ANASTASIA JOSEPHINE SANSEVERO

My "little" brother Vito and his wife Mabel are celebrating the arrival of their 1st child. That would make me an AUNT to a beautiful little girl named ANASTASIA JOSEPHINE. She arrived on Friday, April 6 around 11:00 am. She weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz and was 18 inches long. What a little peanut!! My mom and dad drove to California to be there for the event. All my kids are so excited to have a new cousin and can't wait to meet that little bundle of joy.

The brain is a funny thing. I know I have been married for 12 years and have had 4 babies of my own, but it just blows my mind that the little boy I grew up with is actually a DAD!!! To me he is still that little boy.

Since we were unable to be there, my mom was sweet enough to share with us some of the pictures from her birth. This is one of my favorite pictures that my mom emailed to me after Ana was born. The back of my brother's t-shirt says:

"Together we are more powerful than we could ever be apart."

I am sure that he will realize just how true that is now that he and Mabel are officially a family

SCRAPBOOK USA expo

Yesterday was the Scrapbook Expo at the South Towne Center. These happen twice a year and I have gone every year since we moved here. Unfortunately Steve had to work this weekend so I was unable to attend both days like I usually do.

I woke up at 3:00 am with thoughts of what I should bring and the excitement of 15 hours of scrapbooking. I tried going back to sleep, but just couldn't so I unpacked and then repacked my scrap bag. Dayna, Sandra and I drove together. We arrived at the expo center to get in with the "Early Birds". There was already a HUGE line there for the doors opening at 9:00 am. We planned on a couple of other friends joining us. And my usual accomplice in these scrapbooking events, Suzanne, went to Boston with her husband.

We all took a couple of classes. I made a couple of different mini albums. For one we used envelopes and cards to make the album and the box that the set of cards came in was altered to be a carrying case for the books. I also made some 12x12 layouts using some great papers and felt flowers. My friend Sandra made some cute "chach-kis" using wooden blocks.

After the kids got out of school Sandra and I had both of our daughters, Kara and Belle, dropped off and the hung out with us and did some cropping of their own. They all had a great time. They participated in the dance contests and even did one of the make and takes.

Sandra's very cool husband, John, picked up Cafe Rio for us and brought it to the Expo Center. That was a HUGE treat. Cafe Rio's Pork Salad is one of my favorite meals. Of course we had some chocolate and other goodies.

Probably the best time for me was doing the macarena with Sandra and then being a little bi silly as we did the Chicken Dance and the YMCA. I am so blessed to have such good friends to spent time with laughing, sharing ideas and thoughts.
Can't wait until the next one, the end of September. Some of my friends from Maine are suppose to be coming and participating with me and my neighbors.

Easter dresses

I know Easter was 2 days ago, but I am finally getting all caught up. One of the things I truly enjoy about Easter is buying the girls new spring dresses. BUT this year Easter just kind of creeped up on me. We were gone for the 1st part of last week and then once we got home we moved out of our house or those 2 days. So I spent Saturday trying to find 3 Easter dresses that hopefully are coordinated.

I finally found these 3 dresses at Smith's Marketplace. Then I found a Sears and bought Zack a new outfit. I can't believe how grownup he is looking. My little man!!!

Once I got home with the dresses, I showed the girls. They all got so excited. That is definitely a cool part of having girls. When Zack opens a box and finds clothes, he says, "Move on." BUT the girls squeal and get excited for their new outfit.

Belle's 9th Birthday

Sunday was Ysabelle's 9th birthday. These 9 years have gone by so quickly. I remember very clearly the day she was born. I was being induced...my blood pressure was a little high at my last doctor appointment. I am sure hoeing and gardening in the back yard right before the appointment did not help. Once her induction began it took no time for Belle to come into the world. Actually she was quite eager to get here. My parents and Steve's parents tended Zack while I spent a couple of nights in the hospital and Steve stayed with me to help out. Our last evening there, the hospital fed us a nice candlelit dinner as Belle stayed in the nursery. After the dinner we went back to the room and Belle joined us. We turned on the radio and dance, the 3 of us. I keep that one moment on the top of my collection of memories. Steve, me and our beautiful, perfect baby girl having a quiet moment, just the 3 of us.

This year for Belle's birthday we decided to not get "things" for her birthday, but instead to "do" things. It all began with Belle getting to make and decorate her own birthday cake. She was so excited after church when when announced what her 1st gift was. Then after dinner and while we enjoyed the cake and ice cream Belle opened the rest of her presents. I gave her a gift certificate to goto a salon and get a pedicure and manicure. Then Steve's certificate was to go on a date with him to Cabelas. She did get a few gifts from the grandparents which she thoroughly enjoyed.

