Funny Kids

(this is a picture they took in Primary,

he got this in a frame with a picture

of the temple for being the spotlight)

Today Nathan gave his first talk in Primary. I got there a little bit early- just in time for the Spotlight. The primary lady got up, they turned out the lights, and she had a big flashlight to shine on all the kids, and then she stopped on Nathan (I didn't know he was going to be the spotlight) and he jumps up and says " YES! I am in the spotlight!" (almost in song) while hooraying with his arm. I was laughing so hard! Then he went up to the front, I will have to get a copy of the questionnaire that he answered. He said that one way he would get ready to get married in the temple was by wearing his nice Sunday clothes to church. Must be working because he hadn't been sitting with the Sunbeams, nope he was sitting with two very pretty girls in the CTR 8 class!

His talk went really well, and I was in tears from laughing so hard. Tyler was reading it to him, and he was doing fine and being serious until he said "...We have Family Home Nimning, oops sorry, I mean Family Home Evening"- we have been working on pronouncing it better- from there it was all giggles and so casual, he even said "We play games and stuff..." All the teachers kept turning around to look at me. It was seriously so hilarious. When his talk was over, and he said "Amen"  and then he blew really hard in the mic, just because.

After they dismissed the 8 year old hotties came up, out of their way, to give him high 5s and to tell him how well he did.

Tyler's Home Teaching companion is in the primary, and last week when they went out his comp said, "Nathan is so funny..." As soon as Tyler said that my heart dropped. I thought Great! We are going to have the class clown. And it looks like we are going to have 2.

(Sorry, she moved right when I took this, but you get the idea)

Ava also likes to crack us up. She is already super funny. She fake gags, cheeses it all the time, LOVES food, puts toys in her mouth and then crawls around (just like a little puppy),and she does yoga poses- downward facing dog is her favorite. The first time she did it Nathan said "LOOK she is going down dog!" We have only done yoga a handful of times in this house...sheesh. She is so obsessed with food. I was making rolls the other day and she was trying to get them out of the oven...she was hitting it so hard. And if she is in the other room and hears the fridge open she will be there before you can shut it.

We don't know where they got their silliness, but it sure is fun. Tyler and I were both very shy kids, so it is nice to see that they are both so confident, and outgoing. We sure love these cuties!

Pioneer Day

(getting ready for the parade- do you like her piggies?

Daddy said she looked like she had antennas)

Yesterday we went to a really fun Pioneer Day Celebration. A few of the stakes got together, and did this HUGE shindig- I think I heard they have been doing it for about 10 years. We went down to our Stake Center and sat with the wonderful Evans family for the parade. They say if we ever get tired of our kids to send them over. Ava chilled with Crystal the entire time (I am in YW with her, so they are friends...) It was soooo humid! The people on the floats had squirt guns to keep the crowd cool, and Ava & Crystal got soaked!

(the Missionaries with this HUGE flag)

(our group)

They also threw out so much candy and we got a ton! Nathan was so funny if he picked up a piece of candy he didn't like he would just throw it back down for some other kid to get. The Evans girls gave him all their candy too, so he had plenty. He and this one little girl ran for this piece of candy, and he got there first, but felt bad so he handed it to the girl- such a ladies man.

(Nathan "fishing")

They served breakfast, had games, snow cones, and tons of stuff. Then the fire department came and hosed everyone down. It was great to watch! The water was shooting like 100 yards! We were standing out of the way so it was just misting us. I don't remember going to anything like this in Utah, so it was awesome.

Our Cellphones Don't Work

We're cancelling our Sprint phones and family plan and porting our numbers to another provider.  It turns out our Sprint phones don't work and neither do our new ones until the porting process is complete (7-10) business days.  I mistakenly thought that once the Sprint phones didn't work, we could activate the others.  That apparently is not the case.  Oh well.

If you need to get a hold of us you'll have to email or call our home phone.  

Ava's been biting the spoon on purpose and playing.

Newness

Check out our NEW DINING ROOM FURNITURE!!!!

