Joe's 3rd Birthday party

We got back from Utah and I was planning on doing Joe's birthday party the weekend we got back, but the weather was supposed to be pretty bad so I postponed it to the next weekend. Joe had a really bad cough when we got back anyways so it was probably better to put it off a little bit, but my invitations were already made so they looked great when they actually went out with all the info changed :) We were having it a park and last minute I changed the park, so I had to send out an email! Will I ever be prepared or on top of life again?! Here is Joe stuffing his own pinata! He was hilarious saying, "Mommy, can I have 1 for my mouth and 1 for my truck?" Lynden loved watching him!
Here are Joe's friends enjoying pizza
Ang giving me advice on getting my babies to sleep, she has pretty much perfect babies the second they are out of the womb
O weird, Joe is not with his friends, we had to ask Uncle Ben to go hang out with him and keep him company!
Hitting the pinata with a soft bat, it took a few rounds to break, luckily we had no tears because everyone got lots of turns
Waiting very patiently for the candy to come out
My parents, JK, and Ben came into town for the weekend. It was so nice of them and we loved having them here.
Uncle Ben and Lynden were good buddies
Here is my attempt at being a crafty mom. I made 2 9 x 13 cakes and broke and stacked and frosted and cursed and almost cried and ran to Wal Mart about 4 times after my initial trip hours before the baking started! My mom and I were up laughing so hard until after 1:00 am while frosting was dripping we were trying to catch and oh my goodness it was frustrating! I got a second wind at 9:00 am and tried to fix the cake...It didn't turn out like the picture in my head, but my mom and I decided that I could post a picture of it because at 1 am it was not blogworthy :)
No candles would light because of the wind so we pretended
Grandma read to Joe, played trains, planes, cars, balloons, and pretty much anything Joe wanted to play. We love her so much!
Lynden was pretty pooped after the party. It's exhausting being so dang cute!
Joe was ecstatic to open presents, pretty much the only part of the party he really participated in
Nap time for Uncle JK and Joe
Me and Ben just watching football and waiting for my dinner to be done
Joe's buddies: Kyle, Joe, Parker, Taylor, Kena, Kiera, Jackson
Mom and Dad with our 3 year old, I know I say this every birthday and will probably continue to say it, I can't believe we have a 3 year old!
Me and JK, I almost look tall in this picture. I must have been on my tippy toes
My cute friend, Jamie, that I absolutely adore. We never hang out because she hangs out with her mom and I lounge around all day, but when we do hang out I always get a good laugh. She's sweet and genuine and I'm feisty, but have really good intentions so it works out well.
Wish Scottsdale wasn't so far from Goodyear so I could live the good life by Jess and it would be a party all the time!
My friend, Ang, from San Francisco that we have tons of fun hanging out with...if we only didn't live a few mountains and freeways away! Let's go swim once it gets warmer, and maybe when I feel comfortable putting on a cover up!
The guys enjoyed a round of golf at the JW
While Ben entertained the kids while Jess and I shopped. I owe you for your help Ben! Lynden loves Uncle Ben's kisses, she gets them frequently
Can't wait until you come back! We love listening to your cd and Joe frequently asks to listen to Uncle JK and Uncle Ben's song while he dances in the back. Steve likes it too, so it was a win win for all of us, right? Love you guys and love that you made the trip out here and ate me out of house and home!

Our Texas Cousins

Jamie, Luke and Porter came for a short visit and made us desperately want to live by family one day hopefully not too far away. Joe, Luke and Porter are all super close in age. Luke is 5 months older than Joe and Joe is 10 months older than Porter. We loved having them over!
Pillow fights and bed jumping before bedtime, mainly Porter was jumping and I was almost having a heart attack thinking he was going to crack open his head, but he is fearless!
Boy cousins in town makes for 1 very happy boy!

