This dude:

is a soccer playing MACHINE!  Gooooooo, Jake!

Our Little Miss.

What a cutie pie! Harper will be 2 in a couple of weeks, and she is getting cuter and more fun by the day.  Not every day with Harper is easy, though.  As Dr. Isaacson commented while she threw a massive tantrum in his office a couple of months ago, "She's getting a jump-start on the 2's, huh?"  Yes, that would be our Harper.  FIESTY and independent.  But those will be good qualities one day.  In fact, she is starting to mellow out as she learns to talk and communicate better.  Less frustration is a good thing for her and for us.  Sure, she still freaks out anytime there are crowds around, or even a small group of people.  She screams, "HOSE ME!!!!!!!"  which means "Hold me!"  It cracks me up every single time she says it.  She can say just about everything these days, but my favorite thing is how she ends most phrases with "Mom."  For example, "Sanks, Mom!"  "No way, Mom!"  "Okay, Mama." and so on.  She melts my heart.  My favorite time with Harper is cuddling in bed with her before I lay her in her crib.  She giggles and we sing songs and chit chat.  I sure do love my girl.

Sneaky devil...

We discovered this donut snatcher in the closet...

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bennett turned 10 this year, and I can't believe it.  He was really sad, because all he wanted to do for his birthday was get together with his cousins in Highland, Alexandra and Gabrielle, who we rarely see.  We just couldn't make it happen in time for his birthday, so Bennett was feeling pretty glum on his birthday.  He was being a really good sport about it all, but I could tell he was sad.  You may have noticed that we have lots of fun with birthday parties at our house, so he was bummed that we had nothing planned.  Bwa ha haaaa!!!  Little did he know I had a little trick up my sleeve!  A surprise birthday party with all his buddies!  Amazingly, nothing gave it away, and it was the ultimate surprise!  I sent him over to Natalie's, and she kept him downstairs in the basement playing x-box with Jade until I sent her a text to sent him up to the canal to look for Owen, who had supposedly run away mad.  Ha ha.  Here are all his friends, just waiting with silly string in hand for him to arrive:

Finally we heard him come riding up the street shouting for Owen.  As soon as he reached the canal he was blasted with silly string.  "Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" they all yelled, and he really was surprised.  It was so cute.

There was a lot of silly string involved in this incident.  Like 15 cans or so.

Trying in vain to escape!

The aftermath was a big, fat pain to clean up, but oh so worth it.

Sequoia is one of Bennett's best school friends.

They found a clue up by the canal that led them on an Egyptian-style treasure hunt.  Here they are in the shed, reading the second clue, which led them to...

The treehouse, which led Bennett to...

The roof of the garage!

The kids were waiting for ancient Eyptian relics to be handed out.

Their last clue armed them with flashlights and a map to an ancient Egyptian tomb.  Dun, dun, dunnnn.

The tomb happened to be in the basement of our church!  I don't know if that's church-approved, but I kept it pretty tame just in case.  Here they are in the basement of the church (pitch-black), with their flashlights.

This is the tomb of... some Egyptian king.  There was a mummy and everything, but they just took the treasure and got out of there as fast as they could!

Bennett and his golden treasure...

Only a couple of brave kids stuck around to look at the mummy:  Cole and Aidan Murray.

Spooooookyyyyyyyy!

I had decorated the walls with drawings done in gold paint pen like this:

And other Halloween/ Indiana Jones-ish stuff too:

Here they are dividing up the treasure:

And back home for presents and cake.

Bennett gave Sequoia this Barbie for his birthday, and Sequoia gave it back for Bennett's birthday!  

Jack gave him some cash in a baby diaper.  Yucky!

The lone girl at the party...

Bridger Michaelson and Bennett share the same birthday!

The 3 Amigos from school:  Mitch, Bennett and Seek.

And Bennett's choice for dinner:  Texas Roadhouse.  Yummy!

I'm in love with these pics of Finn!

Bennett's favorite gift was this monkey puppet.  It just makes me so happy.  Maybe because I just watched "Being Elmo."

Happy birthday to our amazing boy, Bennett!  We love you so much!

St. Patty's Day, 2012, or Girls' Night Out with a Family Interlude

What a fabulous night out with my lady friends!  These are girls I've known for years and years, from different times in my life, and who have helped make me who I am.  No, seriously.  College roommate, ward member, neighbor, former fellow YW leader, teacher of my children... the list is impressive.  Each one of these women is rock solid, and I am beyond blessed to have such amazing friends.

We went to Celtic Night together, but first!  Dinner at the Bluebird. We were missing a couple of key people.  Brittney met us at the performance, and Jen was with her family, since her daughter, Naomi was dancing in the show.  We missed them!

Julie Kirby, Rose Judd-Murray, Chris Anderson, Rachel Murray, and Mary Darnell.

How I love these ladies! 

 Julie and Rose are some of the funniest gals I know.  Having them in the same room was beyond entertaining.  There was much laughing this night.

I left dinner a little early to watch Bennett perform in his spring piano recital.  He played "The Golden Gate Bridge" and "Largo."  He had both pieces perfectly memorized and did great.  He was so confident and happy.  We were really proud.  Way to go, Bennett!

After Bennett's performance I ran next door to the Ellen Eccles Theater to watch Celtic Night with the lady friends.  Here is Naomi Pitcher, Jen and Kory's gorgeous daughter, after the show.  Naomi has been dancing for a few years now, and is doing GREAT.  She is so petite and so graceful.  Watching the little girls dance is one of my favorite parts of the show.

Walking to our cars took some time.  Because we had to stop and tell stories for about an hour or more of course.  What a great night out.  Love you, my friends!