Olivia's Favorite Things

Olivia took the challenge that Bishop Budge gave us this summer to read the whole Book of Mormon in two months. Here she is all set up to read with her favorite pal, her rat, Carmel. She bought a gate that she can put around her and Carmel so they can chill together and she doesn't have to worry about Carmel getting lost.

Olivia has become quite the babysitter. Twins, McKenna and Connor Burns LOVE it when Olivia and Shaylee babysit them. 

Cooling off in itty bitty swimming pools

Olivia and Shaylee all worn out from a hard day's work and play.

I took Olivia and Kaitlynn to see the midnight premier of Harry Potter 7 part 2. We had such a blast and they were such troopers. We got let into the theater really early, about 8:00 so they had 4 hours to play around with other kids in the theater. Her friends from diving were there and they played Ninja and goofed around!

They made their own shirts for the occasion. Cute!

About 40  min. till midnight, she'd had enough. I woke her up right as it started and she watched the whole thing and LOVED IT!

Sisters and Nephews

This spring break we were lucky to have family visit us for their spring breaks. My little sis, Dorothy Winters, came down with her little kiddos. She is such a treat to be around and her kids are the cutest things!

Our big sister, Maryjane and Dorothy at the park watching our kids play.

Love you Dot!

Dorothy's youngest, Jack, "riding" Olivia's scooter.

Olivia giving her cousin, Peter (Mj's youngest) a ride on the swing.

Peter (prounounced "Peetah, or Peetose- Haha!) on the couch with his big brother Luke (prounounced "Spiderman).

Mother's Day!

Sunday afternoons are a wonderful thing. This one was particularly nice because it was Mother's Day!

My kids gave me breakfast in bed and some WONDERFUL homemade cards.

Rustin layed out these lacrosse photos and his Eagle Scout award and left this note on top...

Creative and sweet! Enough to make a mother cry.

Schooling Olivia at Othello. Not sure why I am not sitting all the way down! Must have been multi-tasking.

Silly Olivia is losing her mind.

Happy Mother's Day MOM!

We had my parents and sister and family over for dinner and it was very enjoyable and relaxing!

Not sure what is going on here but Olivia is awesome!!

Me at my station

Chloe decided to clean out the craft cupboard and took a picture of the mess half way through.

And AFTER. 

See her cute toes? Great job Chloe!

I LOVE MOTHER'S DAY and these precious kids I am blessed to be the mother of!

I LOVE Women's Conference

I owe the three beautiful days I spent in Utah and at BYU's Women's Conference to my sister-in-law, Jennifer (in the middle). She invited me to go with her to Arbinger training which was way out of my price range, but her invitation got me thinking that I should go to Women's Conference this year and of course, go WITH her! This picture was taken on the second day when her daughter, and my oldest niece, Karianne, came with us!!

Jen and I are obsessed with trees, thanks to Liza and Heavenly Father, and we noticed every tree and every blossom and they each made our trip so much more enjoyable. Spring in Utah is amazing and one day it was warm and breezy and the next day it was FREEZING!! But it was always beautiful!

I learned sooooo much and received so many answers to prayers and peace to my heart, but at this moment, I was laughing my head off. Jen was sitting right by me, but texted me that the combination of the microphone and the speakers black shirt under her white blazer, looked like a person. It took me a second, and then I SAW IT! and I drew it here in my notes. Then I took a picture of it and texted it to Jen so she could see that I saw it. Silliness!

These are some awesome ladies! I stayed at my sister, Dorothy's house, who I always stay with when I go to women's conference (third time's a charm!) and she let me borrow this nifty circular scarf her friend made. Well, when we were walking to one of our classes, I was drinking my drink and Jen thought for a second that I was holding the drink in my scarf instead of holding it with my hands. So I tried it! It worked wonderfully and we decided to market it as the 

"Beverage Bjorn!"

Do you want one? You know you do!

Karianne and Jen waiting for the light. There were sooooo many women there! It was crazy! What amazing women we were with and got to listen to. I highly recommend going to women's conf. every year!