3rd Annual "DUV-BER" Egg Hunt

Saturday morning was our third year hosting, along with our friends the Duves, a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. Flyers were distributed early in the week to all the houses in the neighborhood. Then the families that were participating would bring 6 filled plastic eggs to either our home or the Duve's home. This year we had 16 families participate.

The night before the hunt. Our family spent the night at the Duve's home. Due to a small flooding in our kitchen back in February, we needed to get our wood floors sanded and refinished and decided to have it done this same weekend. The Duves were kind enough to let us stay the night at their home. Our other friends the Nighs came over also for games. We played a round of Hand and Foot (btw-Steve and I won)After the Nigh's left to put their kids to bed and get a good night's sleep, both we and the Duves decided to stay up a little longer and play another card game named Nertz. We finally went to bed at 2:00 am only to have to get up about 7:00 am to hide the eggs for that morning's hunt. YIKES!!!!

We had a few of the Duve's neighbors also allow us to use their yards to hide the nearly 300 eggs. Dayna and I were in charge of hiding the ones for the little kidlets and Steve and Ryan took great pleasure in being creative with their hiding of the older kid's eggs.

People began to gather on the street outside both of our cul de sacs at 8:15 am. The children were obviously excited to begin the quest for candy filled eggs, while the parents looked a little less excited. We allow the little ones, age 6 years and down, a 2 minute head start to find their eggs before releasing the hounds, I mean the older kids, to find theirs. With in 20 minutes everyone had met their limit of 6 eggs and many of the kids were seated on lawns going through their booty.

Definitely this event is counted among one of the cooler things about living in a neighborhood. Hope you all have a fabulous Easter!!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Steve and I are back from our road trip to Las Vegas. We left in the a.m. on Monday. I have always thought that the drive and conversations Steve and I have on our road trips are the best part of our vacations. I was not disappointed this time either. Before I knew it we were in Vegas and looking for the "Flamingo exit". Once off the highway it was easy to find The Palms hotel.

I had never stayed at The Palms, but had read some good reviews in a guide book and was not let down once we arrived. Our room was on the 12th floor. There was a bouncer that stood outside of the elevators and wouldn't let you upstairs unless you had your rooms key. The rooms were nice and roomy. We had 2 double beds in the room that was decorated very contemporary. HUGE bathroom with a good size jetted tub. (this came in quite handy after a day of walking the strip) These were by far the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in away from home.

Once we were settled in the room, we headed out to the strip. I will share with you some of the high points. Our first stop was at the Riveria Hotel. We needed to get our tickets to see La Cage and then we just walked around and made it back to get seated for the show at 7:30 pm. I had never seen female impersonators other than on tv. They are incredible. There was a person impersonating Brittany Spears and he looked better than she currently looks. We also so Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Cher, Judy Garland, Celine Dion, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire. I laughed so hard at this show. It was an impressive show. I tried to take a picture of Steve with the "star" of the show in costume, but the picture turned out blurry-BUMMER!! On Tuesday morning we went to the Aladdin hotel and partook of the buffet they had set up for breakfast. We ate so much there we did not eat again 8:00 pm for dinner. One of our 1st stop that day was to M&M World. They have thought of absolutely everything that you could possibly put the M&M logo and have done just that. We shopped all 4 floors and even watched the 3D cheesy M&M movie. Believe it or not we spent an hour there. We peeked into many of the hotels, but we run out very often due to the amount of smoke there was in some of them.

We browsed some of the stores at the Wynn. It just blows my mind that people could actually shop there. I did go into one of the shoe stores and had a brief encounter with a beautiful pair of shoes that cost $650. It was a short lived relationship. We got to the Luxor around 12:00, which was the same time my feet were telling me that the sandals I had been wearing we not great for walking up and down the HOT sidewalks of the strip. So Steve volunteered to walk AL THE WAY BACK TO THE TRUCK and retrieve my shoes and socks. He took my sandals with him so I was stranded sitting on a pillar at the Luxor reading my Las Vegas guide, barefoot. He finally returned with my comfy shoes, which made it possible for me to complete the remainder of our walking trip, 50 minutes later. We walked back to the Bellagio and watched the fountains do their performance. It was absolutely beautiful. After the fountains we found a place that they gave foot massages and Steve offered to pay for one for me. I took him up on his offer and received a much needed foot massage for 10 minutes. IT WAS FABULOUS!!! After putting my shoes back on to my refreshed feet, we ran into an Elvis impersonator. I got my picture taken with him as he sang "Love Me Tender"...too funny. To make the whole Vegas experience complete we even found a showgirl for Steve to get his picture taken with.

