I love to see the Temple...

We have lived in Florida for nearly 3 years now and we have never taken the kids to go visit the Temple. This weekend we told them we had a special surprise for them and took them to the Orlando Temple. We had so much fun walking around the Temple grounds enjoying the beautiful flowers, weather, greenery, and water fountains! :) It was a good opportunity to teach Madison and Hyrum, once again, the importance of temples and the happy feeling we get when we are at the Temple. We are so grateful that there is a temple close enough to be able to make a family trip! It was a wonderful day!

The water fountains were a BIG hit with the kids.

Mommy and the kiddos.

Madison and Hyrum in front of the Temple.


The kids enjoyed walking on the grass trying to find the "holy" lizards- since we were at the Temple. Such a fun day to remember!

Easter

Our family had a wonderful time enjoying General Conference and Easter on the same weekend! We decided to do most of our Easter traditions in the morning so we could focus the rest of the day on the true meaning of Easter.

We had a very relaxed morning and decided to get ready and dressed up for the occassion before hunting for our baskets. Madison and Hyrum, of course, HAD to wear their boots! :)


It didn't take Hyrum very long to find his basket. And boy, was he excited about his very own bubble gum eggs! :)

We made Madison's basket a little harder to find, but she was very diligent and she found it. Yay!

Hyrum trying to figure out how to spin his toy top.

I don't think Madison could be any more excited about her Princess coloring book. It was right up her ally!

Madison and Hyrum then went out to find all the Easter eggs that were waiting for them. They were so cute helping each other find eggs.

Checking out the goods...


Traditional egg fight we had to end our perfect Easter!

Pizza My Heart

Friday nights are always pizza nights around our house. The Friday before Valentine's Day we decided to make a heart shaped pizza to celebrate the occasion. The kids always have a lot of fun helping me decorate the pizza with toppings. Madison and Hyrum were being particularly goofy this night and I was so glad I got to catch it all on camera. They are so much fun!





After the pizza came out of the oven we used heart shape cookie cutters for our pizza slices. We loved it!


And I sure do LOVE my kids!!

We've got mail!

One of the things that make Hyrum and Madison's day is mail. ESPECIALLY when its from Grandma. Grandma was so nice to send these kids a package for Valentine's day, and they were ECSTATIC!

These kids were in heaven with all their goodies. We love you Grandma!

Two Little Monkeys...

Madison and Hyrum LOVE to have sleepovers during the weekend. One night Cory went in to tuck them in and called out, "Aub, do you know where the kids are?" My heart skipped a beat- or two!- and I replied that they should be in their BEDS. They weren't- and they weren't in Hyrum's room either. We looked in their closets, no sign of them. Then Cory thought to look under Madison's bed. And lo and behold- there they were!- with flashlights in hand. I guess they wanted to "camp out".
Both of them were fast asleep under the bed. Before we put them in their beds, we had to take a picture of them. I was talking to Madison about it the next morning and she told me, "Mommy, you didn't have to worry, I stuck out my foot at the end of the bed so you could see us." Oops- I guess I didn't catch that part of the game. I love my funny little monkeys! :)

Our Own Little "Mini Cooper"

I have finally gotten up enough energy to catch up on the blogging... a little bit.



Madison and Hyrum are proud to announce that they will be a big sister (again!) and big brother. (Mommy and Daddy are pretty excited too!)
Madison and I have had some pretty serious conversations about her new baby brother or sister that I had to share for record sake. When talking about names Madison declared: "Mommy, we will know if the baby is a boy or a girl because when the baby is born, if its a girl then she will come out with a headband on her head. If the baby doesn't come out with a headband then it will definitely be a boy!" Smart girl, she is. Why didn't Mommy think of that one! :) Madison asks me almost daily when her new baby brother or sister is going to be coming out of my tummy- I tell her we need to let the baby stay in there a lot longer. She has also asked me if the baby is wearing any clothes while in my tummy... or, where does the baby go to the bathroom? All very legit questions. Smart girl. It's so fun that she actually gets it this time around. Hyrum still has no clue.
In any case, we are all so happy and can't wait for our "mini cooper" to arrive in August.

