Poor Rick

It is very obvious that poor Rick has spent way too much time breathing in the second-hand estrogen that makes up the majority of the air in our house. How so, you ask?

Is it the fact that this picture finds him in the kitchen making sloppy joes for dinner? No.

Is it the lovely pink bead necklace that he wears so well? No.

Or is it merely the fact that he raised absolutely no eyebrows or stink when we told him we were posting this picture on the blog? BINGO!

(P.S. Check out Alexis' self-portrait hanging on the fridge in the background)

A Little Celebration

It's always hard to decide which milestones to celebrate or not celebrate. Today's is one worth a little celebration ~ 2 years ago today, Rick and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple. I am so blessed to share my life with him every day. Rick is a great husband and an awesome dad!

We celebrated with ice cream cupcakes from Coldstone Creamery - yummy!

We had a good laugh at how the cupcakes coincidentally looked male and female. It was even funnier that I liked the pink one better and Rick liked the white (chocolate) one better.

My New Best Friend

I'd like you to meet my new best friend ~ Noah. Everytime I have talked to my family in Arizona for the past week, I end up having a chat with Noah, my nephew. He always gives me the rundown on what everybody is doing and exactly what is going on in the world according to Noah. When his mom or somebody else tells him it's time to say bye-bye, he always says, "I'n not done yet" or "I'n talking to Stephie". I realize that he has no idea who he is talking to (other than knowing that the voice on the other end is Stephie) and that he will talk to just about anybody on the phone; but I do not take that personally. I just love that he wants to talk and that I can actually understand him. Here's to Noah - you know my number bub, call me anytime!

"Good-bye New York!"

These words were Alexis' specific request for today's blog title. For those who haven't already heard, Alexis will be spending the next 10 days in Arizona with Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the gang. She was so excited to get going that she could not sleep last night and bounded out of bed first thing this morning. The 2 hour road trip to the airport took 'FOREVER'! I kept waiting for her to get nervous or apprehensive about this little trip. Needless to say, I'm still waiting....... She was cool as a cucumber through the whole thing. When I hugged her good-bye as she went to board the plane, I gave her all the last minute reminders and she said, 'Mom, I know. I'm not a baby.' Even my friend Gretchen (who was great to come on this little road trip and keep me company) noticed that as Alexis walked off to board with the gate agent she didn't even look back or turn around and wave good-bye. That's our Alexis! Even though we will miss her, we hope she has an AWESOME time in Arizona!

The world traveler

Alexis and her new friend Flower waiting for her plane to come in

The plane, the plane.....

Julee has already commented that it is weird not to have Alexis around. Rick is also going to be gone for the next 2 days. What will Julee and I ever do??

Piece by Piece

We love to spend General Conference weekend at home in our jammies watching conference on the internet hooked into our TV. It's great family time and downtime for the 4 of us. It's always a challenge to keep the girls quietly occupied doing something that will still enable them to listen. This time they decided it would be puzzles. We haven't had the puzzles out in a long time! Lots of them were missing pieces and had to be removed from our collection. Lucky for us, we still have plenty left. Here are just a few.....

I think this summer will find us working a more advanced puzzle ~ both girls could do all of these puzzles with one eye closed and a hand tied behind their back. They're growing up SO fast!

Lucky 5 Blog Give-a-way Gift

Yesterday I got my Lucky 5 Blog Give-a-way gift from my friend Emily. What cute cards! I love them and I love the fact that she personalized them! Now, to be as creative in my gift as she was in hers........