Ellie, the little dancer!

 Ellie had her first tap/ballet recital. She did really great, at least in her parents eyes. :) She may have not known all the moves, she may have spent more time waving at us rather than dancing, she may have been turned around backwards while everyone was facing forward, but at least she could shake it!  :)

You'll notice here how everyone is walking off the stage and she was still there enjoying the hurrah cheers of "good job Ellie!".  Mitch said, "she may not have been the most talented, but she was definitely the funniest and that's what I love!" And it's true, the guy next to me (who I did not know), was laughing hysterically at her silliness. I finally elbowed him and said, "Hey, that's my daughter." Except, I was giggling too. She is such a ham!

Here is Ellie and her cousin Elise. They took dance together this year and had a great time. Her friends Lanie and Jaycie were also in her class.

Here is the rest of the cheering section. They even brought her a rose to boot! Poor Ethan, too many dancers in his life! :) Great Job Ellie, we sure love you!

One In A Million

I've been down and out with this whole gallbladder thing, so Mitch has really had to step up and play Mister Mom. Some days have been a little more stressful for him (and me) than others, but today he seemed to really be having a great time with the kiddos. We just got the kiddos a sandbox so Ellie and Max spent 3 hours today getting covered in, and eating sand. Mitch did projects while they played and before I knew it He had the kids in swimsuits and they were out playing in the sprinklers! What a great Dad. I'm pretty lucky to be married to this guy.

 Even Indy loves the sprinklers! Ellie was jumping and giggling so hard it was fun to watch how carefree a child can be. It was simply refreshing to watch. She has never jumped on the tramp in the sprinklers like this, so she thought it was awesome.

Max reaching for the water as it sprinkles down on him. Oooo, I could just kiss him to pieces.
Here are the kids enjoying their very first Root Beer Floats. Obviously, they were a hit. Root beer and ice cream, whats not to love?! We used to have root beer floats at my Grandma Okla's and Grandpa Arts house. Such great memories.

 Here are the two munchkins playing in their 'boat' sandbox. And of course the boys out mowing the lawn. Maxwell would wave his little hand at me every time he passed by the family room window. Such a fun little guy. Hooray for SUMMER!!!

My man Mitch!

When I met Mitch, I knew he had a lot of great qualities. He was sporadic, spiritual,  happy, ambitious, loving, etc.. But I probably would not ever describe him as compassionate. It's just not one of his strengths. However, I need to give him some credit where credit is due.
   
    I had my gallbladder out yesterday and let's just say when I came out of it, my pain was not under control. I was also a little panicked as we were having a hard time keeping my heart rate up because it hurt to breath. So the machines alarms kept going off. They pump your chest and abdominal area up with air for the surgery, but as a result that air goes into your chest and shoulders making you have chest pains that really hurt. Am I being a little dramatic? Maybe a little, but Ouch! Next time nurses, pump up the perkiset!

    Sweet Mitch sat there and held my hand, told me to hang on for the pain medicine to kick in, and even grimaced with me! He was so great, just as sweet as could be. In fact I even had the nurse take this picture of us (even when I never in 100 years care to have a picture of myself  just after surgery) so I could always remember how awesome and compassionate he was being. I am pretty lucky to have this guy as a best friend.

 Here is to looking forward to a healthy and less painful summer!!!!

WARNING: if you have a weak stomach don't arrow down to the next picture.






I asked the doctor to take a picture of my gallbladder, stones etc. I love anatomy and the amazing human body. Why I didn't become a PA or a nurse is beyond me. I love this stuff.  So this is a picture of my gallbladder cut open and showing the gallstones. May I suggest not getting these. :)

Soccer!!

I've waited my whole life to have a kid in soccer and let me tell you the awesomeness of it all has not dissapointed us in the least.

 Our first game we couldn't find one of her shin guards so I taped a diaper to her leg and we headed out the door. Ellie has such a great attitude and thought the diaper was awesome! Her first game she scored 4 goals. However, 3 of those goals came from her picking the ball up, running it down to the goal, putting it down and kicking it in! After each goal she would come up to me and give me a hug and ask "Mom, did you see me!?!" I am so happy that she likes me, I love her to pieces. For some reason I thought my girls wouldn't like me and that they would be hard all the time. She can be hard at times but overall she and I are the closest of friends.  Perhaps one day I won't be the coolest person in the world but until then I will just enjoy my SUPERHERO status. :)

Here is a picture of El after she scored. "Hey mom, give me a drink, I need to power up so I can score some more!" How grateful I am to be a Mom.

