MANTI AT LAST!!!!

We have been wanting to go to the Manti Miracle Pageant for a couple of years now, but every time we start planning on it, something happens. This year, we had no money, and I mean absolutely NO money. My sweet mom paid for our gas so that we could go and we took our lunch, dinner, and snacks. We left here at noon and returned at 12:45 am. We spent almost the whole day at the park, which Carla LOVED, and also made a stop at the craft fair, which was really nice also. Then we went to see the pageant which was amazing as always. It was so beautiful how they told the Joseph Smith story, clips of the Book of Mormon, and the Pioneer trek west. Zach loved it, as it was his first time seeing it. Carla actually did miraculously well, especially after she fell asleep.
I had a sweet memory return to me. I remembered that was were I received my first testimony that the Church, Joseph Smith, everything was true. It was a wonderful to relive that moment, one which I treasure with all my heart, because that moment has changed my entire life. Without the Gospel in my life, I wouldn't have served a mission, an amazing and wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and all of the other blessings which I receive daily.

El Salvador

Pictures can say more than a thousand words, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. We went mostly to spend time with Abuelita Tere, which is what we mostly did. We went to Joya de Seren and the ruins of San Andres. Which are two very popular places in El Salvador. We also went to Guatemala for a few days and were able to see some very close family. It was wonderful to be back with our family. Carla discovered a love for bottle caps, brooms, cleaning, and wacales. She called her Tia Lucky "Tia" and even kept calling for her and her dog Bingo, and her bird Christina, long after we returned home.


She HATED the cold El Salvador showers but loved her Tia bathing her in the backyard of her house. I was so precious!

Easter...

This was Carla's very first Easter Egg Hunt...really hunting! We went to the Rohrer's for the hunt between the Saturday sessions. She loved it! Especially when she realized that there were treats inside. YAY for chocolate!!

Then we came home and watched the second part of conference and opened our Easter baskets. Carla's favorite part of course was the stuffed bunny. We also put a church book in her basket. We decided that our new tradition is going to be receiving the Easter basket the day before Easter and the Easter basket have a special book about Jesus.

Then on Sunday we can focus more on the Savior and His resurrection. On Sunday, we went to my parent's house, of course, Carla had another Easter Egg hunt. Then we did something that was unforgettable- we had a snowball fight. Yup snow for Easter! Those two days were a blast!

Ba loon

Carla is saying new words all the time, but two of my favorites were uttered from her sweet little lips just a few days ago. We were at Smith's when suddenly she pointed to the balloons and said, "Ba loon." It was so stinking cute! Now she can spot a balloon a mile away and starts fussing and pointing and saying "ba loon, ba loon." I get a kick out of it every time! The other words she started saying was "I do." She got that from her book You Do, which is about a mom telling her daughter to not do something, and the little girl says "you do." The mom of course, tries to justify herself and in the end asks who deserves a tickle, and the daughter says. "I do." So, out of an entire book, Carla decided to say "I do." Now she walks around with her You Do book saying I do. Oh I love it!! She is such a joy to have in my life. There isn't a day that goes by without sweet, tender, funny moments, in which I realize again and again how truly lucky I am to be her mom.

Duckies and Fishies

On Sunday we decided to go to the fish pond. We went and picked up my mom and went to the fish pond in Springville. I remember going there when I was a wee lassy. We took a lot of bread with us and from the moment we got there Carla was in love! She was staring at the duckies, the whole time saying "quack quack." The unexpected surprise that we got was that there were HUGE fish that were stealing the bread from the ducks. It was actually quite disgusting, but oh well. Good old sewer water, the breeder of many unusual things. Carla kept trying to get into the water. She wanted to go swimming with the duckies and so Zach got her close enough to touch the water once, and then my mom reminded us that it was sewer water, full of it's city yucks. Needless to say it was the one and only time she got to touch the water! We were there for over an hour and when it was time to go Carla cried and cried! Oh she was mad that we were leaving the duckies.

Moving, moving, moving

The baby is moving! I love it because it makes the pregnancy seem so much more real. I can't believe how fast time is flying though. I am 16 weeks today! At my next appointment on April 19th, we find out it he is a he or a she. Obviously I think that he is a he, so we'll see if I'm right. Although I do have to admit that sometimes it crosses my mind that he might be a she, but that is probably because we have a she already and I can't imagine life with a little he. I know that it is going to be wonderful, absolutely amazing. The first time I felt him move was on Friday, March 12. He kicked for the first time on Monday. There is such a difference with him and Carla though. Carla was a wiggler. She was always moving and kicking and doing somersaults. This one, he barely moves at all. I really have to pay attention to see if he is moving. He has only kicked once and is content being a lazy boy, which is fine. That way he probably won't leave me bruises like Carla did! I am so excited for our new babe to come and to hold, squeeze, kiss, and love on him. Oh life is bliss. Jam packed with blessings!

Rub a dub dub, Ducky in the...

Toilet?? Zach went in to use the potty, good thing he looked in before he did. Much to his suprise there were two of her bath duckies! Carla is such a nut!!

What's yours is mine, & what's mine is mine

Yes, that is Carla's motto. So for the first time since she was born, I saw something that I wanted for myself and I bought it. It was a water bottle, almost identical to the purple one shown, but mine is blue with no butterflies. I bought it, and then Carla decided it was now her new sippy. I finally gave up and put milk in it and used as such. I was whining to Zach two Saturdays ago because of it and much to my amazement, when I got home from school there was a present on the table. Inside was a letter.
Also inside the present was MY water bottle and a water bottle for Carla, the purple one.It holds 16 oz, and she LOVES it... thankfully. I have such an amazing and wonderful husband. I love how he takes the initiative in so many ways to bring a smile to my face. What a sweetheart!

Dressing herself... sortof

Zach was dressing Carla for the day, when she decided to help dress herself. Where do pants go?? Oh your HEAD of course! She was trying to put them on head so Zach helped her out. She loved it. She walked around for a while with her pants on her head. Oh she is just makes me laugh.