Austin

Anton and I got to sneak off to a little business trip to Austin a couple of weeks ago. I was really excited to go since I have a love for Texas (don't know why!). It was so nice of my parents to offer to watch the girls for us, and the girls were so excited to go to their house, so it made it easy to leave. It was such a relaxing and fun trip. The first night we went to a little get together, and then snuck off a little early to grab some dinner and walk around the city. While we were walking down 6th street we found this donut place, and decided to get some to take back to the hotel. Those donuts were worth every minute we had to wait in line - which was about a half hour!! Probably the best donuts I have ever had. The next day while Anton was in meetings, I went on a long walk around the city and then met up with him for lunch. After lunch, I went out to the pool and enjoyed a cold diet coke and read my book. It was a slice of heaven for me!!! That night we went to a nice stake dinner and a show. I couldn't put my finger on why I loved this trip so much, and finally realized that it is because Anton and I never get to travel with just the two of us. We either go with other couples, or have our kids with us, so this was a special treat to just have it be the two of us. Even though it was a business trip, and there were other people there, I didn't have to coordinate with people about what to eat, or what to do and didn't have a schedule. It was SO fun and so relaxing. I can't wait till next year. Another really fun thing that happened that we weren't expecting is Anton won a big award....Agent of the Year!!! I couldn't be more proud of him & am so grateful for how hard he works for us. I love him so much and am so happy for him. 

She's 6!!

 I think it is safe to say that Claire had the very best birthday!!! First thing when she woke up she got to open up her presents. She got one or two of the things she asked for, and a couple of surprises...including a new bike. She was so excited about all of her presents! For the second year in a row, she asked for a cheetah cake. Yikes. I did the best I could, and it turned out pretty cute. It included two of her very favorite things: kit-kat's and cheetahs! I let her choose somewhere fun to go, and she chose to go to Classic Fun Center. They took their scooters and had so much fun riding around and playing video games. Even though I don't love that place, it was a fun little outing. After that, Nana took her and Lilly to Build-A-Bear. I've never taken them there before, so they were pretty jazzed. And, if there is one thing my kids love, it is stuffed animals! Since both girls have birthdays close together, they each got to pick out a stuffed animal and then Nana took them shopping and they picked out a new swimming suit for summer! They are matching suits, and about the cutest things I have ever seen! Once we were done with the mall & Build-A-Bear, we came home and had a little bit of cake and waited for Anton to get home from his road trip. It was literally a perfect day for a perfect little girl! I can't even begin how to explain the love I have for this little girl. She brings so much joy and laughter into our home, and I must admit I cried when she went to bed that night because I don't want her to grow up. If I could freeze time, I most certainly would! Everyone who knows Claire, loves her and finds her so funny. I am so blessed to be her mommy! Happiest birthday Clairey Bear! We love you!

Spring Break

We had such a fun spring break! I loved having the kids home and not having a schedule. We planned something fun for each day, but it was nice to just have it be low key and not have to rush from place to place. One of the days I took the girls downtown to temple square to take Lilly's baptism pictures and we had lunch at the Lion House (one of my girls favorite places) and then went on a tour of the conference center. It was really fun to see, especially since we just watched conference the day before. 

Took the girls and their friend to the pool, which is always a favorite! Too bad the water slide was shut down. Didn't stop them from having fun!

 The girls love to get their haircut, so why not do it over spring break?! 

One afternoon my parents took us out to the west desert for an adventure! We packed a dinner and off we went. The girls love it, and Pops always does a great job of finding the "crazy" cows (dead and alive). Claire was nervous of the cows and hated when Pops would get close to them. And, as you can imagine the girls also got a good laugh out of the cow taking care of "business". No, they haven't outgrown the toilet humor yet! 

We ended the week with Claire's birthday! But, that deserves its very own post. It was SUCH a fun spring break and I was actually sad when it was over. Life is good with these little ones!

Phone Pictures

Growing up, I remember when my mom would make tacos, the kids always had the job of grating the cheese. I finally went online to find the same one we had growing up because I wanted my kids to start helping with grating cheese & veggies. It is a life saver!! Not kidding!! 

One night while Anton was out of town, Claire wanted to have a sleep over. This is a big thing in our house. We don't, and never really have let our kids sleep in our bed, so she was super excited that I let her "sleep" with me. She got all of her stuffies she sleeps with, all her blankets and snuggled right in. She looked so cute in my great big bed! But, of course, she couldn't fall asleep and eventually decided she wanted to go back to her bed. It was kind of funny! At least we tried! We are all our "own beds" time of people :)

Claire got this costume out again! Still fits like a charm!

The girls had such a fun assembly at school, that I went to go see what the hype was all about! They had a fundraiser with school and raised about six thousand dollars more than what they were hoping for. So, the principal said if they hit a certain goal, he would kiss a pig. The kids were SO excited to see him kiss a pig, and they laughed so hard when it happened!

We don't have any great pizza places close by, and are sick of not having good pizza! Since it is one of our very favorite things to eat, we decided to take the plunge and make our own. It was super fun to make, and they turned out pretty good. Next time though, I am making my own dough for the crust. 

Claire loves her "softie" the very most. I thought it was so cute when I looked on my phone, and saw that she had been taking pictures of Softie!

Easter 2016

Our Easter this year was wonderful. It was so low key and so fun to do the traditions with the girls. On Saturday we dyed Easter eggs, and because Anton can't resist a competition we each got a certain number of eggs and then had our neighbors come over and pick out their three favorite eggs. Anton's pride was shattered when mine were the three favorite! It was funny! Claire was making us laugh so hard because she kept dipping her whole hand into the dye, so by the end her hand was completely purple. Thank goodness it came off in the bath! 

The next morning the Easter bunny hid some eggs and set out the Easter baskets. After that we headed off to church. The girls were excited to wear their Easter dresses, and Claire kept saying that her dress was her favorite dress she had. I guess she has a thing for blue! Later that afternoon, we went to my parents house for dinner. My mom had a little bag filled with thoughtful little things for each grandchild. I thought it was so cute of her. It was such a great day, top to bottom!! 

New Fence

I think this is our 3rd fence that we've had to build. So, even though Anton knew what he was doing, didn't make the job much less of a "chore"! We knew the fence was coming soon, because it was really leaning over, and so when we got a big wind storm it finally finished the fence off. It came at a horrible time (Anton's busiest time of year), but we didn't have a choice except jump right in! We were really fortunate to have our neighbor that we share the fence with. He was such a huge help, and we were really glad when he wanted to do cedar instead of vinyl. We also had a couple other neighbors just wanted over to help...we have the greatest neighbors! It just realized I didn't take a final picture - but it turned out SO good! I am always so glad I am married to a guy who is so handy. Anton is never afraid to get his hands dirty and dive into a project. 

And last but not least, it wouldn't be a project if there wasn't an injury!