Emma's 5th Birthday

My Emma is now 5 years old. I can hardly believe it! She was absolutely devastated when she learned that I would not be home on her birthday! So, she milked it while I was gone. She asked for DONUTS for breakfast, was taken out to lunch at Burger King (I'm sure she claims it is her favorite because it's the closest playland), and got pizza for dinner. Other than that, she really wasn't picky. She saw a cupcake maker after Christmas and had been wanting it ever since. It is so fitting for a girl who loves Strawberry Shortcake dolls named after yummy sweets to then want a cupcake maker! I will admit the frosting dispenser does not swirl the frosting like it should; however, she can cook a cupcake in 30 seconds in the microwave and that is pretty close to instant dessert, which is HEAVEN for her. :)

She also did not want a party this year, only a date with Mom and Dad--and it had to be fancy! She wanted to make sure that it was a place we had to dress up for and that served steak.

Here's Emma in her fancy dress, her Fancy Nancy shoes, Fancy Nancy sunglasses, Fancy Nancy purse, and her hair like Fancy Nancy.

She told me numerous times how much she liked my jewelry. I guess that goes on the list for next year.

Emma and her dad were inseparable. I really was the 3rd wheel--which was fine with me. She was eating it up...as was he. Notice the cocked foot in this pose. :)

We ended up in fun downtown Naperville at Tango's Argentinian Grill, known for the longest steak in the world. It did not disappoint!On our walk to the restaurant, Emma spotted a Coldstone and couldn't keep her eyes off of it. As we were going by, she stopped us in our conversation and said, "Dad, I want to go there for dessert!" At least she knows what she wants. The flavor of choice happened to be cotton candy with peanut M&Ms.
The funnest part of the night was watching the people's reactions around us. We heard no less than 20 comments about how pretty she was, what a cutie she was, how beautiful she looked tonight, Oh what a special night this must be, etc. It was true, she did look beautiful, and it was a special night for a special girl. I'm sure the onlookers had no idea what a treat it truly is to have undivided attention in our house from both parents. She loved receiving it and we loved giving it. I'm excited to have a repeat of our date soon. We love you, Emma!

Meet me in St. Louis

My children were devastated after discovering that we'd be gone for the first 1/3 of spring break and then dentist appointments were the only thing on the schedule. So, we decided to go to St. Louis, Missouri to visit my sister, Mandi, and her family and see the sights. Because of timing and unavailability of tickets at convenient times, we did not actually get to go up INSIDE the arch; however, we did get to visit the beautiful park surrounding it and the museum about Lewis and Clarke hidden underneath the arch.


Here is an instructional station to learn how to place your hand on the ball to throw the numerous types of pitches. I had no idea there were that many! My hand physically could not hold the ball for an extended amount of time in certain positions. OUCH! I'll stick to basketball.

These are original stadium chairs from a LONG time ago.


My cuties by the arch.

Here we are leaning against the arch. Shiny, huh! Lizzie liked that part.

A new perspective...

Braxton pointing to where Percy Jackson must have jumped from the arch. My boys LOVED the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In the book, (not the movie) Percy is getting attacked by a chamera in the St. Louis arch and has to escape by jumping out of a window and landing in the Mississippi River. Quite unbelievable, but heroes do unbelievable things!

My beautiful baby

Peek-a-boo

My other beauty

We were told that if we were in St. Louis, we HAD to try Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. It made it onto 2 Food Network shows, so Steve was more than willing to try it. Plus, he's gone for 8 weeks without sugar and was ready to take the plunge on something newsworthy. The concoction lived up to the hype. There had to be no less than 50 people standing at the ordering window. The workers never write anything down (a trademark) and got everything correct. Service was quick and the frozen custard was AMAZING! We went back again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. :)

Here's the gang patiently waiting for their dessert.

Another "must see" was the free zoo. Another great event. It was packed! Steve and Uncle Ryan walked 45 minutes each way to find us a parking place after dropping us off. I guess all of St. Louis goes to the zoo on Good Friday! We still enjoyed ourselves, saw some new animals, and got to see our cute kids discover and learn more about the animal kingdom.

I love Lizzie's face here.

And I love my cute nephew, Max! He's so huggable!

The elephants were great. Emma was really bothered that he left his poop right there for all to see. He was too distracted by the itch on his back foot, I guess.

"Brothers don't shake, brothers hug." Tommy Boy

Max has a thing for puddles and he loved every splash. He was in heaven!

The underwater viewing of the hippos was REALLY cool. Their size astounds me--and Evan, too.

Carter is one of my animals.

Emma is always ready for a photo shoot. Anytime. Any place.

I never could get out of her what secrets she was telling Chris, her cousin. Hmmmm.

This is a tattoo that Chis got WEEKS ago and has not let my sister wash off until his cousins could see it. He is so cool.

Carter eventually got in trouble by a zoo staff member, but sure had fun while he was breaking the rules and splashing those around him. Shocker! I was trying to capture the droplets of water and the smile with my camera, so I was too busy to tell him to stop. My bad.

Awwwwww!

Do they have to grow up?

