Keep on Smiling!

Since I read both Elise's and Bryan's "Before I Die..." I guess I am tagged to write my own list of 10 things I would do. However, I died before I could write anything. Hours after Bryan died and turned into a gopher I died from a broken heart. It turns out that if you die of a broken heart you go straight to heaven. Who knew!! Actually, that is where I am writing this from. It is so peaceful and beautiful here. Don't morn me. I know it is hard but you must go on with your lives. Be strong and just maybe you will join me someday. Til then -Au revoir!!

So I admit I am alittle behind. Sydney turned 5 on 4/29 and we had her party on 5/1. That is only 11 days late so I am counting it as being on top of things. Anyway, Sydney turned 5 which means I have 2 kids in school! I can't believe it!! I still see my bald little baby crawling over, giving perfect hugs and kisses, and smiling all the time except when she was holding a grudge. I guess the only thing that has changed is she has more hair. She is a delight to have in our family and we love her so much!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!! We Love YOU!!!

Here are some pictures from her party. (Right up front I will apologize for the blurry pictures. My camera does not do well indoors.) She wanted a Sleeping Beauty themed party so I made a Sleeping Beauty Cake and had crowns for the girls to wear. Luke even had one on. But no one caught it on film. I guess that is good for him. Thanks to everyone who came! Sydney had a great birthday!! We love you all!

Here is a picture of Sydney getting her Scooter. I had to include it for those of you that were there and wondered how it turned out. Just as good in picture as in person, huh!

Here is Sydney with her Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) cake. I'd like to add that there is no sign of Luke's fingers left!!
This is one of the few pictures I got of Sydney opening presents.
Because this is what most of the others looked like. That is Sydney on the floor behind Kendra and Taylor. ( What you can't see her?) We love you Taylor and Kendra!!

"Having Fun at the Beach" that is what this background is entitled. I thought maybe if I started thinking about warmer weather then we will actually get it!! I am so ready for spring!! Not summer because that is just to hot. But nice warm spring days. So here is my top 10 things I love about Spring!!

1. The smell of freshly cut grass.
2. The beautiful flowers and trees blooming everywhere.
3. The kids getting out of the house to use up some energy!!
4. Going to the park with the kids.
5. Nice cool breezes.
6. Picnic's with family.
7. Not having to wear a big bulky winter jacket anymore.
8. Humming birds.
9. Riding bikes with the family.
10. I love that it is not Winter or SUMMER!!!!

Bryan broke his kneecap so he has been in bed for a week. Nolan came over to keep him company by playing XBox. I came home from work to find this. Disturbing?? You be the judge.

( sorry about the blurry picture)

So we finally had Jacob's Birthday party. After weeks of fighting croup, colds and ear infections everyone was well enough to finally celebrate Jacob's Birthday. We had all the family over and had cake and ice cream and opened presents.
I can't believe my baby is 1!! On one hand it is very exciting. I mean I don't have to buy formula anymore!! On the other hand, my BABY is 1!! He will always be my baby and I will admit that he will probably be babied and spoiled. I can't help it!!
Jacob is such a sweet boy that brings so much joy into our family's life!! We Love you, Jacob!! Happy Birthday!!

This is Jacob enjoying his yummy cake!!

Disneyland was awesome. I don't think I have ever had so much fun. The lines were so short. Most of the time we just walked on a ride. Occassionally, we had to wait 10 - 20 minutes. We rode 56 rides in 2 1/2 days( we rode several rides more than once!!) The girls had so much fun!! They got to see all the princesses at the Princess Breakfast and then they got to see TinkerBell and Silvermist. Sydney loved Tower of Terror but Hallie hated it. Hallie rode on screamin with me and then with Bryan. She hated it so much she was afraid to go on any of the other roller coastes. We finally got her to go on Space Mountain and she loved it! Sydney's favorite ride was the one with all the stars. ( Mom what was the name of that again? Space Mountain I would say. She just can't remember the name!!) and Hallie's was Thunder Mountain.

We had so much fun with Chris and Edna and their family. Ryan and Reagan are dolls!! We also got to spend time with Edna's family. They were so nice and fun too!! As I was going through our pictures I realized we didn't take any with them. That was dumb!!

So here are a few highlights from out trip!! Enjoy!!

This first group of pictures are the Highlights. The bottom set are most of the rest. I broke them up so you don't have to look at all of them if you don't want.

So we made it to Disneyland!! We checked into the Hotel and decided to get something to eat. It was about7:00pm Cali time. We started to drive towards Disneyland and the battery light on our car came on. Then all the lights started to dime. They where getting dimmer and dimmer. Bryan hurried and got us pulled over into a Hotel Parking Lot. We discovered that the bolt on the Alternator where the wire from the battery that attaches to was sheared off. Crazy!! We tried fixing it with another bolt but that did not work. Chris and Edna came to our rescue. They picked us up in Edna's sister's (Erica) Suburban and took us to Pep Boys. We bought a new battery and Alternator. Bryan replaced both and the car works like a champ!!

I do have to say that I was about to lose it when we were stuck again. I was almost in tears!! Looking back I know we were blessed because the battery light was coming on and off that last part of our trip from St. George to Anaheim. We were blessed we were not in the middle of nowhere when it decided finally to die. We were pretty close to our Hotel and Chris and Edna were able to help us!!

This is a picture of Bryan putting the engine back together.

This is a picture of the engine before he started so we could make sure it looked the same when we were done.This is a picture of the engine all apart. The red lines on the black is the gasket that we replaced on both sides.