Alli Hits the Half-Year Mark!

Weighing in at 18 lbs 10 oz and 27 inches long, Alli's a sweet, big bundle of love! She is such a happy, easy-going baby. She brings so much joy to us every day. Here's some of her accomplishments and favorite things:

Here she is eating (obviously) but so contently

holding a bottle all by herself.

Sitting up.

The next poster child for "My Baby Can Read?" She

loves looking at books and being read to.

This girl LOVES sucking on her toes.

As you can see from this face, she's now eating solid foods,

...well most of it.

And also one of her favorite things (and ours too) is smiling.

Yay for old friends!

We were thrilled to have our good friends Angell, Anika, and Avery Mortensen come visit us last week. Chad and Anika were great friends when we lived in Provo and little Avery was just a baby last time we saw her. The three of them had fun getting reacquainted and Mary enjoyed catching up with Angell.

Mary's Project

Mary took on the project of re-doing our coffee table. We forgot to take a before picture so this first one is part way through. It used to be dark green on the legs and a wood finish on the top. It was quite the process to get this thing sanded down.

The final product. The "antique" look.

Springtime at Temple Square

Mary's been dying to visit Temple Square. Mark had no problem with that. So did it work out? The proof is in the pictures.

Easter Sunday

We stayed home and did Easter alone for the first time and it seems we have mixed reviews. Just kidding, we had and great time and Chad got to hunt for easter eggs time and time again. Mark was a little let down that Chad lost some of the "giddy-up" for finding eggs he had last year, but he's coping well (Mark, that is.) Both the kids got easter baskets which included a stuffed frog (new bedtime buddy) and a frisbee for Chad and a bunch of baby toys for Alli. Chad's basket was also chock full of candy, the whereabouts he still can't figure out. Mary was looking at some candy and asked Mark, "Are these jelly beans?" Before Mark could respond, Chad piped in, "No, they're Easter...jelly beans." What was Mary thinking?

Two weeks ago, Grandma Johnson taught Chad to paint eggs using a Q-tip as a brush. So naturally, Chad sat down, grabbed a crayon, and picked up where he had left off. It took us awhile to figure out what in the world he was doing.