photos from over the weekend

The family chose to wait for us to be in town to celebrate the Easter holiday so we got together on Saturday for the festivities. Lori put together games (aka family Olympics) for us all to participate in. Ahead of time she drew names and gave each adult a kid partner. Above is the picture of all of us with our partners. My favorite combo was Randy and Megan because they're buddies or at least according to her.


My partner was Austin.

First game on the list was blindfold crochet. It's actually a lot of fun to play, but more fun to watch.


Adam's partner was Ashely, the youngest, so he had a lot of helpers. Poor guy he still came in last.


Olivia for whatever reason wasn't giving Jill instructions so they ended up switching places. Even then I'm not sure she was completely blindfolded.


Megan was great at guiding Randy to his ball. Poor Randy got yanked around.


Whitney guiding Robyn. I thought it was funny, Whitney and Bella both would say things like, "go that way" by pointing their finger. Not a lot of help when your blindfolded.


Adam hanging with his partner while the other still played.


Jared and Tess did as well as was expected. Tess said she had tons of fun.


Austin and I rocked it. He was really good or else it was my instructions. Hard to tell. :)


Lori and Landon were tough to beat...


but Bella and Nana still beat them.




Love that my in-laws have chickens.


We also played four squared and added that score to our crochet score. I totally lost it for Austin and I by playing so poorly. Jill stayed in the whole time and never got out.


We also had an egg hunt.


They kids always have to do a count.


At the end it was Bella and Nana who won all the events. Adam shot them with silly string as it was announced. Bella was thrilled.


Lori and Landon took 2nd.
Robyn and Whitney took 3rd.
and in case your were interested, Austin and I took 4th...just sort of a metal.

spring break in photos | part 2

We went to the art festival.


Not only did we enjoy the sun, but we ate up the festival food which sadly ended up being sub-par.




Flowers because I'm craving them today.


They did surprisingly well listening to conference while coloring.


Bella of course ended up taking notes...all four hours.


Can't let Easter go by without coloring eggs.


Every time her mom took a picture of her she'd say, "lemme see" or something like that. So cute.


egg hunt.




Bella took a break from notes Sunday morning and colored with Tess instead.


On the way home Adam had copied lyrics for the girls and we had a family sing-a-long. I was surprised he thought to do it in advance, not to mention he's not a big singer. Of course it was songs he could get behind. We had a lot of fun.

rewind

It rained all night long and the sound of it actually brought me comfort. Adam's been out of town, he'll be home tomorrow, and the pitter patter outside made the house feel not so still and quiet.



I watched all morning as the weather gradually turned from rain to snow and decided early on that today was a stay at home day, pjs and all, so I hunkered in and got some house stuff done like organizing the pantry, cleaning bathrooms & laundry. I love days at home.

Megan's friend Hanna, Crystalyn's daughter, came over this afternoon so while they played tea party, dress up, and play-doh I was able to look through the photos from this past weekend. Even though it looks like Christmas outside the photos helped keep me in perspective. It is spring...right?

rewind to Easter weekend...





Saturday we had an inside Easter egg hunt (it was raining) with Adam's family. We had so many eggs we actually didn't hide them all because we didn't have enough hiding spots. We had a fabulous turkey dinner, it rivaled the best Thanksgiving feast, followed up by a singstar competition. With the most modest of intentions I share that I was the winner! Okay, I admit, I am thrilled about the win and it almost wasn't mine. I beat Robyn by a mere 10 points to get in the semi-finals.

Easter Sunday started out peaceful with a beautiful lesson/message of Christ's resurrection at church. I read again the beautiful words of Elder Jeffery R. Holland from conference two weeks ago. How grateful I feel for the knowledge of Christ's sacrifice and the hope and peace it brings to my life when so many things around me can feel out of control.





After church we spent the evening with my family. We had another Easter egg hunt, it was a beautiful spring day so we were able to do it outside. It's always interesting to see who stops to help out the little ones and who is so preoccupied with finding eggs they haven't a clue anyone else is around. Half way through, the three in the photo above, stopped and compared eggs only to go at it again when we told them there were still eggs to be found.

Last, but not least, it seems Easter weekend wouldn't be complete with out new dresses.



Fast forward to today...where we started.



I'm sitting waiting for dance to be over watching Meg and Tess dance for me in the waiting room. It's been a good day.

spt: gift

for tuesday, april 7: gift a family member
for tuesday, april 14: gift a friend
for tuesday, april 21: gift a neighbor, teacher, co-worker
for tuesday, april 28: gift a total stranger




giving my friend the gift of an afternoon alone while her three kids and mine decorated Easter eggs.

weekend photos

While the snow rests on the grass outside we tried to think of spring, Easter, by decorating eggs. It worked for a moment.

