Mother's Day

I have had an amazing mother's day. I woke up to a bouquet of beautiful flowers, chocolate and breakfast in bed. The girls told me that if I needed anything during the day I could ring a bell. Addison said, "Mom, we don't really have a bell, but you can make a bird noise or whistle." I was not so sure about the bird noise, but I have been whistling all day. :) Brad made me an awesome lunch after church. We spent the afternoon playing Candyland and Go Fish. (They even let me win) Just before bedtime we took a walk at the Governor's Mansion. It was beautiful. What a perfect day. I just wish I could be celebrating with my mom today. I LOVE YOU MOM. YOU ARE THE BEST! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Addison drew this picture of our family. She is so cute, she said, "I hope you don't mind, I added another kid to our family, and I named him Sam." (I guess she wants a brother)

Ella's 1 year pictures

I finally took Ella's 1 year pics. I wanted to get them with her walking. She started walking a month ago, but has not been completely steady. Well, now I am chasing her everywhere. Taking her picture was an adventure. I made her mad when I tried to put a bow on her head. She started to cry and only stopped for a minute as I chased her through the park. :)

Green Cleaning

As many of you know, we have lung issues in our family.  Olivia has horrible asthma and Brad has sarcoidosis.   Our Pulmonologist gave me a list of suggestions that should improve our environment and possibly decrease health problems.  It was a list a mile long, and I was totally overwhelmed.  I had to change everything to all natural, "green" products.  So, I started doing my research.  After searching online and reading a few books, I am totally converted to going green all of the way.  It has been so fun, and SO EASY.  If any of you have things you do in your home or ideas for cleaning, etc.  please let me know.  I would LOVE knew ideas.  I am still looking for an all natural, inexpensive dishwasher detergent.  Any suggestions?

My favorite book.  You can clean your whole house with baking soda, vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice.

I love these cleaning products.
Method has some great products. I have not tried everything, but so far I love the foam hand soap, dish soap, cleaning wipes.  What do you think?
I joined "Green Moms" online.   You get a ton of good ideas.  I would highly recommend it if you are interested.

Tulip Garden

This is my favorite time of year.  I love tulips.  Addison, Olivia and I visited a nearby tulip garden.  The colors were amazing.  The girls ran up and down between the flowers over and over again.  They were so cute. They stopped to smell every color of tulip several times.   Addie said," The pink ones smell like strawberries, the yellow ones smell like lemons and the rest of the flowers smell exactly like roses!"  

Happy Birthday Ella!

We celebrated Ella's Birthday in Idaho. We had a fun party with all of her Idaho cousins. I can not believe that she is already a year old! The time has gone by so fast. She is a little angel. We love her so much!
This is a picture of Ella's new dollhouse. Brad and my dad built it for her. They did such a great job, I was very impressed. Addison, Olivia and I were a little bit more excited than little Ella, but she will grow into it soon enough. :)

Snowboarding at Sundance

While we were in Utah, Brad had the chance to go snowboarding a couple of times. My Uncle works at Sundance and gave a us a bunch of passes for Brad, his Mom and his Brother's family. They had SO much fun. The weather was great. The girls and I went to watch for a couple of hours. We can't wait to snowboard next year in Colorado!

This is Brad, on his way down the hill. As soon as he saw the camera, he tried to get fancy and crashed. I wasn't able to get a picture of that, but I am sure you can imagine.

Easter Sunday

Easter Weekend

My sisters and their families joined us at my parent's house for some fun Easter festivities. We started the day off with an Easter Egg Hunt in the snow! The hunt was followed by an amazing brunch. The kids had fun decorating eggs and making these cute little nests. Later, we went to Idaho Falls to have a party with extended family. It's great being in Idaho! We love spending so much time with family!

Fun in the Idaho snow.

We jumped on the four wheelers the moment we rolled into town. My parents live way out in the country, a mile from the Snake River. We can ride for miles. The kids took turns in the sled, while Brad and Olivia pulled them on the four wheeler. They laughed and played in the snow all weekend. So much fun.

On our way to Idaho.

Good times in Utah.

We have been in Utah visiting family for the last week and a half. Our kids have had a blast! They have been busy playing with their cute cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Daybell.
An early Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house.
Visiting Grandma at school.

For Sparta!

Brad is battling the bar exam in Denver today and tomorrow.  One more day, it is almost over.  Go Brad!!! 

Tagged. Eight fun facts about each of our girls.

Addison is so much fun!!! She loves to perform. She is constantly choreographing a dance or making up a song on the piano. She is a very cautious person and likes to be obedient (she gets very upset when I talk on my cell while I am driving). Addison is a daddy's girl! She told me today that she should have married him before I did. :) She is very persistent and determined when she wants to learn new things. Her latest ...snapping, whistling and the first 3 articles of faith. Addison is very social and makes friends easily. She has a big heart and is very sensitive and loving. We absolutely adore her!

