I did.

I woke up at 4am. I did. I watched the royal wedding of Will and Kate and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Til I got tired at 5:30am. They said the royal kiss wasn't going to be on until about 6:25 and I just couldn't do it anymore. Regret that decision since it was a double kiss! But I saw it on cnn so at least I still saw it.

The dress was gorgeous.

I loved Pippa's dress too and all the beautiful flowers (thought her bouquet was a little disappointing still beautiful though) and the carriages. oh oh oh!! It was worth getting up to see.

And everything was really just....a fairy tale wedding!

If you want to see pictures of an AMAZING ROYAL party, then go to Crystal's blog or Lian's blog (Wade's sisters). They put on a full on dress up party!!! I would've gone if I was there. Lian made a gorgeous 3 TIERED wedding cake for it too!!!

I spy with my little eye....

Something big and scary.

Seriously?? When I saw her for the first time sitting behind the queen, I had to do a double take. Then I laughed really really hard. hahaha.

Someone said she looked like a bison....I think she's right....

This about sums it up....

This is so me.

Kate is one!

Kate turned one on April 24th! Same day as Easter. It won't happen again until she's 84....

I just can't believe this girl is one. She was born on her due date (and I was scheduled for an induction but went into labor anyway!! ha ha). Despite being a stubborn, fussy girl, she's just so wonderful. I love her cute personality showing more and more. I love hearing her belly laugh and seeing her pout and clap and be proud of herself.

She loves to wave and to shake her head no. She says nah nah for no too. Says Uh uh for uh oh. Looks at your face intently and says, dop. And she also just babbles like she's telling you a story or an event and it's so funny. This serious little look on her face, telling you something very very important. She signed more the other day and I swear she said it too. Her hair is growing and getting lighter too. She loves to rip her top knot out and go for the mohawk look.

She loves baths. She loves to dance. She's got rhythm. Let me tell you! She climbs up and down the stairs and is no where near walking. She loves to toddle along everything though.

Loves to eat my oatmeal for breakfast and any foods we can grind in the food grinder. Has never liked baby food...thanks for saving us money, Kate! But she's awesome at eating so many things. Especially paper...well just to chew on it....

She's a horrible sleeper just like Charlotte...we had high hopes though. She was awesome when she was a few months old. Now, it varies. But she easily gets back to sleep with a bottle. Speaking of, no more formula! yesssssss. And she's doing good with whole milk too.

Weighed in at 21 lbs last week when she was sick. Don't know what that is on the old growth chart (next week is her well child visit and we'll know) and can go in her cute forward facing car seat.

She loves to be held and have attention and goes to MOST people easily. Sorry Grandpa Ardern...maybe it'll be different when you visit on Mother's Day :)

She loves Jack and Charlotte so much and they make her happy all the time.

I'm so thankful for Kate. It's been rough a few times but I love her so much and I'm so thankful she's mine and she's part of this family. I can't imagine life without this little rugrat! :)

Baby Animal Days

Charlotte was brave this year! Wanted to touch most of the animals :)

Jack was having soo much fun too! I love how they both were excited to hold and see the animals!

And Kate liked it a few times too :)

My Birthday...part 2!

This is just to wrap up the rest of my birthday!

My wonderful friends dropped by!

Lacy gave me ICE CREAM!!! Cinnamon Banana Bliss...you have to try it!!!

Heather gave me a delicious Chocolate chip cookie PIE. SOOOO AWESOME!!!! I need the recipe!

And Nicki gave me all the delicious things to make a sk

ookie!!!

And my friends, the Tippets, came the next day and we got to hang out and eat.

I LOVE MY FRIENDS!! THANK YOU!!!

Wade gave me the antique handmade pearl earrings, skookie se

t, a photo scanner you can do right on your lap while watching tv! well, almost like that... ha ha and MACGYVER!!!! And Tangled!! I never saw Tangled before and we've watched it almost every single day. Such a good movie!

The kids each gave me some candy!

We ended up still going to Chili's!

And had my little family birthday party with cake! SOO GOOD!!!

It was so frozen our knife broke in it! hahaha

The kids were SOO excited for me!! Especially blowing out the candles. It is so much fun to have the kids be sooo fun on your birthday!!

I had a fantastic day. minus the age part, it was awesome!!!

Oh Bugga. I'm getting old....

So, I've tried taking a self portrait looking AT the camera but I felt like a dufus and looked old. So here's to my profile. ha ha ha (and ps, that's not my shoulder on the right. It's my fat arm. I am wearing a modest shirt...doesn't look like it and I can't be bothered editing it because I'm just lazy. And it's my birthday and I don't want to!!!!)

I'm 33 today. Well, NOT quite 33. Not til 7:22pm PST. This is how much I'm protesting my age! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY BIRTHDAYS!!! I feel so special and I have so much fun but the little number that hangs over your head and shows through your wrinkles and old skin is not the fun part...But I am STILL young. I FEEL young. I don't feel like a day over 28! haha. It used to be 23...then 25. But this is for real now. I'm definitely liking the number 28 :)

I've had a relaxing day so far! Wade bought me some yogurt with granola and make your own Jamba smoothie!! Since he leaves for work at 7am and couldn't share a breakfast with me he made sure there was a yummy treat for me!!! And yes, it IS the Jamba brand and the Caribbean Passion flavor was absolutely divine. Kate kept screaming and couldn't get enough of it and it was so big I couldn't finish the darn thing...well, maybe it's cause I've been on a diet for 3 months and my eating habits have changed??? haha. RIGHT.

