spring break

Ryan spent all of March on this painting.  All of March means, 7 days a week and usually until 2 am.  The last week of March was were I pretty much reached my breaking point.  Then he reminded me he was going to Vegas in April because he was teaching at a workshop.  I asked him what the days were and it was the entire week of spring break.  I was pretty sure I would lose my mind so I called my wonderful mother in law and asked her if she could watch the kids while I went to California to visit one of my best friends.  Of course she said yes and thankfully my mom was able to take them a couple days as well.  I drove down with Ryan, relaxed, ate, watched Hunger Games, when dress shopping for Virginia's wedding, hung out with my Dad and just enjoyed a nice mini vacation for Mom.  

and of course ate at Wahoo's!  Now that they have 2 in Vegas, Ryan could enjoy the meal together on our drive down.  ahhhh, so special.

Don't worry about the kids, they had a much better spring break than what they would've had with me. Brody drove down to St. George with my mom for a few days and the girls were spoiled/entertained just fine with Grandma Brown.  

the big excitement of April

you know how when you are good at something you tend to keep doing it because, well, you're good at it.  Well people always tell me how beautiful my kids are so I took that as, "I must be really good at making cute kids and that is what I seem to be good at so that must be my calling in life."  So we are going ahead to see if we can be 5 for 5.  Because looks are all that matters you know.
Back in August 2010 we decided we should have one more baby but it didn't feel like the right time for me.  That November, Charlotte was diagnosed with diabetes and I knew then, that was the reason we should wait.  Then I put it off because I wanted to have a good race season and didn't want a baby born in the winter.  I know, so selfish of me.  Us moms must never think of ourselves.  In November 2011, we are finally pregnant and will be expecting our fifth child/full basketball team August 21st.  Who has their 5th child in the dead of summer!?  It wasn't planned that way, I was hoping for April.
If we aren't facebook friends then you missed the "big" reveal of the gender.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to find out it was a girl, it would've been nice to balance things out a little with another boy and I just kind of felt like it would be.  But at the same time, I felt like I should mentally prepare for a girl.  Okay, the disappointment only last like 15 minutes.

Here I am at 22 weeks.  I feel like Ginormica.  I am now 24 weeks and I get so uncomfortable and achy at the end of the day.  I'm scared to even think of how huge I will be in 10 weeks!  I am still working out, not to stay in shape or avoid weight gain because that has proven impossible, but for mental reasons.  It feels great to workout and it also feels good to know I still have a fitness level, I plan to lift throughout the pregnancy.....
Because I was set on a boy, I cannot think of a girls name i really like and definitely can't find one Ryan and I agree on.
While pregnant with Cloe, I spent a good portion on the pregnancy telling people we were going to name our girl Coyote.  Ryan's idea.  When she was born, there was no way in hell I would name this beautiful sweet thing, Coyote.  His name this time is a boys name....
I am open to suggestions.  FYI, I like classic names.  Or I also thought Summer would be cute with her being born in August and all.
But I can't wait to meet our new little girl.

Easter

instagram unload

kids and rock collecting

friday jobs are done to music but when Michael Jackson comes on, jobs stop and the dancing begins

One Saturday I took the kids to eat lunch at BYU at the Canon center and they thought the all you can eat was so cool.

"Girl Scout Cookies for Sale!!" They loved working at the cookie booth, me on the other hand.

Abbey self portrait

I had to speak in church and I was looking for some inspiration/ideas. so stressful. and it didn't help that Ryan spoke the week before me and the bishop and his counselors were telling me how wonderful it was and how he had set the bar high. nice.

sometimes I have to reward myself on a Friday for a job well done this week

St. Patricks day dinner at Grandma Allen's

corned beef, cabbage and potato's

pine wood derby time!

resting after a saturday swim

my mom has a pasta machine that has never been used so in a round about way, assuming because I lived in Italy I knew how to make pasta, I ended up making pasta for her. No offense but you have to be pretty incompetent in the kitchen to mess this up. Salt, flour and eggs.

Charlotte really wanted to help with every step and when she insisted on kneading the dough, she got into and did it pretty well. We don't require hair nets in our kitchen.

and the finished product. lasagna and fettuccini. I think fresh lasagna noodles makes such a difference and I haven't had any since Italy.

Free is good

Last Friday kids ski free at sundance because they were getting the word out about the cross country ski club. This time I had my niece and since it got pretty tiring towing Charlotte last time, I brought my mom because I didn't want to tow the two little girls. I also wasn't planning on skiing because I was trying to keep it free. Charlotte took off after the older kids and my niece followed so my mom had no choice but to take them on the trail. I am glad she came because I would not have had the patience to teach my niece while trying to keep up with Charlotte. The older kids went off with the club. But it was nice for the kids to get one more session of cross country skiing.

Starting spring out happy

We bought our soil and seeds
Cloe mapped everything out for planting
Tilled the dirt
Marked off the garden
And got it started
Such a happy first day of spring

cross country skiing

I love cross country skiing, you have to try it to understand. It is so peaceful and you are surrounded by such beauty of the winter. During long cold winters, I always have XC skiing to look forward to. But this winter has been very mild so I have been patiently waiting for the trails to open in our local canyon but because of the lack of snow, no such luck. Our local trail are very cheap and perfect for the kids but we have been anxious to go so I sucked it up and took the kids up to the Sundance Resort nordic center. They have high quality equipment and tons of trails. The kids LOVED it. I even got brave and brought Charlotte this time, luckily they have a sled to pull kids in. The kids and I went on a 1 mile loop with Charlotte being towed and a good part of it was up hill then what goes up must go down. I didn't have it in me to pull Charlotte on the trail again so I told the older 3 kids to do the loop and play on the hills while Charlotte put some ski's on and skied at the base. When I pulled her ski's out she could not stop giggling with excitement to try it out like the big kids. She loved it, wasn't so good at going down hill but had a ball.

self portrait towing Charlotte. The sled had pole out front with a little harness in the front that went around my waist.

You now how I said there was also down hill? Well I fell at the bottom. Charlotte was clapping at our speed and the sheer entertainment of watching mom crash.

Abbey

Brody

Charlotte ready to scoot and happy as can be.

random instagram

but I'm thinking a post about Charlotte is more appropriate title. But she is cute and spends everyday all day with me, so what do you expect.

Charlotte with her best friend and cousin, Persayes. We babysit her while her mom is at school but since she splits time between Mom and Dad's house, Charlotte doesn't get to play as much as she would like.

she had to go potty at the kids school and I told her not to touch anything after I put her on the seat cover. I just thought it was a cute photo opp.

"I'm a bad guy"

one of our few beautiful snow days. It has been a sad winter. Warm but sad at the lack of snow

this month's book club book, I recommend it.

family skate night in her own skates.