Sisters Forever

last month i got to go to san diego (kid free) and it was the first time us 4 hermanas we together, in one state. i love my sisters so much, each one for different reasons.

ceecee. just got home from her mission. just moved in with me and jeff for a few weeks till she gets on her feet. we've missed her so much, but we're so grateful for her example of serving a full-time mission for our church. she has changed so much and my kids are LOVING living with her. i am so glad you're my sister.

candice. today's your 30th birthday. i can't believe it. i still remember playing cars and barbies with you. walking home with you when you were a big 6th grader. fighting over the remote (and hiding it) with you in high school. you are such a natural mom. so beautiful because there's not a bad bone in your body. i'm so glad you're my sister.

melody. the oldest. and wisest? not only are you the best party planner i know, and the BEST restaurant picker on the planet, but you also know how to make people feel special. you've always played the role of big sister to us, making sure to protect us all. I'm so glad you're my sister.

ariel. honorary sister. we've always counted you as our sister since the day you moved in with us. we fight with you just as much :). you spoil me. you spoil my kids and i wish you lived next door because i know you'd wash my dishes daily and make me (and sofia) as many scarves as we wanted. I'm so glad you're my sister.

April 2013

boring title, i know. but, deal with it. this is what happened in the month of april...

1. general conference
traci, chad, and the stephenson crew came out to visit one last time before we move. sofia is always stoked when they come because she prances around like she has 4 older sisters. they really take care of her and treat her like a princess. it's hard when they leave, because i don't treat her like a princess. jeff and i love it when they come because they spoil us to death with gifts  and eating out (i gain an average of 4 pounds every time they've come).

lots of outside time at the park...

so sad that we won't have these general conference experiences with them anymore.

2. lucas is growing like a weed

lucas does this all day long, which really hurts our backs...

he is so tall! and skinny! wonder where he gets that? hmmm...

3. BYU graduation!

we are super proud of jeff for graduating with his master's degree from BYU. go babe!! he worked so hard and i can't be happier for him. although he's not finished with his education, we are a step closer to his career.

we were able to celebrate with his parents (grandpa crane and grandma crane), and also a few others that we rarely get to see (uncle joe, aunt janet, and grandma ruth)

i can't explain the love sofia has for her grandpas. i'm so jealous. i know that she is dave's favorite mexican granddaughter. hands down,

we love when the parentals visit. i think the grandkids love it even more.

this might have been the last BYU graduation for the crane family. ashley is the youngest and also graduated this spring (with her bachelors). go tia ash!

after dave and pauline left, some of my family members came in to town. sadly i didn't get ONE picture with tia Mary, aya, and alec. i will be searching their iphones to see if they got any!!

Playing Catch Up

i'm not dead. my camera chord isn't missing. i really have no excuse for not blogging. i need to do this because i quickly forget the cute things my kids are doing! you think you'll remember, i don't even remember what time sofia was born. anyway, a lot of things have happened...so i'm just going to type.

lucas you're 9 1/2 months. you still only have two teeth! sofia got teeth early, so this is new to me. you're also super tall. your 9 month appt is coming up...when you turn 10 months. oops, bad mom, forgot to schedule an appointment. i'm over it. yes, that's a leaf in your mouth. you eat about ten a day. apparently non toxic. you're still a mama's boy 100%. if i'm in the room, you have to be next to me. you flap your arms like a crazy boy when i come in to the room. makes me feel good because sofia was never a mama's girl. you think you can walk, but you can't. i'm so glad you can't.

every morning your pj is soaked. apparently you pee A LOT at night.

you two don't get along that well. sofia takes every toy away from you. she sits on you. she pushes you. she hits you. i'm so sorry. she does love you though. i can tell because she's always trying to make you laugh. she is also happy to see you first thing in the morning. i really love this picture.

you have really nice eye lashes, which isn't fair because both sofia and i don't have any. i love your face, and i kiss you a little too much.

sofia, you are two going on 15. you are so tall. everyone thinks you're 4. i love how tall you are! and you are so beautiful. you only like to wear dresses. to get you dressed every morning i have to tell you i'm putting on you cinderella's dress, or aurora. then i put some jeggings on underneath. although you'd rather not have clothes on. when we come in to your room in the morning, your pj AND diaper are usually off. we don't know exactly when you take them off. you also have stopped napping, which is completely driving me crazy. you're only 2!! not even 2 and a half! you shouldn't give up your nap till your at least 4! sorry, lot's of exclamation points, i really miss your nap. i guess maybe since you're the height of a 4 year old, and you act like a 15 year old you think you don't need naps anymore. you still have to be in your room for a while so mom can have some time without you.

