Happy Mother's Day

I hope every one of you women had a great Mother's Day.  I love this day.  There is a wonderful feeling in the air.  It's amazing to see how loved and cherished mothers are.  I have a strong testimony that mothers are doing the Lord's work and there is nothing more important!  I gathered some quotes I found to be inspiring and uplifting and did a post on my personal blog.  Happy Mother's Day and thank you to you, yes you, reading this, if you are a woman, you have inspired me in one way or another to be better!  Sorry to get so mushy on you, but my heart is filled with joy today!

I was in the shower last night when Rich got home, and when I got out, I found these and a sweet card and a movie waiting for me.  It really meant a lot, and these have to be the most beautiful flowers I've ever received.  So thank you Rich, even though you don't read my blog...but just in case you ever do:), this is my public "thank you."  I love them!

These two

Julien LOVES Cooper.  I'm not exaggerating when I say he tells me at least ten times a day, "I LOVE Cooper, Mom!  I'm so happy he is in our family!"  He kisses him and squeezes Cooper throughout the day and can't get enough of him.  He's always saying how adorable and cute he is and likes to point that out to strangers.  I love their little bond.  Julien really takes time out of his day to play with Cooper.  He builds blocks with him, reads to him, wrestles with him, pushes him on his tricycle, etc.  It's the kind of thing that makes a mother smile and fills her heart with joy.  I love their age gap.  It's like they just appreciate each other more and don't compete.  Jonah also loves Cooper, but Jonah is still territorial and a bit immature to really be patient with Cooper.  There are times when he enjoys teaching Cooper something and times where he cuddles him and plays with him, but it doesn't come quite as naturally.  Julien and Jonah sure have a special bond too.  They really do, but since they are so close in age, holy cow, do they fight!  They fight and compete and it gets loud and frustrating.  We're working on it!  I think that is why I melt even more when I see these two (below) constantly loving each other.

Easter

The Easter Bunny hid those eggs around the house for Julien and Jonah.  Those notes were there in case mom was still in bed when they found them (good thinking Easter Bunny), to explain that they had eggs hidden (didn't want one kid finding the other kid's eggs...gotta be fair;)!.  I did wake up to Julien and Jonah so excited that the Easter bunny had come and that he left a note telling them that they needed to find 6 eggs each!  Dad was already at work and Cooper was asleep.  I went around the house hunting for eggs with the kids and they were so cute.  Jonah said, "I tell you Mom, this bunny who talks and is from Easter, he sure hides eggs good!"

  They were so precious.  I wish Rich could have been there.

And on a side note:  
What were you doing when you got the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed?
 I was working on this post!

San Antonio Zoo

I love that picture of Cooper and the one of my 4 boys!  (especially because Jonah is cooperating for the picture). 

Love these pictures! 

Cheetahs are Julien's favorite animal.  Him and Jonah run around the house like Cheetahs almost every day.  They love them because they are fast.  This was Julien's highlight of the day!

Train ride!!

After all this time, we finally made it out to the zoo!  It was hot but we were really impressed with the zoo.  It was the best zoo we have been to besides Animal Kingdom in Disney World (but the kids weren't with us for that).  The kids loved it and have since developed an even greater interest in animals.  Most of what they bring home from the library is about animals.

Grandma's Surprise Visit

Well, it wasn't a surprise to Rich and I, but it was to our kids!  Rich's mom, Debbie, came to visit us for the first time since we have lived in Texas.  We actually haven't seen her since we moved from St. George in August 2008.  So it was SUCH an exciting thing that we were very much looking forward to!  She stayed from Thursday-Tuesday and it went by too fast.  Rich was able to get the entire time off of work.  It was the longest I have been around my husband in a long time.  The visit was so so so so so great and we are all still a bit choked up when we think about her being gone.  The last time my kids had seen her they were 2 and 4 yrs old and of course Cooper had never even met her.  Jonah really didn't have any memory of her (other than pictures), but Julien did.  But it didn't take long for both of them to attach themselves to her.  It took Cooper about 2 days to warm up but then he just loved her so much.  She even taught him how to fold his arms to say a prayer (something I just didn't even think to try to teach him at this age...never underestimate a child)!  He gave her lots of kisses and cuddles during her stay.  We had so much fun and did so many things.  It's sad to think she is back in Utah and Rich is back at work...it stinks!!!!  Hope you like pictures (and there are more where these came from)! 

On the second day, before heading down town.

Cooper being silly with his cracker. 

At Denny's.  This was the only shot I got of us eating.  We did a lot of that...went out a little too much and ate like we were on vacation.  It was nice!

Debbie's first River Walk experience.

Taking a picture next to John Wayne, since she is married to a cowboy. 

Waiting for our boat ride on the river walk to start! 

Curious Cooper.  Love that sweet face of his!  He loved the boat ride, especially the ducks!

Free standing wall illusion

The Alamo.  Look closely and you can see Jonah hiding between Rich and I. 

She even got to take her picture with Forrest Gump.

Every once in a while Jonah will let me take a picture of him! 

We toured Rich's work. 

checking out the views.

my kids just practicing their manners.

On the last full day (Monday), Debbie insisted on taking the kids to their favorite toy store to pick out some new toys.  They love riding the different bikes there.

I love my Grandma!

Grandma spoiled us!  Thanks for the toys Grandma.

It wasn't all fun and games.  On the last night she was here, she found this monster crawling on her arm in my kitchen.  She flung it off of her and screamed and then we all looked and all started to scream!  It took us about 20 minutes to muster up the courage to kill it.  I hate this thing.  It's causing a lot of anxiety around here.  If you had see this thing in person you would have died.  We looked it up and it's called a Giant Centipede.  It is venomous.  She was wearing my apron that night while making dinner and she thinks it crawled out of that.  Will there be more?...I can't relax around here.  Hate that thing!!

After we killed it and chopped his head off.

Love this picture.  But I feel so bad for her!!!  I'm just so glad so was protected!

This is one of the toys that she bought for Cooper. 

My dad came by for dinner on Monday. 

This is Jonah's new toy, a robot claw.  He takes it everywhere now. 

Grandma helping Julien lead the music for Family Home Evening.

The boys listening to Grandma give the lesson.

She gave a beautiful lesson on the 5 pillars of  bearing a testimony and even made them little props.  It was a great lesson and we are so thankful for her!

Now Jonah's turn to lead the music.

I'm sad she is gone.  I'm so glad we were able to do so many fun things while she was here.  We definitely created some wonderful memories!  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING TO VISIT US GRANDMA GOOD!!!  WE LOVE YOU!