Happy Mother's Day

Today was such a great day- I was completely spoiled!  Jared was awesome and did all of the cooking, dishes, and tons of the kids stuff, too!  He also gave me a box of 'Lifesavers' candy!

Tori was so excited to give me a box of 'Sweedish Fish' (because we love singing the Slippery Fish song together) and my Mother's Day card.  My most favorite part was the picture she drew me on the back!!!

 Garrett gave me a box of 'Jolly Ranchers' since he's always so happy to see me!!!

 Dad Allen once again spoiled me with this beautiful corsage- thanks so much Dad, I loved wearing it to church!!!

Thanks so much to my wonderful little family for making today so special!!!  Tori even made me a necklace in nursery!  Although, I don't think she realized it was for me.  When I went to pick her up she was so excited to show it to me and then put it on herself.  It did look really cute on her!

I love being a mom!  It is probably the hardest thing I have ever done and can be super frustrating at times.  But it is also one of the most rewarding jobs in the world!  I love Jared, Tori, and Garrett with all my heart and am so blessed to have them in my life!  Love you all tons and tons!!!

A Little Cleaning Up

Twice a year we are asked to come help do a major cleanup of our church building.  Today was one of those days and this time our ward was assigned the outside.  So we got to do things like weeding, planting new bushes, trimming bushes, cleaning up the parking lot, etc.  While taking Garrett and Tori may not have made us the most productive family there, it was still fun going as a family!

This is how Garrett spent his morning!

Such a big boy playing with his toys on a blanket! 

Tori's two contributions today - putting rocks back in the flower beds and putting sticks on the pile of clippings that needed to be hauled away (she loves to play with rocks and sticks, so it was perfect for her)!  She was such a big helper!

This time around we tackled cutting down a few trees that died over the past winter.  Here they are getting all ready for the actual cutting down.  Jared is in the bright yellow shirt closest to the right!

 Just in case, they got a bunch more people to help hold the rope to pull the tree the right direction.  It cracked me up how many people they had on that rope- but they were all super excited about it!

 An action shot of the tree coming down.  Tori was standing by me watching the whole process and when the tree fell she started to cry.  I think she was worried about the tree getting hurt- what a sweetheart!

After our group's hard work today, the church grounds looked awesome!  I am so glad we went to help, even if it was only a little bit!

7 Months Old!!!

Garrett officially turned 7 months old on Wednesday (the 9th).  But since he had shots that day and was not a happy camper, we saved his photo shoot until today.  Garrett got his very first tooth (on the bottom) on Wednesday.  We are so glad it finally came it- it feels like he has been teething for the past 3 months.  We have been introducing new foods to our little guy and, for the most part, he has been loving them!  Garrett has also been getting really good at sitting up.  He is getting to the point where he seems to prefer sitting up over laying down now.  Garrett went in to see his pulmonologist yesterday and we got the fantastic news that we can stop breathing treatments- hurrah!!!  I think that was the best 7 month present we could have gotten!  So, without further ado- our big 7 month old dude!!!

Garrett's first photo shoot outside- pretty exciting stuff!

Our little man is getting so big!

I love all of his facial expressions!

There were way too many things to check out for either one of them to look at me!

Oh, how we love this boy!!!

I kept waiting for my smiley boy to come out to play for pictures.  He finally came out when we came back inside!

Garrett's hair seems to being growing in more each day- and it is much darker than Tori's!

There's the smile I love so much!

Yum- this tastes great!

What a crazy kid!

Our sweet boy all ready for bed!

Happy 7 months Garrett- we love you oh so very much!!!

A Softball Game

This afternoon Tori, Garrett, and I travelled up to Pike High School to join Jared for a softball game.  He has two students this year and one from last year on the team.  I love that we can go and support some of his students- it's so fun to be a part of his school world a little bit!  Since we arrived well before the game, we got to hang out in Jared's room for a bit. 

Tori had so much fun helping Daddy feed his fish!

Then she got to color to her hearts content with all these crayons!

Then Tori upgraded to drawing on the white board- talk about drawing heaven!!!

Garrett and I had a great time rockin' out in Jared's chair!

