Kid Pics

I LOVE these pictures of my kids!!! It was a crazy day. We had one thing after another. We grabbed Hayden from his baseball game and Jackson from his soccer game and ran over to meet Katie to take the pictures. The kids changed in the car. I took off Hayden's baseball hat, and his hair was pretty bad! We did our best to look presentable--and I think they looked pretty good! Olivia was hilarious! She kept on doing poses for Katie. She probably had 5 times the poses of the boys. She was quite the diva. I'm definitely going to have her do pictures again--Katie Dawn Photography!

Easter Morning

There is still much more Easter fun to come this afternoon, but here is a quick look at what we did this morning. Eric's parents are here from Vernal, so the kids are loving having Easter with them. They end up coming here most Easters, so it is almost a tradition. Carter and Liv got bunny ears in their basket. Carter got some spiderman stuff and Liv got a Tamagachi. She told me yesterday that she was getting one. I asked her how the Easter Bunny knew she wanted one. She told me, "MOM, don't you remember??? You emailed him!" The boys got a gerbil. Don't ask me why. Hayden has been bugging me to get a pet forever. I finally broke down and told him he could get a gecko for Easter. He has been telling everyone. We went to the pet store yesterday and realized how expensive it would be to get everything that it required. When I heard from the saleslady that I would have to come twice a week to buy live bugs to feed the gecko, I decided against it. Jackson's friend Bailey was with us. His mom told me that she would happily give us her daughters gerbil--with everything and $10. You know you are in trouble when they offer to pay you to take it off their hands. I couldn't pass up free. When the kids stop taking care of it and playing with it at least we aren't out any money.

Eric loves to make a big yummy breakfast on Conference Sundays. Anita made sticky buns, and Eric made eggs, bacon and abelskivars. Ben and Tucker and the Guys came over between sessions. It has been such a great day so far. I love Easter and I love conference Sundays--so it is double greatness. It is so wonderful to be able to hear from our prophet and apostles and recommitt myself to do all the things that will make my family's life better and grow closer to Christ!

I guess I better stop blogging and get ready for my family to come over for dinner and egg hunt. More fun to come......

Spring Break

Last week we drove down to Utah for spring break. Jackson had his first soccer game and Hayden had a baseball tournament in Yakima on Saturday, so we left on Sunday. I drove to Missoula and then Eric drove the rest of the way. We didn't run into any weather, so it was fast. The kids were easy. I got to listen to my book and scrapbook on my laptop. The weather was pretty good on Sunday and Monday. Then on Tuesday the wind started blowing like a thousand miles per hour. I'm surprised our car didn't lift off the ground! Then Wednesday we woke up to a snow storm that didn't really stop. Considering we never really had snow this winter in Spokane, it wasn't that fun to go on vacation and get snow in April! Brenda and her kids met us in Alpine, and we hung out with Aria and her kids for a few days. Leif, Carter and Jorie are so cute together. Leif is over a year younger Carter and Jorie, so he isn't talking as much. When he is with them, though, he carries on the cutest little conversations. It is so fun to listen to them. Leif and Jorie are adorable! I just want to squeeze them and take them home with me!

We loved staying at Aria's, and the kids loved playing together. We mostly just hung out at home. We took the kids to Diary of a Wimpy Kid on Monday and then we played cards a ton. It is great that Aria and Brenda love to play games as much as I do! On Tuesday we visited our friends the Baileys that live really close to Aria and Parkers. We went to dinner and left the kids all at home with pizza. It is really the best way to do it. I love that we both have kids old enough to babysit. After that I had a super fun girl's night with Brenda and Aria and Brenda's friends Carrie, Becky and Jamie. They are great--Love hanging out with them!

Wednesday and Thursday night we stayed with Carrie. She is best friends with Brenda, so I have gotten to know her pretty well in the past few years. She is so nice and welcoming. We all wanted to stay at the same house, so the kids could be together as much as possible. It was super fun! On Thursday we took the kids to How to Train a Dragon. I thought it was so cute. Eric's cousin Penney came with her kids and so did Becky and her kids.

Thursday we had a birthday party for Carrie's dog Bruno. My kids loved it. We had cupcakes and sang. Olivia wanted to play dog games, but we ran out of time. Carrie's husband Ty thought the idea of a dog birthday was crazy, so he left before we sang happy birthday. We laughed a lot!!!

Wednesday I took the kids over to Penney's for haircuts. Jackson really wanted his hair highlighted and cut, so he could look like David Beckham. He now spends time everyday doing his hair. It is pretty funny, because he has never cared much before. He and Hayden were pretty funny with Carrie's daughter Maddie. They were both flirting a lot and she was back. I don't know if they knew they were flirting, but they were pretty funny!

Carter didn't want to smile for my picture. I guess he thought if he couldn't see me, that I couldn't take a picture of him.

Thursday night, Mark and Austin got into SLC to go to conference. My parents were there, too, so we all met at Tucanos for dinner. My kids had never been to a Brizilian BBQ before, and they thought it was the greatest thing ever. Tucanos is Eric's favorite, so it was a good night! We had to leave early Friday morning to get back for Eric's tennis match and the first Shock game of the season.

Random March

March definitely flew by this year. I don't like how time goes so fast. That means that the kids are getting older--and I want them to stay young! Olivia had a Reader's Celebration during school a few weeks ago. It was so exciting for her. She got to get up in front of the class and all the parents and read one of her stories. It was the first day of March Madness, and it started when there was only 7 minutes left in the BYU game. Luckily for Eric, he downloaded an app on his iphone that showed all the games. When all the other kids were up front, Eric had the sound off ofcourse, and he watched the game as they went into double overtime and finally won the game. Since Eric is usually at work or out of town for these types of things, she was soooooo happy to have her daddy there.

Hayden had his first baseball game of the season 2 weeks ago. I was laughing so hard, because his pants are kind of tight and his cup is kind of large. He looks pretty funny. He always walks funny and is constantly adjusting himself. When he first put it on for a practice, I heard a knock. I told Hayden to go get the door. He started laughing and told me that he was just knocking on his cup. He is pretty cute! We are not a baseball family. I went back and forth about him even playing baseball again. He plays soccer and likes it better. The problem was that most of his friends are on the baseball team, and he wanted to be with them. I hardly have to drive him, because our neighbor is an assistant coach and he drives them most of the time.

Olivia and Tucker at Chuck E Cheese. Tucker is Carter's best friend. He is the funniest little boy ever. I wish that him and Carter were my twins. He is so sweet. He always gives me hugs and snuggles with me.

Carter fell asleep in the car watching a movie.

This is a serious bad hair day!! Olivia can wake up with the worst hair ever. I don't know how she does it.

We met the Nelsons at Round Table for lunch one day. Olivia and Carter hung out with Milo.

Eric found a Florida sweatshirt at Kohls for $10. He bought it in honor of his cousin Ryan who is the hugest Gator fan ever!

Olivia loves skate night for school. She will wake up in the morning and tell me that it is the greatest day ever. I ask her why and she says--in only a way Olivia can, "Uh, skate night! Duh!" She is the cutest, tiniest little girl out on rollerblades. On St. Patrick's Day, we went to my friend's house for a green dinner. It was delicious! The Ribs weren't green, but pretty much everything else was. My kids ate quickly and ran downstairs to play. Not Hayden, though. He stood over the ribs eating and groaning about how good they were. He is hilarious. He just really loves food. I volunteered in his class and was correcting papers. One of the questions said to name something they cherished. All the kids said things like--my family, my mom and dad, my home, my sister, my dog, etc. Hayden's said, "I cherish FOOD!" That is so Hayden. We broke out the boxing gloves after dinner.