Mother's Day Weekend

My Mother's day celebration started on Friday night when Laurie invited all the Fisher girls to the beach house to spend the night. Getting a night away was one of John's gifts to Laurie, and Jared was on call for the weekend so Dad was kind enough to step in for me to be able to go. Mom, Laurie, Rachael and myself all enjoyed a Cafe Rio dinner, Yogurtland, and rented Soul Surfer. We slept in and made our way for a yummy breakfast at Ruby's on the Huntington Pier in the morning. I thought we would be coming home late morning but we were enjoying ourselves so much and the kids were doing great that we ended up getting home in the evening after a relaxing day at the beach and dinner at Wahoo's. Once we got home we had just enough time to shower to go to the Stake play Oklahoma!. It was a great way to start the weekend!

On Sunday Jared was still on his 30 hour call so the boys and I were going to the Goodman's ward and he would meet up with us that evening once he got off and got a few hours of sleep. Little did I know Jared pulled major strings and surprised us at church that morning. What a guy! It can be hard to surprise me so Jared loves to get me whenever he can. It was a great Mother's day surprise! Later in the day we had a nice dinner with my family and Jared gave me another huge surprise, an Ipad! I was shocked since we had never talked of getting or wanting an ipad before this though we both knew how cool they were. I love it! He also got me earrings that have a heart top with a pearl under it. I am grateful for my family and the opportunity I have to be a mother. 

Daily Routine

When Tanner wakes most mornings around 6:30 am he starts asking to see the dogs next door or the fish down the street. If he hears our neighbor loading up his truck who happens to be a gardener he will keep saying "garner, garner!" Every morning after taking Ethan to preschool we make our morning stop across the street to see the dogs as they go out for their morning walk and then proceed to see the fish. This morning was no different. Tanner's new saying is, "oh man!" If he asks to go for a walk and I tell him later he responds with an "oh man!" It's quite funny! He loves to go into the garage to get into the car to then get the garage door opener to escape to see his many friends. We have started to lock the garage door and even our car doors. :) The sun has definitely come out this week and it's hot! This morning on our way home from our morning visits Tans shadow was so cute and perfect. Summer is just around the corner which I'm excited for (but not the heat).

Our Little Fish

Ethan has been taking swimming lessons for a few weeks now and is doing well. He is the most advanced in his class being able to swim to and from his teacher without assistance. He loves swimming and has confidence in his abilities though he is still not 100% water safe. He knows how to float and get around now which is very nice. It wouldn't hurt to have him in swim lessons one more session but we will most likely forego them this time around since we are swimming several times a week anyway. We figure he is getting lots of one-on-one pratice with us.

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!