Happy Birthday Eric!

Eric's birthday was yesterday and I had the best day! I hope he did, too, since it was his birthday!!!! We started the day off by sleeping in (muchly needed) and then we had lunch at Olive Garden where we requested a birthday song (cheesy-I know). He wanted to go to a movie without the girls so we found a sitter and took off running! We were late and I hate missing the beginning of movies. We went to see "21" and we were the first and only ones so the movie hadn't started. Honestly I think we were the only ones in the theatre. I didn't see any other patrons. After picking up the girls we played outside at the park, then to a school meeting where Eric was able to show off his girls. Then dinner at Uno's where upon Kallyn's request they sang to him again. We played "drive as fast as you can to catch mommy" in Hannaford's with the car carts. Kallyn freaked out a little bit when daddy dumped me into the cart, but for the most part they really liked driving fast and dodging the stands in the middle of the aisles. We grabbed a couple of movies from Redbox (Juno and Cloverfield) and headed home. Kallyn watched her hero capture a bumblebee that had found its way in my slippers in the pantry, but for the most part we enjoyed a nice evening at home together. We hardly spent more than 5 minutes apart and it was truly a great day (despite the crummy choice of movies)

Vacuum Fun!

It amazes me how kids can find things so fascinating they can explore the same thing for an hour! You try sucking up things with a vacuum for that long! Alllison finally got brave enough to hold the vacuum hose to vacuum up a mess in her bedroom. This before bedtime and Kallyn was asleep in her bed-an hour later Bug's still experimenting with the suction of the hose and I'm falling asleep! She discovered that long tags on baby dolls make a buzzing sound and if you stick the hose on the dolls head you can actually lift up the doll. She even tried to see what would happen if she put her mouth on it. That is when she decided she was done- but not untill she tried it on mommies face. That's when I decided I was done!!!
No you can't take it to bed with you!





Gotta love that face!



Not sure if that's a great idea Bug!

FHE helps

We have never been great at holding Family Home Evening on a regular basis. I've been searching for ideas of how to keep it a regular thing. It's definately been a struggle for our family with our busy schedules and asking for so much of Eric's time, but we are up to a challenge this summer and hope we can make it a habit. Any ideas or tips would be very useful if anyone would like to leave a comment. But for those in my boat I stumbled upon a website with lesson ideas. http://www.fhelessonswap.blogspot.com/ Check it out!

Stephanie's prom

Stephanie and her BF Mitch. Their school prom was on Conference Saturday so they decided to have their own prom the week after so they could attend their meetings. I wish I had a full length picture of her dress, but it is exactly what I would have liked for the Barrister's Ball. Can you see that it is PURPLE?!!!!

During their evening they were in a car accident. Mitch made a left turn too late and they were hit on her side by a suburban. She and Mitch are OK, but I'm sure it was an awakening for both of them. Heavenly Father was looking out for them. Mitch's car had broken down and there was a miscommunication with the Mechanic shop b/c when they went to pick it up they were closed. My mom suggested that they use her car-a Mitsubishi Gallant. Because of the reinforced doors my sister and Mitch survived the crash. If they were in his tin foil car their chances of survival were slim. Stephanie was bruised a bit and had a few gashes from the glass (she can now have the "Harry Potter" nickname due to the zigzag gash on her forehead), but they are doing fine and moving on. I'm just going to miss that car! I experienced most of my driving in that car. I jumped the curb to kiss the church building once when I was parking for seminary early in the morning. It only cracked the plastic license plate frame. I'm glad that in all my stupidity of a teenager I never totaled the car so that it would be there for Stephanie when she needed it! We all know that I prefer to hug trees now.


Poor car! It was totaled so my mom gets a new car- she's looking for another Gallant.

PS My mom reported that she was able to get all the blood stains out of the dress!!!

I am Elinor Dashwood! Surprise Surprise!

Take the Quiz here!

Good times!

We have definitely had some good times among friends! Our latest GNO was sweet and sad as we said goodbye to our friends who are taking the next step in their life's journey. Larisa, Erin, and Adrienne have finished up the last year of schooling and are fleeing the coop! Taylor was also the first to leave for the summer and thankfully we get her back! So here's the pictures from our last GNO.

Larisa, Becky, Melanie, Me, Dee, Eric, Adrienne, Kylene, and Taylor






Melanie ordered a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Ice cream and this is what she got!
She said she didn't want the whipped cream, but she liked the sauce. When they brought it out to her it looked like it was all sauce! Where's the ice cream? And they forgot the PB cup so they brought her one in the wrapper. We just thought it was so funny!

Thank You Rain!

It rained all week and by the time everyone came over for Halley's baby shower yesteday the snow was melted (except for the huge mountains of snow from the driveway and roads) and the ground is now gooey mud! Oh joy! But it didn't stop everyone from coming and celebrating! And it was nice that there was room enough to park everyone.

Cuddle Bugs

Sometimes Daddy makes the perfect Cuddle Bug, or maybe it's our little Bug who is the perfect Cuddle Bug

Barrister's Ball Group

Here's the group of crazy boogie dancing mormons who know how to have fun without getting drunk!
Back Row: Mike Parsons, Tyson and Michelle Crane, Melanie and Mike Bohn, Casey and Tempe Garner, Pete and Taylor Norseth, McRae and Richard Allen, Gina and Brandt Madsen,
Second Row: Eric and Janalee Fish, Kylene and Todd Pratt
Front and center: Larisa Parsons

Barrister's Ball

Eric's Law School held it's annual Ball last night. I truly felt like a princess! I think it was because I got Eric all to myself thanks to the babysitter! It was so much fun just to hang out with friends and dance. And dance some more! Being cooped up in the house all winter (and we are still having winter here) it really felt great just to be able to move! Thank you Taylor and Larisa for doing my hair and makeup. you did an amazing job!



Here's a few of the good pics we got. I wish we had taken more, but we were busy dancing!





My handsome Prince. He completed my outfit with a wrist corsage, but we forgot to get a picture with it on.











Kylene and Melanie






Me and Taylor








McRae and Richard Allen

1st playday at the park

Sure it is spring on the calendar, but seriously! When will this snow go away? It got up to 52 yesterday so we had our first outside playgroup activity at the White Park accross from the school. It felt so good to be outside again! I wasn't sure how much snow would be under the playground so we dressed up in our skipants and heavy coats, but just the treck accross the mud puddles convinced me that a jacket would have been warm enough.
Kallyn discovered that swings are fun! She has NEVER liked swinging and suddenly she can't get enough of it. She was swinging for so long that when she finally got off she felt a little sick, but as soon as that subsided she was back to the swings.








The snow in our backyard:


FYI We woke up today with an inch of snow on the ground again. Any brown patches in the snow were covered up again. Now it's raining-cold rain I hope it doesn't rain tonight for the Barrister's ball.

BOSTON, MASS

We did a trolly tour of the must see spots in Boston. I wish we had more time to actually tour all the historical spots, but we had fun with the time we had. Well, most of us had fun. Kallyn had a few tantrums, one caught on camera!


The childsize replica of the clock on top of the old state house. They have to set it by hand everyweek because it gets off by about 5 minutes. This shows the kids how they have to climb up to the clock and stick thier head out the little door to see how to set it.


I wish I could bend over backwards like that! This is one of Kallyn's fits.


The Freedom Trail. (the painted red line. in some spots it's a red brick line)


At the Legal Seafood Restaurant. The girls tried Lobster for the first time, they didn't like it. I was dissapointed too. Guess we gotta try in Maine!