And one more photo I don't want to leave out.


I was busy working on the program for Bella's baptism coming up when Megan came in, sat next to me, asked me to turn on Since You've Been Gone and then requested I stop looking at her. I quickly realized why and exited my studio to grab my camera. I knew I had one chance to get her in action before she saw my plan and stopped. I know not the best, man I wish my computer screen hadn't been on, but I successfully got her singing her heart out and that's all I wanted....to capture a little bit more of who she is. The more time passes and I watch her come into her own I realize just how similar the two of us are. I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. Hmm? I guess only time will tell.

spt - easter

When I was little the thing I looked forward to the most in the spring was a new Easter dress. My family didn't have money and so most everything I wore was a hand me down of my sisters, who is 5 years older than me, but my Easter dress as far as I can remember was a new special treat just for me. It was always a delight to wear to church on Easter morning.

The older I got it seemed that tradition happened less and less. I remember one year when there wasn't a dress, instead my mom told me and my sister she had a special gift for us. I'm not sure of my age...I was young enough to not think my mom's surprise was being pregnant like my sister thought, but old enough to be able to still wear it today. She gave us a beautiful gold CTR ring. I remember my excitement of being able to have such a beautiful reminder to choose the right. To this day I don't wear it, it's gold and my wedding ring is white gold, but I still have it and each time I look at it I think of Easter and the gift that Christ gave me and also I think of my mother. She is an amazing woman who did an excellent job raising me and my siblings. She has been through a lot as a mother, something I pray I will never have to endure, but one that has taught me about her strength and the unwavering support of the Lord. Like I said on Sunday, Easter is just another reminder of something I think about all year long, how my family can be together forever and I celebrate it with reverence and joy.

changes in our house

It was our spring break last weekend. No, we didn't do anything special like go out of town, but I must say it has been nice sleeping in for a few days not having to get up to take kids to school, too bad that all ends tomorrow. It hasn't just been good for me, I know the kids have had fun just being able to play with no obligations. I think with Bella gone all day and then homework and violin to practice they don't get to play as much as they would like. I often hear them late at night getting together and playing. It's too sweet to stop.

So here is my recap.

After asking for about a week non stop we finally decorate eggs Thursday night. It's something we always look forward to and surprisingly it's never as big a mess as I anticipate, even with Megan. This year the girls decided they wanted to put their initials on the eggs to ensure they wouldn't get mixed up (they're so big into what is theirs these days). I wish they would have mentioned it earlier and we could have put there names on with white crayons and made a very cool effect. Oh well, maybe next year.

We went to the zoo on Friday. I must admit I didn't want to go, but I sort of felt like I had to do something fun with them. So we got up early and made sure to be there when the zoo opened. This actually ended up being the best thing we could have done because when we walked out 2 hours later (yes, you read that right, I got off easy) the lines were huge and no parking was to be found. I felt extremely lucky we were on our way out and that it was such nice weather. One more thing. Does this freak anyone else out? As I was watching this cheetah walk back and forth staring at us I just kept thinking the only thing separating him from us was the glass.

Saturday was a bit tough, even though I had anticipated this event for the last several weeks, I didn't realize how hard it would be to buy Megan a big girl bed and finally after 7 year put down the crib. It is the weirdest feeling to see Megan growing up, no more diapers (she has been doing great except she doesn't want to go in public places), and moving into a big bed. I had a friend once ask me if I was ready to be done with the babies. You know I feel that I am, but when it happens I sort of have this bittersweet feeling going on. It feels wonderful to be here and yet I am sad at the same time. My family is growing up. I just don't know where the time went. With all the mixed emotions I know it means good times ahead. I look forward to what the 5 of us will experience together.

Needless to say Megan is thrilled with her new bed. I wasn't worried at all about the transition or that I would need to worry about her falling out until 1am last night when we heard a huge crashing sound followed by wailing coming from her room. I felt horrible, but grateful Adam was out of bed before I could figure out what had happened and that she was fine just scared.

I guess that brings me to Sunday. Before walking out the door to go to church I took our traditional Easter dress photo. I struggle to take photos like this, as it's rare that everyone cooperates, plus we are bound to have other friends involved (kitty and duck with Megan), but I still enjoy looking through them each year and remembering.

It was nice today when I went to my mail box and actually had mail let alone four pieces of good mail. I say that because my mail didn't come two days last week (Thursday and Saturday). This has happened before and I'm getting pretty upset by it. Anyway, Thank you to Robyn & Hannah for the nice thank you note, Lelly for the thoughtful "just because" note, and Kristi for the, once again, awesome holiday mail. Loved it. Thanks ladies for helping make my afternoon.

I hope your Monday is off to a great start. I love Mondays.