The destroyer

While Miya and Cannon were helping in the kitchen with the dishes Lyla was busy in another room making the disaster. She is amazingly quiet for pulling things down and out of places. I don't know if you can tell, but in one on the pictures she is finding vaseline and managed to get the lid off. That is when I finally came in the room, because she was laughing so hard as she wiped it everywhere. She is super cute, but quite the little handful right now. I am going to Provo on a sisters outing this weekend and I wish Phil the best of luck with all the kids. We will let you know how it goes.

Spring

So we bought this house in the winter and it is just really fun to see how pretty it is in the spring. I love being outside and even walking the garbage to the road this morning I got these pictures. We have been cleaning out gardens and taking down the dog run and house and still have a ton to do in the yard. Washington is the best during spring and summer. You should all come and visit!!!

Hammers

I took my kids to the hardware store and the lady gave them aprons and wood and asked if we had a hammer for some nails. Phil took them out and let them play around with it. We only had one small injury and it was Cannon getting Miya's finger. I thought that was pretty good for the first real adventure with a hammer.

Long Week

This is how we spent most of last week with the kids. Lyla was sick all week with ear infections and then we found out that she has an allergy to the medication so nothing was getting better. We have since changed her medication so she is sooooo much better. She couldn't walk because she was dizzy from her ears and cried as she stumbled around, it was sad. The last picture shows how we all really felt about the week. I am so glad to be up off the sofa and have a happy baby back. Good thing Lyla had her blanket and fingers last week. They were the only things that got us by!!!

Another Saturday

So this past Saturday Phil and I went up to Seattle to do a little work on the houses we are trying to sell. We thought (actually I thought) we should paint part of the garage doors to give a little more dimension to the house. We were about two hours into it when we noticed that the two doors are not the same size and I was trying to paint all the squares on the doors dark gray. It was super hard to tap everything off and paint a large part of the one door then we moved on to the next and realized this door was half a square smaller and wouldn't work. It was awesome and we were super happy about waisting so much time just to end up with a small corner line on the trim. It was nice to have to get more white paint just to cover all the work we had just done. I love selling houses!! Always so much fun to work on Saturdays and not see very much results. I am pretty sure I had more of the dark paint on my hand then ended up on the garage.

MY DAD!

Well, today I went in for a colonoscopy and had a lot of time to reflect on the life of my father. Many of you don't know him, but he is a wonderful man. He is the perfect father, a great teacher and super positive person. He is the man that everyone wants to be friends with, because he makes you a better person just hanging around him.
I remember times in my life where I didn't think "what would Jesus do?" I guess my testimony was still growing, but I thought, "what if my dad found out?" It almost always scared me into doing the right thing. Not because my dad would yell and scream at me or punish me, but because I did not want to disappoint my dad! He was a teacher at the high school and he knew everyone and all their parents (we only had 400 kids at the high school).
When I was in 7th grade my dad got colon cancer. It was a super scary time for me and I was super mad at my dad. I think I got mad at him, because it made it easier for me to prepare for him to be gone if he was going to die. I can look back and understand the faith my dad had, but at the time I wasn't so sure. He was super sick and I remember times when I am sure he wished he was dead, but he NEVER complained! He had the cancer return just before my Junior year of high school. Again, the same story of faith and fight in my dad. I know that he has lived with the hurt and change cancer has brought with a smile and allowance to learn something from all of this. He has raised his daughters to be faithful and trust in the Lord.
As I laid in the room waiting for the nurse to come get me for the scope, I thought I guess if I had to get a rotten colon I couldn't have gotten it from a better man, and I hope that I have received many of the other great things from my dad. Everything was fine with the scope and I don't have to do it again for another 5 years, but I did gain an appreciation of some of the things my dad has lived with (needless to say it was the easy stuff, although that laxative was nasty!!!)
My dad is the person they wrote the song, "My Daddy is My Favorite Pal." about. I guess that is the reason I cry every time I hear the primary sing that song.
I LOVE YOU DAD!

Spring

We are waiting and waiting for the sun to decide to come out and warm up the earth here in Seattle. We have been trying to fill our time with activities inside, but as this picture tells we are all going a little crazy. My children need some vitamin D and color to their skin.

This week will be a little crazy with the colonoscopy on Thursday and mixed up preschool days, but then we are hoping to get outside and clean the gardens out and get our vegetable garden ready for planting. The kids are excited about the seeds they got from Nana and I will be happy to have some fresh produce out in the yard.

General Conference was great this weekend and I always feel loved and appreciated when I am reminded of the importance of women and mothers raising their children. We also got to spend time with great friends and it is always nice to see the Eckmans.

Canoe

Phil took all the kids out last night on a little canoe ride and they loved it. We are really excited about summer and the warmth of the sun. The weather has been crazy here and super cold for April so we are just getting prepared for the sun. Lyla loves being outside and Cannon loves playing in the rocks and sand.