We definitely determined that this was not a place that we would want to EVER bring the kids. Just walking down the street there are those little guys that try to hand people what looks like business cards, but have pictures of scantily dressed women "for a good time". We began to refer to them as adult Pokemon Cards. Steve got so frustrated by the whole concept that he decided he would "trade" them for the one the last guy we walked by had handed him. At the Rio Casino they has a free show. It had a Mardi Gras feel. Great music, but there were these dancers on the stage that little by little stripped down to panties and a bra. The dancing was quite provocative. I actually enjoyed the show, but was surprised by the parents that had there little kids watching the show. YIKES!!!

We truly had a great time in Vegas. Like I have said before, the best part is just the time Steve and I spend together.

Don't forget to look at the slide show on the right and check out some more of teh photos from the trip.

Tomorrow is Steve's 38th

MY BABY TURNS 38!!!

We celebrated Steve birthday one day early. He worked most of the day at the pharmacy, but this morning the children presented him with the salt dough sculptures that they had made a few weeks ago. Zack made him a turtle that Steve could put his loose change into, Belle made him a photo holder in the shape of a snail, Katie made five daisies that represented me and the other four kids, and Becky made a pencil holder that once you get the pencil stuck it him, he looks like a porcupine. Very cute.
While Steve was at work, the kids and I watched the two Sunday sessions of General Conference. I tried something new this time. The kids would pick a word before the speaker began and they would have to listen for that word. Every time the speaker said the word and they heard it, they would get an M&M. Once they got 5 M&Ms they could trade up to a miniature candy bar and after 5 candy bars they would trade up for a toy I got from the dollars store. It really seemed to keep their attention. When I would ask what the talk was about or what they had learned they could answer me.



After Steve finally got home, we had a yummy Sunday supper:

Bar-B-Que Steaks

Baked Potatoes

Corn

Green Salad

The best part was for dessert I had made a Peach Cobbler. I have NEVER made a peach cobbler, but Steve loves fruity desserts. So I thought that would be better than a birthday cake. He was pretty happy with it too. He tried to wait until everyone had finished their dinner, but then couldn't wait any longer and finally broke down and dug into the cobbler.

Tomorrow morning we leave for our Anniversary/Steve's birthday trip to Las Vegas. My Mom and Pop are watching the kids while we are gone. Since..." whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..." we'll see if I can share what happens during our trip.

I Survived Parent/Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was our Parent Teacher Conferences. It all began at Jordan Ridge with a visit to Belle's classroom. She is doing well as far as knowledge of the subjects goes. She passed her ALPS test so she will continue in the program next year. Now we just need to work on getting along with people in her class and turning her work in on time. Belle's teacher, Mrs. Stowe, is just such a nice woman and I feel blessed that Belle has had her this year.

Next we visited with Zack's teacher, Mrs. Lybbert. She seemed to think Zack was doing quite well. He still struggles a little with the fractions, but he did essentially skip a grade of math this year and I think overall has done a great job trying to keep up with it all. The best news from the conference is that there is no LARGE projects for the rest of the year. WHOOHOO!!!! He also passed his ALPS test, but initially was put on a waiting list. That was a little frustrating, but it sounds as though there were many parents that were frustrated with placement on the waiting list. Those parents went to the last school board meeting and managed to get the board to change all the waiting list children. So Zack has made it into an ALPS class, now we need to wait and see if he will be able to goto the same school that he has gone to for the past year. More waiting....UGH!!!

After a quick supper at McDonald's Playland, we went to the other school, Elk Meadows, for Katie and Becky's conference with their teacher Mrs. Forsyth. They are both doing very well. The worst thing she said about them was they needed to slowdown and take their time doing their work and that Katie should try to participate in the discussions, offer answers, etc. Becky also passed her ALPS test, but as I predicted Katie did not pass. Since 3 of my 4 children will be attending Jordan Ridge I have started the process of transferring all of their records over there. I definitely will miss Elk Meadows. I think it is a good school and I have enjoyed getting to know all the teachers.

PTC done for another school year!!

Spring's Day Off

This morning we woke to a reminder that even though the calendar may say it is spring, we are not "officially" there. The nearly green lawn was covered in a blanket of white fluffy snow. Those beautiful daffodils and hyacinths had little cap of snow that locked their vibrant colors. When you brushed a little of the snow of those the contrast of those bright colors against that white snow was just breathtaking. Steve took this neat photo this morning so I could blog just how beautiful it is.