lucas, you love the camera. you will laugh and smile whenever i tell you to. sofia loves to make you laugh by blowing this train whistle in your face. for some reason, you both think it's hilarious.

my best friend since 7th grade, amanda allred, visited me from korea! and her entire family was here too. i am in love with this family. i looked up to them so much in high school. amanda was my best friend through my really ugly, awkward, awful years and still stood by me. that's love. i'm so grateful for technology that lets me skype with her at least 2x a week.

just to show you how big lucas is right now...compare him to the pretty girl to the left. ellie is amanda's daughter who is almost 1. lucas had just turned 9 months here. see how big he is? also, sofia and claire (the beautiful toddler all the way on the left) are only 5 months apart. again, she towers over everyone her age.

i think you can tell which holiday we are celebrating here...

although the community festivities were no where near as amazing as last year, we still made the best of it. thanks to grandma queen, my kids were spoiled. i feel spoiled because i don't have to do anything as a parent. she sent them both easter baskets. a few weeks ago jeff said to me "why hasn't your mom sent sofia an easter dress yet?" i scolded told him we shouldn't "expect" my mom to do everything for our kids, but then told him "she has. she sent two. and shoes. and baskets."

we tell sofia to smile with her teeth...and this is what we get...

and this...

and this...

she's not so good at smiling with her teeth. it'll come with age. here she is in our yard hunting for eggs.

the next three pictures i had to post because in this first one, lucas is making a weird face...

and in this one, jeff is making a weird face...

and then this one i finally got good smiles!

we don't know what we're going to do in texas without tia ash! sofia loves her bi-weekly visits. and i love them more. she's the only one that'll play ring a round the rosies over and over and over and over with her. spoiled.

The Month of Love

i have really been loving some of the things sofia has been doing lately. kind of. you love it until you have to do it with her 100+ times in a row. here are some of the things she loves:

1. aladdin. we used to sing "i feel my Savior's love" every night to her. not anymore. she makes us sing "riffraff street rat, i don't buy that..." you know, that song. we also have to finish with the dialogue aladdin has with abu right after the song.

2. also from aladdin: she'll go under the dinner table, poke her head out over the bench, make you say "do you trust me" then she says "si" then together you say "then juuuuuuump!" while pulling her over the bench. remember that scene? again, cute, until you've done it 15x in a row. doesn't get old to her.

3. we listen to disney pandora at least 1-2 hours per day. she know every disney princess song and will dance with the specific princess figurine that is singing (thanks grandma queen, she LOVES them). she knows which princess is missing and we all have to stop what we are doing to find her, or she freaks out.

4. she planks. if you've seen the office, then you know what i'm talking about. the last picture below shows her planking randomly in our living room...and jeff put lucas on top of her for a quick photo.

grandma queen came to visit last week while jeffrey was in michigan for a phd interview. we love when grandmas come to play. so spoiled. everything they are wearing, including the socks, were thanks to my mama. come again soon. like next week?

did i mention how much i love this little man? he seriously is a mamas boy and i can't get enough of him.

Our First Trip to WY

for some reason, my best friends like to move away from me. maybe it's me. who knows? the pretes moved away from us almost a year ago, and somehow, laura and i get to see each other every other month. i love it. we decided to go to wyoming and spend the day with them! thanks to my mom (and carmy), my kids have snow gear...

(if you look close enough, you'll see lucas' double buggers, like in dumb and dumber)

the kids had zero fear going down the steep hills.

i met these twins when they were 6 months old. 6 months!!! now they are 4, and all grown up.

i  get my hair done by laura, so i thought it would be way better if she trimmed sofia's bangs rather than me butchering it every month. give this girl candy and she'll do anything for you...

picnic dinner on the floor. ps. she's naked because she had a total blow out (which hasn't happened since she was a baby!) embarrassing.

sorry jeff and nathan that i didn't capture you two together. next time. we are definitely going up there a few more times before we leave provo, whether or not they want us to.