What did I tell you about this kid?

Can't leave him alone for 5 minutes! Isn't this more of a toddler thing? Not in our family. He didn't get into this much trouble when he was a toddler!

Scroll down for more posts below. After a LOOOOOOONNNNG blog break, I have a lot to say, and there is more to come too.

Oh, YAKIMA, How I miss thee!

I missed some things about Idaho while I was in Yakima, but now it's my turn to miss Yakima.

A few things that I really miss:

-The delicious and abundant fruit, orchards, vineyards, berry picking, farmer's markets...on and on. Yakima is the fruit capital of the west.
-The early coming springs and long lasting falls. (Idaho has had much longer winters and crumbier springs than normal.)
-My old ward. Love my new ward too, but do miss our friends that took us in and made us feel important in Yakima.
-But most of all....



That little guy on the right. (Grant)



That little girl on the right. (Abbey)



And my medical school bestie, Kathryn. (I am NOOOOT photogenic. Especially when my hair is all greasy.) Anyway, the kids and I took a little trip to Yakima and got to visit our special friends, and we had so much fun. And while I was there, I noticed that Kathy's pins were stuck here and there all willy nilly all over her cute little craft room, so I made her this:



She kinda had a bird theme going on. A little birdie pin cushion. Free tutorial here.

But on the bright side, I have a beautiful yard here in Idaho. I mean beautiful.



And a sweet little girl to match.



Lots of these.



These.

And these.

These were all over the prettiest little tree in the front.

A view from afar.

There is something so magical about perennials. You don't even do anything, and then suddenly flowers pop up everywhere, and it is spring.

Love it.

The Fearsome Fours

Four years...has it really been four years since that fateful day that we became parents? Wow.

Well, Russ has been obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately, so that's the theme we took to heart at his birthday party.

Wow. Look at that mop on his head...

Started the day off with a ninja turtle t-shirt among othe presents.

It was a fun {stressful and hectic} party with a lot {too many} of kids Russell's age {too young}. We had pizza of course. I told the kids the whole story of the ninja turtles crawling through radioactive goo and the whole sha-bang. I even used Travis's old ninja turtles as props. (He even had shredder and Splinter.) I even made radio-active goo {homemade gak} for everyone to take home. These are the cupcakes I made. Since Leonardo is the leader {since mom was too worn out} we only made blue fondent masks.

Side note: homemade marshmallow fondent is fairly easy to work with and tastes good too. Look

it up if you've never tried it.

Well, now that Russell's four, you'd think that I'd be getting over those terrible toddler years, but alas, he makes more messes than ever. This is what I woke up to the other day:

"Peanut butter and bullet sandwiches" for his dinosaur buddies. And he really did stuff their faces with it.

Russell can do things by himself now that he's older. He can make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and of course he can put on his own sunscreen, as you can see.



S'mores in our back yard...mmmm...

Messy.

Russell's newest obsession: stuffed animals which he calls his "brothers." I think he wants a baby brother. He has to sleep with EVERY single one EVERY night or he is traumatized.

Another side note: I told Russell that he can't have a baby brother until I exercise and get skinny, and so the other day while I was working out with a Jillian Michaels DVD, he pointed to Jillian and asked me if Jillian was trying to have a baby too...hmmmmm.... "No, Russell. Those skinny girls on the TV are not working out so that they can have a 'baby brother.'"

Russell pretending that he is driving a car with Mity in the passenger seat. He pretty much forced her to sit in that basket. That poor girl is going to grow up tough.

Love these pictures. They were waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come. Waiting...waiting...



Move it over, sister!

Loves his daddy.

Year 1 and 2 and 3 were so much easier than year 4 for me. Russell is way too smart and VERY stubborn (Dad says he gets that from me...whatever...). He speaks more like a 6 year old than a 4 year old, and I love it, but sometimes it drives me crazy! He really listens to what we say and then twists is all around and tries to use it against us later. For example, I might say something like, "If you don't pick up your toys, you can't watch any TV tomorrow." A day or so later Russell will say, "If you don't let me have a friend over, I will never make my bed again." Sometimes it backfires on him. Like the other day when I was trying to get him to do his chores and he said, "You are making me never want ANYTHING for Christmas EVER AGAIN!!!!" To which I replied, "Great! That makes my life a whole lot easier." He didn't know what to say after that.

We shall see what year 5 brings...

We love our little Russy Roo. He is such a joy in our lives, and we are LEARNING A LOT as we do our best to rear him up to be a good, faithful, and responsible man. Thanks, Russ!

And good night everyone!