Yard Sales, Candids and Crusties

Ryan had been raving about how wonderful this 1 day a year yard sale event in Daybreak was supposed to be. "There will be thousands of people there!" he would dramatically say. "Every home up there will be having a yard sale on this ONE day!" So, naturally I was very excited to go to this magnificent, simply un-missable yard sale event! Christina and I packed up the 3 kids like sardines into the back of the Subaru and drove all the way up to Daybreak with dreams of magical treasures found for practically nothing dancing in our heads...

When we got up there however, the scene was rather different than what Ryan had been painting. We saw maybe four yard sales (after considerable searching mind you...) and there was nothing spectacular at all to purchase...needless to say we were bummed. All that work and effort for nothing. The 2 babies were fussy and hot and Jane was running rampant, breaking things right and left. It was a small fiasco, however we did come home with a few little treasures. This little (or BIG) beauty came home with us for only 7 dollars!!
Yes...a bouncy house, which Jane absolutely adores! So the day wasn't a total bust after all :)
I spent a full 3 hours blowing this thing up during the kids naps...I will be getting a pump from now on. I was light headed the rest of the day! What ya do for your kids, right?!
Jane loves her bouncy house, though! She jumped and played in it for a full hour without exiting once right after she got it!
She totally wants some friends to join her in it though- she has been asking and asking. So, if you want to come play with Jane in her bouncy house, please do- she would love it!
Jane got the camera from me while taking the pics of her bouncy house and insisted on taking some pics of me...she wasn't half bad!
Jane was such a crack-up. "Smile mama" she said, so adult like. "Say cheese."
Here's where I started to get slightly concerned about the safety of our camera...
When Jane was about 6 or 7 months old...like Beckham is now...she began to make her famous crusties that we thought were so hilarious! Well, now Beckham is making those same faces. Here he is caught in the act... My kids are far more similar to one another than I had thought- both starting early with the attitude :) Gotta love em though!!

Fun, Fun and more fun!!

We have been having so much fun together lately!! With school FINALLY winding down, Ryan has been home alot more lately and we are definately making the best of it!!

We have discovered that Jane is a little OCD about some things(she comes by it naturally, her mama is a terrible neat freak)...so we figured making a good mess and not getting immediately cleaned up would be good for her! Jane had her very first finger painting experience the other day. It came with mixed emotions...but overall I think we had a good time!Daddy was a big help! He had just about as much fun as Jane did :)

Jane eventually got really into it...

...and it got really into her (She ate more of it than she painted with:))

I'd say we achieved our mess! With Ryan getting overly creative- animal crackers and various types of cereal were added...the end result actually looked pretty unappetizing.

On the Saturday before Mother's Day, Jane and I got to go to a Princess Tea Party!! Jane was in absolute heaven! She got to take pictures in front of a princess castle, in her Aurora dress..

She was completely enthralled and delighted...

We got served some dainty little treats at a dainty little pink table. Jane dug right into the dainty little cupcake very first.

After the tea party, Ryan (who had been driving around with a sleeping Beckham for me :))came and picked us up and we ran some errands...who knew that could be so much fun! We had the greatest time a Michaels. Jane found a little jungle of plastic trees that she had quite a blast in. It wasn't quite so fun for mama and daddy to try to get her out of there...

She loved these little clip on tails...being a dragon was her favorite!

Then of course we just love spending time at home. Beckham is getting to be such a big boy and can sit and play in his bouncer all by himself.

The kids just love having daddy home. Here they are before bath time having a blast with good ol dad!

Nothing's better than family fun!!

Zooriffic

The latest adventure of the Dick family was a trip to the Hogle Zoo!! The last time we went to the zoo it was just Ryan, me and a 6 month old Jane!! This time around, we added three new people to our caravan! Of course, we loved having little Beckham with us this time...even though he pooped out of his pants-the biggest, stinkiest poop I had ever seen- and it got all over Christina's stroller (sorry again about that :{). And as you may have guessed, my favorite best friend and sister in the world was also with us with her sweet little Mae! What a wonderful day it was...

Here are Ryan and Jane, complete mesmerized by the monkeys!! They wouldn't even look at me for a picture...
Here's cute Christina and even cuter Mae, we loved having them with us!!!Just like the last time we visited the zoo, I think Jane related to the monkeys on a deeper level. Then I got to thinking, Jane does sleep under a big leaf canopy, she loves to climb on anything that is within reach...including mama and daddy, lately she wants to be naked all the time and she can scream like no one I have ever heard...she really could hang quite well with the monkeys. (Though, of course, she is much more intelligent and beautiful than a monkey...just in case she reads this later on in life...:)
An awful picture of me, but Beckham has a cute smile hidden behind his jacket. We're just chillin with the elephants.
The giraffes were my favorite! They are such amazing "aminimals" (as Jane would say)
A big turtle...he was just cute!
A bird came up really close to us in the bird exhibit. Jane, naturally, was overlly fascinated and we couldn't keep her away from him. She started a frenzy when she began to pet the bird. Suddenly, tons of little kids were petting this frightened little bird...we made sure he was rescued from the pack of wild kids and put safely back into a tree...
Mid-frenzy...poor bird...
As is quickly becoming tradition any time we go anywhere, Jane got to ride some sort of animal. She adored the grand carousel and was completely devastated when we had to take her off.
Another fun adventure and more wonderful memories made!!

I've been framed...

