I can't BELIEVE my boy is TWO!!

I can't believe my sweet boy is two years old! Crazy! I feel like I just had him. He had a fun birthday yesterday, but some of the fun things we had planned he decided to sleep through! Your birthday isn't that fun when you take a 5 hour nap! We had his 2 year appointment today and he is 33 1/2 pounds and 35 1/2 inches. He has always been one solid kid, and we love him. He has always been the peacemaker in our family and is so loving. He always says thank you mama or thank you dada after everything. He is super ticklish, loves cars, balls, and balloons. He gets scared pretty easily, but loves to run back and forth in our house and says "on your mark, get set, go!" all the time. He makes the funniest facial expressions and we sure have loved all two years of him. Here is a little recap of his special day....

Breakfast donuts are a tradition in our home!

He helped me make the cake...or ate the leftovers :)

His cute cousin John had to help him get the candle out.

He loves Cars everything!

An interesting attempt at a tire cake?!?!?

Grandpas airplane fun.

Fun blocks from his cousins John and Madi.

He loves his new basketball hoop from Oma and Opa (we got one he could grow into)

Here is our little "chill pill" on his bean bag from grandma and grandpa. We sure do love you Cavin!

A Visit From A Friend

This past week my good friend Ashley and her son Ian came to spend their spring break with us. We were so glad they came, and we had so much fun having company.

We got really ambitious one night and went to see "The Last Song" at 10:00 p.m.. I felt like we were teenagers again with a teen flick and being out so late. Partway through the movie we heard what sounded like a muffled gun shot and we got pretty nervous. There was only 20 minutes left of the movie though, so after the 6 ladies in the theatre got up to talk to see what they thought it was, we all sunk pretty low in our seats and finished the movie. Surely if it was something they would have warned us and told us to leave the theatre right!? After that I leaned over to Ashley and said...welcome to the ghetto....I mean Houston :)

Ian and Cavin had a fun time together. They are only about 6 weeks apart in age and although they have completely different personalities, they had fun. It just took a little warming up from Cavin. Cavin is a little too sensitive for his own good, and Ian has lots of energy and likes to have fun!

Sweet kid!

The kids loved to hang out and watch movies and talk!

We went to the Houston Zoo and the kids did great. They all stayed in their strollers and looked at the animals. Ella kept saying she loved the sea lions and Cavin would say he loves the Lions and then proceed to "ROOOOAAARRR"

They were excited about the giraffes because when we went to the DC zoo there weren't any!

This is Ian who loves to play. Here he is tackling Ella. She loved it for the most part. Cavin not so much. If Ian even looked at him funny, he would cry. Poor kid is such a calm kid he can't even have fun!

A quiet activity that they both enjoy!

Playing with trains.

These three really did have fun playing together and I loved having Ashley to come spend her precious time with us. Thanks so much for coming guys, we sure wish we were still neighbors!

A Trip to D.C.

This past week we got to take a trip to Washington D.C. and visit my brother Chris' family. They had a baby boy named Coleton that they were blessing, so we were able to go and be there for his special day. Ella, Caden, and Cavin had a great time running through the house and playing, and as we left Ella said, I really don't want to leave my best friend. Aren't cousins great?!

We got to go to the zoo....

and see lions, and tigers, and bears...

we got to see the L.D.S temple there....


we got to play with Coleton, who is literally an amazingly good baby.....

and go downtown to the cherry blossom festival (which was really cold, but there were still a few cherry blossoms that had bloomed)...

we went to Washington Monument, the National Art Museum, and the Lincoln Memorial...

we got to dye easter eggs for F.H.E.....

and the very best part, we got to see Coleton blessed.

We were so glad we were able to come and visit and we sure will miss Chris, Chira, Caden, and Coleton. Thanks for letting us come!

Birthday and fun with Daphne!

It all started with my birthday! I turned 27 and am feeling old. My parents, Natalie, and Corey's family met us for dinner at Chilis and then we came back home and ate cake and icecream. Ragnar even made a cake! My mom brought one too, so there was plenty! Then, Thursday was Coreys match day at Baylor College of Medicine. We all went down to see where he was going to be spending the next 5 years of his life! He was so excited to find out where his residency will be and that he will be working with Methodist hospital the first transitional year in Houston, and then going to Michigan the next 4 years! We are super excited for him, and I am so glad I have one more year to wean my children from their cousins! Then Aunt Daphne came to visit from Germany! We loved seeing her!

We had a tea party...

Played Games.....

Went to a Rockets game...

played with bubbles...

and playdo...

(don't you love Ragnars creation!)

we went to dinner...

visited Ragnars cousins, Laurie and Cade...

and their two cute kids Benson and Connor...

Chatted with the girls....

were silly.....

and had so much fun!!

Aunt Daphne we are so glad you came....we already miss you!

Our Famous Ragnar!

Here is the article on the front page of the church news!
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59053/Basketball-fans-hear-from-Elder-L-Tom-Perry.html

A Unique Experience

It's not everyday that you get to drive an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints around. That was the experience Ragnar and I were able to have yesterday evening.

Here are the L.D.S employees at the Rockets organization.

This is how the story began and what brought the encounter into our reality. Ragnar works for the Houston Rockets and some of the games that they have are themed to generate a certain population and get more people to the game. There are actually about 5 people in the organization that work for the Rockets who are L.D.S. With that, they decided to do an L.D.S. night at the Rockets and see if they could get people to come. This is where Ragnar's magic came into play. Ragnars family knows the Uchtdorfs, so when Ragnar found out L. Tom Perry would be in town for stake conferences for our church, then he contacted President Uchtdorf to see if Elder Perry would want to come out to a game and talk to the members of the church. Any of you who know Elder Perry know that he is a big basketball fan, so his secretary contacted Ragnar and they were able to arrange Elder Perry and Elder Snow to come out to the game last night. Ragnar then was in charge of his transportation, so he invited my brother Corey to go and pick him up, and entertain him at the game. It was a neat experience, my mom, dad, Natalie, Corey, Steph, John,Madison, and I were able to sit right in front of him the whole game. They handed him a ball at center court during half time and then after the game he spoke for a few minutes to the members and then shook a few hands (I think that some people wished he could have stayed longer, but let's be honest, he is 87 years old, it was 10:30 and we lost an hour of sleep due to day light savings!) Then Ragnar and I had the opportunity to take him back to the hotel and talk for a few minutes. It was a nice experience and one that I am grateful that we got to have. Both he and Elder Snow have such delightful and peaceful demeanors. They are so calming that neither of us were nervous, just grateful to be in the presence of two men who we believed in and who we felt were on the Lord's errand.

P.S. And the Rockets gave them a win!

You Always Want What You Don't Have

Last night I went with an old high school friend to see a movie. As we were walking to our car we saw some kids being stupid in the parking lot and hurried to our car. As I was thinking about those kids we saw, I thought of my own kids. For so long I have wished they would hurry up and grow so we could communicate better or do fun things, or this, or that, but in that very moment.....I stopped. I don't want them to grow up! They get to make their own decisions and experience pain and heart ache and a simple kiss won't just make it all better. I can't choose their happiness, they have to choose it and find it, and it scares me. I don't love the beginning months or years of life because it is so hard for me to not know what they need or be able to communicate with them, but in that moment, for the first time, I wanted time to stop. I wanted them to stop growing so I could hold them and have them and keep them safe. These pictures are from about 6 months ago and they already look and are so different. I think I need to do better at remembering to cherish each day and not wish for the next. The saying is so true, you always want what you don't have....