Easter Weekend

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend, we did!  I think Easter is becoming one of my favorite holidays.  I mean, I always loved the chocolate and all, but this year (and in years past), I truly felt the beginning of the magnitude of what our Savior did for us.  It seems to be settling in my soul.  I am so grateful for the gift of the Son and that because of Him, I can progress eternally and have my monkeys forever.  Among these deep feelings, I'm still happy to have the chocolate.

But before Easter, we began demo on our master bath.  This will be a LONG project, I'm sure of it, but maybe by this time next year I'll be able to shower in my own bathroom again!  Everett was so thrilled to have permission to use a hammer and destroy something:

 Such a boy, he's got to check out what's going on behind that wall.  I'm so glad he's ours!

And, it was a good week for the kid.  He lost his first tooth!

 That thing had to fall out on it's own, he was so freaked out about the whole thing.  Actually, it had help from Dad, who pretty much brushed it out of his mouth during our nightly routine.

The boy with one of his creations:

 That one is a lizard.

Ok, NOW Easter.  We went to my mom's 25th annual Easter party.  I'm not even making that number up (surprised?).  My sister counted back the years, and according to her calculations, it really has been 25 years since mom started doing egg hunts for the grandkids.  How cool is Grandma!?  My kids love it and have been counting down days.  I love being with my family, so I was too.

Post-edit.  I came across a family Easter party photo from 1991, that moves this year's party to the 26th.

We arrived to a few inches of SNOW!  Thankfully, though, the sun was shining, so we waited while it did it's work to melt it all for the hunt.  In the meantime, we ate delicious food, of course!  The kids made cute cupcakes:

They dyed eggs:

And by then, it was about perfect egg hunting weather!  Hurray!  This year's line up:

 And, GO!

Daisy is perfect egg-picking age:

Discovering the goods:

I then sent the adults on a treasure hunt.  I don't think they liked me very much by the end of it.  I tried to stump them, and I sure did!  Maybe I got myself fired for next year.  I could hope.

Cousins, sharing:

That evening was the Women's Conference, which was so wonderful!  I enjoyed watching it with family.  Ellie did too:

Look at that face!  Her facial expressions are just like her momma's.

It really was a perfect day for me.  I was with my people.  I got to spend time in the sun.  My kids were so content with cousins, they happily disappeared.  I got fed yummy food.  Plus a spiritual boost to end it with.  Thanks mom, for another great family get-together!

Ellie had made plans for Sunday morning.  She gathered the kids in her room when they woke up, and then they all came into our room together.  She turned on the Easter videos on the Mormon channel and we enjoyed them as a family.  What a perfect way to start the day right!  We love our Ellie Belle.  After that, they went on the search for baskets.

 It was a delightfully lazy Sunday morning.

I didn't make cute skirts or dresses for the girls this year.  Not feeling it.  I didn't even get a cute photo of the kids lined up by the front door.  Wasn't feeling that either.  I did get a sweet pic of this sweet girl, just because she looked so pretty:

Book of Mormon

 We had a celebration here last night.  We finished the Book of Mormon as a family!  The entire book!  That is quite a feat for only a few verses at a time!  I can't even tell you how long it took us, except to say that it took several years.  Three kids have gone from repeating verses line by line to reading them on their own.  I tell you what, there is nothing sweeter than when your one year old starts talking scripture.  And, it's almost as sweet to hear your kindergartener reading verses on their own.

If you imagine us all sitting quietly with books in our laps, listening when it isn't our turn, you'd be dead wrong.  It's more like a circus.  However, we are pretty consistent.  I call that a win!  We are doing something right!  Most of the time none of us don't have much of a clue what is going on (with the exception of Nick, he seems to be able to tune the kids out and focus better than the rest of us, go figure), but those moments we stop to talk about what those ancient prophets were talking about and then take opportunity to bear testimony, and have your kids acknowledge the Spirit, those are the sweet rewards.

We all got new books (old ones are pretty trashed), bookmarks and scripture markers to start all over again tonight.  

