Here We Come!!

Off to spend the day with Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the Disneyland crew :)

We Run to Him

Each year at Easter time, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints puts on a pageant, a play to tell the story of the Savior's life, death and resurrection It takes place out on the lawn of the temple grounds in Mesa. I got to take Dallen to the pageant before we left for California and it was one of the most incredible experiences. It helped to strengthen my testimony so much. As we watched the story of the life of our Savior, Dallen had so many questions about what was happening. I felt the spirit testify to me as I explained the seemingly simple story of an extraordinary man. My eyes welled up with tears as I explained to Dallen how and why Jesus had to die. We both rejoiced as Jesus was shown resurrected, risen in the heavens. But my favorite part, the moment that touched me the most, was when all of the little children (cast in the play) were running up to see Jesus, Dallen turned up to look at me and asked "We run to Him?" My heart melted as I pondered that sweet question, do we RUN to Him? I hope so. I hope that everything I do in my life is leading me back to him. I have a great testimony of the Savior of the world and know that He lives!! Happy Easter to all, may we remember the reason we celebrate today.

Just Me & D

With Daddy hard at work preparing for his upcoming trial (that will sadly keep him away from us for Easter) Dallen and I have been spending a LOT of quality time together!! It is literally exhausting to spend non-stop, day after day with no relief, just me and D, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!! These moments are like my paid overtime :)

Play on Player

Dallen loves to be called "player"!! He likes it because it can refer to a person that plays any kind of sports. So when I cheer for him when he's playing basketball or soccer or football, it is always (at his request) "let's go player!!" Dallen also refers to himself as a 'gangsta' too. He really has no idea what it means, but with his new haircut I think it fits perfectly. He seriously looks like such a little hoodlum to me with his head shaved.

Since having his head shaved, he loves to throw up some gangsta signs for pictures. And he even sleeps like a little gangsta. Trouble maker haircut or not, he is still the cutest little two and half year old player I have ever laid eyes on, bad camera phone pictures or not :)

Happy Half

Happy turtle in a half shellOne half monkey; other part, happy boyHappy as a clam to be two and a halfHappy face......in a half circleHappy to be with my other halfHad a very happy half birthday with my boy!!

Looking at Two and a Half

I cannot believe my litte baby boy is 2 1/2 years old!! Where did the time go?!?! I feel like I blinked and my little boy grew up overnight into a big kid!! There are lots of cute things I want to remember about Dallen at this age, these are just a few:

*Lately Dallen has been ending every question with "yes or no?"
"Mom, I have a popsicle, yes or no?"
"I sleep in Mommy's bed, yes or no?"
Or even better, sometimes he doesn't give me the choice to say no by asking questions like:
"Mom, play basketball with me, yea?" (while nodding and grinning)
"Let's go the zoo, yea?" Obviously, based on the picture below, Dallen got a YES on that one too!! There is just no telling that kid NO!! But honestly, I am happy to oblige for such a sweet and adorable little kid.
*This cute 2 1/2 year old boy picks up on EVERYTHING!! He has picked up a couple of my phrases that send a twinge of guilt through me when he repeats them becasue obviously I say them too much, things like: "Just a second" or "I'm busy" or "I have a headache". Sometimes he picks up a phrase but doesn't quite understand the context. Like when Daddy put him to bed and said he had to leave the room, Dallen replied "that doesn't make sense Dad". Or he says to me "don't lie to me Mom" when he has poop in his diaper (cause he usually lies about that). He is a major smarty pants and I have to watch every word that comes out of my mouth!!

*Dallen and I have a secret handshake and it ends with a sweet elbow bump :) We are the best of friends and I wouldn't have it any other way!!
*My favorite time of day with Dallen is when we snuggle up for naps together, after a long day of playing football and soccer and basketball and tennis and volleyball (you get the idea) all day long. Nothing beats cuddling with my buddy :) I love this boy more than words!! Happy half birthday Dallen.

Furniture & Fixtures

If I am being honest, I thought that 11 months into owning a home we would be A LOT further in the move in process. We didn't even buy a "project house" and we are still painting and repairing and cleaning and living out of boxes...and I really thought by now we'd have more furniture. Moving from a 900 sq ft condo to double square footage in a home of our own, we are having a hard time filling the empty spaces. It doesn't help that our furniture budget was poured into replacing our A/C unit just a month into living in our house. Also that we are waiting for my parents to sell their home and send some furnishings our way when they downsize (fingers crossed)!!

In the meantime, we are still making great progress...

Of the few pieces of furniture we have been able to purchase, my most favorite is my kitchen table!! I LOVE my table. If any of you are in the market for a new one, we got this afforable beauty from IKEA and I highly recommend getting a bench for the kiddos, it is so convenient. {Shout out to my Dad for hanging my boards on the wall you see in the background, and to my big sissy Aubrey who just happened to have the perfect parsons chairs just sitting in her garage.}The curtains, covering our (kind of awful) sliding door, took me 3 months to finish sewing and put up...now you have a better idea of why we are so far behind ;)

I have made a huge effort to get rid of every last brass fixture in our 15 year old house. I have had much sucess and am down to the last bit, 8 new door handles and there will officially be NO MORE BRASS!! Some of my favorite changes came from replacing the same old, ugly brass light fixtures in both the powder bathroom and more importantly, entry way ceiling.(Notice how nasty dirty the ceiling was and why we had to repaint EVERY ceiling in the house).Yes, I know it's a "boob light" but it was on sale for $10 and I think it's perfect.And this I love, ordered from Shades of Light, where I hope to order an area rug from some day soon.

Finally, I saved for almost 4 months to buy this table, (yet another reason why the furishing process is moving so slowly) and as much as I LOVE it, I have no idea what to put on it. Mom, sister, anyone?!?! Is there some sort of rule of thumb when it comes to putting things on shelves? Any ideas on how I can make it look fantastic would be great :)I have a few things to put there but don't really know what fits. (Shayla, take note I finally bought that dumb bird I love on clearance for $2.50!!) I'm thinking maybe a bowl for Mark to toss his wallet in?Even though it is currently empty at least I know Dallen loved helping put it together, it's a little hard to see the hidden smile on his face in this picture but cute nonetheless.
That's all for now. We are hoping to get the Master bed/bath underway this weekend and work on it all month, but that's just a goal, you never know!! But you can know I will share when it's done!!

Our Little Athlete

{THIS WAY}{THAT WAY}
I just love these two together. We are so sad when we get months (like this one) when Daddy is busy at work preparing for a trial. I prefer weekends when we have time to take Dallen to do his favorite thing ever, attend sports games {pictured above}. I have been to at least 3 rugby games in my life and have NO idea what the game is about, we took Dallen to one, and he came home wanting to play and knew exactly what to do. I know I am his Mom and think he is the most awesome at everything but, if you ask me Dallen will be voted "most likely to be an athlete" when he goes to school. This kids loves sports, EVERY sport and he has some skills!! Love my little boy, our little athlete :)