Bye Bye Burches :(

Not really... The Burches are our good friends here in Lubbock. Must be a combination of their Louisiana accent, they're southern hospitality, fun sense of humor, and delicious BBQ that make them so darned endearing to us (and so many others)!! How bummed are we that they are in now LA for a month, then will live across town (Lubbock's across town is like 15 mins away - ha, not a big deal), but come August they may be gone for good back to LA. SAD!!!! I found it appropriate to blog about the last big bash we had at their house, in March while my family was here visiting. :) Enjoy it! We sure did :)

Right: Luke Burch tips in to say hi... :) (We're drinking root beer, guys!)

Crystal Burch - sweet face - love that girl!!!

Brandon Baker takes the stage for Wii's American Idol

The funniest clip - Jeff is a hoot on the microphone!!!


Here's Jeff Nicholas with his beauties :)
Karris (cool girl, love her!!) Baby Hanna is Drew's little bud


Above: Amy & Brandon Baker with Leslie on the mic :) Fun friends!

Peter had fun chillin' (on right)

So did Mom and Ash!

We all had a blast!

As a parting gift, the Burches did let us buy their awesome swing set... Sydney loves this so much!! She always hated leaving their house, partly because of this awesome outside attraction!! Dad has loved spending time with Syd lately, turned our backyard into a little water theme park... Go Daddy!!

I've decided Pace puts her suit on backwards on purpose :)
He likes to hear me smile, "Honey... really??"

Crystal & Luke, thank you again!! Come home soon, though!!
We miss you already... :(

One Month Later...

I'm playing catch up again with 4 special events to blog about:

1. Sydney's 3rd Birthday Party!

8 little friends

+ One Butterfly Pinata

Makes one sweet little mess

Notice the fake eyeballs in the loot... Sydney picked those out, wouldn't leave the store without them. She just laughed as she'd hold them up to my closed eyelids and say, "Eyes!" Sweet, a little morbid but fun to remember :)

What started out timid...

Soon made the crowd go wild as the bigger boys busted it open
(I can't believe I deleted the video of it actually breaking!! You get the picture though)


Happy, Happy Birthday Sydney Dear!

2. Drew cut his first two teeth!
I tried taking a picture of them, but this is all I got

He's now 6 months old, weighs over 25 lbs (was 22 at his 4 month appt), wears size 12-18 month clothing; 87 percentile for height and 97 percentile for weight, he's huge! And adorable! We just love him!

The T-shirt should say Linebacker wanted... :)

Sydney has a blast making him laugh lately...



He's not a thumb sucker but he'd be a cute one if he were!

3. Pace finished his 1st year in law school!
What a triumph! And his grades aren't too shabby! :) Good job, Honey!! Who says you can't do it with a family?? :) jk Pace, we know it takes a LOT of hard work and effort! We love you!!

4. Trip to AZ

What a fun, but tiresome trip! :) As soon as Pace was done on Friday the 9th we took off for Mesa. No sooner than we left Lubbock Syd got car sick (I learned the hard way, no books for her in the car!) She was fine once we got to AZ (13 hours later) so we played and played!!

First in Michele and Dave's pool...

Isn't he the sweetest little kid?? I love that face! Christian :)
Grandma Mona chillin' poolside

Syd spots a teasing Uncle Anthon...

Ahh! Run Syd!

Whew! That was close :)

Ha! Love you Uncle Anthon!
She's not been happy in the water lately :(

But baby Roman seems to be getting there already :)
Good work Nash!

Thank goodness for water toys - she loved cruising in this with Taylor
(another cutie of Dave and Michele's!!)

Drew and Roman got more acquainted indoors...


Then we played with the Rawlins!




Ahh this is the life, little cousin Brynn floats along





Dad worked all week doing pest control so this was a welcomed, cool break


Yeah, we had a great time :) Sun, family, and fun, but it's great to be home again!

3 Years Old!

Sydney's Happy Birthday: Take 1
I thought the terrible two's ended once they turned 3... :)

Take 2
Pretty close - she's getting it! Her normal response is "Me!"

Take 3
Finally she's got it! Kinda... :)

Saturday we'll celebrate her birthday with friends, food, cake and ice cream, not to mention presents, balloons, streamers... :) Should be fun! Today we had a nice calm evening as a family. Sydney is changing so fast, growing up to be so big. Sad that the baby phase goes away so quickly! But how fun when they start learning their ABC's, numbers, colors, and how to listen to Mommy and Daddy (oh how fun is that, Moms and Dads)! Tantrums still come and yet they go away... I am trying to calmly remind her, "Just be happy, it's okay. Be happy!" Sometimes that works for one of us, occasionally for both, and yet still there are times when neither of us buys into it. :) But we enjoy you, sweet Sydney Anne!! You're a beautiful girl full of energy and spirit. What a fabulous life we have with you in it!

