Hurry- it's sunny and the wind stopped for a minute!

The weather has been horrible this spring- I know you all feel it too. On Sunday it was nice for a whole 10 minutes and this is how I found Shelby, Wyatt and Livvy- playing Power Rangers on the grass. Wyatt is seriously obsessed with the Power Rangers and actually has some impressive Power Ranger-like moves. He pulled out all the stops for wrestling with Dad.

Ike 5 months

Iker-Bikers, as he is affectionately called in our home, is 5 months old. Actually he is 5 1/2 months now- but I'm late in posting this. I weighed him when I had his shots done last week- guess how big this porker is - 17 pounds! He is so heavy! But he has really kinda thinned out. He's still roly-poly, but doesn't look as obese :) as he used to. He's such a happy baby with the funniest giggle. He loves his sister, as long as she doesn't smother him, loves to watch Wyatt do all of his crazy stunts, likes to growl at his daddy, wrestle his toy frog and duck, and give loves to him mommy. His cheeks are the best to kiss- just ask Grandma :).

We train 'em young 'round these parts :)

Easter

Easter this year was miserably cold. There was snow on the ground and the wind was blowing- yuck. We decided to hold our annual Turner family Easter egg hunt inside the large shop. Amber and Austin had gone to Logan for the holiday- Afton had stayed in Montpelier- and Charly and Ike are too little- so it was just Wyatt and Livvy. They both had to fill MULTIPLE buckets to get all of the eggs gathered. Grandpa said it was ridiculous- he just doesn't know how to have fun- :)

On Easter morning- Livvy spelled out the letters in her name with her candy- this is a 'V'- in case you don't yet know your alphabet :)
My sweet Ikers- look at that grin!!! and those cheeks and those chubby hands- I'm crazy about this little guy-
The kids dying eggs at Grandma Turners- again with no cousins- so they did several dozen eggs- they were running short on creative inspiration by the time they were done. It was a wonderful holiday- even with the darn weather.

A peek into the future---

My little Livvy is quite mischevious. She likes girly things- not likes- LOVES. And she gets very frustrated that her mother does not let her take her things wherever we go. The last few days I've gotten a glimpse into what her teenage years will hold:

Case 1: Livvy wanted to sit on my lap at church- I reached down to pick her up and felt something hard under her dress. It was a toy cell phone. That's right- She'd snuck her cell phone into church in her panties. Do you believe that?

Case 2: I was getting her ready for school this morning and found her lipstick hidden in her pants pocket. She knows she is not allowed to take her makeup to school. She didn't seem that upset when I took it away, that's because minutes later while packing her backpack with her snack I found another one hidden in a small pocket in her backpack! Then she started to cry and told me "But Mom- my friends will ask me where my lipstick is! I have to have it to share with them on the bus!" WHAT?!!

Oh poor Shelby- you just wait for the whirlwind that will be Miss Livvy when she hits the teens!

Road Trippin

Notice that Wyatt fell asleep holding Fallon's hand- so cute! Then minutes later, Fallon fell asleep too.

Some fun pictures from the road trip.

Vegas Vacation

We took our annual Turner girls' and kids trip over Spring Break to Las Vegas. I'm sure many of you heard that we were lucky enough to get food poisoning when we had only been there for 24 hours, but I won't focus on that misery. I'll just say 13 sick people and only 3 bathrooms. Not fun. But here are pictures of the fun parts.

Wyatt was totally excited to see the volcano at the Mirage- so right here we are saying 'Volcano!' We never did get back there to see it erupt at night- maybe next year!

Wyatt with Haily and Fallon in the hot tub- just minutes before the puking started.

Iker Bikers chillin under the umbrella.

His fat feet playing in the sand.

Livvy and I waiting for the fountains at the Bellagio to begin. Whenever they would pause, she and Wyatt would shout 'More More!' and then they would start again- they thought they were magic :)




The first night we got there, the pool was closed. But the kids were so excited to swim that we decided to let them swim in the jacuzzi tub. Too fun!

Can't stop myself

I know this post is probably tacky- but I'm just so thrilled that I can't control the urge to post this. Plus I promised a few friends that I've talked to today that I'd show them my super screamin deals I got today at Albertsons. This is the first time I've gotten the doublers in my 5 Sunday papers- that makes 15 doublers- plus the three they give you at the customer service desk- 18 doublers! I checked out 6 times- boy was it fun.

