Happy Birthday Rylie!

Rylie turned 3 on Monday (March 9). She pretty much had the best day ever...What does every 3 girl want for her birthday?
-14 hours of sleep the night before?
-Balloons, presents and pancakes when she woke up?
-Playing at Chuck-e-cheeses?
-Favorite food for lunch?
-Got to watch her favorite movie?
-Chocolate dinosaur cake?
-Family over that night to play and open more presents?
That's right...she got it all. It really was a fun day and for the most part she was in a really good mood (those who know our moody little girl know what I am talking about). Happy Birthday Rylie, we love you!

I asked her a couple questions on her special day and these are the responses:

What is your color? orange
What is your favorite animal? horse
What is your favorite food? orange
Who is your best friend? (Ethan whispered his name to her) Ethan
How old are you? 3
What is your favorite toy? Jasmine
What is your favorite movie? Jasmine
Do you love mommy? I love you too much:)

Rylie at Chuck-e-cheeses

Rylie opening presents

Rylie said that she wanted a princess party and a dinosaur cake for her birthday...That's what she got. I was pretty excited on how her cake turned out, I didn't know if I could make one. Rylie was freaking out when she saw it...

Rylie playing with her new dress up clothes. Rylie loved all of her presents!

California 2009...

Last week we headed down to sunny California to go to Disneyland. I was so excited, I felt like a little kid. The kids loved Disneyland! Ethan was tall enough to go on almost all of the rides and he took full advantage of it. Coulter and I thought that he would be scared of the roller coasters but he loved them. His favorite ride was Big Thunder Railroad (that's mine too) and he really liked Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Ethan got cotton candy within the first few hours as promised so he was basically in heaven...Rylie enjoyed herself too. Rylie loved the teacups and the carousel. She wasn't tall enough to go on the roller coasters but there was still plenty for her to do. There was a roller coaster in Toon Town that she could go on and she loved how fast it was...we went on this a few times.

This was the first time any of us have been to California Adventures and we were impressed. There was a bunch of stuff for the kids to do and a lot of stuff that we look forward to doing when the kids are a little older. Coulter and I just loved being there. Disneyland is a fun place to be, the kids loved it and it was really nice to all be together...

After 2 days at Disneyland we headed down to San Diego to go to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Sea World was pretty good...expensive, but the kids enjoyed it. Ethan's favorite thing was touching the string rays. Rylie liked touching them too. She would squeal and say how slimy they were each time she touched them. Seeing Shamu was great, Rylie fell asleep right before the show but the rest of us got to see it. Rylie enjoyed chasing the birds at Sea World the most. I guess 2 year olds don't appreciate Sea World like they should...

After Sea World we met my Aunt Kimberley and Uncle Farrell at one of my favorite restuarants in San Diego, La Pinata, and had dinner. It was so good...it brought back a lot of memories...That night we stayed at Farrell and Kimberley's house. It was fun to catch up and see them.

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo. What a zoo...it puts the Hogle to shame. Rylie loved chasing the birds again and was intrigued by the meerkats. Ethan loved the reptile house and a bug exhibit they had. After the zoo we stopped by the beach so the kids could see the ocean. They were both freaking out! Coulter and I had fun watching them. We rolled up their pants so they could put their feet in the water. This went well for awhile until Ethan fell over and then before we knew it they were both covered with water and sand...I miss having the beach so close...

Well the vacation was great. I can't wait to go back...

Disneyland and San Diego...

Bugs...

Anyone who knows Ethan knows that he loves bugs. The weather was nice today so I let him go outside and dig for some bugs. He was so excited, it was pretty funny. He found 2 "funny bugs" and 1 slug that is currently taking a stroll on our kitchen floor (don't ask).

Rylie was pretty much ecstatic as well...

Finally!

The DiRtY DiRtY SMELL that was in our basement (thanks to Ethan and Rylie shampooing the carpet with dairy products) is gone!

Oh happy day...

The Roof...

Last night Coulter and I went to The Roof in Salt Lake to celebrate Valentines Day. My brother, Jeremy, gave us a gift certificate there for Christmas (thanks Jeremy!). Coulter and I have never been to The Roof so we were excited. It was so nice! We sat right by the window and had a great view of the temple. It was quiet and peaceful and the food was great. There wasn't a single child in the restuarant...that took some getting used to:-).

Coulter loved the desserts! There were 25 to choose from...out of control.