I know the Book of Mormon is true!  I have found so much comfort and peace in it's words as I study it daily.  It has become my refuge.  I hope my children can come to find the same.  A favorite scripture of mine right now is from 2 Nephi 1.  Lehi is talking to his sons and he tells them to "Awake...put on the armor of righteousness." (vs. 23)  First of all, don't we all need a reminder to "awake?"  Pay attention to what really matters!  And then, the armor.  We need spiritual armor.  The fiery darts of Satan are all around us, and we need to be protected (see 1 Nephi 15:24).  Our families need to be protected.  How?  I truly believe the scriptures are the answer.  I believe we are daily putting that armor on as we study and live the words from prophets past and present.  I want my kids to go out into the world with that armor, and I'm doing what I can to protect them, and myself, spiritually.  What a blessed responsibility I have with these precious souls.  And how blessed we are to have a loving Heavenly Father that has shown us the way!  Yay for scriptures!

After the last verse was read, we did some party poppers:

 We had just come home from a school festival, which is why Maren has a balloon hat, but more about that in a minute.

Our sweet Daisy babe:

She is so fun.  She is a content, happy thing and loves to play with her best friend, Lu.  Those two can disappear for hours at a time, playing with babies and barbies and ponies and dress up and house and other girlie things.  I'm treasuring these moments as they are slipping by all too quickly!

My happy helpers at the store: 

Last night was also a school Art Festival.  It was a blast!  There was a ton of activities for the kids, ice cream, and balloons!  Par-tay!

Everett with his best Kindy bud (and their double sided light sabers):

Good times.

Factory Reset

 As we saw the beginning of the year 2016, our family sat and enjoyed a slideshow of photos from 2015.  A tradition was born.  We all wrote down our favorite moments from last year, and I noticed something - none of those favorite memories were actually made at home.  I know there are precious moments every day within the walls of your own home, BUT, when you leave your home with your family, you have nothing else to focus on but each other.  There is no laundry to fold, toilets to scrub, or dryer vent to fix.  Only quality, focused time with family.  Perfect memory making time.

Also, my makeup requires a factory reset every 3 to 4 months.  It's in my DNA.  And how do you do that?  Get me out of town!  I begged (but in actuality it didn't require too much begging) Nick to take me away over the weekend, and he did.  It was a short, spontaneous trip, but we had a blast.  It always lifts my spirits to hit the road.

We tried to find warm weather down south.  It wasn't much warmer, but we found some sun and definitely made some memories.

Desert in bloom:

We walked around the Red Hills Desert Garden:

 It was a new thing for us, and it was fun!

Then, we explored Pioneer Park, one of our favorites:

 You can't see it well in this photo, but there is a very narrow slot canyon you can climb through.  We did not.  I didn't like the thought of getting stuck in there.  However, lots were climbing right through (you can see a Dad cheerleader at the top there, coaxing his kids through)!

This photo makes me laugh:

 This boy thinks the world is against him sometimes.  It's the 5/6 (and 7/8?) year old phase.  It'll pass.  The Oreo ring around his mouth isn't helping his cause.  ;)

Kids in a hole:

My favorite photo:

 It felt great to roll around in some red dirt.

After, we did some shopping at the outlets, and checked a "must do" item off our list:

 Get ice cream.

I was sad when we had to turn around and head back home, but it was a refreshing little getaway.  And, we'll love to look back at those photos as a family at the end of 2016.  Memories made.

This...

...is one of the many reasons it is awesome to be the wife of Nick.  Pasta dinner, all homemade (yep, noodles too!) on a Sunday evening.  Yum.

Good Life

 Spring is teasing us.  It's been delightfully warm and sunny this last week, and the kids have spent lots of time outside playing - heaven!  For me and them!  Of course, I'm pretty sure Winter might just sneak back up on us.  I guess we'll just enjoy the sunshine while it's here.

Have you heard of Zoobs?  I hadn't, but I tell you what, it's the toy of choice for this kid:

He's my Lego lover as well, but it's a toss up as to which he plays with more.  I love his creativity!

I tell you, I'll have them trained.

And this is not what we wanted right now:

 We discovered water is leaking under the tile of our master shower.  Stink.  Really.  On the bright side, the chances of me getting a new bathroom is quite high.  Of course, so is the price tag.

This sweetheart made a fort and slept in it:

 Looks comfy!

I love spending my days with these two ragamuffins!

 They requested the curlers.  My girlie girls.

Silly girls.