Recent Fun

I had a birthday! It was a really fun day. I woke up to great birthday decorations. We had a picnic at the park with some of our friends. Paul is at a rotation at Cigna and he works with all women. He told them it was my birthday and they let him go home at lunch! (Women are so nice, right?!) So my friend Melissa took me out to lunch while Paul watched all of the kids. When Michele came over after work to pick Sam up they stayed for cake (Paul made a home-made chocolate cake!) and presents. Paul had wrapped up 3 pieces of paper. I unwrapped one: it said he had taken my bike to the shop to get it all fixed up! The tires and handle bars needed to be replaced, it was in bad shape. The next one said a surprise was in the garage. He bought me a bike trailer! I've been wanting one for a long time. Woo! The last one said he had a babysitter for Friday night so we could go on a date. What great gifts. He put the kids to bed and make me a great dinner. We rented Saving Mr. Banks from redbox. It was a pretty awesome birthday. I had lots of friends call and stop by with treats. I felt so special. Thank you everyone so much! 

A few days later Paul had a Friday off (gasp!) so we decided to go to this breakfast place downtown we've really wanted to try. (Ok it was mostly me who wanted to try it- I LOVE breakfast!) Everything is 100% real- fresh squeezed orange juice, they raise their own chickens and have cage free eggs, sweet cream butter, real maple syrup, oh my it was delicious. It's called Matt's Big Breakfast. If you're ever in Phoenix, check it out. 

The breakfast place we went to was close to the Phoenix Children's Theater. They've hired my sister in law, Jessica to create advertisements for upcoming plays. We stopped by to see her work. It was so cool to go there and see her work up on the walls!! Crazy!! She is very talented. 

Later that day we went to the mall and got Braden his own bear. Susie was about his age when she fell in love with hers so we decided to get one for Braden, too. Susie was way more excited than Braden was! It was fun! 

Mom Comes to Visit

We had a fun Saturday 2 weeks ago. First we went on a picnic with our ward's Primary at the Phoenix temple site. The Phoenix temple is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait for it to be dedicated. We will be in Flagstaff then but we definitely plan on driving down for the open house. We had such a great time learning about what makes this temple special and picnicking with our friends. 

After the picnic we drove straight to the airport and picked up....

GRANDMA!!!

We have been counting down the days for her visit. We had such a good time with her here! Mother loves the sunshine like we do so we went on lots of beautiful morning walks. We had tea party and a dance party. We made chocolate roll and had movie nights at home. We went to Arizona Mills one day and bought Auntie Annes pretzels and shopped till we dropped! We met up with my Aunt Cora and went to the Rainforest Cafe. Unfortunately my kids decided shortly there after that they had had enough, but they slept on the car ride home. My kids started to feel sick towards the end of her trip but they were still all smiles for Grandma. Maybe because of all the surprises she gives! She bought Susie a new princess for her castle and a huge pink bouncy ball that we play with everyday! Since she's been gone Susie tells me often that she needs more surprises. 

Mom and I got to go out on a fun date one night while Paul watched the kids. We did some more shopping, dinner and a movie. We went to an AMC theater that has new, huge red leather seats. They were gloriously comfortable. She is a busy girl, working and going to school so we were so excited that she chose to spend her Spring Break with us. We made some great memories. 

Susanna Turns 3!

Our Susanna is now 3 years old! She is getting to be such a grown up girl. We had a fun time celebrating her birthday. 

This is Susie LAST year helping me make her birthday cake.. and then this year! It's amazing how much she has grown up. 

We started her birthday with decorations and chocolate chip pancakes. Mmm! Later on we had a little birthday party with a few of her friends from church. She loves the story Curious George and the Pizza Party so we had a party like the one in the book! We each got to make our own little pizza and choose from lots of toppings. It was yummy. Susie loves pizza! We also played "Punch the Pepperoni" and had Curious George cake. 

 

 

Susanna is such a sweetheart. She loves making her little brother laugh. Sometimes I put her in his crib or pack and play and they just don't stop giggling! She loves her daddy, too. The second he walks in the door from work she is talking his ear off about how she played outside with Sam and found a dead bird and how she wants him to read her a book now, and oh dad let's go upstairs and play, and today I had a friend come over to my house... on and on and on. It's hilarious. She is a great snuggler. She is doing so good with her numbers and her letters. She loves to sing primary song and disney songs, like Hakuna Mata. We sure love her. 

Things that make me smile

Things are going good at the West house. Paul is at a rotation at Paradise Valley hospital. We went and visited him as a surprise the other day and got to meet some of the people he works with. That was fun. We were also informed by Walmart that our destination after graduation will definitely be Flagstaff. Paul was able to take a day off and we drove up there to look around. We are pretty excited. It is a beautiful place! We are sad to be leaving so many people we love in Phoenix but we know Heavenly Father is helping find where we need to be.
We've had a fun February. Last year Paul and I started a Valentines tradition of "14 days of Service" where we do something nice for each other the first 2 weeks of the month. It was a lot of fun last year so we decided to do it again this year. I loved it!

Here are a few pictures of things that make me smile:

When Braden smiles! It only takes a little tickle or some silly words. He is a smiley boy. 

When Susanna and Braden play together

When Susie pretends to be in a "deep sleep" and the only way to wake her is true loves kiss

Having friends to play with (this was our fun Valentines Day party)

These pictures all make me smile too! My friend Aly (who is a very skilled photographer) invited us over to take these Valentine photos. They turned out so adorable. I will treasure them always.