our petting zoo and the actual zoo

i have been thinking lately with all the animals we have been seeing at our little apartment complex that i should open a petting zoo. seriously!

here is the new addition.

we have also seen ducks, geese, bunnies, all types of birds, dogs, cats, i think brett called it a blue herron and now a squirrel. the girls are loving it.

we also went to the indianapolis zoo. thanks megan.

mom-we did go in the aquarium where the dophins swim all around. we will have to go when you come to visit!

it was really fun and the girls and kale loved to see all the animals.

we went to the elephant show and you could "pet" the elephants if you wanted to.

olivia was all over that but mallory was...ah a little shy.

here is the elephant. he was 41 years old. who knew they could get that old??
here is brave liv petting the elephant.

soo cool.

homemade raspberry ice cream!

YUM!

we have had an ice cream maker for a while but haven't really made any ice cream yet. our friends gave us the idea to make raspberry ice cream. so we thought we would try it.

umm, hello. i don't think i will ever store bought ice cream again.

it was so good.

hottie hubby who made the ice cream for us.

look out hell's kitchen, here brett comes.soooo good. the girls loved it too.

thanks brett.
i love summer!

a little late...

but better late then never??

kale is 4 months old, on the 29th of may.

he is 15 lbs 15 oz

almost 26 inches

and totally adorabledoesn't he look like such a little man??

i love this shirt.the doctor said we could start feeding him "real" food, if that is what you want to call rice cereal. he seems to be hungry. he will watch you eat and is very interested in dinner time and what is going on. so, here is the first feeding. we started out in the little chair sitting up to the table, but he was too wobblely so he got transferred to the baby chair. this is the after. yeah, that's right...no real clean up because

HE ATE IT ALL!

HE LOVES THE MUSH!

WEIRD.

the girls both HATED mush.

i guess he was hungry.

he is yet to roll over again but loves to be in on all the action.
he will watch the girls running around and shake and want to run with them.
he already loves being outside-what a boy.
he is talking up a storm, loves to be kissed by his momma and thinks his sisters are hilarious!
his favorite thing to do is put everything in his mouth, especially his blanket!
(oh and don't mind the pink bib...i don't know where the blue ones i have are!)

minnesota

a.k.a. one million pictures.

again.

here is my hot hubby driving us to minnesota.

me. so excited to see family and friends.the girlies. they both got to sit in the back!

mallory felt like such a big girl.cute kale. what is sweet face!sleeping beauties.a fabulous photo to show to any boy who wants to date her.

we are gathering ammo already.

we got to stay with our favorite friends, allison and dave and their two kids, adam and emily.

these kids LOVE eachother. adam and emily have made several appearances on this blog.

i use to watch the kids while allison worked and they are the girls best friends.

it was so cute to see them get to know eachother again. of course, right when we got there the party begun. we had pizza and another family, the jacksona came over. allison and dave have an awesome house with a great backyard, so the girls where in heaven. kids and grown ups playing and eating outside.adam with the chex mix we couldn't get enough of. allison i still need the recipe!!more ammo.the little girls at the park. we went back to the "mom's group" park we use to ALWAYS go to. it was so fun and nice to get out and play. we still love that park.
so cute. love the glasses.

liv and adam. i don't think they fought once!

i just love that face.

thanks again to the pattberg's for finishing the basement just for us! lol. it was so nice to see you again and you were the best hostess/host. thanks for everything! we miss you already.

we also got to stay a couple days with uncle greg. he was also a fabulous host and we had the best time with him. mallory is still asking where uncle greg is!

mallory had greg read to her every spare moment. thanks greg.

we got to see the ehlerts too. after a fabulous sunday dinner, the kids (including brett) went out to jump on the tramp and play. xander ended up pulling out a little pool, turning on the hose and filling up the pool. he is such a boy. liv and mal were loving it, needless to say they got all wet and then brett threw them in the pool. him and joey even ended up in the little pool. it was very entertaining to watch!