We have been selling stuff on Craigslist...stuff that we don't want to have to move/or that we don't love. One of those things was our dining room table and chairs. I have been wanting a new table for a while, but until we can get something else we will be using this beauty. We were needing a card table anyway.

Our dining room looks even more massive now... We could have a dance in here.

Birthdays

We have a ton of summer birthdays. My brother's is June 29th, my Mom's is July 3rd, mine July 7th, Tyler's the 8th, and my Grandma's is on the 9th. Plus, there is the 4th of July in there, so we party for one week straight!

My family was down here for my Mom's birthday. I made her some yummy pasta, and my version of BYU Mint Brownies.

The next day (the 4th) we had a BBQ and THIS:

Red, White, and Blueberry Pie...this was supposed to be my Mom's "cake" but I didn't want her to not get sung to on her real birthday so I made the brownies too.

I must say I was pretty disappointed with the fireworks here. The show only lasted 9 minutes, and there so NO FINALE! Who does that? So lame. The kids go to bed around 7:30, so I felt bad that we kept them up 2 hours past bed time to see the fireworks. Nathan is not very fond of loud noises, so we just did sparklers at our house, then watched our neighbors. I am pretty sure they were setting off illegal stuff. There were a few that would just make a huge BOOM and rattle the house. Pretty crazy. They were also blowing fire with their mouths...kind of cool to watch, but totally nuts. There were just massive fireballs coming out of their mouths. The chaos went on until after 11, so we were super tired at church the next morning. (We weren't up watching them that late, it was just so loud!)

A few days later on my birthday we went to Coldstone for ice cream...for those of you who don't know you can sign up on their website to get a free creation every year on your birthday. You have the week before, and week after to redeem it. So Tyler and I both got free ice cream, and we had a gift card too, so Nathan's was also basically free. I got some beautiful flowers from Tyler, an Amazon gift card, $, a super cute red dress and matching OPI polish (the best polish EVER!), and Vinyl Lettering! I am super excited to put it up once we move- if/when we move....more on that later.

Since our birthday's are so close we have to split up what we do and switch each year. So on Tyler's birthday we went out for Chinese food- Orange Chicken is his FAVORITE! That day we also went shooting, and had the best Oreo dessert that exists- Thanks again Fiona for the recipe! Tyler got Glenn Beck's new book "Common Sense", which EVERYBODY should read, a trip to the shooting range, $, a great shirt that says "Chancho, I need to borrow some sweats", a cute pink shirt, and Jazz Singer (Neil Diamond).

Yeah, don't mess with US!

(Nathan took this)

I can't believe with all those birthdays we didn't have real birthday cake...oh well. I am going through sugar withdrawls now that the sweets are gone. Thanks for all the birthday comments, and cards!

Guess Who's 30?!?

(Tyler at 9 months old)

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Here are 30 things about my dear hubby:

1. He was born in Provo, UT – yes, a BYU baby.

2. Moved to Hurricane when he was like 4, and calls it home.

3. Played Basketball, and Soccer in High School

4. Served a Full-time mission to Riverside, CA (Spanish Speaking)

5. Loves sports

6. Is really good at researching

7. Is super smart

8. So smart, he got a Presidential Scholarship to Dixie

9. Is very determined

10. Wouldn't give up on me when I was being “hard to get” before we started dating

11. Married me in March 2004

12. Graduated with a Bachelors in Business in '05

13. Great Daddy to Nathan & Ava

14. ALWAYS serves others

15. Can fix anything

16. Kills bugs for me

17. Has fixed up two homes beautifully for me

18. Has a perfect driving record

19. Watches super cheesy movies with me

20. Great singer

21. Plays the piano (shh, don't tell)

22. Awesome Magnadoodler

23. Loves the Gospel

24. Honors the Priesthood

25. Loves his family

26. Loves to read

27. Never complains

28. Excellent Iron-er – good thing too, because that is one of the things I am terrible at!

29. Is very patient

30. Basically he is the BEST!

I am sure I could come up with lots more to say, but we will save them for another birthday. We love you so much, and hope you have an amazing day!

Happy Birthday!

It's Monica's Birthday today.

She's a great wife, mother, and friend.