Our Baby Girl

The cutest baby in the world!

My sweet sister Hilerie took us shopping and then to Kiddie Kandids while we were visiting to get Jolie's picture taken. Brett and I were just blown away by how cute the pictures turned out--sorry I know that I'm gushing. We are just so in love with this baby girl. She is so sweet, funny and such a charmer! She is already five months old and getting big too fast. Thank you Hilerie for such a special gift. We love you!

Discovery Gateway

On Friday we all went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway! It was a very fun place and we liked it a lot. My niece Hayley went with us and we had a great time. There was an area upstairs that had a lot of manipulative games and toys and Colby loved that part the most. There were these plastic cylinders that had fans under them and Colby made a lot of different things that "flew" up through the middle of them. There was also a real helicopter you could sit in and a huge Beehive that the kids really got a kick out of. We also got to go to Rhumbi Island Grill and then to Ben's Cookies! I loved it. Here is a picture of Colby simulating an earthquake. Hayley was checking it out too.

This is the water area and Colby was working the pump.

Here's Hayley checking in the fridge for something to cook. She loved it. It was the ultimate playhouse!

Putting on the mitt's and getting ready to bake it up!

Here's Colby in the construction zone

Here are the cylinders I was talking about. Truly a hit with our group.

Here's dad taking a turn "wearing the baby". I think he looks cute.

Dad Missed US!

Brett hadn't intended to join us on our spring break adventure, but after 6 days alone and a particularly bad day at work, he made the drive down to my parents house. I was really glad that he came. The original deal was that he would stay home and snowmobile and motorcycle-ride his guts out on the weekends and after work, and then work Monday through Thursday. It's just good to know that he missed us and that coming to Utah seemed like a better option than the recreation I figured he would take advantage of. He did get some in by the way....just not as much as I thought. Colby gave him the biggest hug when he came in, and my mom had a chick flick ready to go. You see, my mom loves watching movies with Brett. She always seems to be able to find a good chick flick for us when we're in town. It's always more fun with Brett around.

That's just too cute :)

Jaxsen Steggell

This is my nephew Jaxsen. He is a year and a half old and a little spit-fire. You know my dad loves all of his grand kids, but he has a special place in his heart for Jax. He has even been known to change his diaper which is amazing. I don't think he changed a diaper in his whole life before Jaxsen came along. Jaxsen LOVES grandpa too, and if he is anywhere to be found, Jaxsen will be there too. Anyway, I had such a fun time watching them interact that I wanted to include some pictures. Jax is so cute and such a cheeser for the camera.

Playing with Grandpa's hat!

I have a super cute video of Jaxsen dancing but I can't get it to upload! He also helped me change Jolie's bum--it was so funny. It will be fun when they can play together. Jaxsen tried to feed her a piece of bread while we were there. Luckily Grandma caught it--he just thought she might be hungry!

Easter with the Colby's

That Easter Bunny is so smart! He sure found Colby and Jolie at Grandma and Grandpa's house and brought them a piano bench full of Easter loot. Well Jolie just got a little purple lamb and the rest was for Colby! We had a really fun day, it was warm, sunny, and full of family fun. After church all of my sisters and their kids came over for dinner and and our annual Easter egg hunt.

This is a picture of Shane (Christy's boyfriend), and my brother-in-law Joe. They are supervising the Egg hunt ;)

Here's Kenny and Spencer gathering the goods together!

Colby found a stash under this tree....

Racing to get more stuff...

Emily and Hayley searching together

Andy and Jaxsen smiling for the camera!

Here are some after the hunt trampoline shots. The kids were having so much fun. Colby started doing flips, and asked me to take a movie of him. They all played tirelessly for hours. It was a wonderful day. The only thing that would have made it better is if Brett would have been there! He stayed home to go snowmobiling and to work the week of spring break. We were starting to miss him though, and he said the house was way too quiet and lonely!

Easter Brunch with the Butterfields

On Saturday we went to the Butterfield's House for Brunch. This is Eddy. He's one of my best friends in the whole world. We've known each other since we were 5 years old! We had a great time with his family catching up and enjoying some great food. His mom is such a good cook, and she always makes sure we don't go home empty handed! I especially enjoyed getting to know his sister-in-law Coree and his Grandma Butterfield better. Grandma always has some great stories to tell, and Coree....well she's just extremely nice and fun to talk to. I don't think I could ever say enough nice things about their family.

Here's Jolie with Clay, Eddy's dad.

The Butterfield's have raised sheep forever! When we got to the farm, Clay took Colby and I outside to see a few of the lambs that he raised from a bottle this year. They just came running to him like he was their mama. It was really funny!

Clay and Sharon went and got this old high chair out so Jolie could sit in it and play. Clay put a blanket around her so she wouldn't slip out and Sharon gave her some measuring spoons. She loved it for about 10 minutes!

Here's Colby with his loot after the Easter egg hunt. He and Ethan had the whole backyard to themselves and they had a ball!

Thanks Butterfield family for including us this year! We love you!

Spring BREAK!

On March 21st, the kids and I headed down to Utah to visit Grandma and Grandpa and everyone else that we could fit in! I was ready to get out of Blackfoot and for some much needed time with friends and family. We hadn't been since Christmas and I needed to recharge my batteries. Here is Jolie with Grandpa Henry! She is very happy. It was so warm the first few days that we were down there it was heaven. It was so nice to have a good dose of spring weather.

Here is Jolie in cousin Hayley's Cowgirl hat!

Here's Jolie getting used to the exersaucer. She loves it now! In the background colby is getting ready to go to the symphony with his cousin Ali.

Here is a picture of Colby with his cousin Ali. When we told Colby he had to wear church clothes to go to the symphony, he wasn't very excited! They rode trax into Salt Lake and then enjoyed cookies and water at the symphony. The highlights for Colby were the drums and the cookie.

A Little Jolie Bean

Here are some cute pictures of Jolie! She hasn't been feeling good at all this week. She caught a virus and has been letting us know that she is miserable (mostly at night)! Anyway, I hope everyone has a fun Easter weekend! Hopefully our sweet baby will be on the mend by then!

Hugging the Bunny!

Smiling Pretty!

Listening to Big Brother!

Our Reader Boy

This is a picture of Colby receiving his Accelerated Reader Award from the Principal, Mr. Gardner. Colby has done a great job this year in school. Tomorrow is parent teacher conference and I told Colby he can get a book from the book fair if he gets a good report. I better take my checkbook ;)

Blondies With Chocolate Chips

One of my goals this year was to try a new recipe every week so I can get out of the rut of making the same things week after week. I haven't totally succeeded, but inspired by my friend Jenny Bybee, I thought I could start including my adventures (and misadventures) on my blog and maybe get some new recipes in the process.

Anyway, last week I made Blondies for Colby. He is a brownie fanatic so I thought I'd give them a try. I omitted the walnuts and they were pretty good. I adjusted the salt the recipe calls for because I thought they were too salty. Also, because I used a dark pan they only took about 30 minutes to bake. (Just FYI ;)

What I really need are some new dinner recipes--not just the sweet stuff! Let me know if you have and great ideas for me! Until next week...

Blondies With Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with butter; line pan with a piece of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter paper.
In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugars until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Fold in 1/2 cup each chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and walnuts.
Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack, and let cool completely. Using parchment overhang, lift cake from pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Colby the Helper

I had to go get the door the other day so I left Colby on my bed with Jolie. She started crying, so I was trying to hurry, but when I got back in the room Colby was reading out loud to her and she was smiling. He is a good helper!