My birthday was on a Sunday this year, so I was not expecting anything on Saturday, especially since we had a big BBQ last year. We had an enjoyable day and had talked about going to Leatherby's for icecream. After naps we all got ready and headed over to Josh's parent's house for dinner. When we got there I walked in, noticed it was very clean, and then saw my parents cutting watermelon. Hmmm...not normal. Most of our friends came over and we had a big BBQ. It was SO much fun to see everyone.

Brooklyn was so funny when I put her down on the grass. She did not like it touching her, so she tried her hardest to keep her legs off the grass. We were all laughing hysterically.

I knew that for my birthday I wanted to get a bike trailer to pull the kids in. So for months I have been looking for one on KSL and haven't had much luck. When Josh found out that's what I wanted, he also stopped at a few stores looking for one. We had told anyone that wanted to get me a gift that they could pitch in for the trailer b/c I wanted a nice one that also was a jogging stroller. My backup plan was to get the one at WalMart for $140. Once the kids were down for their naps, I got ready to go to WalMart to pick one up when I decided to check KSL one more time. It must've been my birthday b/c I got lucky. There was one that was only used 3 times, and most of the accessories were still in the original plastic. I called the guy up and he told me he'd hold it for me. I grabbed Brooklyn and took off. A quick 15 min drive and I met him to pick it up. It has everything that I wanted - bigger tires, jogging stroller attachments, folds down easy, comfortable seats, storage, pockets, and much more. And I only payed $60!!! I was SO excited I couldn't wait for my birthday. My dad helped me put it together during the BBQ and he took the kids for a quick ride.

Brayden was really sick all week (May 11-15.) He threw up for 3 days, then had diarrhea for 2. Not fun. Luckily none of us caught what he had. He always wanted to be where I was. Here he is laying on the counter while I was making lunch.

At some point Brayden found my deoderant. I came into the room while he was trying to put it on. It was really cute so I had to take pics.

I wasn't able to get Brayden to eat anything the first 3 days. Finally on days 4 and 5 he would eat Mac & Cheese. When he was ready to eat the leftovers from when I made it, he decided he wanted to eat it cold. So I gave it to him and went to get Brooklyn. Since he was sick, I thought it was cute and let him play with it as long as he was eating it. I kept taking pictures, and of course this was bound to happen.

I know...you all missed me and all my many blogs SO much. It has been super crazy these past 2 months getting our house finished and moving in. But we made it! We are officially in our house and we are LOVING it. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but atleast we are here.

At the beginning of the year I started a new blog through blogspot. Blogspot is compatible with blurb.com where I do my blog books so it will save me tons of time at the end of the year b/c I won't have to upload every picture individually. Up until the past month I have been really good about blogging on both websites, but we got so busy with the house that I put blogging on hold. Now I am backtracking and catching up so I can still have a nice journal of all we've been doing.

N-e way, I am mentioning this just in case you want to see what we've been up to lately. There is way too much to post everything here. You would all hate me by the time I was done. As soon as I'm caught up, I will return to posting here again as well. Our other blog is www.joshandshantelle.blogspot.com

I'm finally getting around to updating my blog. With us working so many long hours at the house I haven't had the time or energy to keep up. I realized over Easter weekend that it has been a while since I have had so much to do that I was stressed to the max. It made me miss the days when I had to keep a day planner to stay organized. Don't get me wrong...being a mom is hard work, but you can only write "eat, change poopy diapers, nap, eat, nap, change poopy diapers, eat..." so many times on your calendar before you just don't have to write it down anymore.

N-e way, April 10 was the end of my last post of "A Very Long Week" where we were working really hard on the house all week. Friday night we went to dinner with Celeste and Nate who were in town. Then we went back to our house to work some more. Saturday morning was my sister Celeste's baby shower so I spent the week getting ready for it. Josh took Brayden to work at the house while I took Brooklyn to my aunts house to set up for the shower. Overall, I think it went really well. We had yogurt and granola cups, bagels, banana bread, and OJ. It was fun to see Celeste as she gets closer to having her baby. We had a good turnout and she got a lot of stuff that she needed. After the shower I spent an hour and a half looking for Brooklyn's Easter dress. I knew which one I wanted but couldn't find the right size. I finally found it, then the rest of the day was spent working on the house while trying to get the kids down for naps and keep them entertained.

