Easter

Here are a few of the cousins at the Easter Egg Hunt. Emily, Kiley, Elsie, Amber, and Nate in the back

Here are a few more, Emily, Kiley, Aubrey, Elsie, Amber, Andy, Jeremy, Parker, Nate, Taten, and Ian (we're missing Spencer & Will in the photo)

We didn't get the kids in their Easter best for this photo, but it'll do.

We had a fun Easter Egg hunt at Grammy & Grandpas. The kids look forward to it every year. The little kids take a turn first (the bigger kids hide the eggs for them), and then the bigger kids get their turn (the smaller kids hide their eggs). It's a fun tradition, and the kids love hiding each other's eggs. We've debated on what to tell the kids about the Easter bunny. We feel weird telling them a bunny brought them goodies in baskets. What do you do? Do you tell your kids you're the bunny, or do they think a giant bunny snuck in the house and delivered candy to them? I feel like I have to tell them there is an Easter Bunny, other wise they'll be the kids that ruin it for all the others. Luckily the kids are small enough now they don't really care, and didn't ask too many questions. That gives us another year until we really need to decide how we handle this!

Aubrey's Blessing

I figured I'd better get some photos of Aubrey's blessing. It was done March 1st, so I'm a month behind. I didn't get any real cute photos. These were all taken super fast just to ensure I captured the moment. Sad I didn't spend a little more time! Anyway, here she is!

This is the dress we used for Amber too. I love it so much I couldn't justifying buying a new one. A friend from our old ward had it made for Amber. It's so beautiful, I'm glad we got to use it again! It was a great day. We enjoyed having our family over to our house with plenty of room to roam now that the kitchen is opened up.

Anyway, more posts to come...

A Little Update

Over President's Day we took a little drive to Farmington Bay to see the Eagles. It was so fun. I fell in love with Eagles when I was a river guide in Jackson, Wyoming. There are amazing birds, and so amazing to watch. They are HUGE, and so graceful. We had so much fun watching them. These pictures only show a couple of the hundreds of Eagles we saw. We're nerdy we know, but we LOVE it and are proud of it!

So many things to write about! Where do I begin? We’ve been super busy with three. The adjustment has been a little crazy at times. I wanted so bad to be the one that says “it really isn’t that crazy.” But it seriously is! It has been pretty nuts. I’m feeling a little more on top of things lately. Aubrey has been my hardest baby for sure. She loves to be held when she’s awake. And now that she’s spending more time awake she’s being held more and more. The only benefit to this is that she has a perfectly round head! She is sleeping really well though, which is way nice. I’ll take a harder baby as long as they sleep at night! She’ll go about 8 hours which is heavenly. I still am exhausted each day though, and can now fall asleep instantaneously. I’ll be working at night and practically doze off while typing. That’s happened several times.

We just got back from a weekend in St. George. It was so fun to be together. Matt had a 100 bike ride in St. George called Tour de St. George. He did really well and felt great. He’s so cute, at 70 miles he was feeling great but decided to end it there so he could spend the rest of the day with the family (he didn’t just quit, it was a legitimate stopping point). The kids were anxious to go swimming so he finished earlier than planned so we could get to the pool. I thought that was so nice of him. He is such a great dad. We had fun swimming, went on a couple hikes, and tried to see the dinosaur tracks but arrived too late, they closed 20 minutes before we got there. St. George is so beautiful. I loved hiking around Snow Canyon and just driving through that whole area. I don’t know why but I found it particularly beautiful this trip. I wish Matt and I were at a point in our lives to buy a second home. I really would buy one down there. It’s the perfect time to buy!

My aunt and uncle live in St. George, and are leaving for a mission to Florida. Their farewell was Sunday, so we were able to attend that as well. It was great to be able to hear them speak. We spent many memorable Sunday afternoons playing with my cousins at their house or them at ours. As the years have gone by we’ve seen them less and less, so it was great to be able to hear their Testimonies and see my cousins. We felt all their love and support at Joyce’s funeral as every member of my aunt and uncle’s family attended Joyce’s funeral. This meant long distance travel for many, including Seattle, St. George, Mississippi, and Florida. It was incredible they made the trip, and what a great support system. We wish my aunt and uncle well over the next year as they go serve.

Here is a picture of all of us at Joyce's funeral.