Easter
We had our own little Easter Egg Hunt hosted by Daddy-Pace. Sydney located all the eggs (with help) and promptly shoved a few handfuls of chocolate eggs in her mouth. And here's the situation that followed. Not an entirely accurate depiction of her level of relentlessness (she can be, and typically is, far worse). But you get the idea... :) Seriously, we enjoyed our relaxing Easter Sunday at home all together, a lot :) Happy belated Easter everyone!

("Panda" is Kung Fu Panda in case you were wondering)

Lastly, love the Amish! And my sister for sharing their friendship bread with me! If you want a "starter bag" be one of the first 2 people to post a comment here (will travel)! The bread is delicious and fun/easy to make. :) Love that cinnamon and sugar crust! Yumm! Thanks Nash!

Pace's 28th birthday!

He turns 28 tomorrow, but due to a law review meeting at school tomorrow night we celebrated after Conference today :) Incidentally, weren't these sessions wonderful!! Great answers came for me - I loved it, as much as I got to focus on it... We do have children :)

Anyway, I wanted to throw a BBQ, invite friends from both his school and our ward. We really enjoyed the group. Super wonderful friends here in Lubbock - what a blessing!!!!

Here, I filmed a little to give you a feeling of being there with us - wish you all could've been!! Welcome to the party!

Had to sing to him - sweet birthday tradition :)

Best husband, father and friend anyone (at least I) could hope for :)
Love you, Honey! Happy Birthday, Pace!

I see Drew

...with a bow :) Can you see him in her eyes?? I guess Pace and I have "a mold", kind of cool and fun! This is Syd at 3 months - fat girl! I ran across it as I was replacing her 12 month old picture (framed in our living room) with the family one we just had taken (which is out of date already as I cut my hair off the day after we had it taken, funny). Anyway I love feeling like our kids may be similar in appearance!

St. Patricks Day - I got lucky!

My good friend Kimmie sent me a sweet gift! (I'll post the game soon, Kimmie! I promise. I'm so behind...) How creative!! I love it!

And I spotted a girl at the nail salon with the best haircut!
I had to copy her...

I risked embarrassing myself by asking her to take her photo - she was cool, even told we where to go to get it cut!

What a change! No more Drew pulling it out... Pace is a fan and that's what counts the most. He came to the salon with me that afternoon to get the new do. It's been 10 years since I've had it short... Hooray for change!

My sister Ashleigh had a crazy hair that day too and got her's cut! She looks great!! I'll post separately about my family's visit to Lubbock.
It was a wonderful week to say the least! Details coming soon...

Just For Laughs

For some reason I find this photo hilarious :)

(so does Sydney)

Thanks for being such a good sport, Syd!

PS - My husband brought me flowers today... :)
Happy spring, everyone!

Spring Break - here they come!

My beautiful family is coming here for spring break, arriving this Saturday - I CANNOT wait! I get to meet my sister's baby Roman for the first time... He's just 2 months younger than Drew. How fun is that going to be throughout our lives? :) AND my sweet husband is able to be with us for at least half the days throughout the week. He has a paper due the week after the break, but vows it won't be like a regular school week. Yippee! What more could I ask for?

I had to declare a major today....

At the last minute I decided to switch it from International Business to Finance. Makes more sense (ha, no pun intended). Finance is right up my alley, my passion pretty much. I'm excited to begin upper division core classes in the fall!

Which leads me to the new project on my plate, we started preparing for our semester abroad in Sevilla! (Incidentally, Tyler moved back to Utah... No more babysitting. Bummer)

Lots of time, energy, faith and patience, plus effort will go into this... 1. We have to rent a piso (apartment) over there for our family of four 2. Find people we trust to sublet our home (fully furnished, we have no intentions packing everything up for 6 months) 3. Get Pace's program and coursework approved (a project in itself) 4. Gain ample financing... we'll see how that goes. :) Anyway, we are totally stoked and believe this is what we're okay to do, that it will be awesome, a wonderful experience/adventure! Well worth the hard part that will inevitably come along with it :)

Other news...? I just can't wait for my Mom, Ash, Peter, and Roman to get here!!! Bummed Anthon (Ash's husband) can't come. Oh, and It's Ashleigh's birthday tomorrow (the 13th) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ash!!! Love you!! See you in two days!!

Woo-Hoo!

Yep, 100% on my Finite Math test! I totally love Business Math!! Completely useful, interesting and for the first time ever I get it! Hallelujah! I do belong here :)

Pace goes, "Don't get cocky..."
Yeah we know what happens when I get cocky...

Everything was going great then bamm!

I totally screwed up, forgot the guard wasn't on when I went to blend... Ooooh, sorry honey!! Hopefully it'll grow back fast, and I can redeem myself in about a week. (Can you believe he's gonna let me cut it again, ever?) At least you look really good in a hat... :)