The kids are back in school and everything seems to be going smoothly. We have not had too hard a time transitioning back into the homework zone. We have parent teacher conferences coming up tomorrow and report cards have been trickling in.

I woke up early this morning. I felt a little bit like a child on Christmas Eve night. You see, today was the Making Memories Warehouse Sale. I loo forward to doing this every year and this year was no exception. I was up and getting dressed at 6:00 am this morning. And since I was not going to pick up my friends Sandra and Suzanne until 8:15, I decided to do another one of my favorite things which is taking advantage of those 10 for 10 Sales that Albertson's puts on. This week's ad had some especially good deals. So by 7:30 I was home with a trunk full of groceries that I had scored.

The Making Memories sale was not a disappointment either. We got to the Warehouse and I feared that we would have to stand out in the snow for an hour as we waited for them to open the doors, BUT they were so kind to us. The allowed us to wait inside the warehouse where it was nice and warm. As we stood in line we scoped out all the items we were interested in. My big find was the paper trimmer I have wanted since September. YIPPEE!!!! They also had tons of their oh so cute ribbon, lots of metal embellishments, so good deals on cardstock and tons of darling rub ons. I definitely stocked up on some great supplies and should not need to go shopping for a while.

Skiing in Utah

This is kind of a late post. A week ago Steve took Zack and Belle skiing up at Brighton. This is Zack's second year on skiing. He really seems to like it. He has been excited to get to go. Last year it was free for students to ski up there. The only expense for us was the rental of the equipment. Unfortunately, the same deal was not offered this year, so Steve only brought Zack up there a couple of times this year.



Belle had been waiting all winter to finally get her chance to learn. According to Steve, both of them have caught on to how to do it pretty well. Belle was eager to go on some of the more difficult runs as the day went on. When the all got home, they all wore a huge smile of their face along with a little sunburn on their brows.

Piano Recitals

I am so proud of Zack and Belle. When I was young I never had the opportunity to learn an instrument. They have both been taking piano lessons for a few years now. Today was their piano recital at Riverton music. There were 31 students that performed for 1 1/2 hours. It took quite a while, but I seriously sat there in awe of the talent in the room. Zack played the theme song from ET and Belle performed Music Box Dancer. I hope they both will continue perfecting this talent. I am hoping to get Becky and Katie on the waiting list to start taking lessons from Sister Coates. She is an awesome teacher.

We came home in time to have a casual dinner and then enjoy another spring afternoon. I initially sat outside thinking I would tackle a little more of East of Eden, but instead I decided to join in on a volleyball game (minus a net) with Steve and the kids. It was actually quite fun to just be hanging out together.

It appears that much of our time was spent chasing after crazy balls. I decided it would be a great time to snap off a few photos. It was until after the ball had been put away and I uploaded the pictures to my computer did I realize the funny faces that the kids make as they are hitting the ball.

The countdown is on until the kids go back to school:

36 hours and 12 minutes!!!!

Spring is in the Air

I feel safe in saying, "Spring has come to South Jordan!!"

I have woken up everyday for the last week in anticipation of seeing my daffodils finally opened up. We planted the bulbs for the tulips and daffodils around the front of the house in the fall. These are some of my most favorite flowers. They remind me so much of Maine. I love this time of the year. I have spent the afternoons in my front yard reading my book for bookclub, watching the kids play and seeing daily what change has happened in out yard. The trees have developed their blooms and are right on the edge of getting their flowers. The grass seems to get a little greener everyday.

The children have been off track for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Thank heavens for the great weather. This is some of the stuff that has happened:

• Kids go camping with Steve to Snow Canyon and collect petrified wood and explore lava tubes.


• Mom has an all night crop while the family is away.


• Kids go bowling with their friends


• Katie and Becky see "Happy Feet" with their friend Noah


• Zack goes skiing with Steve up in Brighton


• Making salt clay sculptures


• Katie and Becky scrapbooking with Mommy for the 1st time


• Belle's 1st ski trip with Daddy and Zack


• Zack goes to the Planetarium with his friend Jake.

The twins FINALLY had their scrapbooking experience. My friend Sandra planned an 8x8 album entitled, "All About...". I signed the girls up and went last Friday night. It was so much fun. I cut all the pieces to their correct size and they put the pages together by following the color copies that Sandra had made. They did a good job. Katie took it kind of like a race and did her versions of "slap and scrap". Becky on the other hand was a little more meticulous. Tried to get the pieces into the same exact spot as in the picture. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from? They are so proud of their pages. I can not wait to find some cute albums to slide the pages into. We also need to fill in the pictures spots and do a little journaling. What a cute album for them to have as they get older.

