Easter

I am terribly far behind on posting! I just need to take it one post at a time, so I will start with Easter.

The day before Easter we dyed eggs with the kids. I admit I was planning in skipping this, as it is not my favorite thing to do. But I decided at the last minute to suck it up and do it. I am glad that I did because the kids had so much fun and it wasn't as big of an ordeal as I remember it being in the past. I let the kids each have 6 eggs, and they dipped and decorated... and re-dipped and re-decorated until they looked just right (or brown from too much dipping!)

Now most people eat their eggs after they have decorated them. Well apparently not in my family. I put all of the eggs in the fridge so they would stay cool, and be there when we wanted to eat them. A few hours later I noticed a few eggs missing from the cartons. It turns out that the kids decided to make them "pet eggs" instead, so they brought them out to the tent we had set up in the backyard and had them "sleeping" in the sleeping bags. LOL it was one of those moments that I just had to laugh. My kids aren't very fond of hard boiled eggs to eat anyways, so I am glad they got some use out of them!



This year Easter fell upon General Conference weekend. We normally have church at 8:30 am, so it was really nice to not have to worry about getting up early and rushing to get ready, all the while trying to hunt for Easter eggs and Easter baskets. Although we didn't get to sleep in, because the kids were in our room ready to start hunting at 6:30! Here is sweet Tori patiently waiting until we gave the go ahead to go down.

When they heard I was snapping pictures, everyone else had to peek out as well. Don't you love Brandon's beard first thing in the morning? Hair first thing in the morning is called "bed head" so does that mean beards are called "bed beard"? lol, corny, I know. He actually shaved it all off a few days later. Woohoo!! (woops, did I just say that??)

The kids all had so much fun hunting for their baskets. Levi's was behind our big bean bag, Tori's was behind a chair in Brandon's office, and Alexis's was inside one of our ottomans. (She thought she would never find it!) Here are some pictures we took as they hunted for eggs, and explored their baskets.

When I was taking this picture, I had the kids say "Happy Easter" When I snapped the picture, Tori was just saying the "ster" part of Easter, lol.

Brandon watching the kids having fun...

....and making sure they could reach the high eggs!

I love the excited expression on Tori's face in this picture.

Levi is always ready to pose for a picture!

Here's an action shot of Alexis trying to get as many eggs as she could!

Here's Tori a little later on in the day showing off the fake nails and dangly earrings she got in her basket. Let me just tell you, after a week of applying and reapplying those nails on both

Alexis and Tori, I decided that we will not being purchasing any more for a very long time!!

It was so nice having Conference on Easter Sunday. We loved being able to relax and spend time as a family. Conference was wonderful. I loved how most of the talks focused on the family. So many things were said that I really needed to hear. I can't wait to get the conference Ensign so I can read them all again!

Later that afternoon, after the second session of conference, we headed over to my mom and dad's for a nice traditional ham dinner. I brought my camera but didn't take one picture!! =( We had so much fun just hanging out and visiting. We even got my mom and dad to play a round of old maid. It got down to just my mom and dad, and it was quite hilarious watching them both trying to trick each other into picking the old maid! lol

We had such a great low key day. I was so fun to be together as a family. If only all Easter's could be that relaxing! At least next year we will have 11:30 church =)

NOT my idea of spring =)

It seems like I was just barely saying, "Spring is in the air". Well today....not so much. We are in the middle of a blizzard here in Colorado. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. That is usually how things go here! Yesterday the kids were running around barefoot outside in 70 degree weather. Today they were bundled up, making snow angels and drinking hot chocolate! Here is Tori and her BFF (as they like to declare) enjoying some hot chocolate and strawberries.

I am counting on Crazy Colorado to give us some more 70 degree days, very soon!

Saint Patrick's Day Fun

In years past I haven't really done anything special for Saint Patrick's Day. This year I decided the change things up a bit. I had a lot of fun thinking up a few fun things for the day. The kids woke up to a pot of "gold", some yummy green cereal and green juice! We don't usually have sugary cereal or juice so this was a special treat for them! Brandon even got up early with us to join in on the fun. Here he is pouring some of the green milk into his cereal.

Levi was very hesitant to try the cereal =)

It tuns out that the juice bottle was the only part of the drink that was green, so I was glad that I had made some green ice cubes the night before so we could add some green to it!

I could see the sugar set in right away! lol These monkeys were full of giggles all morning =)

I wanted to get a few pictures of the kids in their green attire. They decided they wanted to do some cute poses, and came up with them all on their own. They were so cute and having so much fun.

I happened to be signed up to be the parent helper in Levi's preschool class, so we decided to bring some green snacks to share. We brought green pear flavored pudding and green grapes.

For dinner we made Chicken Pesto Pizza with green pizza crust, and jello pots of gold. Tori and Levi helped me make the pizza. They loved each different step.

Saint Patrick's Day was a fun success!!

Spring Is In The Air

I LOVE Spring. It is my favorite season. Maybe because I really don't care for Winter, and am just always so excited when it's over. As soon as the first signs of spring begin, I instantly feel a change in my mood. I am happier, more motivated, and just an all around more pleasant person! This past week it has started to warm up and we have gotten a taste of spring. I am in heaven. I have gotten more accomplished in these past few days then I have gotten done in a long time! My kids are really enjoying the change in the weather too. They are really enjoying playing outside instead of laying around the house complaining that there isn't anything to do. A few nights ago they stayed outside from the time Alexis got home from school until I made them come in to get ready for bed. It was so good to see them having fun doing something else besides watching t.v. and playing video and computer games. It also helps that our new house has an awesome back yard that is actually flat! Here are some cute pictures I snapped of them. It was starting to get darker and a little more chilly so they decided to bring the space heater out to keep them warm. After a while they thought up the idea to roast marshmallows over the space heater. LOL It actually worked!







The next day was really nice as well so Tori and Levi headed out during the day for more playing. Here is Levi practicing some soccer moves. If you look closely you can see that his hair is done in a Mohawk. He has been really into doing his own hair lately and loves that he can make it stand up straight like a "shark" =)


I am not ashamed to say that I love Good Will. I have found some really great things there and it's one of my favorite places to shop! lol Our latest find was two little girls guitars in excellent condition. Brandon being the avid guitar player that he is snatched them up right away. He has been having a lot of fun giving the girls guitar lessons. On that same warm day that Levi was out playing soccer, Tori brought her guitar out to play on the deck. I love the pictures I captured of her. After a while Brandon brought his guitar out and they had fun playing together. They even played a song together. I posted the video at the end

Today I left the house to get Tori from school. I didn't bother putting on a jacket because I figured that we were going to have another warm day. As I started to drive away I noticed little white specks falling from the sky. Snow!! Oh well, It was nice while it lasted =)

Funny Little Guy

My kids have been saying some pretty funny things lately. I always think that I need to write it down so I don't forget, but then I never write it down, and then sure enough... I forget =(. I decided I just need to blog about it right away so I have it recorded somewhere!


Today I went grocery shopping, Levi didn't have preschool so he went with me. As we were walking through the store he kept pointing to things and wanting me to get them. When we were getting yogurt he pointed to the "Danimals" which is a yogurt drink and told me how he had them at preschool and that they were so yummy. I caved and decided to buy them. With a big grin on his face, he proudly placed them in his lap in the cart and declared, "Lexi and Tori are going to be so proud of me!!" LOL