Friends and the Zoo...

 Yum! A jaguar eating a scrap of meat...

 The "Merry-go-round" was probably the biggest hit.  We thought they were having Disney princesses coming to the zoo today which is why we went on one of the first warm Saturdays in the Spring... however we were misinformed and it was just Disney radio that was there.  Still fun.  Addison "won" some Nemo magnets for the fridge.

 Round and round they go... We went with our friends the Johns' from our ward.  We each packed a picnic and had a good time hanging out and seeing the animals.  Our friends are right beside Tyler and Clark in the picture below. I guess Clark was adimant about getting the polar bear next to Mommy (I wasn't riding :) He was lucky enough after waiting through two other rides to be one of the first in line to choose where he could sit.

 Addison kept winking at me... It was really funny. Glad I could get a picture of it.

 Addison and our friend "little" Lydia (does that make me "big" Lydia?)

 Our kids love the new Rocky Shores at the Hoogle Zoo.  The seals are some of their favorites.

 Addison in front of the polar bear. Clark kept kicking his shoes off and got restricted to stroller riding with no shoes so I don't have as many pictures of him.

Kids on the rhino plus my big belly already... sigh... At least I finally look pregnant and not just fat! ;) So not only did we get to hang out with our friends the Johns' but we finally got to hang out with our Gurr friends (as Addison calls them).  It was a blast to catch up after a few months of not seeing them.  So good to have friends that live fairly close!

Spring is Coming!

 We decided that since the weather is warming up and these little birdhouses were only $1 and our kids love to paint... the combination was perfect for a Sunday afternoon activity.  Addison is very excited to hang hers up for the birds although she wants to add a pink roof to it after the yellow paint dries.  Clark was a little disappointed I would only let him use one color.  He chose green but wanted yellow and blue later...

 Both the kids were concentrating so hard.  Addison made sure to get around all the edges.  It really did turn out pretty good.  I loved seeing Clark's little tongue come out as he worked to get it all covered in paint.  He even painted inside the bird house so the birds could have some interior paint ;)

 Later today we went outside for a walk and then had to stay out and enjoy the dry ground for a while.  Clark has discovered his big trucks from the sandbox already.  I can tell he is going to love being outside this spring and summer.  He is getting so grown up!  Addison really needs a bigger bike but is a little nervous about it so I guess we will enjoy having a little money in our bank account until she is ready. 

 Of course Lulu had to join in the fun.  I love watching her run eights around the yard for no reason other than excitement at being able to play outside with the kids.

 Our baby girl is growing up so fast and is more beautiful everyday it seems!  Tyler thinks he needs to get a shot gun already... I think we have a few more years... at least I hope!

Oh another one of Clark's new loves right now is sprinklers.  He absolutely is fascinated with them!  He was stuck on clocks and Temples for a while and still really enjoys pointing all of them out, but when we are outside man this boy can find every sprinkler in a manner of seconds!  As we were on our walk every four feet or so he would say "there's 'nother spinkerler." What a silly boy that we love!

Anticipation

 So I have been a little bit excited about having another girl and trying out my newfound love of sewing.  I sewed this panel onto minkee for the backing.  I decided not to do batting because I want her to be able to drag it around and snuggle it easier. (Both my other kids have a love for soft blankets of course so do I!)  I had fun "quilting" using the sewing machine.  I don't have any formal training so I winged it, but am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I also tried my hand at doing aplique on the carseat canopy I made the other day.  The little bird at the bottom doesn't stand out quite as much as I would have liked but still for my first real try I was pleasantly pleased.

 This tag blanket was the first thing I made for our little girl on Valentine's day while Tyler and I watched "Back to the future" I sewed and he drew. (We are so romantic....) I wanted to try working with the minkee backing before trying a full size blanket.  It wasn't too bad thus being willing to try the blanket.  :)

I also made these easy peasy skirts out of some jersey fabric that my Grandma had. I inherited by choice all my Grandma's fabric since she no longer sews.  I am loving it!  These projects have been completed over the course of several weeks not just in the last few days just to clarify! I am busy with my kids plus 3 extra that I babysit for part-time.  Life is good.  I just wanted to share what I have been up to and keep record for posterity and such.  As long as no one looks too close at my projects they will do just fine!  :)

Baby!!!

 Addison and Clark really enjoyed the ultrasound on Wednesday. They got to watch a movie in the waiting room with my Mom until we found out the gender.  It was nice to have that special time with baby and Tyler.  We are so excited to announce another little angel girl will be joining our family.  We didn't care either way, but hey no complaints about making and buying some cute girly things. :) (The girls will be off season from each other, but I am sure most things will work.)

Here is the profile of our sweet baby.  She is already very active.  I feel her daily now. I love having that connection with her.  In the ultrasound we got to see her eyelids, tongue, lip, ventricles in her heart, among other obvious baby parts they specifically look at. She also was demonstrating her drinking skills for us. That was a lot of fun to see. I was again amazed at the progress that our little ball of cells has made.  I don't know how anyone can look at growing living life and not see God's hand in it. We know she is a gift from God and are so excited to have her join our family.  She is measuring a week ahead of the estimated due date so somewhere early July most likely...

Christmas tree hunting always an adventure...

 So we had a blast Christmas tree hunting this year...

lots of things we want to remember like...

getting stuck and having to take turns riding further up the road

in Hilary and Kevin's bravada.  They were very kind to help us. ;)

We also got to help push a few others out too.  We tried to

follow Uncle Tim and family.  Of course he has a nice 4 wheel

truck. :) Anyways we still found a beautiful tree and had a good time.

We went up to Island Park. We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving 

with both families this year.  It was fun to spend the night and 

Whitworths'  and enjoy a big turkey dinner and company and then 

head over to Tonks' for another one. We also enjoyed seeing our 

cousin Sam Whitworth after his return from Iceland serving the LDS

church there on a mission.

 Kevin, Hilary and Andrew

 Tyler cutting the tree down...

 Lovely weather for a sled ride together with you!

Clark, Hallie and Addison

 The Mike Whitworth family minus (Caleb and Crystal and Weston)

Not sure why none of us are looking at the

camera.. probably some sort of crisis like

a mitten that fell off...

Going backwards through time... Addison turns 4!

 Birthday girl in all her glory.  Very happy

it's finally her special day!

 Opening presents...

 A robe I made her...

 Minnie mouse! This is the theme she wanted for her

birthday... even though she really hasn't seen anything

with Minnie mouse. Oh well, we went with it and it

turned out fun! :)

 Grandma and Grandpa W couldn't be here so we skyped

in the evening to open presents.

 Blowing out candles at the "evening" party

 We let the kids open one present in the morning

Addison opened a harmonica that Tyler got.

She loved it as you can see. She has gotten

really good at jingle bells on it.

 Uncle Joe getting dressed up for the party!

 Clark didn't like the ears but he loved the sparkly

sunglasses. :)

 We did a little mid-morning party since

Hilary and kids came.  We also had Addison's

friend that lives next door come over. It was fun.  

The kids played musical chairs to the Mickey Mouse

March and ate cupcakes (addison't request).

 Enjoying the cupcake!

We love you so much Addison and are so

grateful you chose to be apart of our forever

family!  You have grown so much over

this past year and we are excited to watch you

learn and grow some more!