Daddy pulled out all the stops when he let Tori watch 'Dinosaur Train' on the projector in his room! (I love how little she looks in her desk!)

We had a great time at the softball game- we even packed a picnic dinner!  Garrett loves being outside and he had a grand time with his ball!

Tori may have watched the game for two seconds- and here is proof!

But for the most part she just had a fantastic time playing and running around!

Daddy and Garrett checking out the game!

Tori played with this little boy for most of the game.  I love how quickly kids make friends at this age!  These two ran around, played with his football, and climbed up and down the stairs.  I was impressed that he stuck around even when Tori pulled out her ponies.  Although, he was quick to point out that he could only play with the blue one because it was a boy, none of the pink or purple ones!

Mommy and Garrett had a grand time watching the game too!

Sadly, the Pike girls lost the game- but they sure gave it their best!  Go Pike!!!

Introduction to the Ball Pit

This evening Tori had a grand time playing with Garrett!  It started out by Tori asking Daddy to put Garrett in her stroller.  She had so much fun pushing him around!  I absolutely love this picture- Garrett's expression seems to be conveying something along the lines of, "what is she doing to me!"

Next Tori asked us to put Garrett in the ball pit.  I don't know why we hadn't thought of it before, especially since he is sitting up now.  Here he is in the ball pit for the very first time!

 Garrett had a fantastic time with so many toys close at hand!

 We loved it when Tori climbed in there to play along with him!

 Both kiddos playing together- I love it!!!

 I think Tori wanted to make sure she showed Garrett the ropes of playing in a ball pit!

 I love that Garrett is so chill when Tori is running all around him!!!

Hurrah for fun times in the ball pit together!

I'm sure this was the first of many such adventures!!! 

Running Around

This afternoon and evening, Jared had the opportunity to volunteer at a Pike track meet.  Tori, Garrett, and I  were able to meet up with him for some fun Daddy time.  We started out with a yummy Burger King picnic dinner!  Doesn't this look tasty?!!

 Tori really clicked in to the whole track meet thing- she had a ball running around all night long!

So sad that I didn't capture more of our cute boy- at least I got his adorable face!!!

 Garrett got to sit in grass for the first time tonight- I don't think he's a fan yet!

 What a sweetie- Tori gave Garrett a flower!!!

 This little guy loves being outside!

 Tori had a great time moving rocks around- looks fun to me!

 Jared was such an important volunteer that he got to have a golf cart to drive around all night.  We loved joining in for a few rides while he was running his errands!!!

 A golf cart is not only fun for rides, but also as a jungle gym!

Garrett loved hanging out with Daddy!!!

Garrett had a great time at the meet- here he is talking all about it!

We all had a wonderful time at the track meet.  Not only was it fun spending time as a family, but we love supporting Jared's students in their extra-curricular activities- go Pike!!!

The Awesomeness of April

Each month I think that things are going to slow down a little bit for our family.  And each month it seems that we get more and more busy.  Along with all of our business, I am so glad that we have fun moments and memories with our family!  Hope you enjoy a few more of our April moments!!!

I think this is Jared's very first picture with both Garrett and Tori!!!

Yeah for story time with Daddy!

Tori still likes to take off her clothing, especially pant/shorts, when she is supposed to be sleeping.  I was really surprised and impressed when she came out with her pants back on- even if they were inside out!!!

Watching a show together- with plenty of space in between!

Boxes really do make the best toys!

What a perfect spot for Puppy and Blankie to 'hang out!'

Tori has become our little climber!

Garrett and Tori love time with Daddy- especially story time!!!

 Garrett is our little monkey boy...

 he loves to grab things with his feet!!!

Check out Garrett and his toy-grabbing while sitting up skills!

Tori's hair is so fun to play with!!!

 Tori was a big help to Daddy- the toilet works great now!

Garrett absolutely loves Prince!!!

Tori has discovered the magic of bandaids! I'm not sure, but it might even rival kissing it all better!

 What a big boy!

 Apparently, Tori has been watching me when I get ready- she knew exactly what to do and even put some blush on her cheeks!  We are in trouble already!!!

What a great month we have had!  Can't wait to see what comes our way next month!!!