we had a great time in minneapolis and want to go back already. it was so surreal for me to be there. i felt so at home in wendy's house, our old neighborhood and old ward that i thought our life in indy might just be a dream. i thought we could just go back to our place in coon rapids and life would be normal. not so...but it felt like we never left. we also got to go our old ward and a ward party. it was so nice to see everyone and get caught up on all the new happenings. minneapolis is definitely a place we would move back to. thanks again to allison and dave and greg for letting us stay with them. we had a GREAT time.

to end some sweet pictures of our babies.

happy anniversary!

we have been married for 6 years on may 31st. i can't believe it has been that long. it feels like yesterday but i don't really remember life without brett or our 3 little ones.

6 years of marriage.

3 super cute kids.

lived in 4 different states.

moved 11 times.

yikes. can't wait to see what is ahead...

i saw this and thought it was fun, so here you go.

1) What was your wedding date? may, 31, 2003

2) How long from "I will" to "I Do" 4 months

3) Where were you married? church in orem, later sealed in the good old provo temple

4) What were your wedding colors? purple and silver (ps, brett HATES purple he only told me this after a couple years of marriage because it is my favorite)

5) Who was in your wedding party? just us. we have so many friends and are so popular that we just couldn't choose! lol.

6) Honestly, could your bridesmaids REALLY have worn the dress again? refer to above

7) Did you LOVE your gown? LOVE IT. still. i randomly tried on dresses with my mom in canada before we were even engaged and found IT that day. IT was $2500!! a little to spendy for me so i tried to find another one in provo. found one i liked but still thought about the ONE in canada. i told my mom about the dress situation and being the mom she is, she told me i better call the place in canada and see if they still had it. THEY DID. 60 % off. needless to say, IT was on picked up and paid for that very day.

8) Flowers: real or silk. real and beautiful.

9) Reception: Full meal or Calling reception? calling reception with a baked potatoe bar. i didn't even have one! i don't know if brett did either.

10) Dance or no dance? no dancing

11) What would you have done differently? had it outside! carried butler, you were right.

12) Any disasters? the cake. we didn't pick it up in time so carrie, our friend/photographer got a fake one from macey's bakery. don't mention this to brett because he is still upset about it. maybe for our 10th anniversary i will surprise him with a cake.

13) Best Gift you received? mom's amazing quilt and cash money!

14) Most Memorable moment that day? my dad walking me down the aisle, brett crying LIKE A BABY when a walked down the aisle and our first kiss as husband and wife. one of brett's best memories is travis one of his best friends coming all the way from california to be there.

i don't usually get mushy on here but i just wanted to say to my handsome husband that

i love you.

simple as that.

i am so glad we found eachother, were crazy enough to get married and have these kids! i wouldn't want to go though life with anyone else but YOU.

thanks for all you do for me and our babies.

LOVE YA BABE!

may madness

*warning* lots of photos

we have been a little busy lately doing all sorts of stuff and nothing all at the same time.

we are addicted to garage sales on saturday mornings. one saturday we were up, ready and out the door by 8:20 AM!

we have found hungry, hungry hippos and some other games, some other toys, some frames for my crafting and the favorite 2 items,

"play place"

picnic table for 25 cents
olivia has started to draw really cute PICTURES, not just "coloring" but actual pictures. this is a the spider she killed that morning.

painting lots of little fingers and toes!

swimming!

playing

sleeping. kale is getting so big. he is all smiles and loves his daddy.

feeding the ducks and geese

a visiting bird. WEIRD!

a little bit of potty training! how did she get SO big. mallory has had a major growth spurt lately. she really isn't my baby anymore. good thing since i already have another one.

getting pictures in their cute shirts! thanks amy, we love them.

playing in the rain at a birthday party

green baths

we have been busy.

brett has been working, doing young men's stuff and going to the gym. i have been cleaning, crafting, blogging, playing and loving these kids.

we are also going on a little trip this weekend to MINNEAPOLIS. we are so excited to see everyone we love and miss there.
hope you are all having a great summer.

IT IS SO HOT ALREADY!

I HATE HOT!