The food was amazing. I wanted to go back for more food when I was done because it was so good but unfortunately I was too full:-(

Pretty flowers from the Coulter...

Coulter also gave me my ring this weekend!

Dinosaur Musuem...

We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi today. We have never been so since we had a free day, we decided to head down. The kids love dinosaurs so they were excited before we even got inside...

There were caves for the kids to play in...

The museum had an exhibit with lots of water and sand for the kids to play with. There were dinosaurs and trees so they could build hills, mountains, etc. with the sand and then play with the dinosaurs. Rylie loved it! She played quietly for a long time, it was really cute.

There was an exhibit where the kids could play in the sand with brushes to dig for dinosaur fossils. Ethan and Rylie loved this too.

Rylie playing with her dinosaurs on the way down to the museum...

Birthday and Valentines...

My mom's birthday was on Friday (the 13th) so my siblings and I took her out to dinner. After dinner, Kaitlin and I took my mom down to Provo to see the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. We have seen them before and really like their performance so Kaitlin and I decided to take her for her birthday. It was really good and my mom enjoyed it...success!
Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had a great birthday. (Next year we will even be on time...)

Valentines Day...
The kids and I made this cake for Coulter for Valentines (Coulter loves cake...). I was pretty excited about how it turned out.

Valentines Day morning, Coulter made breakfast for everyone and the kids got a present from us...it was a fun day. I love my family!

The kids playing in the snow after breakfast

Ethan with his new Cyborg toy! Don't be jealous...

Rylie was really happy about her "beautiful" heart necklace we gave her. She must have said the word beautiful about 20 times after we gave it to her...She also got a Pound Puppy (that's right baby!) that she named...can you guess it?....Puppy! I better write that one down so I don't forget it...

Ethan doing his valentines for his preschool class...it's hard writing your name 15 times in a row when you're 4 (it only took 45 minutes)...

Picture tag...

My friend Denise tagged me...
1. Go to your documents/pictures
2.Go to my 6th file folder
3. Go to my 6th picture
4. Blog about it
5.Tag 6 people to do the same This picture of Rylie was taken 11-11-07 at my parent's house. My dad had just made some of his famous chocolate chip cookies and Rylie was helping herself to one...what a cutie! I was looking at all the pictures in this file folder and want to post them all...I can't believe how much Ethan and Rylie have changed in a little over a year...time flies!

I tag Mindi, Alicia, Tara, Jolie, Heather and Katie (now you can start a blog!)

Nothing really new with us...

Things I have learned the past couple of weeks...

1. Falling back asleep after Coulter wakes you up so he can go work (I had worked all night, sheesh)=Ethan and Rylie naked in our office shampooing the carpet with milk, water, eggs and sour cream (I'm going to my happy place now).

2. Never trust Rylie

3. Ethan and Rylie playing quietly downstairs at Great Grandma's house=calling poison control because Rylie just had to drink some vanilla diffuser.

4. Never trust Ethan

5. It takes about 15 minutes to get gum (not Ethan's gum) off of Ethan's church pants and shirt (don't send your kid to church with gum if they can't keep it in their mouth, please).

6. Never trust Ethan and Rylie together

7. Ethan and Rylie whispering=something bad is about to go down

8. If your husband brings home a nerf gun the size of Kansas for Ethan, he will sleep on the couch for a night so he knows he messed up...

Is this the face a trouble maker? You better believe it!

Okay...lets move on to happier times...here is my little Ethan making valentine treats. I burned the first batch...go me!


Yummy!

Rylie got in a fight with the coffee table and the coffee table won...sweet battle wound on her cheek...

I talked Coulter in to watching The Sound of Music after church on Sunday and Rylie passed out after about 3 minutes. No love for some singing nuns...Rylie loves any form of television so Coulter said the movie must be pretty bad for her to pass out that soon...

Here is Ethan securing the perimeter with his missile launcher (thanks again Coulter)

What does every little girl need? That's right, a Nerf gun six shooter...man Coulter is in trouble...

This is for you Grandpa-here is Rylie absolutely intrigued by figure skating...just like Grandma

Shake it baby!

This girl has some mad skills! She is sucking her thumb while drinking her lemonade.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Draper Temple Open house with the Topiks. It was really nice, what a beatiful temple. I was really glad that we got to go because whenever the kids are by the Ogden Temple or the Salt Lake temple they always ask to go in. It was a good opportunity to show the kids a little more about the temple.