I am totally a Neil Diamond fan. I used to be a closet Neil Diamond fan but I’ve decided there is no shame in liking the guy. I remember when I was a kid I loved the song “Coming to America” (today!) In college Kari and Jodi made fun of his Christmas songs (super cheesy) but I secretly LOVED them. After watching “Fever Pitch” I remembered how much I like the song “Sweet Caroline”. Another favorite of mine is “Cracklin’ Rosie”. But right now, #3 on my playlist is “Forever in Blue Jeans”. Lori pointed out that nothing brings nostalgia like Neil Diamond and the boys and I love to dance to this song. Just a week ago or so, I was thinking to myself “It would be awesome if they did Neil Diamond on Idol.” I haven’t even watched Idol that much and for all I knew they probably already did. But I happened to wach Idol tonight and heard the great news. I am so excited I had Cameron sing “Sweet Caroline” for everyone to see. Watch out David and Syesha, Cameron Bird knows Neil!

This is my brother Evan on the day he went to the temple. He is leaving on a mission to Athens Greece in June. Sharp lookin’ kid!
Here is the fam. (Missing: My little brother Darren, Adri’s husband Will and son Charlie, and Cameron.) Love the expressions Brit and Dad! Here is Eli and the dozen horses that I mentioned that Cameron got for his birthday. It is so funny the things kids think of. Eli loaded all the horses into the school bus and took ’em for a ride!
One day while Eli was napping and Cameron was supposed to be napping he went crazy in his bedroom. He took all the diapers out of the baskets, all the books off the shelf, and all the clothes out of the dresser and put it all in the crib. Needless to say when I came upon the situation Eli was no longer sleeping (being covered in clothes, diapers and books) and Cameron was looking mighty guilty. I took everything out of the crib and put in on the floor and told Cameron to clean it up. This picture was taken when about half of the things had been cleaned up. He was obviously worn out and decided (finally) to take a nap. Oh I love the kid but I was not happy. Finding him asleep on the floor softened my heart though, and I helped him clean up the rest.
This one is for you Wendy! Thanks for the hand-me-downs. I love this sweatshirt and think of your boys every time Cameron wears it.

I’m not usually the type to brag about my husband. In fact there is a joke with my in-laws that I am the “brutally honest wife”. But Richard has been juggling all kinds of things lately and I want to pay tribute. He’s out of town now and when he is gone he likes to check the blog. So this is mostly for you Richard. I sure do love ya.

What I love about Richard: (In brief form)

1. He reassures my guilty conscience.
2. He flatters me to excess.
3. He holds himself to a high spiritual standard
4. I dream the dream, Richard executes the dream.
5. He gives his best effort professionally.
6. He takes his role as father seriously.
7. He broadens my horizons.
8. He embraces my interests.
9. He protects me from disappointment and shares bad news delicately.
10.He sees what’s good in me.

Eli had fun playing in the grass, but I could never be completely at ease because he would put anything and everything in his mouth.

James and Gordon came over to help set the poles. They all looked pretty tough using that big auger and mixing cement in the wheelbarrel. Thanks for your help James! Sean went to work with the power tools. He came straight from work and stayed for several hours. Couldn’t have done it without you Sean!

Cameron and Aubrey (his friend from next door) unloaded the remaining pickets for us. Wasn’t that so nice? They were really good about picking them up and putting them on the grass once they were discovered.

Gordon was lightning speed putting pickets up and drilling them. He probably contributed the most hours besides Rich. Thank you thank you!

Tony and Richard work on the gate. What a nightmare. We appreciated so much the “wisdom and experience” our fathers had to offer. (I made the mistake of saying that they were “old veterans” when it came to fence building, Richard had a better choice of words.)

Our 5-year old neighbor Ashley took this picture after everyone else went home. She did a pretty good job. (I don’t look so good, still have some baby weight to lose I guess.) But the gate turned out nicely.

We are so excited to have our fence up for so many reasons! Now Cameron can play in the backyard, Misha can live in the backyard and the neighbors can’t see in our back door. (Although the drawback is that now I can’t spy on the entire cul-de-sac from my kitchen window. But I never did that anyway.)

Some of our lovely guests; Julie (Baca Bird), Suzanne and Jess.
We don’t get many pictures of the four of us. Thank you Laura for taking all the pictures! It was so nice for me to just enjoy and watch without feeling the obligations of the camera.

For breakfast on his birthday I made chocolate chip pancakes for Cameron. But he is such a creature of habit (just like his Dad) that he insisted on eating plain old oatmeal like he does every other morning. I guess I can’t complain about that. A child who would rather eat oatmeal than chocolate chip pancakes?

