The Big Dipper

I have noticed a trend in my second child lately, she always seems to do this at the dinner table or wherever we are eating:

It does not matter what we are eating, she will find SOMETHING to dip with. Potatoes in applesauce, cucumber in smoothie, fries in chocolate milk, etc. I know all kids seem to go through a dipping phase, but she has been on this kick for quite a while now. I have Cory to thank for this I found out, he did the same thing as a kid!!!

Happy Birthday Cory!!!

Cory turned 31 today. He really wanted to take off for the weekend but he needed to work over in Pahsameri yesterday which got him home around 12:30 a.m. So I decided to go to the church with a basket of Blueberry Muffins for his "brunch" for Sunday. I took the kids and they made a cute card for him to go with it. Cory was kind of surprised at his 10 a.m. Bishopric Meeting when the bishop pulled out this basket and gave it to him for his birthday. It was fun. I made Cory a dump truck birthday cake from freehand and it looks like a cartoon:

But at least it is edible! I was kind of in a hurry so it didn't turn out like I'd hoped :( It still gets the point across. Cory's two younger brothers will join us tonight for cake and ice cream. Mom and Dad are on "vacation" somewhere for Spring Break. Sadie, Lexi and I made him a coupon book for some fun family activities to do when he wants. The girls got to pick out a box of theater candy at the store for him and they did pretty well. They picked two of his favs, Whoppers and Junior Mints. They had a fun time wrapping things up. Cory got his birthday present from me earlier and so this gets documented because Cory will try to say it wasn't for his birthday, I bought him a new coat and bibs for snow machining. I gave them to him early because I was afraid the snow wouldn't last!
I'm so glad Cory is the man of my dreams and the father to our children. He is wonderful and keeps me in line. I love you! Happy birthday babe!!

How Daddy's love their princesses. . . . .

Whether it's going to a bull sale. . . . . .
Feeding the horses. . . . . .

Snuggle time. . . . . .

Story time. . . . . . . .

or just for fun. . . . . . .

Cory, I know you love our girls as much as I do and you have to be away sometimes. They understand and I do too, you sometimes have to leave but you still love your little girls. They know it from how you show it-these pictures from the last three weeks prove it!

Daddy's Little Girls

Cory recently had to stay overnight at a job and boy do I miss him when he's gone! My girls miss him as well. I usually hear "I wish daddy was here" about fifteen times a day when he's gone. I'm glad they love their dad so much and it's cool they have such a close relationship. When Cory came home he surprised us all by bringing the girls a surprise. he made them put on blindfolds and everything! It was so cute! Then they all snuggled in the "big brown chair" as it's deemed. What precious moments!

I told them all to make a funny face, you see what Lexi came up with. . . . .

February

I'm just going to summarize this last month so I can post more current things, so this past month. . . . . . . . . . sickness. That basically describes our month of February. Sadie started the month out with a cough and had that combined with many other gross symptoms I won't bore you with for about three weeks. A week after Sadie started, Lexi came down with the same flu (I think) and hers lasted for two weeks. Three days after Lexi started, I came down with the flu and was sick for a week. Four days after I started, Haylee came down with it, but hers got serious enough I took her to the doctor. She had RSV, which to my surprise there was nothing they could do for her. They recommended breathing treatments and humidifier combined with any other home remedies we knew of but not to give her anything but Tylenol to keep her fever down. I found out that RSV isn't as serious for any baby three months or older as it is for younger newborns. So we spent the month recuperating and now we are all healthy. Fun huh? But we did have lots of Popsicles, ice cream, root beer for sore throats. We also had plenty of story times and movie nights. Even though we were sick, we still got to do some fun things! Many of you may ask how Cory did during all of this? He was a godsend!!! He never did get sick (he has a fabulous immune system which the girls didn't inherit) and he was so helpful. He got up in the night with all three girls at one point or another and he went to the store for anything we wanted to make us feel better. He snuggled all three little girls and even his big girl to help them feel better. Thanks Babe! I never would have made it through the month without you!

What a weekend!!!