The spring time FUN has already begun at the Dick home!! We kicked it off with a trip to the Thanksgiving Point Farm a few weeks ago!! It was such a beautiful Spring day and it was so nice to get outside(Jane needed it desperately!). Jane is getting older and really appreciates these little adventures more and more and of course we had our new little guy, Beckham, with us- this all just made this trip so much more perfect than ever before!

Jane really gave us a good laugh as she pretended to be a prisoner behind bars in a cute little kid-sized jail they had there :) She's getting so big...and a good little actress, too!
Here's our cute little buddy, sitting like a "Big Boy" in the stroller!! He's getting sooo big, too! Six months old now!!
Of course, Jane got to feed the goats which she loved!! This time last year, Jane got her finger bit by one of the goats and for months after would randomly hold her little finger up and say "uh-oh gup!" (aka Uh-oh goat!) as she remembered the ordeal! It is crazy how much they grow in just one year!! I'm happy to report that there were no casualties this time...
Little, Beckham, was such a trooper and was so happy the whole time...I love this kid!
Here is Jane, proudly holding her ticket for a ride on a REAL horse. At first, she was terribly upset because the horses smelled bad. "Too, stinky...I don't like it" she would cry (and yes...she did actually cry...). But once she got on the horse she was happy as a clam...and forgot all about the smell of horse poop!
How Jane adored riding those horses...in fact she helped herself to 3 rides!

Here are just a few fun pics of Jane boarding a helicopter ride at the Provo Town Mall one Saturday when we were there for lunch with my family!!
I know it doesn't look like it...but she had a BLAST!!
So summer, here we come- a clan of Dick's, with plans of many adventures to be had :)

Viva Las Vegas!!!

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to go to Vegas to meet up with all of my brothers, my sister, their families and my mom and dad! It was such a blast, though chaotic at times with 7 little grand kids running around- and one more on the way:) We all stayed in the same house, excluding Bryan and Wendy who were only able to come on Saturday- but they were soooo sweet to drive six hours to spend the day with us. It was so fun to have the whole family together!!

Here is a bunch of us gathered on the living room couch...
Here are the newest two grand kids, Beckham and Edward- besties already :)We spend quite literally 75% of our time in Vegas in the pool and hot tub... Here's good ol' dad testing out the freezing water...
Jane and cousin, Charlotte, hanging out in the hot tub because the pool was still too cold!!
Jane had a blast with the water guns. We all loved spraying Uncle Jared and having the best water fight ever with him!!
Here's darling little Jane in her swimming get-up!
Charlotte turned three on Friday and we all got to celebrate it together! Here's all the kids (except for Beckham and Mae who were sleeping...) sporting their birthday hats!!
Of course there was birthday cake...
One night, after the kids were all in bed, Ryan, Terry, Christina and I spent a night in the strip! First we went to the Stratosphere and rode on the "Big Shot" ride at the very top. We may not look it here, but we were sooo scared!! Christina even started to cry- haha- we all had a good laugh about it :)
Funny story: After you go on the ride, it is fun to go look at the pics that were taken just as the ride shoots you into the air. Naturally, everyone looks ridiculous and that was the case with us. The lady trying to sell the pics enthusiastically said to us, "Come on you gotta buy one, these pics are classic, just look at this lady!" and she pointed to the pic of ME out of about ten other pics with numerous people in them. We all cracked up as we told her that was me...It really was not a flattering picture of me...hahah
Then we played a few slots at the Stratosphere because they gave us a free fifteen dollar card to play. Ryan won $310.00 on his second time...that kid is sooooo lucky! Not to bad for using free money!

After that we went to the Bellagio, my favorite, to see the Botanical gardens and the amazing ceiling of blown glass flowers!!
Here's Ry in the gardens, they are so cute!!
This was such a fabulous trip and it was amazing to be with my whole family- which doesn't happen enough these days!! families are the BEST!

Hunting for Teasure around Crestline!!

I have managed a mobile home park now for nearly 4 years...I know...it scares me too! And having been here for sooooo long makes it very hard for me to still appreciate Crestline Estates. What with the constant complaints, the begging to get rent in, the accusations of this and that... However, the other day I went on a nature walk with my sweet kids around good ol' Crestline and I was taught a very valuable lesson.

My darling little Jane was so magically enthralled with the random little items (aka treasures...as she called them) that we discovered and gathered as we walked. I mean she acted as if this was the most heavenly place on earth, and she got the most joy and happiness out of this little walk and the little treasures she discovered.

It made me realize what I had been given from this crazy ol' park. I walked past sweet friends and neighbors who I have grown to love and appreciate, who all call me by name and who act so excited to see my new little guy and who all comment on how big Jane is getting. I have a comfortable home where my two kids have been born and grown safely and comfortably, and a secure job where I am able to work for the most fabulous bosses ever!! These little "treasures" are things that I should never let myself overlook as I begin to focus on the negative as everyone tends to do now and then.

All in all, I am amazingly blessed to be here in good ol' Crestline Estates and I will cry many tears when we have to leave...although, I will NEVER understand how every month when rent is due, I manage to get one or two checks that are covered in mystery goop that I can't understand and never want to investigate further...haha! Here are some pics from our walk!!

Jane, Beckham and mama embarking on our journey around the park...
Discovering something exciting!!
This is just a good shot of the park and Jane was not cooperating with pictures...as usual!!
Proudly showing our spoils...