My Favorite Prophet!!

Well, ever since I was 15, Hinckley has been the prophet. What a powerful man he was. I really was too little to pay attention to the previous prophets even though Benson and Hunter were great presidents too. Hinckley has been the one I have listened to and enjoyed for so many years. How lucky we were to have such a spunky, well learned, and spiritual giant for a leader. I will miss his cute humor. I remember going to General Conference in April of 2006 and when he walked out to take his seat, he stopped and raised his cane to wave to everyone. It was the cutest thing. He was so happy to be there and sitting so close to the podium, I could feel such a sweet spirit from him. We all know how much he has impacted our lives and how much he will be missed. How great his reunion was with his loving wife. I wish I could have been there to witness that. But, I received and email with this video and it was an awesome tribute to his life. It was made to celebrate his 96th birthday and will bring tears to your eyes. It is well worth watching and I hope you take the time to watch and share it with others!

A Day at the Park

Well, we went t the park and the only picture I got was this one of our cute Elli! I'm sure she wouldn't mind her bum crack showing for everyone to see. Too cute not to post!

Happy Birthday to Our Elli!!

Today is Elli's birthday!! She is 3! Everyday for about a week she has been asking every hour, "is it my birthday yet?" Nonstop asking. She has been taking the pink frosting out of the pantry wondering when it is time to make her cake! But we love her and am so excited for her BIG DAY!! We had a little get together with my family last night and had cake and ice cream for Elli, Crew and my Mom. There are so many birthdays in the month of January. But last Friday, Mark got 2 tickets to the Suns game and took Braeden with him, so Elli and I decided to get manicures. I took her for her birthday and she totally got the hang of it. She figured out that she gets her nails done and they look "beautiful!" She got flowers and just thought she was in heaven. She walks around the house saying she got her nails done! OOOhhhh she's cute! It was quite fun taking her to get her nails done!! Anyway, didn't get any pictures from last night but she is having another little birthday party with Mark's family and my camera battery has been charged for the party this time!

2 New additions

Well, my brother Ryan and his wife Melissa had a baby boy on January 11. And my brother in law and his wife had a baby boy on January 9th. Making 7 birthdays in January for both of our families. CRAZY!! January and June are crazy birthday months for Mark and I! But we love it and I am way jealous that their little babies are already here! I am so baby hungry and ready to have another little boy! I cannot wait! But we are so excited for our new additions! Congrats guys!

Ryan and Melissa's little boy Tyke Hunter

Brig and Camille's baby Elijiah "Eli"

I Have Been Tagged!

So I have never been singled out before and tagged by someone, but I told Steph I would do it! So I did and it wasn't that bad! Here it is!!

Getting to Know Me A-Z

A- Attached or single: Attached to my handsome hubby Mark

B- Best Friends: Definitely have the coolest friends, Mark, Braeden & Elli

C- Cake or Pie: My homemade cake with yummy ice cream!

D- Day of choice: Definitely Friday because we usually get a sitter and GO OUT!!

E- Essential Item: The many glasses of water I drink and baby wipes (I have to keep a stack in my purse everywhere I go… with or without kids!)

F- Favorite Color: It use to be blue but now it is dark green

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms

H- Hometown: Mesa, AZ

I- Indulgence(s): Breyer’s Mint’n’Chip Ice Cream and snuggles with my kids!

J- January or July: July- I actually like summer because of swimming, but then again, I like January because I can drive with my sunroof open…it’s a tossup!

K- Kids: Braeden- 5 years, Elli- 3 years on Monday and another little boy in April!! Gotta love the kids!!

L- Life is Incomplete Without: Kisses from my husband and kids, GOOD FOOD, GOOD MUSIC, The gospel and family get togethers!

M- Marriage Date: October 20, 2001

N- Number of Siblings: 2 sisters, 2 brothers and I am right in the middle of them!

O- Oranges or Apples: I could eat oranges for every meal, but apples are definitely good with caramel

P- Phobias or Fears: Fear of not being the mom I want to be or the wife I should be!

Q- Quotes: “This too shall pass.” (It helps get me through annoying days and hard situations!)

R- Reasons To Smile: Andes Mints, random phone calls from Mark saying he loves me, and when all the laundry is clean, folded and put away!!!!!!

S- Season: My favorite time of the year is the Christmas Season (if that counts) I love the feeling Christmas brings.

T- Tag Three: Traci Fernandez (let’s see if she does it!), Amy Miles, and everyone else on the side of my blog! Come on guys…I did it!

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I am VERY stubborn. Believe it or not. Mark can attest to it too, but in my defense, he is stubborn too!!

V- Valentine’s Day or Easter: Valentine’s Day because even when I didn’t have a boyfriend, it was my birthday and I still got to celebrate!

