You're Only Four Once...

So it's okay to open a few presents while you are still in your jammies...

and have Oreos and milk for breakfast...

and stick your fingers in the batter while you are helping your mom make your birthday cupcakes.

Your dad may also get you 10 new baby chicks...and one may die and your "daddy may have to bury it so it can go to heaven and the Lord will make it alive again so it can live with Grandma Ila." (And because you're only four, you will probably feel it necessary to repeat that to virtually everybody you see for a few days. It's all good.)

Even though you already had Oreos and milk for breakfast and cupcake batter for a snack, your mom just might take you to McDonald's for lunch. Because it's a special occasion, you might even get your own Happy Meal.

Being four is tough business, so you might pass out on the couch for an hour or two. You can't help it that you were so excited for your big day that you didn't want to go to bed the night before and then woke up really early to see if your birthday had really come!

Naps are good, though, because they will give you the energy to open more presents. Especially big ones like this from Grandma and Grandpa.

Everybody might laugh really hard when you pick up the "constructions" and say, "According to my RA-search, we must put this together right so it doesn't fall apart."

Because you are an extra special kid, your parents might even splurge and take you to your favorite restaurant, Fredrico's, for pizza.

As if it couldn't get any better, you get to have your family over a few days later for a big party with cake, candles, presents, and fun! You are a very lucky boy to have so many people who love you.

Your mom might even have a really awesome friend who let her borrow all of their Cars party stuff to decorate your house. You will walk down the stairs and see it all and say, "Mom, this is so beautiful!"

And your mom will smile and know it was all worth it because you are so worth it...and you're only four once.

Happy Birthday to Garrett!

This little guy is now four years old! I think the proper thing for me to say would be, "I can't believe he's already four. It seems like just yesterday they were placing him in my arms. Where has the time gone? Blah, blah, blah." You've heard it before and get the picture. I'm going out on a limb here and may sound like a really bad mom, but I feel like I have lived every single one of Garrett's 1462 days at least a few times. He is a good boy and so sweet, but he has a lot of energy and personality and it is an overtime job to keep up with him. Now here is where I get cliche and really mean it: I love this little guy more than I could have ever imagined and can't imagine my life without him in it. I am so grateful to be his mom and cherish every day I get to spend with him, but I will admit I definitely go to bed exhausted every night.

All About Garrett (In His Own Words)


Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Song: Follow the Prophet
Favorite Book: Green Eggs and Ham
Favorite Movie: Mary Poppins
Favorite Toy: Play-Doh
Best Friends: Atley and Mike (Garrett has lots of little friends, so this cracked me up because he only sees both of these people a couple of times a year. I guess they both make big impressions in little amounts of time!)
Favorite Thing about Pre-School: Being nice to Grady and Kade (We may or may not have had a few discussions about this)
Favorite Food: Pears and Pizza
Favorite Ice Cream: Vanilla (or BA-nilla as he usually says)
Favorite Thing about Church: Reading Stories
Favorite Restaurant: Fredrico's
Favorite Animal: Alligator and Crocodile
Favorite Holiday: Halloween (He said Christmas first, but thought about it for a minute and made sure I changed it to Halloween. Yes, he still wears his spider jammies and pumpkin shirt frequently. Choose your battles, right?)
Favorite Treat: Oreos
Favorite Thing to Do: Watch movies and not say bad words

To sum it all up, I think his Primary teacher said it best today when she told me, "Garrett just needs to be on The Little Rascals and pal around with that bunch. He would fit right in."

That's our boy.

Good Morning!

The following is an actual conversation that occurred at our house early this morning while Greg and I were trying to sleep:

Garrett: Mom, can we watch a movie?

Mom: Maybe in a little while. Go ask Dad.

Garrett: Dad, can mom watch a movie with me?

One day our children will understand the beauty of Saturday mornings. Until then, thank goodness for Aladdin. 

Garrett and I enjoyed a delightful morning together 

while Daddy and Abby snoozed. 

Some of you may remember this: 

                                    We lived it...early this morning.

Let it Snow!

Grandma Susie celebrated her birthday on Sunday and had lots of little helpers to blow out her candles. Garrett was so excited for her birthday to come because he knows his birthday is soon to follow. He told her as he walked in the door for her party, "Grandma, as soon as your birthday party is over, we can have mine." So tactful!


The highlight of the party was this snake toy Brooklyn and Karen picked up at the dollar store.

Abby's latest love in life is to play doctor with Grandpa. This is somewhat puzzling because you may remember that Abby isn't exactly fond of the doctor's office or hospital. If only all doctors had bright stethoscopes, handed out licorice, and were as good as Grandpa Sparky, huh? Abby would be set!

We finally got some snow worth playing in! HOORAY! (We were just a few days away from busting out the flip-flops, but we'll take the snow now and enjoy it while it lasts.) The kids wanted "giant snowballs" for lunch. (FYI: I normally don't dress my daughter in tank-tops in the middle of a snowstorm. She had a jacket on and took it off because it was interfering with her Princess costume.)

I swear it takes a good hour just to get the kids bundled up in their "Ralphie" suits so they can play outside. I spent at least 10 minutes just getting Abby's thumbs in the right spot of her blasted gloves, only to have her yank them off after we got outside. GRRRR!

Garrett was on a serious mission and could not bring himself to look at me or the camera..

Finally, I tried the old, "Garrett, whatever you do, don't look at the camera and don't smile" trick. TA-DA! Works every time.

We went for a pitiful ride on this old sled I found in the shed. I'm pretty sure we got this thing for Christmas when I was a youngster, so you can imagine how awesome it was. Garrett was looking everywhere for a 4-wheeler to pull the sled because I just wasn't cutting it. Finally, he got off and decided to show Abby how it's really done.

We had to cut that short when he tried to pull her up the stairs.

Then it was time for a snowball fight! Garrett laughed until he could hardly breathe and would probably still be outside chucking snowballs if I hadn't made him come in.

It was National Pancake Day and IHOP was giving away free pancakes, so we quickly changed out of our snow clothes and met Em and the gals for a short stack. Miss Cache Valley was helping raise money for Primary Children's Medical Center and the girls were thrilled to get their picture taken with a real princess.