Park Time

Weather has been sunny as of late but not so much park weather warm. So when today's temperature was reading into the 70's I decided we'd better take advantage. We picked up Ethan from preschool and headed straight to the park. I think our favorite park is officially the one in the same area as Trent's office so it worked out to go there and then leave in time to pick up Trent. Woo-hoo for playtime!!



No, my daughter does not normally sport this look... we had a potty accident shortly after got to the park and this was all I had. Note to self: keep an extra pair or pants and panties in the car for just such occasions.






Yep, all three of my kids fit into the back our Malibu.
I found these boots for Kiari awhile back and she spotted them in her closet today. When I got the kids loaded up in the car she wanted her sandals off and her boots on. Paired with her makeshift skirt it was a picture perfect moment.


Some friends from church have a daughter who was cast in her middle school's production of Beauty and the Beast and we wanted to be there to support her. Brought back a ton of memories that's for sure!!! It was so cute to watch Kiari just sit and stare. She didn't really exhibit a lot of emotion during the show, but it definitely held her attention.

Easter Weekend

For those that may not know, Trent works for a CPA firm in their sales/marketing department. Last Friday was a holiday for the office to celebrate the end of the busy season so Trent only went in for part of a day. We had already talked about going out for a picnic when Trent got home and when it turned out to be a blustery day, Trent stopped off to get a kite on his way back from the office. So we grilled up some hot dogs at home, wrapped them up, and made our way to park. It turned out to be a great day for kite flying. Kiari was alllll over the place but Ethan seemed to enjoy himself. And our sweet little Peanut was just happy to be outside.














Saturday was an absolute blast!
We decided to have our Easter egg hunt on Saturday and I'm so glad we did! We were able to make a day out of it and the whole family had an amazing day.

Boil the eggs. Let the eggs cool. Give the kids a bath. Get kids dressed. Everyone dressed and ready, time to dye the eggs. Let eggs dry. Make sugar cookie dough. Charge camera battery. Put dough in the fridge to chill. Send the kids downstairs to watch a show while I slip into the garage (b/c that's where everything's been hiding for a few weeks now) to put together their Easter baskets. Find the camcorder. Find new tape for camcorder. Tape found. Footage from our trip to Tahiti is on the tape. Pine momentarily. Que up tape. Head outside with Trent to hide the eggs and baskets. All set!! Jackets on the kids. Enoch on my back. Camcorder in Trent's hand, camera in mine. Let the game begin! Game over. All baskets and eggs accounted for. Back inside. Chocolate bunny wrappers off. Kiari's peeps gone in a flash. "Is anyone monitoring their candy intake?" Stinky baby. Baby blowout. Baby in the bath. "Time to clean up!" Trent brings out the rocket. Ethan says, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off!" so many times throughout the day I lost count. "Mommy can I paint? Can I play with my silly putty? Can I push the button on my wand? Can I play with my stamps? Can we read books? Can I color?" "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!" Roll out the cookie dough. Cut out shapes. Bake. Repeat. And again. And again. 3 dozen cookies later. "Mommy is the frosting done yet?" Time for dinner. Turkey, tomato, lettuce, and avocado sandwiches. Mmmmmm. Frosting made. "Mommy, can I help?" Mommy gets carried away. Time for bed! Stories of Christ. Family prayer. Sleeping children. Cookies frosted and done. Tired mommy. Amazing Day.










So the story behind the rabbit is this: before we had officially closed on the house a neighbor complained to the city about the way the fence was looking, the part of the fence that faced the main. So of course, being the soon to be new owners, we got served the notice. We were told we only need to replace broken and warped slats but as we got to looking at it, it was pretty obvious nothing had been done to the fence since the house had been built in '73. So we ended replacing about 90% of it. As we pulled down slats and dug holes for the post we were blown away by the amount of stuff that we found buried along the fence. One of those things happened to be the one eared bunny. I think one of the kids carried it up close to the house and it ended up on the porch banister. So as we were hiding eggs Trent set it next to some of the eggs and we all joked that it was the Easter bunny.



The last egg eluding Ethan.



It was really important to me to include pictures of Christ in their baskets and fun to have the kids tell us about each one while they munched on their goodies.



Our home teacher and his family have a tradition, each Easter morning they make "Resurrection bread." On Saturday they brought us over a basket with everything that we would need to make it. Sunday morning we had fun making them with the kids. I'd never made them before, so for those of you that maybe haven't either this is what you do: take crescent rolls or homemade rolls and lay it flat. Take a large marshmallow, dip it in melted butter and then cinnamon and sugar. Then place the marshmallow in the center of the roll and wrap it up, being sure to seal all the edges. As the rolls bake the marshmallow melts so when they're done there's a hole inside, representing the empty tomb. Ta da! Resurrection rolls!

I found these cute cookie cutters a couple months back at home goods and I wasn't about to let Easter roll by without making Easter cookies! Too bad I forgot about the big egg shaped cookie cutter that had come with them. Oh well. Next year.


Evil has a new face.... butter cream icing.

The kids were really excited to help decorate. You can tell by the look on his face that he means business with those sprinkles.


I'm no professional but I sure had fun.



