Random Sample, but OH SO CUTE!

Cassi stayed with my little sister as I attended my cousin's wedding at the Salt Lake temple. She sure loves her Aunt Erin and I'm sure she had fun with her. Erin even let her get away with picking pedals off of leaves. Yup, she definitely has more fun with her aunt, mom doesn't let her do that!

Grandma got her at the luncheon. She really helped her share her food (getting some all over Grandma of course). But she really loved sucking on the pea pod.

This is my hope, that my daughters, or at least one of them, will play the piano. I love the sound of music in my home, and it would sure be fun to have someone else playing the piano. I take it back, Alan plays the top hand, and even if he thinks he's not very good, I sure enjoy it!

We sure had a blast playing with Scarlet when she came to visit. Her and Cassi kept track of each other, and believe me, they couldn't go anywhere without the other. They each had to have 2 shakers, one for each hand. Not necessarily because they wanted 2, but because if they had 2 they (Cassi) didn't have a free hand to steal them. Ah, the stuff you learn quickly to keep kids happy. :)

If there is any place Cassi loves to be, its on her dad's shoulders, holding on for dear life as he jumps around and chases cats around the yard. This past week we had a ward movie night at the bishop's house and the cat caught her eye so Alan picked her up, she grabbed his ears/hair, and they took off running while Cassi's mouth was wide open in what appeared to be excitement! (That or dumb-founded)

If you look really closely, you can see the binky floating in the right upper corner of the fish humidifier. Cassi learned how to take the cover off the fishy part and in went her binky. I believe it was at that point she became extra interested in her floating fish. She didn't try to get it out, mom had to rescue it. She has learned the had trap trick though with one of her other toys. She drops her binky in the top and when she sticks her had to grad it in a fist and bring it back up, it gets stuck and she gets confused and starts pouting. Cute thing!

DI buys are some of the greatest things ever! It was there that we happened upon Cassi's Wizzard of Oz shoes! She totally has the ruby slippers and she doesn't really try to take them off anymore, especially when we focus on them and call them pretty! She does really good now walking with or without shoes. Sometimes she scares us with her walking shuffle, especially if she is on the cement or close to stairs. She does great though, and for the first time, we had to go after her in church today. She would have made it to the front of the chapel if I wouldn't have stopped her. Everyone in our ward knows her, so I figured they'd just watch her for us, but wow can she distract everyone! And....at that point I think its about time to go get her.

The New Grads of the Family

Well graduation was May first, and I had two of my most favorite men there to celebrate it with. My dad took the day off just for me and Alan, Cassi, and I all piled in the car and made our way to Ogden. I was super lucky that Alan finished his last final so quickly so that he could come along for the day. I still think the people in the audience are just as bored as the people graduating at graduation, but oh well, the pictures and good times together are fun. Plus Alan and my amazing dad had fun being with Cassi. My dad loves being Grandpa!

New Update

When you leave a child alone in a room for a minute, I guess this is what you get. Cassi found the Peppermint Patty left out for Alan. No wonder she didn't make a peep, she was in chocolate heaven! Luckily it came out of the dress. Also notice, if you will, the alien hair style.

Just in case anyone wanted to know, if you want a peeping-tom your shower, we've got one! Cassi just can't leave the shower curtain alone when she hears water running and isn't the one getting in. I guess its better than her flushing the toilet over and over and over again. What is this fascination with toilets? We already can't have the toilet paper on the roll because she rips if off and eats it. Nasty!

Catch-Up, what mom never let us play :)

We will start back at Easter, since I never got these photos on. A local grocery store had Easter Bunny fun! There was a line all around the store for the bunny trail of treats. No way was I standing in that for 2 hours. So instead, I found my way away from the crowd straight to the Easter Bunny for pictures. All of the other kids were scared, but Cassi didn't mind. She got a hold of a chocolate egg and wow, am I amazed she can get through the candy wrappers she can. This is her joy of chocolate face! We had a fun Easter, exchanging goodies with our neighbors. They are so fun. We call them Uncle Taylor and Aunt Jessica because they love playing with Cassi, and she goes to Uncle Taylor any time. She's not so fond of Jessica when it comes to letting her hold her.

***************Playing Catch UP

Cassi does enjoy being in her stroller. Quite often she falls asleep in it, but at least she doesn't scream? :) Sometimes it is a fight to get in, but if I open the door and then put her in I think she gets the idea that we are going outside and then the fight isn't so rough.


Cassi is getting so big!!! She uses our legs, arms, etc, to use as a ladder to get herself up on the couch, especially if the lap-top is up there to pound on. She LOVES computer keyboards and cords.

