Mother's Day

Our Mother's Day this year,

We started out the weekend watching our favorite boy play baseball.

My shirt says "So there's this boy he kinda stole my heart He calls me mom."

It's true, he steals my heart again and again each day.

I sat next to my Mama in church on Sunday and watched my little one sing with the primary.

 I could not help it, I cry every time. 

Jack joined me for an after church nap. He brought all his friends, it was a party.

Jason was on call again this year but made it home in time to be Jake's sous chef for our mother's day meal.

It was fun watching Jason and Dad in on the action making Jake's delicious food gorgeous.

I always like watching Jake work his magic. He has this stance where he leans down and gets really close to the food. I call it the "Chef Jake hunch". When this happens you know something magical is being created.

Jake did a twist on family favorites that Mom made for us growing up. 

The first entree was a take on tater tot casserole. 

Jake made a delicious potato cake, then some really flavorful pork roast, topped with mixed greens, herbs, and heirloom green beans drizzled with some amazing sauce.

Next was a take on Chicken Divan.

There was broccolini puree, asparagus and assorted vegetables with some sort of sweet onions I had never had before. Topped with amazing chicken and delicious onion chips.

We ended with cake and pie and very full and happy stomachs.

Good food and nice company is always a great way to celebrate anything!

Sisters

I loved having Kate here. Sisters are truly the best and I am so grateful that I got to spend time with both of my sisters over the last two months. Kate and I had some good girl time. We went shopping together and out for sushi. It was fun we got a lot of the same clothes to think of each other even though we are miles away from each other.

We had a sewing day and made 9 pillow covers! Kate cut out all the pieces and I sewed and Ava was our entertainment.

We dyed Kate's hair one night. Kate has some awesome hair. We wanted to make it big!!

                                                    Kate I love you more than words can say!

                                Thank you for coming and staying with us and sharing your sweet baby with us!

Ava Mary Allen

This little girl is the cutest, most calm and happiest baby I have met! 

It's only fitting I dedicate a whole post just to her!

First time Ava went swimming. She took it really well.

She loves books and her mommy reads to her a lot. It is so great to see.

I loved watching Ava and Jack play with each other. It was so sweet.

Clean out of the tubby! Oh how she smelled so good. Kate would wrap her up tight and she loved it.

Ava and I were kindred spirits. There are a lot of similarities between the two of us. 

We eat the same things. No meat and just fruit and vegetables.

We have to sleep a lot, and take naps during the day.

We get overstimulated easily. 

Ava sleeps with white noise and I thought one night that I would give it a try. I tried out sleeping with some white noise and it calmed me right down. It was great!

Ava was so cute with Granddad. We met him for lunch one day and it was fun to see him with little Ava.

Four generations right there!

Her smile and her little curly hair reminds me so much of baby Kate. 

She loves her puffs!

While Ava was here she started to crawl. Wow was that fun to watch, she has the cutest crawl!

Ava would always flirt with Jason throwing him little smiles and laughs. 

Jason loved Ava and was so good with her it made my heart melt!

Having a little baby in the house was so wonderful and so healing.

On my sick days holding Ava or just being around her was so therapeutic. 

We all fawned over her. She gave all of us equal attention. Here she is with Uncle Jake!

Ava had us all laughing. She would do this face and vibrate. It was so funny and cute.

As Kate would say "I'm obsessed"! It is true I love that little girl. 

We all fell in love with that little girl. 

Easter

We have been so lucky to have family here two years in a row for Easter.

 Last year the Archers were here and this year Kate and Ava were with us.

Jack and I dyed eggs. I had more fun than Jack I especially found joy in the color that was produced by dying brown eggs. I think we dyed over two dozen eggs!

Easter morning.

Jack had a hard time finding his basket tucked in the piano.

The Easter bunny is getting harder each year!

This year Jack got several chapter books in his basket instead of toys, he is growing up!

Sacrament meeting was so wonderful. I love Easter Sunday. Jack was in a little children's choir as sang the most beautiful song. It was very touching to watch Jack sing with such conviction about the Atonement and Jesus. I brought tears to all of us. It was a gloomy day raining on and off. I wasn't feeling well so I took Kate and Ava home early from church. Ava and Kate were so cute matching in their Easter dresses!

When we got home Ava was able to get into her Easter basket. She crawled to get it and it was THE cutest sight. As Ava explored her basket with her mommy I sat and watched. 

It was some serious cuteness overload going on between that Mama and baby.

Ava in her Easter bonnet, so adorable!

Our family in our Easter best.

Our Easter feast included

Berry Glazed Ham

Easter Mashed Potatoes (that included a little bit of white chocolate!)

Asparagus with lemon sauce

Homemade yeast rolls

Malted Vanilla Cake

Thank you Mom for all your help with the dinner, I couldn't have done it without you!

I loved seeing Kate and Ava at the other end of the table!

Before it was too dark and the rain had stopped we did a little egg hunt with Jack in the back yard.

I do love Easter and a chance to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the chance for all of us to be reborn and start anew. It is something I am grateful for every day of my life.

I am also sending in a request to the Easter bunny for a basket just like this next year!

Oh that Ava Allen, she is just too cute for words!

Ft Lauderdale Temple Open House

We took a trip down to Fort Lauderdale to attend the open house for the second Temple in Florida. 

We were all so excited to be able to take Jack to a temple open house.

Jack had quite the set up in the back seat

Jason took off work, we pulled Jack out of school. 

The boys and I in one car and Nana, Pepi, Kate and Ava in another.

We stayed the night in a hotel with rooms right next to each other. 

As we walked into the temple there were dark threatening rain clouds. Inside the temple was incredible. It was not like one I have seen before. Dark wood and beautiful fabric on all the chairs and benches, beautiful woodwork and molding, even the rugs and carpeting had Florida palms and flowers throughout.. In one of the instruction rooms there was a mural in style with Florida landscape. One section it looked like you could be walking down the beach. It was incredible and such a wonderful experience for Jack. He was so cute pointing out all the beautiful things he saw and asked questions to our guide. The best is when we went into the sealing room and all three of us were in the mirrors going on for eternity. A visual reminder what Jason and I did for our little family when we were sealed almost 9 years ago in the Logan temple.

We came out of the calm temple setting to a rainstorm. We had a true Florida experience that day. We quickly ran to the cars to get out of the rain and with promises to return the next day to get pictures in front of the beautiful temple.

We got back to the hotel,dried off ,checked out the hotel, ate some dinner and then went for a night time swim at the rooftop pool!

The next morning after some fun cousin time in the hotel we headed to the temple for pictures and to see it one last time before we headed home.

What surprised me the most is that the temple is not white, it is more of a tan sand stone color.It is very fitting for the location and reminded me of the sand from the beaches that surround the area.

It's a wonderful event and feeling here in Florida to have a second Temple! We told Jack we wouldn't mind at all if this was the one he wanted to go to before his mission or to get married in!

We are looking forward to attending the dedication via satellite on Sunday. I am hoping we are able to go back down soon and go through a session and experience all the beauty again.