March 25th, My 30th Birthday!!!

30!

Well, my sweet husband and family went all out to make the big 3-0 special for me this year. They succeeded. It was really a great day. I woke up after 8:00 (yes, that is amazing.) Nate had told his boss that he'd be into work late so that I could sleep in.

Then mom and dad brought a delicious breakfast of hot chocolate, croissants, and sausage over.

Livy got to eat small pieces of left-over pancake for her breakfast. (She's eating and loving so much now!!!)
Nate had all of these presents downstairs and he had Claire bring them up. You can for sure tell this is a Claire arrangement because of how the presents are all lined up! So adorable and so Claire-like. Nate got me a lot of fun kitchen things. I got a cutting board, new spoons, new dish towels and wash-cloths, a bread slicer, and new recipe cards. He's so cute.
Mom and Dad went in with Nate on this gorgeous painting of Christ for me. It is the Minerva Teichert one of Christ holding the black sheep. (I'm not sure exactly what the message was that they were trying to tell me.:)
My sweet kids helped me make my cake! Nate and Nanny both offered, but Claire really wanted to make a chocolate cake with me. A few days before when I asked Claire what kind of cake we should make, she said, "Well, I want chocolate." Then she paused for two minutes and said, "But....I guess you can choose since it's your birthday." Thanks Claire....I choose chocolate, too!
A picture that Claire took of me......
Don't ask why the incredulous look on my face.......I'm not sure. Nate took me to the very chic Thai house in Rexburg. :) As Nate aptly described it, "It makes you think you're in Thailand, but for all of the wrong reasons." Some of these may be the nasty bathrooms, the bright yellow paint and horrid tile, and the posters stuck to the walls with silver duct tape. Hilarious. The food, however, is delicious and worth it!!!



I was starting to think that Nate's family had forgotten my birthday, but then we pulled up to my house after dinner and all of their cars were there. The little sneak. I walked in to a surprise house-full of family. It was so awesome to see everyone there.
Two cute grandmas and two cute babies...
The cake (Sarah's decadent recipe) that the kids and I made. Mom had also made a bunch of amazingly delicious cupcakes and brought them over.



The sweetest man on Earth....he's so amazing and I'm so lucky!!!
Dantzel did not know what to think of my dad's mustache. I don't blame her one bit. :)
So glad I got this picture since Lindz and Jeff announced that they were moving to California the next Thursday. :(
My beautiful, sweet momma!!!
We were taking these pictures late at night and Nate was breaking his arm off, holding the camera. It was quite entertaining and also extremely hard to get a picture that worked!!!
I also have to mention the sweet cards from Alissa, Lindz, and Michelle.....and the awesome gift certificates to Costa Vida from Mom and Dad Allen, and the calls from my brothers who actually remembered. Plus my kids were so dang cute and excited. Thanks to everyone! It was a great day, and a great 30 years!

All things bed+St. Patrick's Day

Asleep in Bed

So the other night, in the middle of the night, I was awake. Surprise, surprise. Yes, I had been up with Livy and I walked past Christian's room to see this: Adorable. I love how his hands were while he was sleeping.

This is the same picture, but I turned on my flash because the ISO on my camera does not do great with low light. :(
I had to take a picture of this to document how Livy Divy always falls asleep. There is quite the system. She has to be holding one of her little stuffed animal blanket things. (I don't know what they are: they're a little blanket with a head.) Then she also has to have her Nemo fish and her mobile music turned on. I have to keep going in and turning the music on her mobile about 4 times before she's out. She almost always has one of these things covering her face so I have to move it! So cute.
Bedhead.

This is pretty a typical morning look for Livy. It can get pretty wild!

Pretty nice "do" there, Livy.

Bedtime.

This is my awesome husband reading bedtime stories to my kids. He read somewhere that kids will be better readers if their dad reads to them, so he makes a point of doing it. Plus, he enjoys it. I love that guy!!!

I just love seeing this. This baby absolutely adores her siblings.


St. Patrick's Day

Cutest little boy. He always cracks us all up.
A pretty typical pose from these two.

These guys are the best of friends. They do everything together and I love it!
They had to wear green on St. Patty's Day for Preschool.

Basketball Tournament

Claire's little dance group performed for the half-time show of one of the basketball games at this tournament. They are so cute and she is such a good little dancer. (These shots are actually from a previous performance.)



























Grandpa, Dave and James playing hard. Nate really wanted to play in this tournament, but he hurt his knee hiking Table Rock in snow shoes the weekend before with Grandpa, James, and Uncle Todd. (These pictures are from our new little point-and-shoot that doesn't take great pictures but is super convenient.)






















All the kids were running like crazy around the track. It's so fun to be so close to cousins!!! We also had the scare of our lifetimes!

On the other side of the bleachers where we were sitting, the bleachers were folded up. The kids decided to go open the gate and try to go down them. It was like a 30 foot death-drop onto a hard, gym floor. If a kid had fallen, it would've killed them. And of course my little Christian was about to lead them all like little lemmings off of a cliff. "Oh, no." Pop!

I jumped up, screaming their names and ran over as fast as I could. I explained very sternly that kids could not go through that gate because they would die. I think I sufficiently freaked them out, but my legs felt like jello for 15 min after that, I was so scared. Later Christian sweetly smiled up at me and said, "Remember, mom. We can't go over to that side cause we'll DIE!" I guess he got the point.














The whole clan enjoying the basketball games! I think everyone but Hailee and Derek (and baby girl) was there.











Cute picture of Lindz!


















Me and my cute boy!










Claire and cousin Dawson were having a blast!















Alissa and Meieli








We all had a ton of fun watching basketball, seeing family and eating treats!!!

Grandpa's Birthday, Cousin Rowan, and games with Grandma and Grandpa

Happy 52nd Birthday to Grandpa! Here are some cute kids enjoying cake with him!

Thank you Grandma (and Dairy Queen) for the delicious ice-cream cake for Grandpa's birthday!
Here's everyone hanging out, talking, and looking at really hot pictures from old photo albums! :)

Grandpa and Livy-Divy with her wild, after pig-tails hair!Lindz with her sleeping growth, Dantzel. :)
A pensive-looking Nate.

Cousin Rowan.

Here are just a few shots of Rowan for his 2 month old pictures. There were a ton of cute ones, but here are just a few. I will have everyone know that just before the pictures, I got 2 real smiles from him!! Adorable. We'll try to capture those smiles by his 4 month pics. :)
I love the look of adoration on Alissa's face.



Grandma, Grandpa, and Trever came over to play games. They mostly ended up doing puzzles, watching Veggie Tales "Lord of the Beans," and talking about Dad's greenhouse. It was a ton of fun. This is Grandma and Claire (and Trever's hand) doing puzzles. Two beautiful girls. I love this picture!
Grandpa with the kiddos.
I love this one of Livy and Grandpa! It's so sweet.