And last but not least, the car situation…we did it. We got the van. Not the one from the previous post, but it is a Honda Odyssey. It’s good to have a car that has trunk space (the jetta’s trunk was broken if you read in my previous post), that has keyless entry (our Jetta’s keyless entry broke about 5 years ago when Matt’s keys went flying out of his pocket at Six Flags on the ride “X”), that doesn’t have huge dents (a couple of hit and runs left our jetta with multiple dents), and a place for all the sippy cups, diaper bags, my appraisal bag, and room to spare for carpool or play dates. I have to be grateful for this car. In this crazy economy my job has been greatly impacted, so to have a new car is a huge blessing. Sadly buying a used car comes with its risks. We thought we were getting a great deal but after having it a couple days noticed it needed a couple things done to it, so to keep this short we’ll just say we’ve put a lot in to it in a short month. It seems to work great now, so let’s hope that we don’t put in one more cent for at least a few years. We added the bike rack right away which in my opinion beefed it up a little bit. The joy of the rack was short lived though. We came home just a couple days after putting the rack on and pulled in to our carport and forgot the bike was in the rack. We heard an unforgettable "crunch" and we pulled in. Our bike had ripped the rack right off, breaking it into tons of little pieces. Who knew a bike rack came with about 100 pieces!? Fortunately nothing happened to the bike, that was more of our concern. I'm sure we learned our lesson and it will never happen again. Can you tell photography is not my talent? If you look close you can see Matt backing out! I wanted a picture so I hurried and took one!

Here are more photos of our fun weekend...

Our "New" Kitchen

Before...

After

We just finished a little remodeling job in our kitchen. By "we" I mean Mike Rogers. He is so talented and did an awesome job updating our kitchen. We had him re-paint our cabinets and island, and put on hardware, and paint the kitchen/living room. We also knocked out a wall between our kitchen and living room to make it all one room. It opens up the house and makes it feel so much warmer and inviting, and best of all it feels BIGGER!!! It looks awesome. Thank you Mike! He is the best, and thank you Sara for sacrificing him these past three weeks! I only have one "before" photo. I wish we would have taken more, but we demoed the wall before we had a chance to take one. The "before" picture is actually taken from an old appraisal I did, so it's not even a good one, but it gives an idea.

The wall that separated the kitchen & living room was dark wood paneling, our kitchen wall was "brick red" and we had dark countertops & dark cabinets. I can't believe how much better it looks with it now white and open. It really feels like a new house. We love it!

Sara and Mike are seriously amazing. They spent so many hours working on this project. We have been in Logan the past 24 hours for family wedding. We came home to the house totally clean, decorated and completely finished! March 1st was the deadline because we're blessing Aubrey tomorrow, so Mike and Sara spent their entire day making that happen. What good friends. Our house has been in construction mode for a couple weeks now, so it's been pretty crazy, and very messy! When we walked in this evening to a clean house, Parker said "CLEAN!" He must take after me; nothing beats a clean house!

Minivan/Acadia Deliema

I am such a basket case right now. We are so done with the Jetta. I keep meaning to post a picture to prove that all three car seats actually fit in the car! It's a miracle! But each day that goes on I freak a little more. It is so tight. I can't pack anything along (our trunk no longer opens!) except a diaper bag. The kids are constantly "helping" out by poking Aubrey's eyes, mouth, putting their fingers in her mouth to calm her down, patting her head, pulling the sun visor up and down so they can be sure to see her cute face, putting the blanket over her face so she stays warm...I could go on and on. Some days I'm more patient than others, and other days I freak out and want a new car now! Why are cars so dang expensive! I would love nothing more than a totally loaded Acadia. They are the most beautiful cars!!! We went and test drove one yesterday. I am in love. I totally want it to work. The sales guy asked if we wanted to take the minivan for a spin that they had. I refused. Only because I think it realistically will be better (as far as room, storage, convenience). If I'm making a car payment, I want to love the car, not hate it! I want a 4 wheel drive car, one that can get us to the mountains, and one that can get me to my appraisals when weather is crazy. Will a van do that successfully? Why am I so anti? I have a feeling in the next few weeks we'll be the proud owners of a Honda Odyssey. Who knew I'd ever say that! Don't be surprised though if it's a piece of junk. Like I said, if I make a payment on a car, it's going to be a car I love. Otherwise, I'm paying cash for a piece that will get us to our destinations safely.


Could this be the one? They're only asking $4,900!

Newborn Photos of Aubrey

We got some cute pictures taken of Aubrey just a couple days after she was born. I'm just now getting around to posting them. My friend Emily is so talented, and did such a great job. There are about 300 photos that look awesome, but I posted only a few of my favorites. I've never done new born photos before. It was so much fun. I wish I would have thought to do it for my other kids. They change so much so quickly, so it was fun to capture her wrinkles, and her tiny little toes and all her chubs!






Here is her actual birth announcement. We'll be sending them out shortly!

What the...

This is why I can't leave Parker unattended...

Parker started it, and Matt finished it.

Parker is liking Aubrey more and more each day. He actually likes to hold her now!