Very Weber Valentine

This Valentines Day I woke up early and made a breakfast for all my sweethearts. I made heart shaped pancakes, fried eggs, sausage links an a couple of strawberries for a splash of color. The children one by one came down the stairs to find their breakfast and a Valentine/stuffed animal at the place on the table. They were so excited for their new stuffed animals they all ran back upstairs and brought down the Valentine stuff animals I had given them the year before. It made me feel so go knowing that they remembered what we had given them last year and still had them. I gave Steve the last of his "14 Days of Valentines" gift. It was the cover for the tag book. And I received the last piece for my picture puzzle that he had made for me. It was the center piece which is a silhouetted picture of the two of us kissing.

Everyone left for school and work. And for the first time ever I was excited for Steve to leave for work. And here's why...about 45 minutes after he left the phone rang. I answered and he said,
"when did you do this?...It is so neat...you are sneaky..."

He had walked into his pharmacy to find a dozen roses, a balloon, dark chocolate hearts, and garland around his computer. I had sneaked off after the PTA meeting on Tuesday and drove to Murray and set up the stuff in his pharmacy. He said that later in the day one of the customers asked the female tech, "are those roses for you?" She said, "no, they are for Steve the pharmacist." The customer replied, "It's about time men get flowers for Valentines Day."

Well I spent the day dipping strawberries and prepping for a romantic dessert evening. I carried a small table from the basement up to our bedroom and covered it with a tablecloth and spread rose petals on the table. I set the table and spread candles through out the room. The I made chocolate bundles for our dessert. The kids thought it was neat that Steve and I were having a date at home. They peeked into the bedroom and saw the room all decked out. Steve finally made it home about 9:30. We spent the evening talking and eating our dessert.

Steve opened his card and read through the book that I had made. It chronicled the beginning of our relationship. It covered when we met, first impressions, first kiss, wedding, honeymoon and lots of other stuff. You can see the inside of the book at:

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1088692

He really seemed to love the book. I had asked him a moth ago to answer certain questions so I could add his perspective to the book. Then Steve gave me the card he had picked for me. The card was nice but the words he wrote inside were absolutely beautiful. The opened my gift and found a cute pink purse an matching wallet. We had been up to Park City a few weeks ago and when we were in the Liz Claiborne store I had fallen in love with 2 purses one was practical and brown. The other was pink and pho-alligator. I opted that day to buy the practical one. Steve drove up there on Tuesday and bought me the pink one. I was so excited.
What an awesome husband I have.


It was a great Valentine Day.

I was afraid that because Steve had to work maybe it wouldn't be very special, but the whole day seemed pretty close to perfect.

This Week...

We have survived our first Science Fair. Zack had worked very hard all of January trying to get his project done. He and Steve became pros at making petri dishes, he studied the importance of bacteria and has become fluent in science speak. Thursday he turned in the project and report and on Friday was the official Science Fair. Parents were invited to come and walk around and see the projects. The children would explain what their hypothesis was and what procedures they performed. It was actually quite neat. Of course I am his mom, but I thought Zack had one of the best projects. He was even proud of his project. Unfortunately he did not win to move on the the next level, but he did do a great job.

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Katie decided this week that she wanted to make a scarf using the knitting looms that they received for Christmas this year. She is so cute. She is like a little monkey. She uses her little feet to hold the loom as she wraps the yarn around the loom. It is going to be a cute little scarf. I think the coolest thing is that she has made it herself.

We had our 3rd Annual Superbowl Party. The 1st was celebrated at our house 2 years ago, last year our friend's the Nigh's hosted and this year the Duve's threw the big bash. Steve and I were not pulling strongly for any team. The Chargers had not made it to the big game and that had disappointed us. So I decided to spend the night cheering for the Colts (I love the goofiness of Peyton Manning). This worked out well because Ryan Duve was rooting for the Bears and I love it when we are on different sides of the fence. The game was great! The company even better!! We actually had a little pool going. We all got to put our names in 5 different squares on the chart, including the kids. It was fun to see who might be winning the big prize. So, even though Ryan's Bear lost the game he did get the "booby prize". It was one of those handheld football games that were around back in the '80s. Probably the funniest part of the evening was the halftime show. Prince was the artist performing. As soon as he began playing his first song all three of us, Dayna, Stacy and I said how it brought back memories of high school. We sat in our seats and bopped and sang along to the music while the "younger" generation sat in awe of how strange he was. Belle topped it off by sang, "Well, that was interesting" Too Funny!!