Dolls and Superheroes

As Olivia's older brother Levi feels it is his job to teach her how to be a superhero. His first rule is that a cape is always necessary. He has a speical radar built in his chemical make up that helps him find supplies wherever he is. Towels held together with rubber bands or clips are his favorite make shift cape. The second rule is sound effects. Swoosh, Caaa,-every move, sword, and gun has sound. And the sounds can't be "bang" or "bam", he only does "realistic" sounds.

Olivia follows Levi in all his superhero endeavors but she adds a "women's touch"- her baby is usually snuggled in her arm. In her chemical make up is the ability to take any object and pretend it's a baby. The other day I found her wrapping a dirty, 2 foot work brush in a pillowcase and singing "Baby Mine" to it. She then gently put it "to bed" on a 5 gallon paint bucket.

"She's going to the TEMPLE and she's gonna get MARRIED"

On June 14, 2008 one of my dearest friends, Jasmyn Bradley, was married in the Redlands Temple to Marc Nehring.



Me, Jasmyn, and Amber (Jasmyn's sister and my friend). We didn't plan to match.
Braden and I are coming up on our 5th wedding anniversary!
Jasmyn and Marc's reception was beautiful. The Cultural Hall was transformed into a garden, complete with bird bathes, fountains, trees, flowers, garden benches and twinkle lights strung across the ceiling.

Green Smoothie

Grandma came down stairs a few weeks ago and made her signature breakfast-Green Smoothie. Its made of peaches, bananas, spinach, and romaine lettuce. I won't lie, it takes getting used to. Levi and Olivia have been drinking it their whole lives and love it. When Levi saw Grandma pouring her drink into her trusty mason jar he went to the pantry and got himself a straw. They enjoyed a Grandma-Grandson breakfast date together.

Working on the House

The first few weeks after we were given the key we worked on the house. New paint, new fans, new toilets and lots of cleaning. We're still fixing things up...Hal tells us that you're never really done fixing everything up. It's just like women's work, it's never done.
Dallin and Braden smile after successfully installing a new ceiling fan. A good ceiling fan is essential in the Mojave Desert summer heat. During the day that fan is on at the highest speed. We won't be seeing much of Dallin this summer since he took a job in Pennsylvania for 3 months. Notice the great paint job behind the guys. Gaila balanced on a ladder and got the edging just right. She did an awesome job.
Levi is a really good helper. In fact, if he sees someone working he wants to works with them. He was especially interested in painting. The first night we were working on the house we were walking out to the car and we noticed Levi wasn't walking with us. My Mom found him setting down a paint brush on the front patio. We didn't think much of it until the next day when the light of the sun showed his handy work- he primed under the family room window. After that we decided to keep the kids out of the house while we were painting.

We're Home

It's now official. Braden and I are living in our new home! We moved in on Saturday. We have lots of cleaning and painting to do, and a ton of unpacking! Levi and Olivia are adjusting well to their new room. Levi's favorite part about living in the new home is that our neighbors have a really cute puppy. So far Olivia's favorite part is the orange juice in our new frigde (she's had a fever the last few days and the only thing she'd eat/drink was orange juice).

It's a great feeling scrubing my own kitchen. I hope the feeling won't go away. For now I'll just enjoy it while it's here!