Saturday night I added black ribbon and a flower to Brooklyn's Easter dress so it would match Brayden's outfit. I also hemmed Brayden's pants. Around midnight I tried to find our plastic eggs to get them ready for Easter. No luck. I opened all the boxes I've packed trying to find them. I finally gave up, made crepe batter and went to bed upset that we had no egg hunt for the kids.

Sunday morning we went to my aunt and uncle's farewell and then we headed over to my mom's house for a yummy crepe breakfast that I was in charge of. After hanging out we went home for the kids to nap, then we had FHE at Josh's grandfather's house. We had a yummy ham dinner and a nice lesson, then it was back home. Since I had no eggs and we are all past the state of exhaustion, we bypassed the egg hunt and went to bed. We decided we would still do an Easter egg hunt for Brayden sometime during the week since he was so excited for it. Luckily he is too young to realize that Sunday was Easter. As long as the Easter bunny comes sometime this week, he'll be happy.

I love the picture of Paige, Brayden, and Brooklyn. We never got a picture with them smiling or looking at the same camera, but I love how all three of them had their hands in their mouths.

I tried so hard to get good Easter pictures of the kids. Unfortunately, as soon as the camera comes out, Brayden goes running. We plan on getting family pictures done soon in these outfits, so hopefully those will turn out better. I posted a few so you can see their cute outfits. (Thanks to Josh's sister Rachael that bought Brayden this outfit. It's a little big, but he is SO adorable in it. He looks like such a big kid.)

I have done quite a bit of blogging on our house blog. Feel free to check it out. It's really coming along!

www.ericsonjourney.blogspot.com

About every night this week (April 6-10) we have gone over to the house to work. The kids have been troopers. I finally brought a bunch of stuff to keep the kids busy while we worked. Thank goodness I thought to bring a blowup mattress and a TV. Helps Brayden have some down time while there is so much going on.

I bought this little tool set for Brayden - best thing I've done. He loves to "help" grandpa and follows him around asking all sorts of questions. Brayden loves that he has a tool belt like grandpa. He hasn't stopped playing with the tools. I have quite a few more in the set I haven't given him yet. I'll add one every now and again to keep him excited. I didn't have to buy anything for Brooklyn. As you can see in the picture, all she needs is a box!

On Friday we had to be at the house early so the carpet guy could come measure. I have been promising Brayden for a couple of weeks that we would go see all the fish at the Aquarium in Sandy. I had decided to get a season pass since we will live less than one mile from there. This was definitely the wrong day to go. I didn't realize that EVERY kid was out of school and EVERY parent decided to take their kids here. Brayden started freaking out when I told him we would come back, so we stayed and waited in line for 30 minutes to get in. (The line had doubled in size by the time we left.) Because I bought the season pass, I didn't really care to see everything and get all the pictures of the fun things they have there. We'll be going back lots so I'll get those pics later. Here are a few we did take.

I have updated the progress on our house.

www.ericsonjourney.blogspot.com

It's so fun to teach Brayden about the different holidays. I showed him a leprechaun and told him that leprechauns leave treats for good boys. Wow did that give him motivation to be a good boy all day! We found out from my friend, Kim, that Discovery Gateway was having a free day. So we both packed up the kids and headed downtown. Brayden and Garrett had so much fun playing together. It was the perfect holiday activity!

They gave each kid a pair of glasses. The kids were supposed to wear them to "see" the hidden leprechauns. Brayden didn't last long with the glasses, but we did find one of the leprechauns which he traded in for a prize.

The third Sunday each month is the only Sunday we don't have FHE with our families. This past Sunday we went on a walk and stopped at the school next door so Brayden could kick his ball around. It was a little chilly, but worth it. It's always fun to go on walks with Daddy!

We are very excited that we have officially bought a house! We closed on it March 2 and have already started working on it. Since there is a lot of work to be done, I have started a new blog to keep track of our progress. Each time I post something new, I will let you know here so you can check it out. The new blog is:

www.ericsonjourney.blogspot.com

I'm not sure why the text won't change color so you can see it better, but I am working on it!