Spring Time.

I LOVE this time of year! It's so beautiful and it's so nice to come out of our cave! 

Winters are just not fun! We have been enjoying the nice weather to its fullest.  

The Lego exhibit at the Hogle Zoo was so fun.  I'm so glad we got a zoo pass, we have taken full advantage of it and the zoo is always the perfect outing for the kids.

It was so fun to go with my mom...the kids were being a bit rambunctious and it's always nice to have her calming influence around us. 

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The kids' school has an Art night where they raise funds for the school's art program.  It was so well put together and we got to buy our kids' art, which was fun and it made the kids feel special.  They not only had painted art but they also each had little sculptures.  I've been very impressed with the kids' school.  I'm so glad we lucked out with such a good one, with great programs and teachers.  Sadly this is the only picture I got of the event! 

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This one is just a random picture because I LOVE that little face! 

We took out the kite because it was a little windy and Brooke was attempting to fly it! 

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My sweet mom had a birthday on the 8th and we went to Provo to celebrate with her.  

We wanted to her out somewhere nice, but she was under the weather, so we ended up at Smash Burger, the kids and I ate and Scott and my mom had drinks.  

She started feeling a little better when we got home and we had a party! 

She turned 61 but she has the energy of a 30 year old! She seriously has more energy than I do! 

She is out of this world! At 61, she is going to school to get her degree in Early Childhood Education, she gets A's in all of her classes.  She loves to learn and study.  I love that about her.  She is always looking for ways to better herself.  She has always been an example of so many things.  It doesn't matter to her that English is her second language and that she learned it when she was in her 40's.  She grabs her dictionary, she goes to her tutor and the writing lab to check her papers before she turns them in.  She works hard at her job with Head Start and advocate for those kids, she puts 110% into her job and is not satisfied with mediocre work.  

She is an example of faith and enduring life among trials.  She loves God and always puts her trust in Him.  She is a woman of prayer and pure integrity.  I feel so lucky to be her daughter.  She has taught me so much about life and continues to teach me and push me to be better.  She tells me to do yoga so I can relax and drink green smoothies! She listens to me and my frustrations with motherhood and encourages me and tells me that I'm doing a good job and gives me suggestions when I'm looking for answers.  She is my absolute best friend, who is always there to listen and give me an encouraging word. 

So glad we could celebrate her special day with her this year! 

We love you ma! Thank you for loving me, Scott and my children! 

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I mentioned our garden on a previous post, we are loving gardening and are so glad that we have a little bit of space to plant.  The kids have enjoyed working on it and watering and watching things grow.  

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Scott started building the sandbox last fall and we finally bought sand for it last month! The kids love it and it is amazing how long they can spend playing in there.  

Scott is a child at heart and the kids love it when they get to spend time with their dad.  

Especially when he builds an awesome sand castle!

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Brielle had her spring piano recital last Saturday and she was amazing! She totally mastered her piece, Chim Chimirree from Mary Poppins.  That little girl is talented and she worked hard on that piece.  She has an amazing teacher who pushes her and she is becoming so proficient! 

We are so proud of her and happy that she is acquiring such a good talent.  

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Last week, a group of friend headed to the temple to do a session.  

It was so nice to be able to go and not have to worry about rushing back to the kids, who stayed with Scott.  It was much needed for me to have some time away to recharge and good for the kids and Scott to spend time together.  

I know I've said it before but we have lucked out with a good neighborhood, good ward and good friends.  There are still quite a few things I miss about living in the East, but having a good support system here makes me grateful.  

Gretchen got all the kids some ice cream cones one afternoon and they were all in heaven! These kids play together almost everyday and I'm so glad they have each other.  

Great Salt Lake.

After almost a whole year of living here in Salt Lake City, we finally made it to the Great Salt Lake. 

...and what do I have to say about it? I can't say it was particularly amazing, but it has its own beauty.   

The kids loved running around in the shallow water and playing in the sand.  