You have to really look to see it all- plus 1 ketchup and 2 packs of cookies are missing. The cookies I already put away and the ketchup I left for Shelby at the shop. Guess what my total paid was----------$18.51. SHUT UP! I was so excited planning this shopping trip last night that I could hardly sleep. I kept dreaming about all the great deals. This is a savings of 84%!!! I was pretty excited. I also went to Target and got some great deals (not pictured), but Ike was a pain in the butt. I forgot to give them a few coupons that I left in my pocket. So my deals there weren't as great as I wanted them to be. Oh well.

As I was putting all of these things away today and counting up how much I've accumulated, I had a revelation. Last January, I committed to working really hard to build up a storage. But in my heart, I just wasn't sure how it was going to be possible. A few weeks later I got really into couponing. I looked today and I have a year's supply of most if not all of our toiletries (toothpaste, razors, shampoo, mouthwash, soap) and a good supply of many of our grocery items as well. It was just such a testimony builder to me that the Lord will multiply our efforts- do the best we can, and he'll provide the way!

Iker Bikers 3 months

What the heck? Where did the last 3 months go? I can't believe how fast Ike is growing. He is such a sweet little guy. He is just like a litle Shelby- except with Livvy's cheeks. He is very laid-back and hard to ruffle- like his dad and they both make the same sounds when they sleep :)

Ike loves to 'box' at things- his toys- he wants to grab them so badly! He is starting to really talk to us and giggle. This is not his best moment- but still so dang cute.

My beautiful new fireplace- and insane kiddos

Shelby, ever the industrious guy, found a wood fireplace for free. It's huge. I mean like Tim the Tool-man Taylor huge- MANLY. It's been an ongoing project all winter to get it installed- little bit by little bit. Shelby poured these huge cement slabs for the base and back, then we found this beautiful marble on an insane steal at Lowe's. Then we had to find all the parts to install the pipe and cap and top in the roof. Finally we were ready to install it. The pictures are in the wrong order, but I'm too sleep-deprived to change them. Sorry :) So first you see the finished project- Then you see my crazy kids. Wyatt has been really really really excited to help his Daddy put this chimney and fireplace in. So his Dad snuck him up on the roof to help him- YIKES! Shelby thought he had out-smarted Livvy but a few minutes later I heard her very nearly getting on the roof by herself- My crazy children!

Here they are looking down in the chimney hole to talk to 'Ikers'.

It's been a long process- but I'm so happy that it's in. It's heavenly warm and will sure help on all future winter power bills. Good job Shelby!

On a funny note- I asked my brother Cody - "What kind of a crazy mother lets her children get on the roof?" He answered "Probably the same kind that let's them have a trampoline in her living room for a whole winter." Ha Ha- true true.

A few of my favorite things:

I love blogs. Love, love, love, love them. They teach me how to sew, new recipes to try, how to save money by couponing, how to make money, fun projects to do with my kids- the list goes on.... I also like knowing what blogs other people like to read. So I'm tagging some of you to find out what are your five favorite blogs-

1. Hip 2 Save- http://www.hip2save.com/- I gotta give this lady a shout-out. She helps me save tons of moolah on my groceries and other stuff I buy. I seriously check her blog 2-3 times a day because she is constantly posting great deals and I absolutely cannot stand to maybe miss reading about one that I need!

2. http://www.princesshairstyles.com/- Many of you that have seen Livvy lately may be wondering- a hair blog for girls? Livvy's hair hasn't looked that great lately. Well- give me a break- I just had a baby and the little stinker decided to cut her own hair over the holidays. Both of these make it less fun to play with her hair- I don't have as much time, and it's all uneven until it grows out more.

3. mykitchencafe.blogspot.com- This ladies recipes are delish. Seriously. I haven't tried one yet that I am not absolutely in love with. Try the corn bread and honey butter. We've been eating it for dessert all week. Yum.

4. moneysavingmom.com I just found this blog last week- so it's hasn't been on my top 5 that long, but I've sure been enjoying reading all of her great tips. Going along with this one- nicolesnickels.com- Good stuff.

5. visitingteachingblog.blogspot.com- I really don't visit this that often- probably once a month- but she's got dang cute and easy ideas and handouts for Visiting Teaching.

Last but not least- I love my Swagbucks. You can win 'Swagbucks' just for searching using their search engine and then you can cash them in for Amazon gift cards or even Paypal cash. Sweet! I'm hoping to pay for lots of my Christmas next year using those bucks. If you're interested, click on the link on my blog and we'll both earn!

So- my favorites list contains probably 20 or so more blogs, but this is a pretty good selection to choose from. Now I tag:

Amy
Jinger
Kim
Jolynn
Katie