Trip to Utah

A couple months ago, we found an AMAZING deal on flights to Utah and Steve suggested we go to Park City for a couple days with his parents. I was all for the trip because it meant I got to see my wonderful family that lives there and some friends I haven't seen in awhile. When we got there, Julie came and got us. We got to their house where I had Abby try on her Preference dress for us. Loved it! Look how beautiful my nieces are!
Jimmy was such a good sport and let Joe throw snow at him for awhile...You can tell which one lives in Utah :) Julie made homemade pizzas, breadsticks, and my favorite cookies...I aspire to be like her one day! We spent the night there and enjoyed DELICIOUS Kneaders the next day for lunch. Julie then took us up to Salt Lake to meet up with Steve's parents.
Shelly came to visit and meet Lynden and see how big Joe had gotten.
I love this girl! She is one of my bestest friends ever! We were roommates um...6 years ago and still keep in close contact. She is like a big sister to me and always has looked out for me. Can't say enough about how wonderful she has been. Thanks Joe for taking the picture!
Here's Bev, Steve and Brad ready to hit the slopes for the day. Joe was a little annoyed that his dad was stealing grandma for the day.
Random story, I got to hang out with my father in law for the day. I couldn't have asked for a better companion to help with the kids. I absolutely adore big Steve. I can talk to him about anything and usually I end up talking to him about everything by the end of our time together. He probably thinks that it's weird that I love him so much, but I just do! Anyways, he said I could go shopping and he would watch the kids in the car at the outlets, but I just wasn't in the shopping mood. We were driving past beautiful homes in Park City when I mentioned my cousin lived in Park City and I always wondered where (I've only been to Park City 2 times, I don't know why we didn't go when we lived there.) My sister went above and beyond to find Shawna's address, thanks Chels, and found where we were and then gave us directions. It took about a good 20 minutes out of Chelsea's studying time and we found her house. I ran up to her door and luckily she was home! She is so cute and her home is gorgeous! She let me take a tour which was super nice since I didn't even warn her I was coming. It was way better than shopping!
We were going to take Joe tubing, but missed the off ramp so we took him outside at the hotel to play in it. He was just as thrilled. Once again thanks Julie for the pants, gloves, and beanie.
He turns into quite the little attacker once he hits the snow. Here he is pummeling his dad with snow balls.
My cute boys playing in the snow
Joe was told he could have an apple juice for one more picture...Like Steve's shiny things on his jacket?! I don't know why I have no pictures with Brady, Lacee, Meka, or Beckham but we had a fabulous time eating out with them at Noodles and Company and Cafe Rio, and playing Sequence which Steve and I won every time :)
On Sunday we went and saw the Draper Temple. It was so beautiful! Little did I know my son was on his way to having a HUGE sugar rush from eating a ton of donuts on the way up to the temple. I just figured, powdered donuts he's had them before no big deal! Well on the way to Cabela's I learned what a big deal it would turn into. He had the biggest come apart I think he has ever had. I was almost right there with him when we were getting out of the car!
And windy, but still beautiful! Thanks dad for the St Andrews scarf, I finally got to put it to good use!
We took Joe to Cabela's where he got to feed fish...
look at fish...
some more fish...
and tons of big animals! We also had fun shooting and trying fudge. Thanks grandma and papa for coming to see us in Salt Lake!
Joe randomly wanted to have a dance party in the basement for Abby and Cassidy and once he found the light saber he threw that into the mix! It was hilarious! He didn't stop dancing for probably 20 minutes and I'm wondering where he got most of his moves!
Steve got to go skiing again with Julie and Jimmy and we hung out with Cass. We took a walk to Hogi Yogi and got some lunch. Cass was a good sport to hang out with us, especially since there were some little cuties that walked in that she knew! We tried not to embarrass her!
Cass is the best babysitter/helper/napper/buddy that Joe was so sad to have to leave. Thanks for taking Joe for the weekend!
Our last night there, Chandi, Preston, Madalyn and Cassidy came to visit. I love these little cuties!
I miss the teaching days with Chandi (kind of, I'd rather be at home with my cuties), but sometimes I miss teaching. Chandi is in the last home stretch of her pregnancy and is having a boy! Yippee!
Whit and Kevin came to visit also! Can you tell Joe is thrilled to be in a picture?! I love them, they are such a cute funny couple!
Here Aunt Julie loving on Lynden! Lynden is a pretty good baby, but she does really like me right now so going to someone else doesn't last for too long and they usually have to work to entertain her a lot harder than I do.
My sister in law is amazing. She is a role model of mine. Not only does she juggle having 4 kids and their activities, teaching a little girl, taking care of a monstrous house, cooking fabulously, loving my brother, having a life, she also took us in for this trip. She found the time to drive us around, cook us delicious meals complete with yummy desserts, take care of our needs that we forgot or didn't have room for, and let me talk her ear off about everything under the sun. If I ever moved back to Utah, she would be the #1 reason on my list of why I'd go. Love you!
O yeah, she also celebrated my 3 year old's birthday better than I did! Started off the morning with donuts and presents! He was a little shocked by the direct attention and was trying to ignore us singing to him, plus he was woken up early for us to get on the plane. Jim and Cass had to help him blow out the candles.
Here is the birthday boy complete with his yummy breakfast and red plate! I was soooo sad to leave!
Here is our exhausted boy at the baggage claim area. He fell asleep on the plane. Steve carried him and a carry on to the baggage claim while I carried Lynden's car seat and his carseat and my diaper bag. We were a sight to see. He stayed asleep in the baggage area, on the curb waiting for Steve to come get us and for 2 1/2 hours at home. He parties hard and then sleeps it off! Whereas our little girl had a HUGE HUGE blowout the second we sat down on the flight. It was a major project to change her in the row! Luckily we could laugh about it and luckily I had my husband with me to help! She was ok on the flights, but was a little fussy for about the first 20 minutes. She'd cry off and on and I was a little stressed, but she always feel asleep quick. All in all, it was an awesome trip! I love seeing our families and I love when Joe gets to be around his cousins and have play time!

Joe started preschool

I started my baby in preschool last week! There is this cute lady in my ward, Miss Wendy, and she does it right out of her home twice a week. I usually don't do very much here in Phoenix so I knew I'd be able to commit to 2 mornings a week, until I realized how early it was! We have a hard time getting up and going by 9:00 so Wendy gets to see me in all my morning glory :) The first morning when I left him, he was holding my hand SOOO tight saying quietly with little red eyes (but no tears), mom, you are NOT leaving me, you are NOT leaving me here...This little boy named Eric walked up and was trying to take his hand, which freaked Joe out even more, and said really nicely, yes, your mother is going to leave you for preschool :) The first time was a little traumatic for both of us, more for me, but Thursday was fabulous and he is really excited for tomorrow.
I asked him to show me the backpack. This was a challenge for me, Steve and Joe to pick out. I don't really like characters so I was the mean mom saying no to Elmo, Diego and Batman. Batman was almost ok with me, but I wanted a Jansport one to which Steve said, Jen, get real it is bigger than he is. There is no way Miss Wendy is asking for that many supplies. So we found a good middle, a Transformers backpack. I like the colors and it isn't too overwhelming and it holds everything.
Here is his cute little desk with his picture on it to help him remind him where he sits. It reminded me of the good old days teaching with Chandi :) and the cute kids we had in our class
Here is right before the 2nd day, much more happy, much more excited and looking pretty handsome already to go see Jessica (Miss Wendy's daughter.) Here are to 2 1/2 hours 2 times a week I get to exercise, shower, or just hang out with little miss Lynden and my son gets to have some friends besides me!