Eli on the other hand devoured the pancakes.

I took this picture for the electronic invitations to their respective birthday parties.
For those who don’t already know, Cameron has always referred to his Grandma as “Baca”. (Yes we all know what that means in Spanish.) I’m not sure how it got started but he has Baca Hall and Baca Bird. In the afternoon on his birthday Baca Hall brought by a present for him. It was a dozen little horses that he loves. I’ll have to get a picture later of the horses and of him riding his scooter from Baca Bird. Baca Hall.
I have never attempted to decorate a birthday cake before. So cut me some slack. It was a lot harder than it looked. But Cameron appreciated it. He even made me race the cars with him after we sang Happy Birthday.
The spiderman scooter from the Bird’s. Cameron is still mastering the skill of riding it but he sure has fun.

Eli’s birthday was on March 30th. Cameron’s was April 1st so I am all partied out. (I said I wanted my kids two years apart, and we just about got it spot on.) Cameron’s birthday pictures coming soon.
Eli enjoyed opening his presents. You can see that Cameron could hardly stand by without stepping in and helping.

I think for Eli the highlight of his birthday was this pear. He was sitting on Lori’s lap and while she wasn’t looking he grabbed it and took a bite. I thought, what the heck it’s his birthday. He ate almost the entire pear except the hard part in the middle where the seeds are. It blew us away.

So this tag says to find the nearest book and turn to the 123rd page and write the 5th line. Well the books nearest to me are Richard’s old accounting books. BORING. So I decided to modify the tag and pick the book I am currently reading “The Secret Life of Bees”.
Here it is:
“That night, when the darkness was weighed down with singing crickets and Rosaleen was snoring right along with them, I had myself a good cry.”
I can’t say that anyone named Rosaleen snores around my house, but I’ve sure had myself a good cry now and then.
I tag Nicole and Adri.

This is the newest member of our family. I use that phrase loosely, she won’t be in any family photos or anything. Her name is Misha. (Pronounced Mee-sha). Here is the story: When Richard was interviewing for jobs he had two offers that we were considering. One was in Boise and the other in Las Vegas. I was looking for adventure and I wanted to go to Vegas. He felt better about the offer here and so he promised me a puppy as a consolation gift. He isn’t really a “dog person” so this was a big sacrifice. Well, conveniently for Richard we bought a house with no fence so I didn’t get a puppy. Fast forward 18 months and we are 3 weeks away from building our fence. A high school friend of Richard’s comes over for dinner and tells us that his parent’s dog Abby had a litter of puppies, looking for homes. The next day I went to meet the puppies and she stole my heart. Richard lived up to his end of the bargain and here she is.
We could not come up with a name and my dad who has a brilliant imagination was throwing things out there. I think he was only 10% serious when he said “Misha” but we liked it. She is a pure-bred Golden Retriever. I don’t really care about pedigree but it’s a nice bonus. Scott’s parent’s gave us a great deal.
Cameron loves this puppy. He asks about her first thing in the morning and first thing after his nap. She is currently residing in the garage (no fence) but he loves to take her in the backyard and “chase”.
I forgot how much I love puppies and dogs. They are so energizing. She loves to play and she is so trusting and affectionate. I love the way she looks at me expectingly and the way she cocks her head.
This is Eli looking on to the action. He loves her too. When we first brought her home he would just watch her and giggle. We are looking forward to warm weather again to spend more time outside with our new little buddy.

If you can’t tell, this is a sunshine. I love this time of year and I get so excited for Spring. Yesterday it was 60 degrees and I was driving with my windows down.

I know there are mixed opinions about this movie. There were things about it that I really didn’t like. But setting those things aside I thought it was very powerful. For me the mark of a good movie is if it makes me feel something (not including anger) and if it makes me think. I thought about this movie for days. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really love the first God’s Army and I had no intention of seeing the second one until I read my brother’s review. I hope he doesn’t mind if I share because he is a much better write than I am. After I saw the movie the review summed up my feelings very well.

And lastly, a new treat I discovered. I usually just put Nutella on crepes or toast, but the other day I had the brilliant idea to make a wafer-nutella sandwich. It was delicious. My new favorite treat.

I painted this dresser a long time ago and it really needed something. My first attempt was some sticker paper letters that Cameron peeled off. So I tried these little birds, decoupage. I got the idea from Martha.
I hope they aren’t too girly. I guess maybe I should have done cars or elephants. Oh well.
These are just empty food storage cans that I spray painted. They make good storage for little things.
Not very fancy but very cheap!