I love the mountains in the background in this picture, I don't love that I am on the phone, but I was talking to my brother.  

It was a little bit of a chilly day and we tried really hard to keep Brooke from getting wet..but it didn't quite work out...

She was in heaven when we finally let her do what she wanted! 

She got her way! 

Look at that face! She was so happy! 

Brielle was having so much fun, just doing her own thing. 

My mom was being hilarious, saying that this was like the Dead Sea!

Love her! 

I'm glad we finally got around to visiting the Great Salt Lake.  

It was a fun outing with the family! 

Brooke Kate│Approaching the terrible two's...

Brookie Kate is approaching the terrible two's.  

Sometimes it is hilarious, like today when I told her it was time to go inside, after playing outside for a long time, she said as defiantly as a 21 month old can get, "I no want to!" 

Can you believe that little girl?   

She has the most amazing eyelashes! I wish mine were that long!  

She tattle tells on her brother and sister and says, "Brielle did it! or Brother did it!" She can't say Braden for some reason...so she calls Braden, 'brother'.  

She gets into everything and absolutely delights in making messes, which drives me completely bonkers, especially when I am trying to make dinner...the kitchen floor is always a mess with pots and pans and whatever else she can get out of the cupboards. 

  

She continues to be a good eater and sleeper. 

She LOVES books and her favorite book is "The Eye Book" by Dr. Seuss.  She picks that book first all the time, no fail and wants me to read it over and over and over. 

In the mornings, when she wakes up and I say, "hi brookie! how are you?" She says, "good". Sometimes she says, "Good morning!" 

She has started to throw some pretty good tantrums, with kicking legs and flailing arms, the whole deal! And on top of it all, she starts saying, "you mean! you mean!"  Sometimes when I don't want her to do something, I say with a stern voice, 'you need to stop right now Brooke' she says, "why?" 

Seriously? The first time, I was flabbergasted! That little girl gives me a run for my money! 

She keeps me soooo busy and on my toes all the time, she is the reason for my lack of blogging! I have no time to sit down and devote the time I used to devote to keep this blog updated regularly.  7pm rolls around and I am EXHAUSTED! But we honestly, absolutely LOVE this little girl! 

She makes us so happy and she is so lovable! 

The Rest of April│In Review

After Spring Break, the rest of the month of April flew by. 

Our dear Penny had a birthday in April so we had to celebrate.  

Penny is a wonderful part of our lives.  She is so thoughtful and always is up to hanging out with our family, which I love so much.  Not much has to be going on, she loves to converse and be part of the kids' lives.  She's always interested in their little lives and my life and Scott's life.  

She makes us feel important. 

So on her birthday, it was our time to make her feel loved and important, because she is. 

She is definitely a blessing in our lives and we are so glad that we get to live close to share part of our lives together! 

The Friel and Jensen kids with their favorite Penny.  

Jana is another thoughtful person and brought a little special present for Penny! 

She loves Cheetos and the 'red' coke! 

I absolutely LOVE her expressions in these pictures! She was soooo excited!!!!! 

Happy Birthday Penny! and thank you for so many things but especially thank you for the time you give to us! You are an amazing lady! 

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My dear friend and old roommate Betsy got hitched!!! 

We are beyond happy for her and glad she finally found her prince charming.  

She asked me to take her wedding pictures after the temple ceremony and at the reception.  

I was a little nervous but had a grand time bossing everyone around to pose for pictures. 

It was a happy day and I'm so glad I was close to be part of it. 

I always have a blast when I'm around these ladies.  We have shared so many wonderful and defining moments in our lives and I'm so happy that we have kept in touch all of these years after living together.  There is just something about living with someone, day in and day out, it is a special bond.  They are all so talented and wonderful and I'm grateful to know them! 

Congrats my dear little Betsy! Jonathan is one lucky man! 