Ellie's first Race

 Ellie ran her first race this weekend. Olivia had a fun run at her school so we ran the one mile race. Max enjoyed the stroller ride as we power walked. I may or may not have got a little choked up when I saw Ellie running her little heart out. She ran almost the whole mile! That's my girl!

 Ellie and Ethan are great friends. Sometimes they push each others buttons but most the time they have a great time hanging out together.

 We just love our cousins! We wish they all lived a little closer!

I'm so proud of my little lady. She even ran the whole race with her shoes on the wrong feet, that is hard! Go Ellie!

April Happenings

I think the medical community is ganging up on us to try to suck us dry this year. Hopefully we'll meet our deductible soon. Ellie had her tonsils out, I had mouth surgery from an infection in my maxilla (from a bad root canal), Two root canals, I had a cononoscopy and found out all my tummy issues came from being Lactose in Tolerant, I just found out that I have gallstones (OUCH) and surgery will be within a week or two. Someone said "Man, you guys have had it all in the past few months." I don't think so. I just feel like everyone has their 'go' with life. And honestly a few doctors visit's are not too bad comparably speaking. We are just glad to have a few doctors to help us out!
       Last week Max had surgery on his eyes. Every morning the poor guy wakes up with his eyes gooped shut. At first we thought it was prolonged pink eye, but eventually we were referred to Primary Children's in which we found out that his Lacrimal ducts (eye drainage hole), were shut off or partially closed causing the eye trouble. So last week we went in and had a simple surgery to open those up. The pictures look like we abuse the little guy, luckily we love him way too much for that!

Can Primary Children's be any better at what they do? Our service was excellent. They whisked Max back to the operating room in a little car and he was having so much fun that he didn't even realize I was gone!

It just happened to be 'Take your kid to work day" at Fusion IO so Dad and Ellie spent the day together. Most kids left after an hour or so but Ellie stayed all day with dad. She brought a little DVD player and ate popcorn while dad worked. Mitch said she talked really loud when she had her head phones on. This was funny because Mitch works in a cubicle environment. One of Mitch's co-workers gave Ellie a bouncy ball and Ellie exclaimed, "When my Mom see's this she will say, 'What My Heck!'" We Love Ellie.

 Here is Max the next day. The poor little thing was bleeding out his eyes and nose. His eyes were also swollen shut. He was happy as a lark though and now he continues to do great!

 Max continues to grow up and get a little more silly (and naughty) each day. He Loves putting hats, pots, or anything on his head. If he see's me coming to pick him up he thinks it's funny to run away, this is especially fun at the grocery store. The cute little stinker.

Here are the two best buds. Ellie is always trying to carry Max around. If you didn't notice Max is a bit of a tank so she usually falls over and lands on top of him. Then they both lay on the ground giggling or crying. :) They are such good friends. One day He will be big enough to swat back at his big sister. I'll be sure to write about that!

Spring Break Sleepover

Last week it was spring break for the schools here in Utah. Ellie has been dying to have a sleep over with her cousins. So we decided to invite ALL the cousins over for a sleepover (on the Lifferth side). Not everyone  could make it but we did end up with 8 kiddos at our house for one fun party. I think we should make it a tradition.

 We started the night off by having Great grandma, Grandma, and Grandpa come and make some milk shakes.

 Now what would a sleep over be if we didn't go toilet papering! Unfortunately for uncle Robb, his house was the target. The kids LOVED it, and secretly, so did we.

 They were a little excited. :)

 Before going to Uncle Robb and Aunt Carlie's, we 'heart attacked' my parents house. This was done in secrecy. But between you and me, Grandma just sat in the front room and smiled as each kid peered their little eyes through the window to see if anyone was there. We hid across the street after Zach, Taylor and Olivia knocked on the door and ran. When Grandma came out she exclaimed, "Oh my, who could have done this!?" :). Then from across the street you heard a little voice yell out, "it was us Grandma, we are right here!!!!". This was so fun.

 Toilet papering was a success, however, we did get caught and the kids were tickle tortured by Uncle Robb.

We finished the night off by watching a movie. Ethan was the only one who made it through more than ten minutes of it. We had such a great night, we love Cousins!