Okay so maybe she isn't big enough for these, but it's super cute! She won't keep any socks on and no shoes I have will fit her, so I guess I'll have to start looking for some bigger sizes. She'll have to get used to shoes some day? :)

***************Airport Fun

Here is one post that my Dad will enjoy. Alan's Aviation program had a BBQ last Friday and he was able to get his hands on the keys to the hanger where he fixed airplanes during class time. We couldn't help but take some pictures. I thought you might enjoy some of these Dad. Alan especially thought you might like taking a look at the engines.

Every plane is different, and even though I don't get all the differences yet, Alan patiently tried to explain them to me. They really are all different and pretty cool! They actually started the one they'd been building that morning. Alan was bummed that he wasn't there to hear it start.

Alan absolutely LOVES what he is doing in school now. One plane at the other lab site was actually crash landed in the ocean, so someone pulled it out and donated it to the school. Next semester Alan gets to work on the regular airplanes (at least that is what I call them, he has a fancier, more specific name -Jets- I think) you know the ones like SouthWest, etc.

Some day he will fly the planes, but for now he is learning how to fix them. I'm so happy that he has found something that he loves to do! He gets really excited about it all. He's even learned some stuff along the way that teaches him how to fix things in our cars. Pretty cool if you ask me. I'm glad he likes it because I don't understand it. Love you Babe!

Hair Styles, You Choose

So we have family pictures coming up this weekend and have been debating which way to do Cassi's hair. Which do you think is best? I think we can all tell which one she likes better. MOHAWK here we come. Somebody better bring water and a comb to family pictures if they don't want their grand-daughter looking like this :).
Cassi doesn't care, all she wants is to be able to eat a comb. Silly girl, it is times like this that I wonder what my mom did to me when my hair was hard to control. Mom I don't know how you got the mohawks to curl, I just can't seem to do it.

Cute Cassi & Mom Time

Well Cassi and I were both styling pony tails today. Yes, that little spike on the top back of her head is her pony tail! It was just one and we had to wind and wind the elastic to make it stay. Alan had to hold her so she wouldn't wiggle so I could get it in. I came home from class today and told Alan that we are doing pony tails in her hair from here on out. It is so stinkin CUTE! Look at that smile! How could you not want to hug and squeeze this little button of joy?

Yesterday Cassi and I enjoyed the great sunshine outside on a blanket. I got my knees pretty fried, but that was all. I guess it was from sitting indian style. Cassi ventured off the blanket onto the grass for a while. Usually she hates the feel of grass. Once she got going there was no stopping her. When she was through crawling across it, she just sat and watched the cars pass out on the road. She was so content to just sit. :)

Can you get any cuter than that? I'm amazed I got her to keep her hat on long enough for a picture, she constantly tries to take it off. Yes, Mom, that is the Alaska cruise hat you bought her. Good thing it has the strap under the chin, that's the only way it stays on for more than one minute.

Last weekend we had a stake activity with chili, tug-of war, talents, and baby races. Cassi got a slow start in the baby races, since she face planted with a little push. She had never experienced grass at that point, so she wasn't happy all around. One mom taunted her kid with jam on bread to cross the finish line. It was funny! Cassi mostly hung out in her Jeep stroller. I love it, you can adjust the sun visor to always keep her face shaded no matter where the sun is. She still got some some though when we took her out to pass her around for people to play with.

Cassi's too smart

Cassi has learned to climb an entire flight of stairs, flush the toilet, and clap.

The Sweat of Church Ball

So this year was probably the biggest for Church Ball. Unknown to everyone our ward was scheduled to play an earlier game in tournament play. Luckily Alan went early that night to referee and found out, so we were both on the phone frantically calling the guys of the ward to show up. You wouldn't believe how many "really" and "are you sure" remarks I got from people. It was pretty funny actually. :)
Well they won that night, then returned the next night to play. They also won that one and had only 11 hours till the Tournament game the next morning. These are very high tech games. They even have High School Referees come to ref them. As usual they call fouls and the crowd complains. Sad really, but I even started complaining at the refs. Poor fellows.
Tournament game came and all of the wives were there to cheer and chat. Even our high council man and his wife showed up to watch. Oh fun times, fun times. I wish I could give you more of a play by play of the game, because it was intense. We were up by at least 15 for a really good portion of the first half, then the other team started catching up. In the last 3 minutes it was close and us wives could hardly take it anymore. We all were wondering if we should just go out in the hall, we couldn't take the suspense.
The last minute was crazy. They got close, then tied (wow I feel like I'm analyzing a March Madness game). Well they were ahead by 3 with one second left. The other team demanded that they get their 1 second. The girls at the scoreboard let the time run (we were wives, we didn't know how to run a b-ball score board/time). Finally the other team got their 1 second, nothing. Intense, intense. Oh the joys of ward ball!

