Sleeping Beauty was Awesome! She came and did some magic tricks for the girls (and adults)with live animals. She had the girls blow wishes into a box and then out popped a white dove. Her next trick she had the girls help her make a birthday cake. The girls put things in the pan and said some magic words then POOF out came a real bunny. She did a ton of magic tricks and made the day so much fun!
We have started a little tradition in our home for birthdays. We decorate the kitchen and the kids wake up to a "Party". Charlotte was so excited to wake up to her party and open her presents. Thank you to Nana and Papa for her cute bag and sunglasses. She loves them! 
We bought Char a motorized Gator for her birthday. She loves it but I think Emily loves it even more!
Charlotte really has been the light of our hearts. She is spunky, funny, a show off, loving, and is a really good sister. We are so blessed to have her in our family.
The Purse:
The Stash:
As I wrote earlier Char has a hording problem. Any purse, bag, grocery sack, or pretty much anything with some sort of pouch she will fill. If Charlotte comes to your house and you find you are missing things, she most likely has it stuffed in a bag. The other night I found her purse ready to explode with all of the goodies she has stashed and this is what I found. Here is a quick run down of a few things in there. 3 phones, 2 mirrors, money, 3 pens, dead flowers, some kind of booklet, makeup, and a few hundred other things. We sure do love our little squirrel!!
After making the jam the kids and I stayed and played with my mom and dad. My dad was mowing the lawn, and we all know how much William loves that. So my dad let Will help him sweep up the grass clippings on the driveway.
The girls got the motorized jeep out and took a ride around the circle. William loves the jeep so Emily took him for a ride. He honestly sqeels when he rides in that thing, it is the cutest!
I went out to my mom's to learn how to make raspberry jam. I always thought it was really hard and really time consuming. I was wrong. Mix a few things together and let the jam set up and voila, ready to freeze or eat! 
The finished product. Nice jam for my little family. Char and I had some and it is really good. It tasted like candy!
Emily has really taken up cooking for the family. She got a cute new apron from her Nana for her birthday and she loves putting it on and cooking for us. She woke up and decided to make pancakes for us this morning. She is getting really good and I really don't need to help much anymore. Charlotte is starting to get the bug and loves to help as well.
Charlotte is going to start preschool this fall and she is getting ready. She has been so curious as to what letters are what and learning the ABC's song.
William loves to be apart of the "Manly World". When anyone is using any kind of a power tool he must be involved. Friday night John was mowing our lawn, as you can see it desperately needed it. William followed him around the yard and was yelling at him because John was ignoring him. John picked him up and walked around the yard with Will on the mower. He was so happy and could have been there all night. Of course Charlotte got jealous and she wanted a turn pushing it.
The Rules:
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
1. What I was doing 10 years ago: Playing carelessly and working full time I'm sure.
2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): Take Charlotte to dance class, buy goodies for Char's birthday party, get some summer clothes for all of my kids, play with my mom, go to Enrichment.
3. Snacks I enjoy: Trail mix from Costco, ice cream bars, pretty much anything salty and sweet.
4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire: Pay off all of our debts, buy land and build a new house for my in-laws so they will move by us, travel, and shop.
5. Places I have lived: Utah, I know pretty sad!
I will tag anyone who wants to do this :)
I promised some pictures of the basement with paint so enjoy! We should be getting carpet in the next couple of weeks!!
This is Johnny after spraying the basement, he is so hot!
I know it looks like it is snowing inside but I think my camera is jacked up. This is the office, federal blue.
The family room
The play room
Charlotte has become the latest fan of Hannah Montana. She loves what Emily loves and so she obviously has fallen for her. She sings this song for everyone she meets and loves to perform.
I have not posted for an eternity it seems like. I do have pictures to post, but for now you will have to just read. For Memorial weekend our family headed down to Wildwood and spent the weekend there. Wildwood is the place where my family has a cabin and has had a cabin for like 100 years. It rained all weekend, but it was so nice to just sit and read and watch movies. The girls played at the park and Emily has a friend that lives there so she was also busy with her. William hung out with his boring old parents back at the cabin. My sister and her family came down for one night and most of Saturday. The cousins have so much fun playing with each other. John has been REALLY busy with work. He got a new boss and has been adjusting, thus working more hours. Our yard, like every year, is a slow long process. Most of you know that we flood like 14 times a summer and so far our windows are filling up with water but not getting into the house, yet. This year it will be fixed and we won't be flooding any more. We created some new flower beds and did some curbing last fall to make the yard look a little better. I will post some pics once we plant the shrubs and flowers that are waiting anxiously in the front flower bed. Our basement is coming along nicely. We have started painting and are almost finished. Emily's room is the last room to be painted due to the multiple colors and the difficulty. She is really excited to move downstairs and have a more mature bedroom. I've got some really cute ideas for her room and I am so excited to get her room finished. Charlotte is turning 3 on June 13 and she is a little spit fire. She cries over pretty much everything and she has become a horder. She loves to find purses, back packs, boxes, and grocery sacks and fill them up with everything. When we go over to my friends house she almost inevidibly comes home with 2-3 things from her house. When she has a good stash going on I will show you what I mean. William is starting to run (without bending his knees) and he is getting his bottom 2 molars. For the love will they come in already!?! He is getting so big and he is learning to taunt his sister like she does to him. I am just keeping up with my babies and getting ready for a LONG summer with all 3 kids. Emily got D track for next year so that means she gets out on June 6 and doesn't go back to school until August or September. I will post some pics so you can see how big the kids are and I will post pics of the basement. Until then toodles!
Ajoining the homesite is a place where John Adams grandson, Charles Francis Adams constructed the first ever presidential library. In 1870, the structure was completed and it houses over 12,000 volumes. There is little of the Adams presidency in the library. Instead, the volumes are all books that John and his son John Quincy read. The tilework inside is imported Italian tile. The pattern is ornate and designed by Charles Francis himself... there is an error in the tilework, a piece purposely put out of place. It was Charles way of telling the world that only God was perfect. I wish we were allowed to take photos inside. The library was my favorite part of this two hour time-travel.
The last stop is United First Parish Church in Quincy, Mass. We drove by, but didn't get out. It's the burial place of John Adams, his wife Abigail, John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa are entombed. It is the only place where two related presidents and their wives are buried in the same place...
Emily was baptized on May 3, 2008 by her dad John Knotwell. Both of her families were there to celebrate this special day. She was so nervous about getting baptized that she was in tears before she walked out to get in the water. We had to take a couple of deep breaths and calm her down. I think she was crying because I started crying when I saw her in her white jumpsuit. I was so proud of her and I had remembered my special day oh so many decades ago. Once she got baptized, she was all smiles and ready to be a member of our church. John and I gave her some new scriptures for her baptism and she was so excited to start reading them and marking them. We explained that she should mark the versus that made her feel happy and think about Jesus. So I went in to check on her while she was reading and she had marked a scripture. I looked over to read the verse and the verse was 1 Nephi 1:2. After you read this verse you will see why this is so cute.