**For anyone who is interested- I am 12.5 weeks. I am on the uphill and feeling pretty good! My due date is Aug. 15th.**

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful relaxing Christmas! The kids were so excited to find that Santa visited our home!

The kids got sleeping bags from Santa. They were ecstatic about them and have been sleeping with them ever since! They pulled them out right away and started on their stockings.

Hyrum about to dump out all of his goodies!

Presents! ... they got spoiled rotten by their grandparents!!

Madison couldn't have been happier about all the presents that were under the Christmas tree. She was a machine when it came to unwrapping presents. Hyrum loved it too- but was very happy after his stocking and two presents!

Opening presents from Nana and Papa Pete.
Madison wouldn't let go of her new books that she got from Grandma and Papa.

Hyrum was thrilled, to say the least, that he got a new hat!

He calls his new hat his "motorcycle man hat".

Mommy got pretty spoiled by Santa too. I am so excited about my new sewing machine! Yay!! :)

We got the Cootie Bug game and played it later that night. We had such a fun time laughing and being silly! I love Madison's expression and I also love the fact that Hyrum wore his "missionary tie" that he got from Grandma with his jammie bottoms. The rest of us stayed in our PJ's all day. It was fabulous Christmas!

The Happiest Place On Earth...

I know, it's been a while. November was a crazy month with lots of fun! I have so many pictures from last month and I've been too lazy to upload and blog all the pictures.

My parents came to visit near the first part of November. They treated our family to experience Magical Kingdom. We all LOVED it!

Madison and Hyrum were a bit worried at first, especially on Pirates of the Caribbean. But we just had to remind them that everything there was just like big toys- it was fake. Madison soon got it and had a blast! Hyrum, on the other hand, was bewildered by some of it. But we all had so much fun! Madison's favorite ride was It's A Small World and being able to meet all of the princesses. I definitely think Hyrum enjoyed meeting the princesses too! They got to meet three different princesses: Belle, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.

This was a dream come true for Madison!


Princess Arora asked Hyrum for a kiss, and he was so happy to give up one for her! :)
The princesses were all so sweet to get on their level to talk with them!

Madison and Hyrum still talk about the wonderful experience we all shared at Disneyland. They go around singing "It's a Small World" constantly and when were eating a frozen banana the other night for our FHE treat Hyrum and Madison were both talking about how they ate those on the "Pirate Ship". It was a memorable experience! Thank you Grandma and Papa!!

**I will have to do another post sometime once I get all of my mom's pictures-- she took a TON! (I was too busy having fun! :) )

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween! The kids were counting down the days, hours, and minutes until it was time to trick or treat. We went to our Ward Trunk or Treat and had fun eating hot dogs, chips, and of course lots of candy. I wasn't a very prepared mother and forgot to charge my camera. Hence, no pictures of the Trunk or Treat. The kids got a lot of candy from the ward party and so all of the pictures that I wanted of them before they went out trick or treating are filled with suckers in the mouth that they just couldn't part with.

Miss Madison went as Snow White.

What a yummy sucker!


Hyrum went as a dragon.

Here they are ready to go out trick or treating.


We met up with some of our friends to trick or treat. Here is the gang.

Hyrum ready to go!

They both had such a fun time. Madison especially loved running from house to house with her little friends. Hyrum, on the other hand, was perfectly content after about 10 houses and found his yummy candy!


This picture was not taken on Halloween but it is super cute of these best buddies! (No... I did not have them pose like this... this is all natural with these kids. Most of the time. )

Carving "Mr. Nobody"

We picked out and carved our family pumpkin on Saturday. The kids got really into it this year- especially Madison. She wasn't scared of getting dirty with the pumpkin guts.

Ewww.... pumpkin guts!

Madison hard at work cleaning out the pumpkin.

Everyone watching Daddy finish up all the dirty work.

Madison designed the face of our pumpkin this year. She is quite the little artist. She did a wonderful job too! Here the kids are showing off their mad monster faces with their pumpkin!

After carving our pumpkin the kids asked why he didn't have a body. Hence, we have named him "Mr. NoBody". We love our cute little pumpkin!