A few special occasions

Last weekend, Matt and Brooklyn had the chance to attend the daddy-daughter dance at the kids' school.  Brooklyn was beyond thrilled to have a little date with her dad!  I ordered a dress for her and we went shopping for shoes.  She kept saying how she's been DYING to have some heels so when we saw a pair of white wedge sandals, she just HAD to have them!!  The day of, I curled her hair, painted her fingernails and toenails and helped her get all dressed.  It felt like a little glimpse into the future! (prom???)  Of course I made them pose for a few shots before they left!

Here are the cute photo booth photos that they brought home!

Preston lost his FIRST TOOTH!!!  It was a bit of a traumatic event.  The tooth was very loose and Preston had been working on wiggling it for awhile.  He was adamant that it needed to come out, so I tried and tried to pull it (not my favorite thing), but it was hanging on.  It started becoming a struggle for Preston, and he was crying, but at that point, I was afraid he'd swallow the dang thing in his sleep!  It started bleeding and that's when we called Dad in to take over.  FINALLY, the tooth came out!!

Preston put the tooth under his pillow, but I commented to Matt how I wish I would've been able to take better pictures of him with his tiny tooth in better lighting.  The tooth fairy must've heard my request because she left $2 but didn't take the tooth!

You can see his crossbite here^.  Can you say $$braces$$?

This is his "are-we-done-yet?" face.

Gilbert Temple Open House

In April 2008 General Conference, President Monson announced there would be a temple built in Gilbert Arizona.  In November 2010, ground was broken to begin construction on the temple.  For two years, as we have driven by, we've watched as the structure took shape, anxiously awaiting when it  would finally be open.

The open house began last month, the time where ANYone is able to tour the temple before it's dedicated.  We were able to take a large group(22) of Matt's coworkers, none of them members of our faith, through the temple, which was a wonderful experience.  Of course they were in awe of the exquisite nature of the temple, but they also noticed the peace and reverence that is felt inside.

On January 30, we pulled the kids out of school for the morning and took them through the temple tour.  I'm glad Matt and I had been once before so we could focus on pointing out things to them and answering any questions they may have.

We also had the opportunity to take our next door neighbors, who are also not members, but have been extremely open to us sharing our love for the gospel with them.

{Mike & Gina Hernandez}

These two little rascals got to come with!

This temple is so important because it's OUR temple.  We live within the temple district.  This is the temple that our children will go for the first time to do baptisms for the dead, receive their own endowments, marry their chosen spouse for eternity (possibly).

It is so important to me that my children know how much I love the temple.  The peace you feel there is beyond comparison; you can't find that anywhere else.  Matt and I need to get back into the habit of attending frequently.  I can't wait to come back, after it is dedicated!  It truly is such a blessing to have the temple so close to us, a beautiful oasis in the desert.

Brooklyn and Blake turn 11!

And the birthdays just keep coming!!

They woke up to birthday balloons in the kitchen!

They agreed to go out to Firehouse Subs for birthday lunch!  And we invited grandpa again!

Birthday gifts~ it's getting harder and harder to find gifts as they are walking the fine line in between playing with toys and abandoning them once and for all.  But I think they were happy!

Books are always a good bet for Blake, who constantly has his nose in a book!

And Legos!  We have a million, but they always want more!

She seems excited about this one!!

Fun new Rainbow Loom bands and {another} storage box!

Nerf has come out with a girly line and Brooklyn has been asking for her very own Rebelle.  She's ready to fight back now!

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnd Blake finally gets an iPod (previously loved).  He was feeling kinda left out now that Brooklyn and Gavin both have one.  Happy!

Confession time:  Mom is a BIG fat SLACKER!!!  I knew exactly what I wanted Brooklyn's WOW gift to be for her birthday, a beach cruiser.  She's not an exceptionally big girl and I wasn't sure a full size women's bike would be the best fit.  I found this smaller one online, thought I could do an online order with store pickup, but lo and behold, no one had it in stock.  My procrastination skills finally failed me.  So she got this beautiful PICTURE of her new bike, which should be here early next week.

French silk pie, courtesy of Village Inn, for birthday "cake" this year, their request!

I swear, in a blink of an eye, we went from this:

{Twins 2 months old}

To this:

Sometimes, I still can't even believe we had/have TWINS!!

The scariest thing to me is that 12 is right around the corner!!!  And in the LDS church, that's a big deal!  Brooklyn will go to Girls Camp for the first time next summer and Blake will get the Aaronic priesthood and be able to pass the sacrament!  They aren't really old enough for that, are they?!??!


And this concludes birthday season at our house!  Join us for more craziness next year!

Other January happenings

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and ordered a doTerra essential oils kit!  I'm looking forward to trying a more natural approach to medicine in our family.  Trust me, I'm not going wacky cracky, I'll still use the real stuff if we need it.  I especially am anxious to try them with Blake, to see if this can help with his ADHD, without him being on prescription meds.

We've started toying with the idea of potty training.  I'm trying to figure out when we have a good solid week to give it a go, but it's not looking good until, oh, about summer!  Hayden loves wearing her "pannies" and wags her finger back and forth, saying, "No, no, no!  No pee on princess!  Makes them sad!"  We've had one pee and a couple poops in the potty, but nothing consistent so far.  She loves sitting on the potty and I'm hoping in the next few months, we can ditch the diapers for FOREVER!!

Blake cut his hair AGAIN, for like the third time!!!!!  Does he think I wouldn't notice this??!  You'd think at nearly 11, the novelty would wear off.   Hmpf.

I've played on a co-ed softball team, on and off the past year.  I LOVE playing softball again!  This season, our team won the league tournament for our division!

Matt went to Woodbage.  Again.  For the FOURTH time.  And that's all I can say.  Or bad words may come out of my mouth.  "I am a loving and supportive wife, I am a loving and supportive wife....."

Brooklyn participated in her first dance competition with Freestyle Dance Company!  This is her friend from the ward, Kaitlin Curtin, that got us involved. :)

Hayden took a trip to the ENT to see if we could finally get to the bottom of her random fevers.  The doc made me feel like why were we even there, so we didn't get many answers.  Boo.

Hayden got her FIRST haircut!!!  January 24, 2014  It was just a tiny trim to even out the bottom.

Another dance performance!!  The entire Freestyle Dance Company (minis, juniors and seniors) got to perform pregame at a Phoenix Suns game!

All the cute junior company girls!

And the crazy boys!  

We all got these (huge) orange t-shirts for military appreciation night.

We found Uncle Dan on the wall!!!  (he works for the Suns)
 She freaked!  haha

Hayden battling some major static on our couch!

I heard a little, "Mommy, help!"  And I go into to find Hayden, oh you know, just washing her feet IN the sink... No big deal!!

I finally took Joshua out shopping for his birthday, only 4 months late.  Oops!

We had a nice date and it was fun spoiling my baby brother a bit!