The Coolest One Yet.

Cake anyway. Every art project I tackle turns out better than the one before. Each painting I do turns out better than the one before (at least, I'm more satisfied than the time before), The Easter dresses I made the girls this year were my best work yet. This cake I made for my boys' friend is, in my opinion, the best one of it's type I've made yet. It was pretty fun to do, and he loved it. His mom had planned to bring cupcakes to the park for him to share with his friends as kind of a pseudo-birthday party. He didn't want to go! He said he would rather stay home with his cake. She said he sat at the table just looking at it, and sneakily picking off little "DOTS" bushes and eating the tracks. But he wouldn't touch the train part. He didn't want his dad to cut into it when it was time either. I'd say it was a hit!






At the "birthday party" at the park, Sarah rediscovered her love for climbing in trees. All the trees in our yard have branches too high for her to reach. She found a few at the park that she could reach, and up she went. WAY up. Check these out. They're vaguely reminiscent of myself as a child...


She's the high, out of focus pink blob in this one...


Here's the cupcake assortment Brittney and I stayed up WAY too late the night before decorating for all the cute kiddos. They turned out really cute, and the kids couldn't wait to devour them.

Alex and Lucas couldn't wait to show me which ones they picked.


Audrey couldn't understand why she couldn't just eat the candy off hers, and choose another one with more candy.

And here's the birthday boy. Happy Birthday Bradley!

The Real Easter 2009... Well, Outfits Anyway.

None of these pictures are very good. But they all accurately depict the mood for the day. Since Stake Conference fell on Easter Sunday this year, I had the girls wear the dresses I made the week after for church instead. These were all taken after having just walked home from church. The weather was beautiful, and apparently, the boys' sweater vests were a little warm for them. But they all still look adorable. Take a look.

My Little Bug Hunter

It was just an ant. But he was so proud that he caught the yucky bug that was scaring Mama! What a brave boy...


Okay, now what is up with THIS???
It's supposed to be Spring, isn't it? I have never been so done with Winter. My family is coming into town in just over two weeks. This stuff better be done before then or they'll never want to come back!

Happy Easter, 2009!

This Easter was a bit different. We actually had Stake Conference fall on Easter Sunday this year, and it didn't start until 3pm. We had all morning to relax, have an Easter breakfast, egg hunt and just spend time together as a family. Then we all got dressed and headed down to the Ogden Tabernacle for Stake Conference. Let's just say, for future reference, Jeff and I have decided to swap babysitting between us for the adult session and main session of Stake Conference in the upcoming few years. The kids were pretty good for about the first half hour. After all, the Easter Bunny had left them some colored pencils and cute coloring books with their names and favorite things to color for church that day. But after that, the last hour and a half were pretty interesting... and we'll leave it at that. Here's how the morning went:

The Goods:

This face says it all:

Trying on his new hat:Now the funny part about this, is that the hats actually don't fit! Apparently, my boys have really big heads. These were sold in the toy section of Walmart, along with fireman hats, policeman hats, construction hats, etc. They're made for little kids, right? I guess my boys aren't little! Whatever. They can smoosh them on, and they're perfectly happy with that.

Breakfast. With toast, jam, milk and bananas. The kids had a lot more fun coloring these eggs a few nights before than they did actually eating them. Audrey really liked them, though. The boys liked the white parts. Sarah wouldn't touch it after she peeled it. But she had fun coloring and peeling!

And they're off!

On the hunt.

The handsome videographer (yes, we're all still in our pj's).

Can you guess what Lucas's favorite color is?

Audrey's catch. She kept getting distracted with what she could find inside the eggs...

Divvying up the loot. We had them all open up all their eggs and put the candy in a ziplock bag. Then, I sneakily snatched up all the eggs to put away for next year! I've learned in years past that the empty eggs are fun for a while, then they end up broken and underfoot about 100 times a day. So we left out the ones that they got from the city's egg hunt the day before. In all, there are probably a dozen of those eggs out right now instead of about 5 dozen. Much less mess...

Candy happy.

Here are the girls in their cute Easter skirts. They've been their cute Easter skirts for 3 years! Sarah's still fits from the first year (she's still super skinny!), and I had enough extra fabric to make Audrey one last year. Hers fit perfectly this year. I didn't take very many pictures of this outfit because I have tons in the same outfits already. They actually had their little white hats to go with. But those were put back in the closet as soon as we got home so they can be modified for next week's "real" Easter dresses. (I'm making their 2009 Easter dresses to wear to our ward meetings next week.)


After Stake Conference, the boys went straight to bed. Audrey and Sarah hung around for a bit while I made dinner for Jeff and I. Sarah worked on her reading with some help from Papa and her flashcards. She also impressed Jeff with how much she knew about all the different states, and who lived in each one. She's becoming quite the proficient little reader lately.

The dinner. Roast and mashed potatoes with homemade rolls, peas and gravy. Mmmm...

My favorite part of Easter Sunday this year. We didn't plan this nice candlelight dinner. It really just happened to work out this way. But Jeff and I put on some Jazz music, sat alone in the twilight and watched the sunset behind the distant mountains through our kitchen window while we enjoyed a quiet meal together. It was like we were on a date in our own home! All the kids were in bed, and nothing interrupted. Ahhhhhh... Happy Easter.


Here are a few of my favorites from the city's Easter Egg hunt. We went when we lived in Laveen, and it was a very enjoyable, fun time. So when we heard Pleasant View was putting one on, we had to participate! We even saw a few friends there.

The Secret!

I've found the secret to making thin stringy hair look fuller! Really, I have! Just take your kids to the park on a very windy day. Then, when you get back, don't brush your hair. It will look nice and full and thick... at least until you get sick of it being tangled and feeling dirty! Yeah... maybe it's not the greatest solution. But it was still a fun time at the park yesterday. We went in the morning at about 10:30. It was pretty nice when we started out, just a little windy. But, then, it started getting COLD! The winds picked up, and the temperatures dropped. After a little over an hour, we decided to come home and eat lunch. Our friends who met us at the park, came to join us in peanut butter sandwiches with strawberry-banana jam, goldfish, apples, and chocolate chip cookies. Yum, yum! It was fun. The kids really enjoyed being at the park again. It's been since last fall that we visited the park. Here's some favorites. Audrey was kind of the star of the show this time because she just kind of hung around me. The other kids were having way too much fun to pose for pictures.






And then there was lunch.