Our sweet Olivia has a very tender heart. She is the first to give hugs, kisses and to say, "I love you". She is very mellow and easy to get along with. She is so much like her dad, a peacemaker! This picture shows one of Olivia's talents...her amazing little hands can undo and unpick almost anything!!! She has undone or unscrewed almost everything in our house (including her crib when she was 9 months old, she did it so much, it stripped the holes and I threw it away). She took off part of our piano today!!! I could go on and on. Olivia has a very good memory and is a computer wiz. Olivia is so happy and laughs all of the time, she is too cute. We could not love her more!

Little Miss Ella is such a good-natured baby! She has a very determined little personality. Ella likes to dance like her sisters. She is full of energy and is always on the go. She is cheerful and full of smiles. Ella is way too busy to be held for very long, she has to keep up with her sisters. She loves to play with blocks and her toy piano. Ella is as cute as can be! We love her so much!

Who am I tagging? Everyone on my friends and family blog list that would like to share 8 fun things about their cute kids. :)

Happy 23rd B-Day Dev!!! You've never looked younger!!!

Today was Dev's birthday and we celebrated it Wii style! We started out the morning with some yummy cheese cake treats and the girls each drew some fun birthday pictures. We had originally planned to have a night out on the town, but Livi and Ella both are still sick so we decided to party at home. Once the girls went to bed we ordered some Olive Garden and had a Wii battle like no other! Dev ended up winning 10-9 and is still gloating that she came out victorious! It's always nice to win on your birthday isn't it:) Although Dev didn't actually get the cake seen above for her birthday, she deserves one just like it because she is a great wife and mom and makes my life and our girls lives so much fun! We love you Dev! Happy Birthday!!!

Tagged. Questions about my Valentine.

How long have you been together? 9 Years
How long did you date? 1 year and a few months
How old is he? 31
Who eats more? Brad does.
Who said "I love you" first? We were cheese balls... he would say it in Vietnamese and I would say it in Navajo. I don't know who actually said "I love you" first.
Who is taller? Brad
Who sings better? I sing better to church music, Brad sings better in the car to punk music.
Who is smarter? Depends on what subject.
Who does the laundry? I do, he wants to, but I have to have it done a certain way. :)
Who does the dishes? We both do.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do
Who pays the bills? Brad
Who mows the lawn? We both did when we had a lawn to mow.
Who cooks dinner? I love to cook, so I do most of the time, he does on occasion.
Who is more stubborn? Me, hands down.
Who kissed who first? I kissed Brad first. I am still shocked that I did( I promise that was not my style).
Who asked who out? Brad asked me out in front of my boyfriend. :)
Who proposed? He did
Who is more sensitive? Brad
Who has more friends? We are probably even.
Who has more siblings? Brad
Who wears the pants in the relationship? I think he does and he says I do
Who am I tagging? Megan, Annie, Kam, Sally, Shi

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Livi turned 3 years old today! She had a fun birthday party with 10 of her good friends. Brad was in charge of the games and activities. He did such a great job. The kids had a lot of fun!

A house full of girls

Here are two girls that LOVE to dress up. We are constantly entertained by the different costumes that they come up with. They always have made up names and fun ideas. Today they were "stretch girl" and "dance girl".

I always have to laugh at Brad. He is constantly surrounded by girl everything. Our girls are VERY girly and they expect him to play right a long. I had to get a picture of the latest...Barbie bandaids on his big manly foot. He had a couple of blisters from playing basketball. A couple of months ago, he had to go to school with a Hello Kitty bandaid on his finger. :) I love it!

Happy 31st Birthday Brad!!!

Addie says ...We hope you have a good Birthday! We are surprising you with a blue birthday party and a turtle cake when you get home. We love you for all of the nice stuff you do. We love you very much because you give us good support and you drive us everywhere. You are such a good helper and you like to talk about funny stuff. We wish you a Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year! Love, Me Livie and Ellie

Sweet Olivia

As many of you know, Olivia has battled lung problems from the time she was 6 months old. She has spent a lot of her little life in hospitals and doctor's offices. With all that she has been through, she is SO sweet and the best little patient. Last Thursday, she was admitted into a Topeka Hospital for pneumonia and asthma issues. She was there for a couple of days, when they decide to life flight her to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. She really scared us! We are SO THANKFUL for good friends and family that prayed and fasted for her. We really witnessed a miracle. She is doing so much better!!! She should be able to come home in the next few days. Brad has been at the hospital the entire time because our little Ella has RSV and is not allowed to be with Olivia. I have been in Topeka with Ella and Addison. We went up for a visit today and Olivia was so cute!! She said, "Addie! You have got to try a helicopter ride, I saw the sky!" It is so great to see that she is acting like herself again. She even had the energy to play Barbies. :)