Green Gallor

So once again I made St. Patty's day different by turning food in the house green. I couldn't really pull that off with the sweet & spicy chicken for dinner, but everything....yummmm. Alan doesn't get the greatest kick out of it, but wow I sure do! I turned the whole carton of milk green and the whole bottle of ranch, so we enjoyed our St. Patty's colors for a little while after the holiday. :) Poor Alan, how he puts up with me???? Love I guess! :)

His Mac and Cheese looked pretty nasty, I'll admit it, but it was really fun to see his face of disgust when he got a look at it. I don't think he will ever think of Mac & Cheese the same again. Cassi even joined in the fun (really no choice since I dress her) and had her green stripped one-zie on. If it wasn't for Aunt Rachel and her generosity with letting us borrow her baby clothes, Cassi wouldn't have been green this year! Thanks Rach!

Play Friends

Cassi has some play friends in our ward. One of them is Scarlet! Scarlet is eleven days younger than Cassi. She has two teeth now. One day she came over to play while her mom went to class. They actually played more with their toys than with eachother (meaning they didn't grab each other's faces like usual).

This is Roger. He is the son of one of our friends in the old ward up by campus. He was born in October, so eventhough Cassi is older, they still liked eachother. Well, I guess he had no choice, Cassi malled him and he just layed there because he couldn't get away.
She did hold his hand however, so that must mean there is a spark! :) He is just as big as her, so if they got together later on, no one would notice there was an age difference. He already wears 6 month clothes. Cute boy!

It was 60 here, why'd we go home to 2ft. of snow?

Here is our most lovely and quick Cali vacation! Oh it was so nice there on Lagoona beach. We still regret never putting our swimming suits on. At least I got some sun, starting my farmer's tan off early I guess.

This place was beautiful! It was so nice to get to see the ocean in a state of mind in which I could appreciate its beauty and creation (the first and only other time I've been at the beach was as a toddler on a cold and rainy day). Alan was such a sweetheart our whole trip! We held hands and walked up and down the beach, traversing rock and the sea shells Alan told me I couldn't take home. :(

We chased waves and wrote in the sand. The tide went out after we were there, so I think our writings stuck around a while. Alan took me back later that night so I could watch the sun disappear over the horizon. That is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Wow, what a trip!

Just to prove that Alan has been to Hollywood, he wanted a picture of the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hill. Traffic was fast and slow along the way and when he asked for a picture we were on the freeway with trees and overpasses blocking our view. If your squint you can see the WOOD part of the sign right next to the overpass. If we were to do it all over again we would have swam in the freezing ocean water rather than putt along in LA traffic for 3+ hours. YUCK!

Last and certainly not least for this posting anyways.......

POOP ROCK as Alan calls it. This is a little island-type rock close to the beach. I thought, and still like to think, that this rock is covered in salt. Alan, on the other hand, says it is bird poop. Tons of birds perch themselves here, so I guess he could be right. But that's just gross!

The Wonderful Block Around Disney

So we took a trip to Cali and went around Disney Land. We oohed and awed a little here and there. Since we didn't bring back any souvenirs we had to take pictures that proved we were around there :). No, Disney Land was not the focus of this trip, we had something much better in store for just Alan and I.

Cassi's Picts

Okay, so I can't possibly post ALL of Cassi's cute pictures, but this was a fun one! She is crawling out of her "underwater" tunnel towards me and the camera, only because she wanted the camera. She was only in the tunnel in the first place because I tried to get her to play in it. When she sits up in it, sadly, her head is touching the top. She's got her daddy's height that's for sure. Her little Sunday dresses almost are too short to call dresses and her pajamas that have enclosed footies are getting rather stretched.

So this next one is cute not only for the pose, but for the fact that this was Cassi's first experience trying to eat a Cheerio. Yes, that is most definitely a Cheerio stuck by slobber on the very bottom of her chin. Alan thought it was great, so we had to snap a shot. She will pick up every Cheerio and Corn Flake piece she sees on her high chair and grab it in a fist and then seem to open her fist and get it in her mouth. Now I don't know if she thinks she is getting full on them or what, but most all of them end up under her chin between her neck and her bib. Some lucky few make it in her mouth. Those are my favorite because they are the ones I don't have to try to pull off her slobber soaked bib :).

Cassi loves to watch her dad play Nintendo. If I could have gotten the camera out a little sooner I would have gotten a picture of her resting her head on his leg to watch him play. This last week at my mom's house she would just stare at a black television set until my mom would turn it on. She missed watching sports with her daddy I think.