We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Getting ready for church was a bit stressful with some silly putty drama and a few mini tantrums, but our time at church made up for it. I serve as the Primary Chorister and I had a great time with the kids. First we worked on the song we'll be singing for Mother's Day and then I let the kids crack open some plastic Easter eggs with various songs inside of them. That night we head over to a friend's house for dinner. I think it's safe to say that this family has adopted ours into theirs. Our kids looooove playing with their kids. And recently their kids have become incredibly comfortable with Trent, playing and wrestling with him. The dad is our home teacher and the mom is my visiting teaching companion. We absolutely love this family and are so grateful to have them in our lives.
After dinner we took around a few plates of Easter cookies then made our way home.

Among the songs that I had put in the plastic eggs for the primary kids was one called Beautiful Savior. It's a song that I'm sure I liked growing up but one that became especially dear to my heart while I was serving a full time mission for the Church in Taiwan. The following is the third verse:

Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations.
Son of God and Son of Man.
Thee will I honor, praise and give glory,
Give praise and glory ever more.
Ever more!!

He lives. And I love Him with all my heart.

Happy Easter!!

I'm not quite sure what it is about today..... but so far its been a really good day. Maybe the calm and peaceful feelings I have inside today are a result of the amazing weekend that we spent together as a family, I don't know. It's noon, I haven't showered yet, but my kids are dressed and fed, and I feel like I've already gotten a lot done around the house. I'm sure part of what I'm feeling is due to not pushing aside the requests of my kids for the sake of getting the ironing done all at once. Taking time to read to them is much more fun than ironing anyway. Another part of the feeling comes as I watch my almost 6 month old pull his way across the floor to the next object of interest. It's taking a moment to hold and comfort my daughter in a tearful moment of female sensitivity. It's hearing my son offer to say a prayer at lunch time without being asked. Lots of little moments today.
And it's only noon.

Family Time

A few weeks ago we had made plans to travel to Idaho to see Trent's sister Cassie perform her sophmore flute recital at college AND THEN we found out that the week before the recital Trent's brother would be getting married! Woo-hoo!!!! Trent wouldn't be able to miss work so we planned for him to make two quick trips up while the kids and I stayed in Idaho for 10 days so as to avoid unnecessary extra flights.





The beautiful couple!!!! We're so happy for them and their 7 kids!!


The kids and their cousins watched Tangled over the weekend and were playing Rapunzel almost every time I looked. Here's Kiari "letting down her hair" for Ethan.

A couple days after Trent headed back home the kids and I met up with my dad and brother last minute. Kiari fell asleep in the car and wasn't interested in waking up once we got to the restaurant.


The wedding was on a Thursday, Trent headed back that night and the kids and I spent the weekend at my in-laws. Then Sunday after church we made our way up to my parents' place.

That night the kids got to make their very own pizzas with Bubba Fullmer!



Tuesday night I threw together a last minute get together with some of my girlfriends that were still in the area and it was so much fun to see everyone! There were 8 of us and 1/2 of the girls were pregnant! One of the girls is a sweet friend of mine from way back when Trent and I were in the show and she's engaged to get married this fall. I'm glad she had fun with all the married pregnant ladies!
We put on Pride and Prejudice but of course talked through the majority of it while snacking on veggies and the most amazing raspberry muffins (thank you Ashley!). I was really glad that so many girls were able to come on such short notice.
A couple of days later I received a text message from my dear friend Ariel (who had been at the girls night) with a picture of her newborn son. Hooray!!!!! We're so thrilled for them.





The next couples pictures are of the kids in one of their favorite spots at Nana and Bubba's house, it's a reading nook that my mom made by knocking out a wall, adding a new railing, and building a built in book shelf.

The kids had a blast painting and playing with a bunch of toys that my brothers and I used to play with when we were growing up.

No bathtub in the main bathroom but we made do. :o)
Kiwi Loco, a new yogurt place in town, self serve yogurt and toppings, then they charge by the ounce. The coconut was good... but I should have had the root beer float yogurt.
The kids and I ended up being sick for most of the week that we were in Idaho so a trip to the grocery store made for a nice break from our mini quarantine. And yes, spring in Idaho requires hats and coats most years.



Trent flew back into town late Friday night and we all headed back to his Dad's house for the weekend. Cassie's recital was on Saturday and she did an absolutely amazing job, we're so proud of her!!
Dinner with Trent's family after the recital then back up to Rexburg to spend a bit for time with my folks. And then Sunday afternoon we made our way back home!
The kids and I had a great time in Idaho but it was hard being away from Trent for so long. We're so grateful that we were given the opportunity to be home to support Brian, Paige, and Cassie.


*When I left for Idaho I flew alone with the three kids and had the sweetest flight attendants on the first leg of our trip and I had so many people offering to help me, it was really neat.
On our returning flights, Trent was on a direct flight through a different airline so it was me and the kids with another double dose of flights. On our connecting flight there was a flight attendant who was either having a really bad day or just wasn't a very nice person. So I'm going to send a great big THANK YOU out into the void to all those people who were so kind and willing to offer their help as I traveled alone with three kids under 5!!!!!