This is Jack, my little nephew who is my #1 fan. He talks and talks so much and I taught him to say my name. YAY! He wouldn't do it at first, but then finally at dinner, he just looked at me and said "Sawah"

He loves reading books- actually just pointing to EVERY single picture and telling you what it is, and one time I read him a book while we layed on the ground, so after that he would go grab a book and lay down on the floor. Hint hint.

It was snowing Friday night and this is what the porch looked like at the Winter's house 

(no pun inteneded)

This is me standing in that same exact spot in the morning! 

This is April 29!!!

I loved the way the spring snow looked on the spring blossoms.

Tree obsession again!

Jack at Krispy Kreme with the rest of his siblings. He plowed through his donuts in two seconds flat!

Kolby was so much fun to hang out with. I LOVE his voice, his personality and everything about him! His glasses are pretty darn cute too!

It is so fun to be the auntie to these darling kids. Look at Jane's darling face and giant eyes! What a doll!

My little sister, Dorothy has become one of my best friends and I am sooooo grateful that she has let me crash at her house (or apartment) so many times when I visit. We had the BEST talk until the wee hours of the morning and got to know each other better than we probably ever have. 

She is a treasure!!!!  (Squirt squirt!)

I love my family!

Olivia and Kiera Steal the Talent Show!

Olivia and Kiera sang the song "Never Alone" at the school talent show May 24th. They dedicated the song to their Aunts. Olivia sang for her aunt Liza, who we recently lost to suicide. Kiera's aunt Alexia passed away four years ago from breast cancer. This song became very special to us when Kiera's older sister, Kelsey, recorded this song as a gift for me after Liza died. This song really helped her deal with her aunt's death and she wanted to make sure I knew I was "Never Alone." 

This is video of them practicing the day before. Super cute! 

(the actual video from the performance is on my facebook page but won't upload to blogger for some reason)

Olivia and Kiera practiced this song for months and worked really hard to make their angelic aunts proud! It sounded incredible and both girls really sang with love. When they were done they burst into tears as soon as they got back to their seats. They wore the Rollersaurus shirts we made for all of Liza's friends and family in her honor. Russ and I both wore our Rollersaurus shirts to the talent show too. Lots of angels were singing on this special day!

Tess's Photo Wins!

This picture looks better in real life- this is a picture of the picture, but 

TESS WON FIRST PLACE 

in the Gilbert High photo contest!

The theme was "Reinventing The American Dream" and Tess took a picture of her friend jumping over this chain-link fence (crossing the border) and then photoshopped a little Mexican town in the background. She was awarded first prize by a distinguished panel of judges from throughout the state and in Gilbert. She received an award at the Gilbert Fine Arts assembly which she purposely did not tell her parents about because she thought the award was "No big deal."

The Great Boat Regatta II

On Good Friday, Chloe wanted to have another boat regatta like we did when I first started this blog several years ago. So we got 5 refrigerator boxes from Spencer's Appliances and the girls went to town!

After the race they took some underwater pictures and Chloe edited them.

Chloe and Brooke getting started on their masterpiece.

Olivia and her team, which constisted of our next-door-neighbors, Karli and Anika Hall, worked on their boat inside (until Anath Hall helped them spray paint it outside)

Anika and Olivia and completed boat, "The Bomb" 

Ellie and McKenna and Macey with their "Pink Titanic" which was aptly named!

Let the race begin!!! Well, actually, it is more of an endurance competition to see whose boat will stay afloat the longest.

The Pink Titanic lasted about as long as it took you to read this sentence. Maybe shorter.

Chloe and Brooke's boat, the "S.S. Papaya" came in second and did much better than the Titanic, but still didn't last nearly as long as the WINNER- THE BOMB!!

Superior duct taping, especially along the seams and the bottom, and a layer of latex paint made Olivia's boat last a very long time! Great job ladies!

Brooke enjoying the last few seconds in her boat.

Olivia and Anika are finally sunk.

Cardboard shipwreck!

Some more editing by Chloe.

What a great day! Love those creative, hard working girls. Those boats took hours and hours to make but only minutes to sink. Good times!