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We also had some special visitors.  The Encisos are some lovely old friends, my mom and Julio were in the same ward in Perú, many, many years ago...and I grew up with Julio's nephew and Julio's sister Ester and my mom were good friends too.  We have kept in touch through the years and Julio's daughter Michele and her husband Matthew were graduating from BYU with their master's degree so they came for commencement and their convocations.  We were so happy to host them, since I know Michelita since she was a little girl and I have such love for the whole Enciso family.  They are literally the salt of the earth! Such wonderful, thoughtful, productive people, the kind of people that you want to be friends forever. 

Julio is a man of energy and such zest for life! 

We loved being around him and loved visiting with him and his wonderful wife Kim.

Kim is a woman of many talents, she is Vietnamese, an amazing cook and seamstress.

She is so passionate about food and told me I have to join the homemade yogurt cult! I LOVED her encouragement because I grew up eating homemade yogurt and I know I am cheating my kids by not feeding it to them! So she gave me directions and I'm determined to start making my own yogurt.   

One morning, we were sitting around visiting with Julio and Kim when Julio noticed this little play stroller that was ripped.  Brielle got this stroller when she was three and a half and Brookie has inherited it.  Since they are both amazing at sewing, they made a brand new cover for it! Julio figured out all the settings on my sewing machine and set up the thread, Kim cut out a pattern in 10 minutes, and in literally less than 30 minutes it was done! I was so impressed and so grateful that Brookie now has an almost brand new little play stroller! 

On their last day, we had a very traditional Peruvian breakfast of artisan bread with Botija olives, herbal tea and fresh fruit! It was the perfect way to say goodbye to this wonderful family. 

Brooke became so fond of Julio and this little girl doesn't easily make friend with new people. 

So glad that Scott got to meet them too, these friends have known me since I was a little girl. 

It was time to say goodbye.  We loved having them for a few days, I absolutely love having visitors and even better when they are people I love!:) 

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The rest of April was spent enjoying the nice warmer Spring weather and Braden continued with his obsession with dressing up as Harry Potter! That boy is obsessed! He'd come from school every single day and change into his Harry Potter clothes and write a scar on his forehead with my eyeliner. All of his nice, white shirts for Church are dingy from all the wearing and getting them dirty from playing outside.  

This one particular day, he got in trouble for something and got put in timeout in our bedroom, next thing I know Harry Potter was in timeout and had fallen asleep! I couldn't help it and I had to snap a couple of pictures of this, so he doesn't forget how much he LOVES Harry Potter.  A few weeks ago, he even told me he wanted to change his name to Harry and to not longer call him Braden.  

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We finally filled the sand box with sand and it has been a hit with our kids and the neighbor kids.  

I love that our little yard/patio area is being used.  We have been working so hard to try to beautify that space, most of the last weeks of April was spent tilling and fertilizing the soil to plant our garden, Scott did a little bit of landscaping in the yard area, which is small but it was in major need of some love, we hung some cute lights and I'm looking forward to sitting out there this summer enjoying the warm summer nights.

Working on the garden and beautifying that space has proven to be so satisfying and we are so excited to be first time gardeners! Scott and I have been waiting for this moment for a while now and we are so happy we have a little bit of space to do it.  We go out there every day to check on the progress and to marvel at our little sprouts!!! We are so ridiculous! Sometimes, Scott says, 'come out there with me to look at our sprouts.' ha ha! So funny! I love it! We planted radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots and quite a few flowers from seed.  So it has been so fun to watch everything sprout.

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Soccer season is almost over and although sometimes going to practice and games is like pulling teeth for Brielle, it has been a good experience for her and she loves it when she is there, it is just the getting her there! 

They had their individual and team pictures taken and looking at these pictures makes me realize how much Brielle has grown! She is not my little baby anymore, she is full into childhood! It breaks my heart and fills me with the most intense joy all at the same time! 

These kids are all in the same primary class and they are all literally the kindest, sweetest kids around! They are silly and cute and fun to be around. 

...and that is how we spent the rest of April.