Happy Birthday Old Man

April 1st was Brett's 30th birthday and since I am already 30 I had some fun because he can't really get me back.  As you can see the morning started out with a beautiful sign up on the garage that said "Oh how nerdy Brett is 30!"  A little too demonstrative?  Oh well, Brett has learned after 4 1/2 years of marriage to me to expect the wild and crazy sometimes.

For those of you who don't know Brett really well he is a child at heart and always will be.  To inspire the child at heart in such an old man I decided to give him two Nerf guns.  I think I inspired the child in my father-in-law as well because before Brett had a gun out of the package, my father-in-law was already loading his.  Needless to say there was a huge battle between them, and when Brett's brother Todd came he was ambushed by them both.  My mother-in-law and I had a great time laughing and dodging bullets.

Brett has always liked big parties and lots of people to play with and to be around, so in honor of his making it to the ripe old age of 30, without killing himself with all the crazy things he does, we had a big party at our house.  I invited over 80 people and we really had a great time.  Brett said that I cheated with how I put the candles on the cupcakes so he cheated by blowing them out with my blow dryer. 

As you can see the kids had a great time as well.  Mark had fun playing with his cousin as well as our neighbors.

Too Big or Too Small?

My pregnancy has been quick and wonderful.  I have about 4 weeks left and life is great!  Many people, including my doctor, have said that I look too small.  What do you think?  Well, if you say that my belly looks too small I am afraid to say you are mistaken, I am actually measuring bigger than normal.  My doctor has asked where I am hiding the baby?  That is what I would like to know.  Anyway those of you who wanted to see what I look like with a beautiful big belly, I hope you enjoy.

New Talent?

Many of you know that I have been doing my personal progress over again.  I have truly enjoyed this opportunity and it has given me so many new things  to work on as well as to experience.  Brett has wanted me to paint with him for a while however I always said "in order to paint you have to be able to draw and you have to have talent."  Well, that was where I was wrong, you really only need a desire to try.  I decided for my 10 hour knowledge project, I was going to learn to watercolor.  Brett is drawing my pictures and then on Wednesday nights we take a class together from a BYU-Idaho professor.  It has really opened up my eyes to the fun that art can be.  I have also become more aware of the colors, values, and shapes around me.  It really has been a lot of fun.  Last Wednesday (3/10/10) I finished my first painting.  We had some fun with textures--using salt, hand sanitizer, and a spray bottle with water--to change how the picture looked.  I have started other paintings however this leaf picture is the first that I have completed.

Brett's Quilt

It is finished!!!  Before Christmas I decided that for Brett's birthday I was going to make him a "bow tie" jean quilt.  So I had Grandma Schwieder teach me how to do it and away I went.  I have never made a queen size quilt before nor made a quilt where I didn't just cut out the blocks.  This quilt was more involved than any I had done before and it is finished.  It is such a feeling of accomplishment, and even though it was really time consuming I am so glad I did it.  Unfortunately, Brett has already seen it.  He knew it was a quilt and the day I got it done I was so excited that I left the door open to the room that it was in.  Oops.  I need to do better about keeping secrets, my problem is I just get too excited.  Anyway, I had a lot of help from Grandma Schwieder and a lot of friends came to help tie the quilt as well which made it all the more enjoyable.

WWWWEEEEEEEEEE....

Positioned and ready at the top of the hill Markie and Dad are ready to go sledding for the first time.  The question on every one's mind is "Will Markie like it or not?"  Ringing through the crisp cold air you hear Dad's clear voice sing out, "do, do, do, do...CHARGE!!!"  Dad pushes off and down they go.  Seconds later Markie's high pitched little voice screams out, "WWWWEEEEEEE!"  As they reach the bottom of the hill Markie and dad are all smiles, mom runs over to snap a couple of pictures and see how things went, but Markie doesn't want to wait for pictures.  Markie desperately tries to scramble out of dad's arms so he can run up the hill and go down again.  

The young men and women in our ward had a sledding activity a few weeks ago and Brett and I decided to take Markie.  Because I am as big as a house, we felt it best that I stand at the bottom and take pictures.  Markie and Brett were able to go down about 6 times before they handed the sled off to another youth because Markie was getting a little cold.  Don't they look so cute!

Things we do in the name of beauty

Recently the Beehives in my ward wanted to have a spa night.  It was so much fun!  I got a bunch of facial recipes from mom Schwieder and another leader brought over some paraffin  wax for our hands and away we went.  Here I am sporting the lovely green avocado and yogurt mask, which we applied after we used the baking soda and yogurt scrub.  Don't I look LOVELY ;).  I may not have looked the best at the time, but man we had a great time!

December in Review

***Due to technical difficulties I have been unable to post for the past month.  So now that those technical difficulties have been fixed this is a post of all the fun things we did during December.  If you want to read it all go head if not I hope you enjoy the pictures.***

TWINKIE DATE!  Our home teachers reciently challenged Brett and I to do something they called 5+1, which were the things our Stake President has been asking us to do for the past year.  One of those things was to go on a date every week.  While thinking about a fun date to do, Brett saw that one of the leaders with him in the Teachers Quorum had the TWINKIE Cookbook, and so Brett got creative.  He chose two recipes, Twinkie Sushi and Twinkie Grasshopper Milkshake, wrote down the ingredients and then took me to the store to get what we needed without telling me what we were going to make.  It really was a lot of fun I think I like the Sushi better then the shake, but we really had a good time.  So if you are looking for a fun date idea and you would like the recipe for one of both of these please let me know.

Growing up my family always had Santa come a week or two before Christmas.  We would sit on his lap and he would ask us all the regular questions and we also got to open a present.  It was a fun tradition that we did as a family and I decided to start it here and it turned out great.  As you can see Mark wasn't too sure about Santa but we still had a great time.

We learned early that Mark's favorite toy is a ball.  He could spend hours throwing balls around the house, and he does.  He has reciently begun to focus really hard at what he wants to hit and 6 out of 10 times he hits it if is in reach.  So we gave him a target, and he really has a pretty good shot.  Watch out Bryan Russell!

Time out for Bubbles!  Brett and I gave Mark some bubbles and after opening his first present and then opening the bubbles he decided that we needed to take a 15 minute break and play with the bubbles.  This was the longest, and most fun Christmas we have had yet!

Mark loves to jump, unfortunately he has been choosing to jump on my bed rather than on the floor.  We also wanted to give him something that would use up all his energy so James, Mark and I could all take a nap.  I doubt that I will be that lucky to have both children asleep at the same time but one can always dream, right?

Brett and Mark are best friends they love to play together all the time.  So they had to try out Mark's new trampoline together, and they like always had a blast!!!

Who needs presents when you have a box?