We Open Presents Every Day

We finally hired some piano movers to get our piano moved upstairs from our garage. They had just finished carrying the padded, shrink-wrapped piano upstairs when I overheard a conversation Nathan was having with one of the big, tattooed men. "Is that a present? You get to open a present?"

'Yep," he replied with the hint of a smile as he tore open the shrink-wrapped paino. "I get to open presents every single day.

I could almost see the wheels spinning in Nathan's head. I think he has decided on his profession.

Nick's Definition of Pretty

I was holding Aleza the other day and saying, "You are such a pretty baby!" Nick overheard me and felt the need to correct me: "No, she's a cute baby. Pretty is when you have long hair and rosy cheeks and freckles."

Mother's Day

I had one of the sweetest Mother's Days ever. On Saturday, I took my mom out to an Italian restaurant (Carino's) for our favorite ... rare steak with penne pasta and Gorgonzola sauce ... mmmm. It was so fun to have my mom to myself all night.

The next morning, Mark made breakfast ... hash browns, bacon and an omlette. The kids were so excited to give me their gifts. Mark bought me a container of flowers and some new pans. Nick made some coupons for helping me out around the house, Nathan made a dish towel with hand prints on it ... Zeke gave me lots of hugs and kisses.

We brought Mark's Mom a pot of flowers and spent dinner with her. I had fun taking pictures of Aleza with "Grandpa Dave" while we were there. Dave also took a picture of Aleza and me.

Grandpa Dave and Aleza

Ashley and Aleza

I was thinking of Mark's stepmom all day and felt bad that we never called her. I think I will call her today. She's such a love!

Man in the Mirror

I stepped out of the shower the other morning to some art work. It made my day!

Nick's Baptism

Nick was baptized on May 2, 2009 by Mark. The day was so busy that I hardly had time to digest what was happening. We spent the morning getting the house ready for family and friends to join us after the baptism. Mark took Nick to go get his first set of scriptures as out baptismal gift to him. Zeke pulled Aleza off of my bed right before it was time to go to the stake center. Yikes! My mom came just in time to help me get off to the baptism.

We actually beat Nick and Mark to the stake center. They ran to get dressed and didn't have time to get any pictures ... I'm sad about that. There were five baptisms. I introduced Nick and Mark played his viola. It was a really neat program. Mark baptized and confirmed Nick. I was actually able to record the confirmation and father's blessing for Nick.

Later, the bishop told Mark that he had never had a baptismal interview like the one he had with Nick. He said that Nick took time to ponder and answer each question thoroughly. He didn't have just memorized answers - he answered from his heart. When I asked Nick why it's important to be baptized he said, "One, it's a commandment. I can become a member of the church. I can live with God again. That's it." I'm so proud of Nick.

Nick at the celebration after his baptism

On Sunday, Nick was asked to sit up on the stand to be recognized as a new member of the ward. I was home with two sick babies so I wasn't able to be there. Later in the week, I found his baptismal and confirmation certificate. It looked like someone had made some corrections on the certificate. I thought maybe the bishop needed to make a few changes and would print out a new one. I brought it to Mark to ask about it ... he told me that he didn't know why Nick scribbled all over his certificate. I burst out laughing! Nick corrected the grammar and punctuation on his own certificate! I think that is so funny!

Potty Training

This morning after I helped Zeke go potty and wipe his bottom, he proudly stuck his little index finger in his behind and looked at it saying, "Look, all clean Mama!".