Wade came home around 11am (nice he has a few prep periods between his classes!) with some Quiznos. Did I tell you love Quiznos? Well, I do. It's just a love/hate relationship! Darn good sandwiches....ridiculous prices. But it makes the sandwich a little bit more special when you don't have it all the time.

And that's it so far for my day! We've got Chili's planned for us and the kids and a DELICIOUS ICE CREAM CAKE for dessert. Charlotte is SOOOO excited. I think more than I am that it's my birthday!! I love that girl!!

And Jack keeps blowing out air from his mouth pretending to blow out candles. He's such a crack up!

And Wade has spoiled me with some Pearl handmade antiqued earrings!! YEAH!!! And my wonderful, awesome friend LACY brought over some Tillamook Cinnamon Banana Bliss. And it's only 2:20! Woo hoo!!! ha ha. oh oh, and my awesome friend NICKI just texted and is coming by! I love it!! THANK YOU!!!

Some days...

I feel like this somedays... because Charlotte's teasing Jack, Jack's temper tantrums and Kate pulling at my leg wanting to be held and you can't go outside because it's been snowing since Thursday...

Good thing my kids are SUPER CUTE and I love them to pieces!

EXCITING NEWS!

Okay, so the exciting news is that Wade's dad became a general authority this past weekend!

Ian S. Ardern

http://newsroom.lds.org/article/new-general-authorities-and-area-seventies-named

Yes he did! He was released as an Area Seventy and became one of the newest members of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. So this means he's going be in the quorum until he's 70....13 years! He's going to have many assignments all over the world and yesterday we found out that they will be going to the Philippines. The church is very strong over there.....17 missions in a country the size of New Zealand/Japan. They will start their assignment August 1st. So this means lots of training beforehand.

Wade's dad will come back in 3 weeks to start training (they are literally leaving right now to go back home!) for the next 2 months. Whew. That's a lot of training. We're also excited because the kids get to see Ma and Grandpa a little bit more before they head off. We're so proud of Wade's parents. We love them and know they will do an amazing job. I'm sure they have plenty of mixed feelings but we know that they will be blessed through their faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ and our loving Father in Heaven. We love you, Mum and Dad! So proud of you!

We took the kids down to have our last afternoon/evening together on Monday. We had a fun time talking and enjoying each other's company.

This one cracks me up!!

Ma and Grandpa with a side of Crystal and the new baby :)

On March 26th, we headed down to Salt Lake to pick up Wade's parents! They arrived the day before and spent time with family and a dear friend of theirs. We got to be with them for 4 days and we had a fantastic time! They are here for conference. Wade's dad is---officially now WAS---an area seventy for NZ and the pacific and every April conference they come up for meetings. And they get to have some extra time to visit us too. And we are so grateful for that! They got to meet Kate for the first time (they missed Kate by 3 weeks last year) and enjoy cuddles and fun times with Charlotte and Jack. And of course, the kids enjoyed all the new presents they got from them and the family back home. And we loved all of ours too. Especially the chocolate. ESPECIALLY THE CHOCOLATE PEOPLE!!

Grandpa and Jack were so cute. Always together!

We finally were able to get Grandpa to hold Kate. For some reason, she was scared of him. But she's been getting better and not crying in his presence.

Charlotte had the best time with Ma and Grandpa! Keeps asking about them when we're not with them.

Awww, holding their new money tins! They sure got a lot of loot from them and Wade's siblings. Thank you!!!

Kate had so much fun too getting to know Ma and Grandpa :)

We miss all the family from NZ and wish they could have all come too.

Wade's sister, Crystal, was expecting a baby around April 4th. Her first one too. So his parents decided to come and visit before conference so once meetings ended, they could hurry back on the plane back to NZ hopefully make it in time for the new baby.

Well, as luck would have it, she literally went into labor when they got on the plane. She and Sam had a beautiful baby boy on March 26th and he's perfectly healthy! Crystal had quite a scary time after she delivered him. We are grateful she is alive and well and enjoying her new little one. And he has NO name yet. SO HURRY UP! ha ha. Just kidding. Names are SO hard Crystal, I understand :) Just can't wait to hear it. If I get permission, I'll post a picture of the cute little guy! Seriously, he's a beautiful boy!

Yesterday, we got to enjoy a session of conference (will post about that one next...I want to wait until Tuesday to give you ALL the exciting news!!!) and be with Wade's parents. We decided a few days ago to come to Salt Lake for conference weekend. We stayed at the Red Lion last night. Holy moly. Could it become the worst sleep ever for EVERYONE? ha ha. Our next door hotel neighbors decided to drink all night and yell and SCREAM out the window for girls to come up! "Hey, come in from the snow!! We still have 3 bottles left!!! Room 405. ROOM 4-0-5". They did this a few times in the wee hours. PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING!!! The power went out, so the AC didn't muffle the noises and it was awful and we couldn't phone downstairs to complain either! haha. Turns out they were evicted at 4am. By the other next door neighbor. Thank you, Mr. 406! Kate kept crying through the night, Charlotte ended up having a migraine which means throwing up after all the screaming eye and head pain was through, Jack fell out of the bed (which by the way is funny cause Wade couldn't get him out from between the bed and the nightstand and Jack kept saying, stuck daddy!) but he had the best night sleep. On top of it all, we couldn't sleep from all of that PLUS the excitement from conference.

So we decided to get out of our 2nd night in the hotel in Salt Lake and head back today. We'll go down again tomorrow to spend our last afternoon/evening with Wade's parents and have the kids say goodbye. But it's been a fantastic time and enjoyed it! We will miss them for sure :) But thankfully, we'll be able to see them again soon!

Sweet ride.

We forked out some of our tax refund for this:

And now we can take all 3 kids on our walks...with two strollas of course.