Photo shoot

My great friend Kim took some pictures of the girls to document Ayden as a 4 year old and Alex as a 2 year old. Alex was not very cooperative during the whole activity and Ayden started out pretty grumpy but at least she can be bribed. Even with the little attitudes Kim had to deal with I was really happy so many great ones turned out. It was hard to pick from 182 great pictures but here are some of my favorites. Thanks a bunch Kim!

At least she is creative...

Me:
"Hey Ayden, why is there a pile of dirty clothes in the living room?"
Ayden:
"Well, I had to get the gum somehow."

Ahh, yes of course, the gum is missing. Why didn't I think of that?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYDEN!!

Ayden on her 1st birthday

Ayden's second birthday (with friends madi and cassi).

Ayden on her third birthday dressed up as a pirate.

And now Ayden on her 4th birthday!!!
I can't believe we have a 4 year old. Ayden's birthday was yesterday and even though it was simple I think she would say it was a good one. She woke up as 5 am ready to party. Needless to say Brad and I were not so ready but seeing as it was her birthday we tried to at least handle her early rising kindly. She patiently waited a couple of hours until we were all awake and then the rest of the day was all about her. She got fruit loops for breakfast as she wanted, at church she gave a talk and got sung to, we had waffles for lunch per her request, then she got to open presents with the family and then we had some of our closest friends over for cake and ice cream. I think she felt pretty special through out the day because of all the people at church who remembered her birthday and from the phone calls she received from her grandmas, grandpa and aunt. Thanks to everyone who helped make her day special.

Ayden with her fruit loop breakfast.

Brad made this sign for her and she loved waking up to it.

Ayden after opening up her fancy Nancy book. From us, grandparents and friends she also got a bunch of summer dresses, star wars episode 1, Lucy and Aslan action figures, Sleeping beauty polly pockets, sleeping beauty swim time doll, a garden set, light saber and a mariposa dress up.

Here she is opening her light saber. For the past year she has been telling me she wanted a sleeping beauty birthday party. That never wavered for a 11 months and 2 weeks. However, about a month ago Ayden discovered Star Wars and is now obsessed. A couple of weeks ago she told me she wanted a Star Wars party. I was pretty surprised she changed her mind but since this was just a little birthday year that only meant I wouldn't be making a sleeping beauty cake and instead I would have to find a Star Wars one. Her favorite character is R2-D2 so I made an R2-D2 cake. The nice thing is that she still loves princesses and girl stuff, she just likes things like Star Wars and The Chronicles of Narnia too. There is nothing wrong with being diverse in your interests.

Here is her R2-D2 cake. It didn't turn out quite like I imagined but as least she knew who it was and it just got eaten anyway.

Here is Ayden with some of her friends who came over for cake.

Happy Birthday Ayden, we love you so much and we are so grateful for how you enrich our lives. You make life fun and interesting. I am already enamored by your amazing personality and I can't wait to see where it takes you in life. Thanks for being our special daughter!

For our Moms

From Jenni-

I love this picture of you Mom, you are so beautuful!

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of you. Your expression says a thousand words.
And, who looks this amazing after you have a baby?

I just want to tell my Mom Happy Mother's Day. There are too many reasons to count why she means so much to me. At this time in my life I am especially grateful for her friendship and the support she gives me while I am trying to figure out motherhood. It also gives me a greater understanding of what an amazing mom she was while I was young. I never appreciated the little things like preparing the family dinner every night, packing our school lunches everyday, keeping the house clean, having a snack ready for us when we got home, greeting us with a smile and a how was your day, having scripture study and family prayer. I now know that those things are hard and I am amazed as how flawlessly she did them.
Mom, I am very grateful for all you taught me as a child, for teaching me right from wrong, for teaching me manors, for teaching me about the gospel, for teaching me how to get along with others, for teaching me the value of honesty and in all you taught me, you taught me how to be a Mom. I really have the perfect example to follow and I pray often that I can be like you.

Here are a few other things I love about you:

-Your energy. I remember often as a child people telling me that my mom was one of the most energetic people they knew and it is true. You and Dad always kept us busy hiking, camping, playing games, going on Sunday drives and just being active.
-Your desire to be the best. I have always known that you expect the best of yourself and your kids. Because of that I always held myself to high standards and never wanted to let you down. I think that saved me from many mistakes.
-Your ability to show love. I always know and have always known you love me. I always knew what you did was always in my best interest even if it seemed unfair at times or made me angry.
-Your selflessness. You live your life for those around you and you think of others first. At the same time taking care of yourself too, which is just as important.
-You amazing taste- That includes your taste in food, clothing, decor and men (Dad).
-You are very supportive. You have always encouraged me in everything I have wanted to do and helped me make my dreams possible.
I love you and Happy Mothers Day!

From Brad-

Happy Mother's day mom. I hope you know how much you mean to me and how much I love you even though I am not the best at conveying this with words. Like a lot of boys, I am absolutely a mamma's boy and always have been. When I was a boy it was my mother that I longed for when I was sick, hurt or scared. On my first day of school I remember asking the teacher if I could go to the bathroom so I could cry, and it was my mother I was crying for. One of the funny things my brother and I have discovered in our recent conversations is that in the traumatic events in my early childhood my memory of the event is different than how it actually played out. Like the time my older brother wanted to make me think there was a large fish in the canal I was playing next to (my mother disapproved of our playing near the canal). He launched a rock about 6" in diameter from about 8-10 feet above me, attempting to project the rock over my head directly in front of me into the water, hitting me in the back of my head. My memory of the event is seeing a flash of white and being immediately carried up the canal bank by my mother (who in reality didn't see me until a little later). The exact scenario in my mind played out when I was hit by a car at about the age of 7. My mother has long been a source of great comfort in my life.

My mom has always believed in me. She has always somehow known, when most believed I would be a complete failure, that I would succeed in this life. She has always been supportive of my dreams, aspirations and goals. She is the most selfless person I know.

Thank you mom for all that you have done for me. I love that we can go fishing and sit and talk about life, politics, economics, family or whatever is on our minds. I hope that I am as good a son as you are a mother. I love you and happy mother's day.

Burley!

We headed down to Burley last weekend to spend some time with Brad's family. It was a great trip. On our way down we stopped in twin falls and had a picnic by the Perrine bridge and watched the base jumping. If you have never seen that you really should. These people just jump off the bridge with a parachute. It was exhilarating just watching it, I really can't imagine the kind of rush you would get doing it. There was a time maybe I would have done it but since having little kiddos I sure got soft and there is no way.

Here is Ayden at the lookout for the bridge. Here we all are (obviously).
Check out our little video of one of the guys going off at the end of this post but you can find some incredible footage on Youtube too.

Alex and the "twins" with the bridge behind her.

Our time in Burley was spent hanging out with the family, shopping for new clothes/underwear/diapers for the girls since we forgot their suitcase, having a fish fry Friday night with everyone, looking for River since he ran away twice and was gone all night long for one of them, Brad went biking and fishing, helping with siding at Brads brothers house, finding a black widow while cleaning siding, going to our nephew Mason's baptism and having a big picnic for mason's birthday and baptism. We really had a good time and the girls really loved having so many cousins around. They had fun with Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike too. Ayden has been asking for everyone all week.

It is not often that Brad's family is all together because there are so many of them. This was almost as close as we could get so we took the opportunity to get a picture. We titled it "The Family Tree". In the picture is Brads Mom and Step Dad, one of his Brothers, four of his Sisters, most of their spouses and kids.
This is Alex's new smile when the camera comes out. She must think it is beautiful. Too bad I have not taken her two year pictures yet because I am scared she is going to smile like this in all of them.