Aaron

Aaron is a very social person. He seems to genuinely care about everybody. Sometimes it drives me crazy. Like when we are walking down the hall at church and he starts talking to someone. It is not just "Hi!" and "Bye!" It is a long conversation. I am a very impatient person, so I am ready to go long before he is. Even though it drives me crazy, it is also something that I really admire about him. Sometimes I wish that I could be more like him in this respect.

Aaron is really good about taking me out on dates. In fact, if I don't get my one on one time with him, I get a little crabby (ok, a lot crabby). These are pictures of when Aaron took me to Rockin' R Ranch about a week before Katie was born, and to Singin' in the Rain at Hale Center Theater about a month and a half after she was born. The flash reflected a screen on the other wall.

This is a picture of us at a mexican restaurant in Phoenix. We went out to lunch with Aaron's family to celebrate Margaret's, Christina's, and James' birthdays.

Aaron is the best dad and husband. He comes home after a long day of work or missionary service (he is the ward mission leader) and just wants to play with the kids and spend time with me. He takes Rebecca on special daddy daughter dates (after she fills up her nice jar with rocks), wrestles with Anson, cuddles Katie, and helps me pick up the house. He is the best swing pusher, my little pony player, and chapter book reader. We are so lucky to have Aaron.

Kathryn

Kathryn is our little cutie. She is very good natured, though she doesn't smile as much as Anson did. You can definately tell she is a girl by her delicate little features like her nose and mouth. She is already off the charts for her height (like Rebecca was).

Daddy's little girl. Kathryn tends to be pretty comfy with Aaron. She likes to sleep and cuddle with him.

Aaron and I took Katie to Las Vegas with us last week to go to a Barry Manilow concert. It didn't work out as expected when we found out that the baby couldn't go in because it was too loud for her. Joseph and Christina (Aaron's sister and her husband) came down from Cedar City on Thursday though, so that made it all worth it. I couldn't resist posting the picture of Uncle Joseph and Kathryn. They look so cute! The other picture is Joseph, Christina, and Katie.

Rebecca

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Margaret celebrated their 32nd Anniversary on April 30. As part of the festivities, the grandchildren were encouraged to learn a few spanish words. They were then quizzed on them and won a pinata for all of their hard work. This is Rebecca demonstrating her new spanish skills and taking her turn at the pinata.

Rebecca is my girly girl (most of the time). She likes me to do her hair cute or not at all. Last Sunday I curled her hair for her cousin Benjamin's blessing. Unfortunately it all fell out before we got there. Oh well. We'll have to spray with hair spray next time.

Rebecca loves her cousins Lily and Emma! (Rebecca is in the middle, Lily is on the left as you are looking at the picture, and Emma is on the right with her arms around Rebecca.)

Anson

Anson is a true boy. He loves cars and trucks, noises and messes. He built this train of blocks at his Grandma's house last month. I still haven't separated him from the binky. It is time, but he broke his arm recently and had some bad diarrhea so I haven't had the heart to do it yet.

Anson loves wagons and walks and Little Einsteins too.

Kathryn's Blessing

Kathryn was blessed on Sunday, March 30. She wore my dad's special Christening Dress. My grandpa's mother made the Christening Dress for her children, and she died 10 days after my grandpa was born. My grandpa was christened in it, my dad was christened in it, I was blessed in it, and Rebecca and Kathryn were also blessed in it. Anson was blessed in a boy outfit that his Grandma Margaret made. It was a special blessing, though it seemed a bit shorter than Rebecca and Anson's. Aaron's parents, James, Thomas, and Jonathan and his family came to the blessing. My parents, Erica, Dana, Seth, and Conner came to the blessing too. Aaron, Larry, Jonathan, James, Kim, and Bishop Lannon were in the circle.

How to Make Your Blog More Safe

My sister in law googled her name the other day, and was surprised to find that she came up in a ton of blogs. The following is taken from her blog, which was taken from her friend Melanie's Blog, which was taken from Darby's Blog.

Go into "my settings" and then go to "Settings", select "Basic" and it will say: "Add your blog to our listings?" SELECT NO (this means that when you update your blog it does not show up on the blogger homepage or any other page as being updated - very important)

Also on that same page it will say: Let search engines find your blog? SELECT NO (this means that search engines can not bookmark your site at all -important if you are a family)(Scroll down and click Save Changes)

Next go to "Comments" (still in settings) it will say: Who Can Comment? SELECT REGISTERED USERS - includes OpenID (this means that only people who can comment are those with gmail accounts - or who have active blogs open - this helps eliminate computers from spamming)

On the same page it will say: Enable comment moderation? SELECT YES (this means that no comments will post to our blog with out you approving them first - this way you can axe anything before it shows up)

Same Page- It will say: Show word verification for comments? SELECT YES (this is super annoying, but important to stop spam and deter unwanted comments because it's an extra step) Scroll down and click Save Changes

LAST THING- Never mention last names, show your address or town and try to not tell the full names of anyone else on your blog either. Also don't post birthday specifics or when you'll be out of town. All of that will just lead to a home alone movie where the burglers find out when you are leaving. leave that kind of stuff to personal emails to family or blog about it when you get home. Also try to respect friends privacy by not posting photos that could embarrass. The internet is really quite insane. Once it's on the web it's ALWAYS on the web so post with courtesy and care. All in all these are safe blogging tips. the first few are really important as they block the search engines from seeing your blog!

Please feel free to share these tips with your friends & family so that we can all be safe online.

Sleep Deprivation!

Sleep Deprivation does not agree with me. 3 1/2 hours just doesn't cut it. Katie wasn't even up the whole night- I just couldn't fall back asleep! Ahhhh! This better not happen again tonight or we will have one very unhappy camper!

New Camera!

I have been so bad about taking pictures- but I have had an excuse! Aaron always seems to have our camera. Sometimes he has to take pictures for work to document corrosion and scale and stuff like that. Sounds like beautiful photography, huh? Well, soon I will have that excuse no more! Aaron bought me a Pink Sony Cybershot DSC-T2 camera last night! It is super thin and light and will fit in my purse. Everyone better be telling me to get out my camera after this! I will have no more excuses.