Spring is Here

Easter this year was a lot of fun.  This is the very first Easter Sunday picture that I have ever taken with my kids.  We took it after church and I made Tyler get back in his church clothes but we finally took one.

Easter morning.

Payton insisted on changing into her Easter dress before she started the easter egg hunt.

Cooper helping daddy build a dresser.  Cutest thing ever.

I've lived in Utah for about 10 years now and this is the very first year I've been to the tulip festival.  It was so pretty.  

Payton's new obsession is taking pictures with my phone.  I came out from my room and she had found our family camera and took this picture of me.  Not bad for a 3 year old right?

So I decided to take a picture of her taking a picture of me.

Her are some more of her work.

She even figured out how to change it to black and white.

Enjoying the sun..

This is the only picture I took on our first hike of the season.  Of course no one is looking but me. Payton was afraid a fly was going to land on her and Cooper was concerned.

Cooper turns 1

On Cooper's birthday Tyler was out of town and Cooper was sick to top it off so after birthday pancakes we spent the day cuddled up on the couch.

A few weekends later we celebrated with a day at the zoo and a little dinner and dessert celebration with family.

He loved pointing at every animal he saw.

This is how Cooper looks 80% of the time.  Thumb in mouth and hand playing with his hair.  It is so adorable.

And....he demolished it.  Every last bite.

Happy Birthday Cooper.  We sure love you.

Top 5 - April 2016

Payton Millie

 3 Years 10 Months

1 - This girl LOVES to take pictures.  I always seem to "lose" my phone only to find it later with a ton of random new photos on it.  We went to the Tulip Festival and she took so many pictures.  I think I'm going to get her a small little digital camera for her birthday.

2- We bought Payton a balance bike for her for Christmas in 2014.  She didn't really take to it and for al long time only wanted to ride her scooter around, but this month she has risen her bike almost every sunny day we have had.  She is getting so fast and she lifts both feet up and can balance really well.  This seriously was the best invention ever.  No more training wheels fiasco....well hopefully.  

3 - I've got to be really careful with what songs are on the radio when we are driving in the car because she remembers EVERY word of the songs she hears.  

4 - Payton loves to draw pictures and she insists on using a pen.  Not crayons, not colored pencils but a pen.  She draws the most intricate pictures and she spends about 20 minutes on one picture.  She is definitely a perfectionist.  

5 - As of late Payton has started eating really really well.  She will choose a bowl of carrots over a fruit snack.  What?!?  She love to go over and "help" grandma with her garden.   More like eat grandma's garden.  She will pull out carrots and radishes and wipe them off so she can eat them right there.  She also pulls off leaves of her lettuce plants and just eats it plain.  She is my little vegetarian.  Cooper on the other hand.....

Cooper Seth

12 Months

1 - This boy can EAT.  But I can count on maybe two hands the things he will eat.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, toast, cheese, yogurt, peas, raspberries, blackberries, smoothies and chex cereal.   I sneak veggies in anything I can.  I even sneak avocados into his yogurt.

2 - Cooper has 4 teeth all the way in and 3 more on their way.  

3 - He loves to wave, clap his hands, splash in the tub, dance and point at EVERYTHING.  Anytime he gets upset or sad I know that as long as I start singing the wheels on the bus everything will be okay.  

4 - I can finally say confidently that he sleeps through the night.  It was 11 hard months of not sleeping, but now he sleeps like a champ.  He take two really good naps during the day and sleeps from 7:30-7:30 or 8.  It is glorious.

5 - While driving in the car Payton and Cooper think it is hilarious to scream back and forth at each other.  Unfortunately now Cooper does it randomly by himself.  Specifically at church.  During sacrament.  It's awesome. 

DIY Mudroom

So I have always wanted a built in mudroom in my house and in this house there is the PERFECT

spot for it right behind the garage door.

Most of everything we used came from IKEA (the best DIY store ever).

STOLMEN open storage: $60

EKBY shelf: $32

4 HEMNES hooks: $20

Furniture Legs: $15

You don't need to add the legs to the open storage bench but we have an HVAC vent underneath right where we want it so we needed to raise it.  Ty simply marked and screwed each leg on the base of the IKEA unit.

While he was doing that I started painting the wall white (with leftover paint that was left in our basement) where we were planning on installing the wood trim.

The only other materials you need to buy are white wood trim.  

17 feet of 4″ Trim – They sell this in 18 ft Length for under $15 (The lengths I used were: 2 lengths at 5 feet, 1 length at 40″ & 1 length at 3 feet for a total of just under 17′; they will cut these for you if you have your exact measurements – you will have to take into account what height you want your shelf and what you have or will be using for baseboard)

3 feet of 6″ Trim – This is the piece that the hooks go on so I decided to use a wider trim. You could use the 4″ trim if you’d like, or go even bigger.

Home Depot: Spent $35

Total Cost: $162

My husband started by using finishing nails to secure the trim but it wasn't secure enough for our liking so he used drywall screws which we will have to cover and paint (this has been finished for 2 months and I have yet to cover and finish painting the screws and trim which will honestly take 20 minutes max)

Oh and a while ago we bought this awesome leveler that has a red laser.  Best $40 we've ever spent.   This is a game changer when it comes to hanging pictures too.

In this picture you can see all the screws and nails.  I really need to get around to finishing it.