she's very thankful!

So yesterday marks a year.
One full year now Gwen has been saying in EVERY meal prayer that she is thankful for easter eggs! For a while even, she would get upset if Ryan and I failed to mention our appreciation for easter eggs in our prayers. We thought for sure it would die off after a week or two. Nope. A whole year!!

fitting for easter

Sunday, Drake's nursery teachers gave the kids gold fish. The kids were so excited!!!

They loved the fish so much, and Gwen named the fish Ruby after her favorite doll. We put it in one of my bowl shaped water pitchers, and both Gwen and Drake loved to just look at her and talk to her. Now don't get the wrong idea that the kids were total angels about this fish. Monday I came downstairs to find Drake on a chair, the bowl half empty the other half of the water was all over the table and floor. And he thought the fish was hungry, so naturally he had the bottom of the pitcher covered in conversation hearts! We cleaned up the mess and explained the importance of clean water and "fish food" for Ruby. The kids were so happy when they got to feed Ruby her food, and every morning as we would leave the house, Gwen and Drake would say "bye" to her. Well, yesterday morning, when I came downstairs, the water was murky, so I dumped it out and put in clean water. And the whole time I was doing the transfer, she didn't move at all. She just stayed at the bottom of the bowl. I thought either she's dead, or she's gonna be soon. So I thought I should prep the kids and tell them that Ruby was sick so remember to say bye to her. Gwen was so dramatic in her "oh no!!! Bye Ruby, I LOVE you!!" Then when we got home last night, I told Gwen it looked like Ruby had died and we were going to need to flush her body. Gwen insisted she wasn't dead and we couldn't do that because she loved her. So I figured I'd wait for Ryan to do it.

Well this evening, when we came in, Ruby was floating at the top of the bowl, and her eyes were clouded. We showed Gwen and told her the fish really was dead and that we needed to flush her body. We went to the toilet and dumped her. Gwen immediately started to get teary and said "but I'll never see her again!". We then talked about Grandpa Bostwick who just had died, Grandpa McPhie, and Jesus. We talked about why we celebrate Easter and that we will see them all again. I love Easter, and I love that Gwen has such a tender heart.

SPAM

No, not the kind in the can. The annoying kind that fills up your email in box CONSTANTLY! Tonight I finally got fed up and instead of deleting all of the emails, I actually took the time to open each one and UNSUBSCRIBE to them all (at least all of the ones from today). So I opened 27emails from people/places that I had no intentions of reading their junk and I was just so ready to be done with them and do you know what? Six of them actually had the nerve to SEND ANOTHER EMAIL confirming that I've asked to unsubscribe. Now I know this post is probably just as annoying to you as those emails are to me, but I needed to vent.

To make up for it, here's a funny pic. :)

That's Ryan and one of his BFF's, Brannan. They're doing home facials back in college. And yes, that still is one of Ryan's favorite shirts. :)

Grandpa

I have been so blessed to have the amazing grandpa I have.

Grandpa Chet died Saturday, March 15, 2008.

He has been such a great example to me, and a wonderful patriach to our family.

I love you grandpa!

And then to compound the pain of the loss, my iMac hard drive crashed last week, with so many pictures of grandpa with my kids. If only I had backed up my files...

MIDLIFE CRISIS

Yesterday I had my "womanly appointment". That's right, any males reading this can stop now if you want. Anyhoo, my doctor was covering her bases, letting me know about what's out there etc. So she starts telling me about Gardasil, a new vaccination to help prevent cervical cancer. Then she says, "although I don't know if your insurance would cover the vaccination since you will be turning 27 within the next six months. However, they are coming out with a new vaccination for older women soon."!!!!!!!
I'm officially in the "OLDER WOMEN" category!!!! How did my youth so quickly escape me?

Wednesday

Can I tell you something funny?

My little Gwenny has a new obsession...

FOLDING!!!

She loves to fold everything! From her colored papers,

that she then wraps rubberbands around, to towels and blankets.

In fact, it's gotten to the point where I can't have towels hanging on

the towel racks anymore.

Gwen will take them down and fold them up!

her folded up blankets
yes, this towel was hanging on the oven handle
and this towel was hung by the sink

She's an organizer. In addition to folding, she likes making sure

everything is lined up too.

And this is Drake hiding behind the chair during a scary part

of the Incredibles.

New NEPHEW

Congratulations to Kolby and Tawnya!

Kitseelie Gene Collard

was born Tuesday, March 4, 2008.

8lbs 2oz, 20 inches long.

FHE

Tonight was AWESOME!!!  Seriously perfect weather tonight.  It was like 75 degrees outside (maybe a little cooler with the breeze) so we had dinner out on the patio by the pool, and the kids ate ALL of their vegetables.  Then it felt so good out, and we had some new footballs, so we played some football for a while.  I gotta say, I should be in the NFL!  My hands were like magnets to the ball!  ;)  Gwen and Drake loved watching Ryan and I throw the ball to each other and loved chasing after the ball too.  Then, we went to the temple to see the new display of the photos of Christ, but we didn't have tickets.  (Apparently you have to have tickets on Monday nights)  So we enjoyed walking around the temple grounds instead.  And of course no FHE would not be complete without ice cream.   Can every night please be like this? 

what we've been up to...

LEHI DAYS!!!

Today we went to Lehi Days. It's a cute little Rodeo that our stake puts on each year. They also have delicious BBQ, petting farm, pony rides, etc. The kids LOVED it! Ryan volunteered to work security, hence the fluorescent vest, but he also was able to spend a lot of time with us. Gwen and Drake really got a kick out of the ponies and especially these cute little baby bunnies in the petting zoo that were only five days old! The sun started getting hot, so we let the kids get popsicles and by the time we left, we had a sticky dirty crew!

I really love Saturdays, being able to spend time with my family, get outside, and have fun!

Also, if you couldn't tell from the above slideshow, Ryan's grown a mustache!! This is one of the reasons I love him so much. Sunday I said to him, "you know it'd be really cool if you grew a mustache." And instead of saying something like "gross", or "but it's not 1987 anymore", he said "DONE!" So this week he went without shaving his upper lip to make me happy. Thanks Ryan, you're rad!