After the zoo and swinging in the front yard, we went to our hotel for a little swim. It was a nice, warm pool, my favorite. The kids had a great time until...Carter got some wire stuck in his foot. Steve thinks it was from a wire brush they use to clean and scrub the pool with. Needless to say, it took tweezers, hand squeezing, and the hotel manager to get involved, but everything was fine in the end and his tetanus shot was still current.

He survived, but barely. Can you tell?




Next on the itinerary was a science museum. They had lots of exhibits about space and the construction of the arch. The big kids liked building them, the little kids like pushing them over.

Here was a technology exhibit. Every number pad had a different tone, so you could make a song with how you jumped on the hopscotch.

Dinosaurs are always fun, especially life-size.

LIzzie was reaching out to touch someone. Creepy.

Emma got to touch a tornado.


Outside was another fun exhibit/playground.




We sent the old men (including Braxton) off to Priesthood sesson and Mandi and I kept the little ones busy doing Easter crafts. First was "eggs in a nest". We made nests out of rice krispie treats and then the kids put jelly beans in them for the eggs. Then...you get to eat them!

Here are the eggs we died using sponge painting--a new technique I've never tried before. Fun and different.

These were to help protect the clothing.


This picture shows my favorite part--getting to hang out with my sister. She is a talented, faithful, intelligent, loyal, and strong woman whom I admire and adore. I love her humor. I love her humility. I love her. She makes me laugh and has more faith in me than I have in myself. I am so glad that I could share her birthday with her. Thanks, Mandi, for a great weekend! I hope we can get together again!

March Madness 2010

I have amazing parents. They are so fun, young and lively. How many parents out there make it a tradition to go to March Madness every year? Well, my mom lives for it! She claims it's the only time that you can go to an event at a huge venue and never have to wait in line for the women's restroom, but the line for the guys goes out the door. Nice. Anyways...because the Sweet 16 was in SLC, UT, those are the games we got to see. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Julene (and Lorilyn) stayed with my kids to allow Steve and I the opportunity watch some of the most UNBELIEVABLE basketball games OF ALL TIME! We saw Thursday's Butler and Kansas St. wins and and then Saturday's Butler win. Each game got better and better. We had a great time hanging out with my family. I was the only one without my kids there, which was weird and I missed them terribly, but I got over it as I had a break from making lunches and cleaning up after the kids for a few days. :)

Here's the bunch who watched the Saturday game.

We all went to Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum, which left me pleasantly surprised!

Wade was examining the bone structure--what, like he's a radiologist or something!

Kaelene in all of her dramatic glory acting like a dinosaur.

Elise was so cute checking herself out and then seeing if everyone else was seeing her cuteness.

Two cutie cousins.

I guess skeletons came after the dinosaurs. ;P

Friday, we went the the Church's Art Museum. Wow! I loved it. It was quite interesting!
This is my favorite picture of the trip!

Jesus wants my mom for a sunbeam!

Max is taking it easy in the Terrestrial kingdom.

Kaelene cuddling the animals.

Max saw the error of his ways and is holding on to the Iron Rod. :)

Connor loves the power of the podium.

Being from Elko, my parents do not like long lines. So, instead of trying out the new In N Out, we went to Five Guys instead. It was delicious, cured the hunger, kid-friendly, and again, I didn't have to do dishes. Win! Win!

Kaelene is so fun to take pictures of! What a tongue!

The Gang!

Utah comes with some nice amenities, like seeing extended family...

My Grandpa and Grandma Alleman came up to my parents' new condo to see all of us.
Aren't they cute?!

This is my Uncle Von. Since I was little, he's always been cool. He can spin a basketball on his middle finger and not get in trouble and nobody messes with you when you're 6'10"!!! I don't know how he keeps his status even though he's old. :) He's so fun and mellow with a great laugh. Plus, he looks a lot like my dad, which means he gets better looking as he ages.

I wish I could've gotten one of my Aunt Kris, too. She looks terrific and as always, made us scrumdillyumptious caramel corn. I love her cuz she's so kind and sweet to me.

So, pictured below is Steve. He continued to sneak out of the condo for a wifi signal so that he could work every day. He did try to catch up a bit on his sleep since he didn't have to wake up for seminary!!!

On Saturday, it wasn't SNOWING, so we went for a stroll to a park.

Chris cracks me up because he gives me this look ALL the time. I think he really does like me, but he's never quite sure.

Honestly, could Kaelene be any cuter?

While the 6 of us got to go to the Saturday game, my dad and Wade watched all the kids.....

and Mom and I went out on the town. Lunch was at Gandolfo's--a great New York deli.

Then, we went to see Legally Blonde at the Capitol Theater. We both enjoyed the movie, but would never recommend the play. There were a lot of innuendos and themes and phrases that made us uncomfortable. Overall, it was nice just being together.

Sunday and Monday we spent with Steve's parents and extended family. They had quite the shin-dig at David & Donna's for their Easter dinner. There had to be 50-60 people there! So fun to see everyone again! Steve with Grandma Jex--the matriarch of the family.

Steve with his parents. We sure wish the distance wasn't so far. It was great seeing so many we love! What a whirlwind! Til we meet again.....