The best dollar I've ever spent...

Emma had so much fun in the tub tonight--she killed a good hour, playing in the dark with the glowsticks. She absolutely LOVED it!

FYI: Glowsticks are only $1 right now at Michael's. Right by the cash register. Your kids will love you for it--I promise!

P.S. Got the idea from here...love her blog. :)

The dishes are not done...

So, there are a ton of dishes in the sink...In fact, the kitchen is a disaster.

The floor needs to be vacuumed, and the laundry piles need to be dealt with.

But instead of all that...I spent the warm afternoon with two of my favorite girls. We filled up Emma's "tub" and spashed outside in the water. Zoey napped and ate on the blanket, while Emma played submarines with all her cars. I grabbed an old Ensign, and sat down to read. Flipped right to this one, about Simplifying life. I loved it. I couldn't help but feel ok with my decision to ignore everything that needed to be done, and focus on playtime, nature and little baby noises. :) Definitely a good day.

Now, since we skipped Emma's nap, she'll be going to bed early, and maybe I'll have time to attack some of the work that I managed to avoid earlier. First, though, I'm going to eat my asparagus wraps.

Memorial Day Fun

We had a very relaxing Memorial day weekend. After the busyness of Jen's wedding the week before, we just enjoyed time together with family. We had beautiful weather, which just made it all the better. We spent the early afternoon at the Lochs with the Folkman's reading, talking, and watching all the boats. Then later, we had a fun barbecue with all the Recklings at Grasslawn park. Here's some shots of the fun.

I would love to have this kind of a yard someday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q

Jen's Wedding

Today turned out to be just beautiful. Beautiful ceremony, beautiful bride, beautiful day...everything. Jen looked amazing, and it was so fun getting to meet so much of Shane's family. We were so lucky to meet Jeremy & Heidi, Shane's cousin and his wife. Shane hadn't seen him since he was little. Lots of family came up, and we had just a great time!

Jen was so happy, and we wish them the best as they begin their new life together!

Yesterday's highlights...

Woke up late, yummy breakfast made by Shane.

Delivering corsages to Moms in jammies before church.

Wonderful sacrament meeting, and even sweeter relief society. Shane taught the primary class, so I could go and be with the girls. :)

Dinner and endless talking with ALL of my family. That's my favorite part of holidays, because I get to see all 5 of my brothers at once. Yesterday was special because we got to honor our amazing mom. I looked around the room, and was so proud of all the people that we've become, and even prouder of all the extra people that have been added to our ever-growing family. All that is due to what my parents taught us, and in huge part, to the sweetest mom that raised us! Thank you!

Lots of Emma time. The best was just reading books before bed, and soaking up the mother's day joy! I'm so grateful that I have Emma. She's so sweet to me, and I still can't believe that she is mine.

Finally, late-night crafting and Twilight. (Shane was the one that suggested it!--how sweet!) I made bows until I was tired, and then just snuggled up with Shane.

I'm not sure I could've made yesterday better if I had planned it myself. It was such a great day.

Tiptoeing through the tulips...

Today was supposed to be a pretty rainy day, but we braved the Tulip festival up north anyway. We were lucky to avoid any major downpours, and enjoyed the afternoon with Luke and Lindsay. I'm always grateful that Shane remembers to start our family trips with a prayer, especially today when we avoided a near-accident. We almost got side-swiped by a car (on Emma's side--Yikes), but thanks to his acute driving skills (and some help from above), we were able to maneuver out of the way and up onto the curb. The guy didn't even see us until he realized he had run us off the road.

Anyway, it was overcast, but beautiful. We took lots of pictures, and by a miracle, we actually got some good family shots in. It was fun. I love the tulip festival, and I don't think I'll ever get bored of going there. :)


These red and white-tipped ones were my favorite!


My little pink tulip! She wore a little bit of pink-overkill today, but then looked so cute dancing around the pink tulips. :) How fitting for a family picture, right? Shane thought this old bus from the 50's was cool. He said he could fix it right up. On another note, we're hoping to buy an old bus someday and fix it up into a custom RV...how fun (& how weird) would that be! You should all plan to go camping with us!