Spring in the desert

Well, to recap this spring:

• We enjoyed Easter
• Claire suffered a small fracture in her arm from tripping and falling
• It's swimsuit weather and we've taken our first dip in the pool
• I braved flying to Utah alone with both kids for time with my family while Christian had a busy week at school (I went to part of Women's Conference and to a family cabin for my dad's birthday). The flight to Utah had a one hour delay on the runway and the ride home was over three hours late departing! Thankfully the kids were really good and I had a sweet lady help out the whole flight to Utah as well as many other helpful people looking out for me. People really are good.
• And of course Clark just keeps getting bigger and cuter! We love his big, wide-mouthed smiles and little giggles. He definitely exudes a lot of joy and has a good sense of humor I suspect.

 Nothin' like dying eggs in a diaper

 The brace which she wore for two weeks. She did great and would remind me we needed to put it back on after a bath and never complained.

 Claire is starting to like dress up and as you can tell, does it all by "herselp"

 NBA finals with Uncle Dan

 Hogle Zoo in Utah where we met up with Christian's sis Laura and girls (note Jane in the front :) and John/Ida and kids.

 Uncle Ken and Aunt Ruth were so kind to let us visit their beautiful cabin in northern Utah. 

 Claire took a fall and scraped up her little nose :(

I've been spam attacked - going private!

Have any of you ever started getting a barrage of spam comments? Ones that sound computer-generated and don't make sense and are usually inappropriate? Well I've been attacked with them so I'm taking it as a sign to finally go private. Will this stop the spamming? Let me know if you want to be added to the list of viewers! And in the future if your permission to view has expired, never hesitate to ask me again to grant you access (steph.raleigh@gmail.com)

Let me know guys in the comments or an email, thanks!!! On to more important news, well-behaved Claire has started to engage in some typical two-year-old behaviors including:

 Coloring on herself and clothing and ripping up library book pages into little pieces and then crumpling them up during naptime. However she is becoming better in-tune to other's feelings and tells me "no cry mom" when I express frustration or annoyance at things.

 Looking at herself in the mirror. She loved that she could hold Clark like this

My kids!

L.A.

Can I say, I love being only a six hours' drive from southern California!? It is so fun to experience the culture of such a world-renowned place, visit the beach, and of course meet up with fam. We got to meet Eli Bennion Briggs, born three weeks after Clark and the newest cousin on the Bennion side. He was blessed on Sunday and we got to spend some fun time together Friday and Saturday. Such a sweet, squishy baby and we're so happy for Christian and Sarah.

Claire is getting so much better at playing with other kids and she lights up when she sees her cousins. She spent most of the time chasing, laughing, and ticking (her version feels like scratching) them and they were so cute together.

We want to come out again some time this summer to see our other LA peeps so more California is in our future.

 

 Buddies.

                                     

Livvy, Liv Liv. She is such a sweetie.

These two would hold each others' cheeks in their hands and pet each others' arms while taking in affectionate tones. I'm so glad Claire has sweet Jonah.

 

                                       

Open your eyes Claire! Christian got them to look and smile on command.

 



                                     

                                     

93 degree weather in March means we get to break out the swimsuit. Love you Claire!

My man, the saver

My husband is a super-saver. Undergrad debt? None. Dental school debt? None. He actually would make money on his text books at BYU by getting them cheap and selling them after the semester. He gets creative to save money and really likes the game of doing it. I like saving too, don't get me wrong, but the convenience of doing it the easy way is very tempting and the hassle of keeping track of all your deals isn't as much fun for me. I get to reap the rewards of his work but I'm learning from him along the way too. Our friend Bobby is very much into this whole savings game too and him and Christian keep each other updated on the latest credit card cash bonus or Amazon deal out there. To share his tips, Christian started a blog: mythirteencents.blogspot.com. Named such because thirteen was the lowest value blog URL that was available. So it looks like his two cents are worth more than he thought :) You'll learn a thing or two there but if you have your own tips to share, please do so on his blog. 

I am sooo lucky to be married to such a hard-working, responsible guy. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, may you all find savings like pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. And to add to the heart-warmingness take a look at this smiling baby. So yummy.

 First time on a jog with them both

The very latest

Clarkey is growing. Every once in a while I look at his hand and wonder if it has doubled in size since his birth - or the other day we noticed a double chin (little, but still there :) He also smiled at us right around four weeks. I love seeing the clarity that grows in their eyes every day at this age. He is discovering the world and it is so rewarding to see.

 

Claire and her "guckies"

 We tried out the Bumbo for the first time. He was doing great for a while then...

 ...sitting upright just got to be way too much work. Don't worry, we won't let him fall out.

Blessing Day

Not too long after Clark was born did I realize that it might work out well to have his blessing the weekend my mom was down (last weekend). It was going to be difficult to get family to be here no matter when we did it and we missed having many people there on that important day, but we did get some special visitors including my mom and little brother Matt, John and Ida and their cute kiddos, my uncle Brian and wife Stephanie and their kids who live relatively nearby as well as a quick visit from Christian's aunt Jane and uncle Steve and their daughter Ann who live in the valley as well.

A highlight was having Ida take some beautiful pictures of Clark. Thank you so much for sharing your talents with us!!!!

And here is our newest family photo:

                                           

Two kids! Wow!

                                

Right after sacrament my little brother and his cousins surrounded Miss Popular - little Claire. She is lucky to have so many admiring fans :)

  

 The gorgeous 70-degree weather was heavenly and a welcome treat for our visitors