This happens when MOM is in Cali and Dad @ Home alone

My Baby Brother

...graduated today! I got teary thinking that he is so grown up now. And the last Aldrich to graduate from OHS. He is such a handsome talented wonderful boy. I love you, Jolie Kitten!

sidenote: Rebecca thought Joel was a celebrity because she watched him "walk". She was a little scared of him for a second...you can see in one of those pictures.
I also ran into a student from my very first year teaching.
The fabulous Michael Bronson:

My little third graders are going out into the world!


For Joel's 18th birthday (on the 18th of May), he and I went out around town to collect 18 things. Above are pictures I took with his friends that we ran into on our journey. Um, yah...he a little bit popular. Holy COW.

Julio

(above: Stan, Jorg, Julio, Daniel, Roberto)
Monday we went to an awesome bbq for Julio. He and his beautiful wife and daughter are moving back to Mexico. Jorg's good friend, Daniel, put it all together.

The party was in Stan's backyard where they had chickens, hens, chickies, and a bee farm! Rebecca had a blast petting the chickies. And we bought 5 pounds of honey to take home with us. The house is near the Provo temple, so we think some of the nectar is from the flowers on the temple grounds. Pretty spiffy.
We are going to miss the Sonoro family!

Something New

Last week, Omi and Grandpa came down for a visit. They set up a new swing set for the luckiest girl! They also brought a little sand box. Rebecca enjoys our backyard so much, thanks to these two.

And Birgit made me a birthday cake! It is in the shape of a butterfly and has little ice cream cones on top. We all know I love ice cream!!!
Thank you sooooooo much, Birgit and Jim!

I turned 29 again!

Horray! Party! Balloons! Hor-ray!
Okay, there was no party or balloons. But there WAs:
morning cheesecake
Wii Fit hidden in the backyard
lunch with friends (thanks Tanya, Georgia, and Corinne!)
shopping
movie with Jorg
visit and babysitting from my mom
gourmet cupcakes (thanks, Em!)
phone calls, messages, mail, and email from loved ones
ice cream

playing at the park

hugs and kissies from my girl and eternal boyfriend
I liked it
Thank you so much for the birthday love!

Lane and Kim

My cutie pie brother got engaged over the weekend to Kim!
She's great and we love her.
Congratulations, you two! Check out their blog.

Cherry Baby

I have no idea how we survived the winter. Playing outside is fun!
We like it!

Terrific at Two

Party!

Thanks to our personal party photographer: Emily, of course!

The Pre-Party

Our girl was so, so, so excited for her party!

Can you tell?

Young McBecca Had a Farm,

again!Jorg took three days off this week and we played and played!
One day we went to Farm Country.

We like Farm Country!
Click here and here for past fun on the farm.

Making Stuff

for my mom's nursery,
and

for our girl's birthday party!

I got the idea for the blocks from my friend, Abby!
I got the wood cut at Lowe's,
sanded & stained them,
cut all the paper pieces (pictures also printed on paper),
modge-podged everything...layer by layer.
If you do this, don't get worried when everything puckers.
It will lay flat when it dries.
Tied ribbons.

Also,
I got the idea for the magnets from my friend, Corinne.
Tutorial here.

More Birthday

Here is the clown cake made by Birgit. So cute, so yummy!
and...by the way...
Welcome back, Omi!!
She was in Germany for 3 weeks. Rebecca would ask us about her, and then answer her own question, saying, "German, Annalie, Mehee (Michi), Tristin (Kristin), Berdit (Berit)"
She brought us lots of goodies and it's so good to have her back.

(more birthday posts to come)

Girl's Night

While our husbands were both out of town on business, my friend Corinne and her girls came over for a girl's night! Corinne brought yummy treats and
The little girls got to put on some make-up.
Corinne did our nails...
She's pretty much a professional.

Her girls are so sweet and (obviously) beautiful. Rebecca just loves them!
She was snuggling up to Nicole all night.

So silly!

Thanks for a fun night, gals!

Joel's Got Talent

Rebecca and I visited my old high school to watch Uncle Joel perform in the Prom Assembly. I ran into some former third graders (the first class I taught is now GRADUATING from high school!) and my heart was full of pride, seeing the wonderful young adults they have become. I also felt just a little old!

We are so proud of Uncle Joel!

These two sound amazing!

2 Years of Sweetness!

These are some of my favorite pictures and they bring tears to my eyes. She is so darn cute!

And here she is today, on her official day of birth!

Omi and Grandpa came to spend the afternoon. We had a little party and lots of smiles and laughs with our girl.

Jorg was in Europe on business this week and arrived home today. We're so glad to have him back! But I have to say that I grew even closer to Rebecca this week...if that's possible. Every time I would start feeling lonely for Jorg, it seems like she could sense it. She gave me so many "huggies and tisses". We had a blast together, just the two of us. I couldn't love this little girl more, and I'm so thankful she's ours!

My Mommy

Is
pretty
generous
loving
knowledge-seeking
talented
faithful
giving
and
We love you, mom!

Happy Birthday!

We ate at Iggy's

and went to see Earth. It was Rebecca's first movie and she loved...

The B-I-G television!
She kept saying, "big, big!" We loved the movie and the amazing animals that kept our girl entertained. I took her on little walks and let her run up and down the halls a couple of times. She did really well.

Politeness of a Toddler

P.S. You'll notice it's when she's with daddy that she gets to eat the junk food. Mom was not present for the ice cream movie, nor this one with the chips (chips, which Jorg hides in his car!)...next up: french fries.

The Hunt

We had our traditional egg hunt at my parent's house, the day after Easter. There is a little cash for the big kids {cha-ching!} involved.
The picture top right picture (below) is Rebecca showing her "ouch"es to Kim (Lane's gf). The "ouch"es are very old news. She had some small cuts that healed weeks ago. But she gets that tragic look on her face and whips out the fingers (on the wrong hand most of the time). She'll show anyone who she thinks will give her sympathy.
She makes us laugh!

and finally,
Jorg's Cheeser!
(And we wonder where she gets it?)

Cutest Easter "Chickies"

Pictures taken by Emily at Aunt Kay and Margaret's Easter party.
The precious dresses were from my precious mom!

Caleb Talmage Viveros

My wonderful friend Kimmy had a beautiful baby boy on Easter.
Congratulations, Kim and Chris!

I can't wait to visit in June!

Princess Sightings

Saturday we visited Temple Square. I felt too cheesy taking pictures of the many brides on the temple grounds, but Rebecca was so excited about them! When we could see one in the distance, she would yell, "princess!" But when we got closer, she would cling to me and hide her head.
She was star-struck. It was too cute.

The flowers were spectacular!
It was a walk down memory lane visiting the temple where Jorg and I were married and remembering that special day.
And it was an especially great day to visit the Christus. Being Easter weekend, I was remeinded that Jesus lives and is my Savior. Rebecca knows His name and kept saying it. She noticed the "ouch"es on His hands. I'm so thankful for His sacrifice for me, for Jorg, for Rebecca, for our future children, and for all of us.