wants. While going on a walk he stops to say hi and wave to every dog, bird, flower and bee. He is a little lover. We love you Tanner! Happy 2nd birthday!

Happy Easter!

Cousin Easter Fun

Saturday evening we had a cousin Easter Egg hunt, colored eggs and Laurie prepared a really nice Easter message for the kids. It is neat to see all the cousins really grow up and be able to do planned activities together. The boys delivered flowers to a few people in the neighborhood and wished them Happy Easter. We no longer have little babies but big boys who can do more and understand the Resurrection and Atonement. Each child was able to participate in their own way and it was fun to see how knowledgeable they all were.

Unfortunately Jared was unable to come down with us for Easter since he had to work a 30 hour shift in the ICU and will have to almost every weekend from now until June. I feel so bad for him when he has to do that. What a guy! He works so hard for us and we are so grateful for him. I couldn't do it! Well, the kids enjoyed coloring eggs and writing their names on them before putting them in the color and seeing their names appear. Rachael was Tanner's coloring buddy. You had to watch his little hands from attacking the different colors but he loved it and did well.

This year Mom put on a glow in the dark hunt for the kids. You put glow sticks in the eggs so they glow. It's kind of cool but we decided we enjoy the normal one just as well. It was all the same for the kids. They were all really good to make sure everyone got some. Clayton has been so loving to Tanner. He really has been his little buddy for quite some time now and shows such love and protection towards him.

Easter Egg Hunt

The day before Easter, Kim invited us to an Easter event in Costa Mesa that a real estate company puts on. It was a lot of fun. Everything was free which was amazing because they had the Easter Bunny, a jump house, an egg hunt, petting zoo, horse rides, balloons, face painting and food. 

Tanner loved his Easter basket and carried it around his arm all day. When it was time for his nap he cried and called out for his easter basket. I love seeing him in his spring clothes and remember Ethan in them. The first time Ethan wore these shorts was for Jared's match day. Crazy that now Tanner is in them.

Tanner loved petting each animal and made sure each one got a good comb. Ethan on the other hand was content watching from the sidelines. Tanner has a love for animals and Ethan has always thought they were ok from a bit of a distance.

I love seeing Ethan put his hand on Tan and talk to him about his balloon. Several times that day Ethan stopped to give Tanner a hug or help him out.  

The boys both enjoyed the horse ride. Ethan was all smiles and wanted the black horse. When Tanner first got on the horse he didn't know quite what to do but then started waving and loved it.

We walked away with two happy little boys. Tanner had his balloon and Ethan was happy to have candy. Each piece he got he named off the person he would be giving it to. What a sweet boy!

You know you've had a few kids when...

...you exercise and everything that was in your bladder has now leaked out onto your pants. I have never experienced this as I did today while doing continual jumping jacks and then jumping rope over and over. I fear for what another child or old age could do to me.

The travelers return

It sounds like the cruise was a blast! We were excited to see Ethan after a week and he had lots to say about his adventure. The cutest thing was when Tanner saw Ethan and went running to him and gave him a huge bear hug. So sweet and cute! As Ethan continued to hug others Tanner came from behind Ethan and hugged him again. He was so happy to have him home and all week asked for him several times a day. It is neat to see the bond these little brothers have.

Ethan loved the pirate ship excursion in Puerto Vallarta where he got to find pirate treasure. In Cabo he got to swim with a dolphin! Ethan has talked about both of those adventures a lot. They said they really enjoyed the different shows the cruise put on in the evenings. It sounds like there were lots of amazing memories from this trip!