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!

Hermana Heywood

On Mother's Day Whitney got to call the family. We put the speaker phone on and all listened in. Whitney is doing great. She's happy, hilarious as always, and she speaks English with an ancent! She told a whole story in English then in Spanish. She's been out 9 months-thats 1/2 way done with her mission!

She says she doesn't really miss us all because she loves being in Chile. Although she is already planning her homecoming dinner-perhaps meatloaf but she doesn't know because her "brain might explode with all those flavors!" (that's a direct Whitney quote). Apparently where she is in Chile the people don't cook much with seasonings.

Even though she doesn't miss us too much, we all miss her and were really excited to get to talk with her. And to think only 9 months more to go!

The FAMILY!

A family picture taken in March 2008. After a long day of driving to Long Beach and back, eating at one of Marc's favorite restaurants "Bubba Gump" and enjoying a walk along the shore, the whole family met back up in Hesperia. We were all there except for Hermana Heywood who is in Chile. I'm excited to get to talk to her on Mother's Day. Whitney's been out in the mission field for 9 months! My blog is full of pictures of our kids-so heres one for me and Braden.