Dear Blog,

I wanted you to know I have been thinking about you. It may not seem that way as I have neglected you for almost an entire month now(...is the month of April really almost over? And I have yet to come visit you?!)

AH. Well, I am sorry.

I know you have been in want of my attention.

I have looked your way from time to time with good intention;

Longing to come face to face with you to tell you of my latest invention.
(I sometimes can't hold back my sudden outburst of poetic words. Forgive me.)

However, as bad as it may seem that I haven't visited you, please be rest assured that I have not dumped you. No. Not at all in fact. Because you see, I have heard for our relationship to grow stronger, absence is what makes the heart grow fonder...

Is that not right?

So, in doing so, I have actually taken this relationship to the next step. Which is why I am here now to embrace, connect, and share with you what we have been up to this last month we have been apart.

You ready?

Madisen turned 5. How in the world she grew up so fast, I have no idea. We threw her a dinosaur birthday party she always wanted.
We played games...

Pin the dinosaur to the...? Board?

Drop the dinosaur in the cup, which most of the kids turned it into, "Put the dinosaur up the nose, first". lol.

Ryan read and talked to them about dinosaurs and fossils while Aunt Genn and I served dinosaur chicken nuggets and dinosaur sandwiches.
Then we headed outside to find some dinosaur fossils.
All of the kids really got into it. Digging and searching for fossils and dinosaurs! Well, most of them anyway... This is cute little Abby. She liked the swings most. :)

After finding most of the fossils we headed back inside for CAKE! And of course it had to be a dinosaur cake...

It was a BIG hit with Madi...
However, it did weird things to the others...

(Happy Birthday Madi-Lynn! We are glad you were born! Love you!)

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Another birthday celebration I would like to share with you that you missed out on was Emily's.

Emily... our little Em turned ONE.
Here was her Birthday heart-shaped cake:

Delicious! As you can tell, she dug right in with no fear! She pretty much destroyed the thing.
(Happy Birthday sweet Emily! We love you!)

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We also spent a weekend at my parent's house in Rexburg. The girls spent most of that time outside playing on these...

And with Aunt Celeste...

Ryan and I had the opportunity to attend a beautiful wedding. Our good friend, Sarah got remarried to an amazing guy named Adam. They both looked gorgeous! And we are very very happy for them!

We also got to hang out with some old friends from college: Dave and Melissa Geddes, who is expecting their second baby! We had such a great time laughing and hanging out with them. Love those guys!

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And the other BIG thing that happened was I threw a baby shower/going away party for a dear friend of mine in our ward and also my workout buddy for the last two years. This is Emily Shurtliff. She is having twin boys! Isn't she beautiful!?

We had over 30 ladies come from the ward to wish Emily Congrats on her twins and say goodbye to her as she was moving out of the ward after five years! She will be greatly missed!
The cute pregnant ladies in our ward: Angela, Leeann, and Emily. (Missing Jami)(And a BIG thanks goes to Leeann Robinson and Emily Shuman for their help with the shower! They helped make food and do invitations. Thanks girls!)

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And lastly, dear Blog, I have been training for a Half Marathon. My friend, Emily Shuman and I have been training for three weeks now and besides last Monday where I was deathly sick, throwing up and well, other nasty stuff I won't get into, it's been going pretty good. But I am better now and on the run again. Emily is a bit faster than me so it's been good to be pushed beyond my limit.

No, this isn't a picture of me. I am pasty white and chubbier. But thanks!

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Well, Blog. I am glad we had this chance to get together today. It's been fun. Let's not let another month go by without saying hi!

With Lots of Love,

Christy