Higher daddy higher!

Last weekend we bought a playset for the kids...after a lot of hassle we finally got it home and Brielle came running out to the car saying "Where is my swing set, Is it my special day?" Much to her disappointment (and ours) the playset did not come 'built'...lets just say the instructions started out by saying it would take 2 adults 6 to 12 hours... luckily we were a little faster then that. Brielle thought it was her 'special day' because now she would be... "able to go to the park everyday, in my own backyard" (her exact words)! We are all really excited...as you can see baby Dean LOVED his first ride on a swing! As you may know I am totally obsessive about keeping things neat and not trashy or silly...anyway, Brielle helped Chris hang the car swing for Dean and she got her hands on the stickers that it came with...she put every single sticker it came with on the car!!! It is all I can do to keep myself from sneaking outside right now and taking them all off...I'm a mess!

I Wish You Enough...

I usually only post pictures on my blog of my cutie kiddies...however my wonderful friend Danielle (from France) sent me this and I really liked it, I think I'll adopt it as my new saying!

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'.
The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'.
They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'.
Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.
She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. 'When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.

I wish you all enough!

up and at 'em...

Baby Dean will be 8 months old on Tuesday! I can't believe it!!! He started crawling this week...however he is not satisfied because all he wants to do is walk! He is not happy unless he is pulling himself up and standing! His favorite spot is the ottoman, however he sometimes tries to use doors, stools, drawers etc...all of which have ended badly! The problem is that he pulls himself up and is over confident...he thinks he can stand without holding on and then when he can't balance...he falls over (still in a standing position, rather than just landing on his bottom, he hits his head), he is like a tree...TIMBER! Poor kid. He is terribly frustrated! FYI--Brielle is 'sharing' this 'ken doll' with him!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day! This picture is of the present Brielle picked out earlier this week for me... out of the rock bed of the new Italian Place we opened up this week in Spanish Fork. She was SO excited, she kept it in her pocket all day and yesterday she asked me to help her wrap it!

latest & greatest...

Here's a little taste of the latest and greatest at our house this week...

Baby Dean is getting cuter and cuter by the minute! He got his first two teeth this week and he is dying to start crawling...oh goodie, I can't wait!

Spring Ballet Recital!

You would NOT believe the hoopla that surrounded this recital! Brielle's class was 'act no. 19', in the first half of the recital...it started at 7 and the first half ended at about 8:30! Are you kidding me? Luckily we were able to leave at intermission...but imagine if she'd have been in the second half! My neighbor stayed to the end and she said it ended at almost 11pm! I will not even go into the fact that we had to be there an hour early to get in line to get seats (the high school auditorium was full by 6:45...and it is a huge auditorium!) or the fact that she had 'extra' rehearsals 4 times the week before the performance...she's only 3! However, she does look adorable in her costume and she was SO cute on stage!My amazing husband is almost done....he did the entire hardwood floor in one day...all by himself!

After church today I gave baby Dean a bottle while I went to help Brielle change her clothes, when I came back this is what I found...church is exhausting!

BBV

More projects...

Yet ANOTHER project!

Six months have passed since Chris' last projects (upstairs--laying marble tile in the bathrooms, repainting (2 bedrooms, hall, family room, entry and kitchen) and new carpet and baseboards)...which means that it is time for another project (FYI--it has been 1 year since he finished our basement...a small 1500 sq. ft. project...he's nuts!).

Background Info: We used to have our dining room on the other side of the wall of cabinets in the picture below, but ever since we 'traded' piano's with my parents (our upright for their grand)...the dining room table lost its spot. We did not like the table their anyway because it was on carpet, and I LOVE having my piano...growing up, it was the 'friend' I spent the most time with. :) Anyway, we moved our office downstairs when we finished the basement and moved the table into the office...which was connected to kitchen and leads to the garage. It was the most awkward L shaped room...you could not even sit at the table because it was too tight.

Now, Chris has opened up the doorway and connected the kitchen to the room and moved the laundry room along the back wall (instead of the laundry/1/2 bath combo room...we'll have a BIG laundry room with lots of storage space). I'm still trying to figure out why the people who built the house did not put the bathroom/laundry room along the back wall...why create a weird L shaped room? I don't get it? I'm SO SO SO excited for this project to be done (not just because it has been going on for more than a month now and my ENTIRE house has been covered in dusty stuff (no matter how many times I dust...he does something else and there is a new layer) but because it makes our kitchen/dining area huge! Maybe I'll even start cooking dinner!

NOTE: You might be thinking..."Wow, Chris must not have to work very much if he has time to do all these projects"...but that is not the case ...we opened up a new store (The Italian Place) in Lindon last summer and we're opening another store in the next few weeks in Spanish Fork...and he does a lot of the construction himself (framing, painting, baseboards, doors etc...) He is just a crazy person that cannot sit still and do nothing! Yesterday he painted all day in Spanish Fork, then came home and painted until 1am in the dining room! He is amazing! He got this work ethic from his father (who catches the train at 5 or 6am to DC, then takes the subway, bus and walks to get to work everyday...all in all it is at least a 2 hour commute each way...and has been the Stake President for almost a decade! Amazing!). I might complain a little about the dust and all the mess but, I am so lucky to have such a busy body for a husband! I'll post more when he finishes!

Chris thought it would be fun to ask Brielle to help him put on the primer yesterday, she was thrilled to get to paint! After 20 minutes, Chris was asking her if she was done yet...because he was having to follow her around and paint over everything she did before it dried funky! She kept telling him 'No daddy, we have lots more painting to do!" Her favorite part was 'dipping her brush in the paint' which included ALOT of swirling of the brush!

Cutie Pies!

My mom and I decided this week that we needed to get the kids pictures taken in their Easter outfits...unfortunately my favorite photographer (http://www.camilynne.com/) moved to Florida and I did not have it together enough to schedule pictures with her when she was visiting last month...so we went to a studio we'd been to before and had decent success (as opposed to the 'other place' that I strongly dislike because they only give you 6 poses to choose from!!!). Anyway, they did a pretty good job...there were some really cute ones...and a couple of hideous ones with TERRIBLE fake flowers and milk crates...I told her I'm not really 'in to props' ...but she thought we should just try it for a couple....needless to say, we did not purchase any of them! Obviously the lighting on these is 'less then ideal...since these are pictures of pictures sitting on my counter top and stove! But, you get the picture...

I wanted to have a big picture of Baby Dean to hang next to this big picture of Baby Brielle -- both at 6 months old. My cousin (mentioned above) took the one of Brielle and it is FANTASTIC, she did some cool photo shop stuff. But. I also love this picture of baby Dean...he is such a cutie! His head looks huge...it is not 'quite' that huge, but it is pretty big!


Are you kidding me? I love this picture because he looks like such a little man!