Last weekend was really crazy around here. I somehow got asked to help with the Super Saturday crafts from my friend Aubree. We did some cute simple crafts but it still takes lots of effort and time to get everything ready as many of you probably know. We took a trip to Idaho Falls to go get all the supplies which ended up being an all day trip. We left about 8:30 a.m. and got home about 6 p.m. Four hours of that was driving time but the rest was running around finding everything. Of course getting the right amount of everything is the key here. We had sign up sheets but you just never know who might show up and want to do something so be bought plenty of extras as well. I turned out to be a great day on Saturday. We had a good turn out and sold most of the extras we bought. My kids were neglected all day at the church getting to eat snacks of all kinds and watch movies but they had fun running around the rooms and playing with Aubree's kids. We were the only ones with kids there. My two big girls and little Haylee were SOOOO GOOD though. Haylee was just a happy baby all day even when I thought she should be getting hungry, she never screamed or cried too much all day. Sadie and Lexi played and had a few moments of disgruntlement but all in all they did pretty well. And it was another long day too, we were at the church from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ( 6 must be the magic number to get home by). Now I just have to have a day at my house to do my Super Saturday crafts, I was helping people or cutting things out with my Cricut that day!

On last Sunday we finally blessed Haylee. We had plenty of family come and friends that traveled too. I have never seen a bigger circle around an infant, and they were all family. We even had a few family members missing because of being sick. But we had a great time visiting with everyone afterwards and having a nice lunch. I love the fact that we can use the church for having those kinds of gatherings, there is only one ward here so it works out rather well considering our house wouldn't fit everyone anyway. Here are the best pictures from the day. Again my camera needs to be fixed or broken so I can get another one-the pictures are dark again. We took LOTS of pictures to get some good ones but you know how it is to try to get some with kids-they don't always turn out!!!

Below: The five birds in the Bird's Nest!

Below: Engberson four generation picture.

L to R- Cory, Grandma Engberson, Jan, Haylee

Below: Bird four generation picture

L to R-Kurt, Cory and Haylee, Grandma Bird, Grandpa Bird

My Ranching Crew

This pictures turned out darker than I thought, Sorry! It's still cute though-

How to be like Daddy

Sadie came out in the living room last night after I had asked her to get her pj's on and was only half dressed. I asked her why she didn't have her pj top on and she said "I'm going to be like daddy". I was puzzled and didn't make the connection so I asked her how that was going to happen. She replied " I'm coming out in the living room to button up my shirt." Cory has a habit of putting on his work shirt but not buttoning it up until he comes out to sit down and put on his shoes at the same time. I never made the connection until Sadie pointed it out!


This morning she was watching Cory build a fire (we had such a high temperature this morning of 8 DEGREES!!!!!) when she said to him " I need to be careful around the fire don't I? If I caught my hair on fire then I would look like you daddy." I get such a chuckle out of Sadie when she shocks Cory into silence! :)

End of May Picnic Day

My girls just love to play in the water no matter where we go! We seem to always find it even if we go up in the mountains a bit!

I so can't get enough of our Sunday drives that usually take us up Timber Creek which is practically in our back yard. There are so many places to go that we never go to the same place twice! We loaded up the truck with everything for a hot dog/smore roast and headed for the hills! The girls hadn't been out for a while and they had a great time chasing squirrels, playing with sticks in the water, and of course eating! I can't get enough of being outside with my family just enjoying the nature. I love being so close to the mountains for our little getaways

Below: Our faithful boy scout getting water to put out the fire much to the girls' dismay

Below: Lexi trying to sneak into the chips, she was tired of waiting for her hot dog

Below: Sadie showing us her skills at floating things down the creek

Below: Cory said he needed a picture of his three favorite girls, even if one needed

a log to hide her belly!

Eight Years and Still Counting

I cannot believe that time goes by in years soooo FAST! We had our eight year anniversary and it is amazing what can happen in that amount of time. I am so lucky to have such a patient and loving husband. Cory brightens my day with his humor and can make my life less stressful by calming me down. He is a wonderful father to our two and 1/2 girls. He never complains when he gets home form a long day of work if I ask him to entertain the girls or help them with something. I am very blessed to have found such a wonderful mate for forever.

So Cory was working outside all day for our anniversary and was leaving the next night to go back to finish a job in Challis. Sadie wanted to help me "decorate" the house for him so we made signs, hearts and all kinds of things to hang up around the house for Cory when he came in. I made steak and shrimp for dinner and we got out the candles. Lexi loved coloring pictures to hang up while Sadie colored and cut out about 25 hearts for us. It was cool to involve the kids for our anniversary. On the coat closet door I found a bunch of pre-marital and engagement pictures to hang up along with some wedding photos. It was s trip down memory lane and the kids liked it as much as we did. One of these years we will get away for our anniversary, but being pregnant for a vacation didn't sound like that much fun so it will wait for the next time.

Below: May 26, 2001-Wedding Day for Cory Kurt Bird and Jessica Lynne King