W- Worst Habit: Biting my nails and reorganizing the cabinets (Mark complains he can never find anything because I move things around)

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds when finding out if it’s a BOY or GIRL!

Y- Your Favorite Food: Anything Mexican- Abuelos Mexican in the Chandler Mall area!! Excellent food!! Oh, and Taco Bell! Don’t ask me why, it’s just my favorite Fast Food!

Z- Zodiac: Aquarius

My Sweet Little Braeden!!

I just have to write this down for memories, but our Braeden is one amazing little boy. He surprises us how smart he is everyday. Everytime I talk to his Kindergarten teacher, she tells me how smart and what a fast learner he is.

At the beginning of school, Braeden learned the alphabet in sign language, not from his teacher, but from a chart his teacher has hanging on the wall. Now he is always asking me different signs for words. Braeden is very observant with everything. He notices details of things I don't even notice. We have to watch what we say around him because whether we think he isn't listening or not, he is. Pretty soon we won't be able to spell words around him.

She told me the other day that she had each student go to her desk to practice reading. She said Braeden was so bored with it. He told her that it was easy and read all the words. We have a book at our house that when he read it the first time, he had a little trouble with some of the words, but the next time he read it, he knew all the words. He has a photographic memory and remembered how each word was pronounced. I was so proud of him. I know other kids are smart like him, but when it's your own kid, you are so proud and obviously I don't know where he got his brains from. Not from me, Mark says he was smart as a little boy...BUT...no, I'm just kidding, he probably got it from Mark.







Anyway, asisde from being such a smart little guy, he is a sweet brother. He is so kind to Elli and takes such good care of her. I'm glad Elli will have a big brother to protect her in school. I loved having an older brother. Braeden still gives me kisses...although when I drop him off at school, he tries to kiss the closest part of my body to him. He'll kiss my arm, or if I am standing up, he'll kiss my belly. But I tell him he's not aloud to do that and he'll always kiss my lips after that. Braeden and Elli love "Curious George." And "the man in yellow hat" always tells George to be a good little monkey. So every morning I tell Braeden to "Be a good little monkey" and it always makes him laugh.







Braeden has a cute sense of humor. He says things that makes all of us laugh. My favorite is when Elli and him are alone and I hear them laughing together. It just melts my heart. I love how Braeden is a great artist. He is always drawing things and they always turn out looking like what he says it is. He's crafty and wants to make projects with random things around the house. He's very creative and is just like his Grandpa Harper. From very little, he loved being with Grandpa and tried to fix things and figure out how they work. Loves working with tools and will try to fix things around the house.







I also love hearing him sing. Braeden has been singing since he could talk. But when he just turned 3, we had just moved into our house and Mark had completely set up his recording studio. Mark had recorded a few songs of his own and we realized one day that Braeden had memorized his daddy's songs. So we decided to play songs in his room while he fell asleep and he learned those songs and we wanted to see if he would record them. So we are lucky enough to have some really cute songs of Braeden singing when he was 3. We gave CDs to my parents and Mark's parents for Christmas and then we made one when he was 4 for the next Christmas. We have a recording of Elli when she wasn't even 2 yet singing "You are My Sunshine" with Braeden. It is something I love having and worth every penny of getting the recording studio.






I love cuddling with Braeden. He still lets me kiss and hug him. He is a rock when he is sleeping. Ever since he was little, little, Mark and I will go in his room and cuddle with him while he's sleeping. It's my favorite part of the day. He is so adorable while he sleeps. When it's almost time for bed, he loves getting books read to him. Now that he is in school and gets to go to the library, he loves me to read those books to him.

I am so in love with Braeden and I tell him that everyday. He's my little buddy and even though it is nice having him in ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN, I miss him like crazy. Elli misses him too and she gets excited everytime we pick him up. We love you Braeden and am so thankful for all of your cuteness and sweetness!

Elli's Dance Recital

Well, this is a little late of a post, but before Christmas, Elli had a cute little recital. Olivia Slade is in her dance class. But their class was to perform very close to the beginning but when they got there, we found out they were 2nd to last.

Since we forgot our video camera... of all things... Mark decided to drive back home and get it. Well, it took him a bit longer to get it because good ole Queen Creek decides to close every road they can on the weekends and make traffic horrible. Well, he missed her little performance by 5 minutes. And to top it off, my snap camera's batteries died and I didn't even get to use the video camera on that. Luckily my parents came and they took pictures for me. And Emily Slade took video of it (both our husbands missed it.)

Braeden went with Mark so even he missed it. He was the most excited to see her perform. But it was so adorable to watch her dance on stage. She was so cute and she actually danced. While we were waiting for them to go on stage, Elli kept on asking when it was her turn. She couldn't wait. Anyway, can't wait for the big performance in May. So fun!!