Lyla's dance & random updates

Lyla had another dance performance in February and her group performed two songs. She loves getting all dressed up and is always talking about when her next "formance" is. Here are a few shots: 

 Lyla's best friend Allie from across the street is in the same dance class and they have so much fun together!

 Another good friend Brecklee

 Marie is another fun friend from our ward and she's in a different class but they perform together.

 Lyla had this funny, fake smile plastered on her face the whole time- I think she was trying not to touch her lips together because she didn't want to mess up her lip gloss- silly girl!

 Lyla loves doing their "Footloose" dance. She and Trevor practice at home all the time.

 Lyla had a huge fan club- my parents, Josh & Alisha & Ruth, Jared & Allison, Tyson and Cassidy all came to watch her and hang out with us for the weekend. We discovered that our little house can sleep 13 people- everyone was a good sport about not having their own rooms and sleeping on air mattresses. We had a great weekend eating, laughing, chatting.

 Lyla is very proud of the medal she got for participating

 So proud of my sassy, sweet little girl!

All dressed up for church- Nana did her hair so the curls actually stayed in.

 We walked around the temple after church- it was a warm winter day and felt nice to get some fresh air.

 Aunt Cass is the best- so much fun!!

We went thru a Cinderella kick and had to dress up in all of the outfits that she wears in the book. This was the cleaning outfit we came up with and then Lyla kept asking me (the stepmother) what chores she should do. It was great!!

 Any chance he gets, Trevor steals Lyla's toys and gets so excited. He found her giraffe, bear and Rapunzel doll and carried them around, squeezing them so tight.

Lyla begged all winter to make a snowman, so one day when we received new snow, Paul came home early to build one with her. Trevor wasn't too interested in the snow but loved riding the 4-wheeler around. 

Paul and Lyla tried hard, but the snow just wasn't good for packing. They did have a fun snowball fight though!

                                    

Lyla wanted to ride on a sled but we don't have one, so Paul came up with one of his creative ideas and used an extension cord to pull her on one of her bikes. He got some good exercise and she loved it- even when she fell in the snow!

Trevor needed a turn and he enjoyed it too.

One Sunday we had a lesson on Jonah & the whale and then we acted it out in the bathtub with some toys. We then went back to the living rm to finish our lesson and after a minute we heard a splash. Poor Trevor wanted to play with the water some more and had slipped right in. Luckily he was ok, just scared and really wet- poor boy. 

 We've been cleaning our house a lot trying to get it ready to sell and usually the kiddos have wanted to use all of the cleaning supplies I have out. One day I was trying to clean the walls but they wanted everything, so I sat on the couch and did my scripture reading while they did all the cleaning. What good kids!

 Cute new valentine's day pjs- Trevor still loves his Monkeys pjs and gets so excited when he gets to wear them.

Life definitely hasn't gotten any easier as they have gotten older, but they are so fun and I love each day. They do sweet, funny things frequently enough that I forget all of the screaming, whining, disobedient moments. Good thing they are both such cute little troublemakers!! :)

Lyla has an announcement...

I guess it's time to official announce that I'm pregnant!! I'm 19 weeks along and Lyla was thrilled when we found out today that it will be another girl! For months she's been talking about dressing the new baby in cute dresses and bows. We are so excited to add to our family and although most days I feel completely overwhelmed with my two little darlings, they are the world to me and bring me so much happiness and I am excited to get to know another special child of God. I had a few problems in the beginning with bleeding and bad stomach pain so I feel very blessed that everything is going well. This pregnancy has reminded me what a miracle every birth is and I feel so grateful that I have been able to go thru 2, and hopefully soon 3, successful pregnancies. The due date is August 8th which is the very date that Paul will be starting his MBA program at ASU in Tempe, AZ. We have a lot on our minds these days and lots to do in the next five months, but at least we won't be bored!! :)

Trip to Marysville

We had a great visit to Washington to visit Paul's family last week! The kids had a blast playing with everyone and showing off. Grandma got some good Trevor snuggles.

Lyla loves doing funny faces

We visited the Aquarium in Seattle and Lyla loved touching the starfish.

It was so fun to also spend some time with my sister & best friend. Jeanne is such an example to me- such an amazing mother, wife, and friend. We had so much fun exercising, shopping, and eating ice cream. Our favorite moment was walking into a spinning class and seeing the instructor almost faint as she saw two pregnant ladies trying to get on the bikes.

 Sweet Lyla and Kaitlyn holding hands while we walked around. Sometimes they fight like crazy but I love when they are acting like best friends.

 We had some crazy moments with our five kids, but it was fun to see them playing together.

Grandma came with us to the children's museum and both kids loved playing.

 Trevor's favorite part was the train section. He kept escaping and running back to watch them go around and around.

 The kids loved watching movies with Grandma. From the moment that Trevor woke up, he would look for the Tangled DVD case and say "neigh" while he pointed to the t.v.- his favorite part of the movie is the horse. When we finally gave in to his whining he would motion for us to lift him to the couch where he would pull the soft blanket around him and settle in with sucking his thumb. Such a cute, silly boy!

 We went bowling as a family- it was Lyla's first time and she loved rolling the ball. It would go so slowly that it took forever for it to get to the pins, but each time it finally did she would get so excited. And then when the machine swept the rest of the pins away, she would cheer and say "I knocked them all down!"

 Grandpa was really busy with work but luckily we were able to spend some time with him on the weekend.

 Lyla especially loved being silly with him.

Not the best picture, but Lyla spent hours coloring. She has suddenly developed a love for coloring and she is very detail oriented. She spends a long time on each page and is actually really good at coloring in the lines- even when she isn't using color-wonder markers :)

Cute Lyla at church: it was stake conference and amazingly the kids did really well. Trevor didn't have to be taken out for the first hour which is huge for him!

 Lyla loved tickling Ben, and he was a good sport. She also spent a lot of time playing with Justin while he was home for the weekend. He bought her a little pony to play with, helped her make cookies, and even made 4 cookies that spelled out her name. I'm glad she bonded so quickly after a year away, we definitely wish we could visit more often!