The Klein/Allen Clan: April 2012

Eric's brother Doug (left) got his mission call to Paraguay and left this month.

Here Doug is in December reading his mission call.

Look how blonde she looks here! Must have been the flash...

A favorite picture taken from a night at Grandma Luke's.

Sundays at Grandma Luke's.

I love this. Ava took her pants off by herself and put on Abbey's tutu and fancy shoes. The diaper underneath adds that special touch. :)
Another cute thing Ava does these days is call herself "Beeba." Adorable. :)

This is adorable. It was taken and James and Wendi's the day we went to Eric's cousin's baby blessing.

Eric took this picture of when he was working at City Creek. This was an especially monumental moment because he was at the Disney store (before completion.)

Andi and Uncle Daniel at baby Gig's blessing.

This was such a cute moment. Andi and Joann just hugged for what seemed like five minutes. This was at Gigi's blessing. This was a memorable day. Bethany made such a point of welcoming Eric and the girls to the family. I've been so grateful and impressed by the Allen/Schmitz clan for all their support during so many changes.

Gig's blessing get-together. Grandma Cathi is holding Gigi, Maelee's on the bottom left, and Isaac, on the right, is helping us.

Goin' to get the mail in Eric's boots. Hey, it was snowy outside.

Bowling at Boondocks!

Andi holding the ball all by herself!

I'm cool.

This was taken at Grandma Cathi's on Easter Sunday.

This has got to be the BEST picture ever. Hangin' at the Luke's, wearing Grandma and Grandpa's glasses.

Here I am faithfully executing another successful family home evening lesson. :)

Sisters with their new toys--a Rapunzel dress and a Belle doll.

I love this--One day at Andi's preschool they talked about bugs. So all day long she wanted to go outside and look for bugs. Luckily Eric was willing to help her on her quest. :)

Here Eric is relaxing at the cabin in Bear Lake.

Eric and I went to the cabin at the first of the month...Just the two of us! Here we are enjoying ourselves.
Beverly was kind to offer to tend Abbey and Ava for a few days during Abbey's spring break, and Andi got to go to Grandma Luke's. So this trip at the cabin was super relaxing--Lots of movies, a few good runs into Garden City, and some good eating. Eric also taught me how to play games on his iPod that weekend. He's regretting that now. :)
We were also able to watch General Conference up there that weekend. I have grown to love being up at the cabin during conference weekend. There were three talks that I particularly liked. Maybe I'll write about them later.

Abbey, Lydia, Chloe, and Andi at the new Disney store at the NEW City Creek Center. All the Luke girls gathered for a Girls Night Out to check out this new mall. And of course we had to stop by the Disney store.

Disney store fun.

After the huge windstorm in December of last year, Dad found this princess chair in his yard. No one claimed it, so he appropriately passed it on to our very own princesses, Andi and Abbey. :)

I decided to put up on the wall that quote I put on our wedding announcement. It perfectly articulates the message and mantra of our little family.

Decorating Easter eggs! The girls really got into it. Andi's been asking to do it again ever since. (She actually made some pretty killer-lookin' eggs!)
After all the Easter festivities were over, Abbey said to me, "This was the best Easter ever." I know she doesn't even remember other Easters, so that's not necessarily the case, but it was good to hear. It was a special holiday. Easter itself has become much more meaningful the past couple years.

Another bowling picture--Eric did awesome at bowling that night! (And he ended up bowling for both him and Ava when Ava started getting pooped.)

My darling Harry basking in the sun.
The other day Eric and I were with my dad. I had brought Harry along with us and I think Dad was making fun of me for bringing my dog everywhere and doting on him so much. After making fun of me, though, he turned to Eric and said, "You gotta' remember this dog was 'the man" in Lisa's life for a while." It made me chuckle. I'm pretty sure that's why Michael got Harry for me in the first place--So I'd have someone to keep me company when Michael was absent. His plan has worked, fortunately and unfortunately.

At Boondocks

Andi and Abbey at Farmington's Easter Egg Hunt

One of Michael's best friends, "Bones," and his family. They were at the hunt with us.

Aunt Bethany and Grandma Cathi joined us at the Farmington egg hunt. It was a good tradition to start, I think. Here's Bethany with baby Gigi.

Eric is always so good about joining us on our all the nonstop kid outings we have--Including this outing to Farmington's egg hunt. Notice Ava already found the candy in the Easter eggs. She did very well at finding eggs that morning! She caught on quickly...

Ava on Easter, all dressed up. That blue seems to be her color...She truly just looked stunning that day. So sweet.

Andi off to preschool one morning, looking like a doll. :) ...And holding her new Easter bunny.

We spent a weekend down in St. George with the Zimmermans at their house down there. Here's Grandma Beverly with her darling girls.
This was a successful trip, I think. We got to spend some needed quality time with the Zimmermans before they left to Spain on their mission. We were able to give the girls plenty of swimming time, and Eric and I were even able to go do a session at "our" temple while down there.
Neat experience and nice weekend.

Me, Andi, Chloe, Abbey, and Grandma Luke at the Capitol Theater to see "The Little Mermaid" ballet. It was a fun night! I was surprised at how well Abbey and Andi sat through it and took interest in it. Very cute.
My favorite comment that night came from cute Abbey. At the beginning of the show, Abbey turned to me and said, "I think they've been practicing!" :)

Celebrating Sheri's birthday with the Zimmerman family. The annual balloon launch. Such a sweet tradition.

The girls are learning to ride their bikes so well in our cul-de-sac! Andi's loving her new scooter and Abbey's getting to be a pro on her bike. Ava's still working on her trike skills, so sometimes she likes to push her baby stroller.

Abbey and Eric worked together to do an art contest for school. The theme was something about water conservation. I was so impressed by their collective creativity! Eric not only flexed his artist muscles during this project, but he also reminded me of what a good daddy he is.

Here's Grandma Luke and the girls at the Brigham City cemetery. This is a special place for my mom's family. It's a beautiful time of year there, too...The cemetery is lined with lilacs.
I thought it would be a good outing for us girls. The whole day had a special spirit. I know it's cheesy, but after everything me and my family have been through, I have such a passion for caring about those who went before us and honoring their memory. My poor mom has had her fragile heart broken so many times with death, so that's another reason why I feel it important to be with her on those visits--To give her support in honoring our loved ones. For me, it seems therapeutic to take the time to honor those we love, so I want to be there for my mom when she's making the effort to do so.

Riding bikes in the garage...A favorite activity as of late.

Eric did some editing on this picture. She's beautiful, what can I say?!
And she's been particularly perceptive lately.
A few weeks ago Abbey got out her old home videos of when she was with her mom as a baby. Each of the girls watched that intently. So afterwards Andi asked me to make her a video of her when she was a baby with her Daddy Michael. So the next day I compiled all those videos onto a disc for her.
So interesting watching the wheels turning in her head. As she watched the parts with me and Michael playing with her together, she said under her breath, "I have a mommy AND a daddy."
Yes, darling Andi, you do. You do.

And here are two more beautiful girls below...