April

I don't know who was more excited when the snow FINALLY started to disappear - the adults, or the kids!  We took advantage of a warm afternoon and went to Mantua to do some shooting with Shelby, Malissa and MaKayla.  The kids found puddles, rocks, worms, rivers and even some snow.  It was a nice afternoon!

 

After shooting, Shelby's family came over for some dinner and games.  It was the longest Texas Hold Em' tournament in the history of EVER.  Before the night was over, Lexi and MaKayla were the best of friends.

Casey brought me home some tulips one day.  He knows that I love them, and for some reason I can't seem to make them grow at my house!

One afternoon I took my babies with me to get the oil changed in the van.  While we were waiting we walked to Shopko to look at books and then stopped at Wendy's for a little lunch.  They were being so cute.  I don't know who cracks me up more in this picture.

Taylor is the one of my kids who isn't afraid to pick up a bug or two.  I remember when she was just little, probably around 2, Caleb would make her pick up grasshoppers for him because he didn't want to touch them.

This particular afternoon, she had a whole collection of critters.  The night crawler totally grosses me out.

One night for dinner, we ordered pizza.  I asked Caleb to grab some paper plates out of the cupboard and he said, "I don't think that's a good idea.  We've been learning about how to reduce, reuse and recycle at school."  He still got out the paper plates for me, but a couple of days later we went to Alpine Gardens and he picked out some cute things to make himself a little garden.  So one cancels out the other, right?

Rylee & Lexi.  Or is it????

These two.  They have a love/hate relationship I've decided.  They can be the best of friends, but they sure do like to pick on each other as well.  I captured this adorable moment one night.

I do a face mask once a week and Rylee wanted in on it one day.  She loved it!

Mother's Day

I am one lucky lady to get to be the mom to these little people.  Heavenly Father has given me a lot to do, and I need to notice the blessings a little bit more!

Now that all 5 of them are in underwear (trumpets blaring)....it seems that the craziness of being 'needed' is changing.  Watching them get their independence is a fun and a scary thing to watch unfold.

One night when I was tucking Taylor in she said I was just like Miss Hannigan on Annie.

I had just finished explaining to them why it was important to keep their bedroom cleaned up.  I hope that their memories of me aren't all 'do this' 'do that' 'clean up' 'read for 20 minutes' 'turn off the tv'....I hope that they can remember how much I love them and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to be their mom.

Twinsies in the Tulips

My mom kept telling me and telling me and telling me that I had to get a picture of Taylor & Rylee in their Easter dresses with the tulips at the Brigham City Temple.  How come 9 times out of 10 mom's know what they are talking about?  I'm glad that I listened to her!  Mother knows best!

These girls look so cute.  Just to clarify - I did tell them to put their hands like that, but I wasn't even paying attention to their cute little legs.

 I love that I got to take a few pictures of some of my favorite things.  My twin girlies and my love for tulips!  They should bloom all summer long

Easter Sunday

We started the morning with some church!  The girls had new dresses and the boys had some sharp new ties.

 When we got home we ventured to the back yard to find Easter baskets!  Rylee's basket accidentally got tipped over.  She was devastated.  Her cad-bury mini eggs went everywhere in the dirt.  Luckily for her though, I had half of a big hidden in the house.  Caleb couldn't believe that I had candy hidden from them.

 All of the kids got new swimsuits and flip flops in their basket.  Come on summer!!!  Caleb got some really fun stuff!  His favorite things were his inflatable killer whale, his FNAF hat and a book about the 100 most dangerous things on the planet!

 Luke and Alexa bot got a bubble gun in their basket.  They ran out of the 2 bottles of bubbles with 30 minutes.  I need to get to the store for some more!

Easter - Part 2 - Promontory

The party continues.  The weather was a bit warmer and sunnier today than it was yesterday.  The occasional sweater was needed, but t-shirts sufficed too.  According to my Grandma, "It's good to shiver - you burn a lot of calories when you're shivering."  I love that my Grandparents traveled all the way out to Promontory to play.  Do you see any dust on my Grandpa's jeep?  That's an indication of how slow they drove on the dirt roads.

Rylee loves to get toghter with family.  She also loves Dylan and Griffen so much!  Griffen let her drive the 4-wheeler a bit and she was pretty proud of herself.  She did get a little frustrated finding her eggs on the hill.  She thought it was harder to find them this year!  This adventure I ended up finding a tick in her head a few days later.  It was disgusting.  

 Caleb is such a sweetheart.  He is really into Star Wars lately.  He keeps asking me to watch a movie with him & I honestly don't think I could stay awake for a whole movie.  I told him we should watch Indiana Jones instead - he's thinking about it.  Jordon's girlfriend has a son named Parker who is Caleb's age and they bonded instantly.  How come as we get older, it get's awkward to make friends that easily?  Caleb said, "I'm so excited for Jordon to marry Parker's mom.  Then he'll be my cousin!"  We'll have to wait and see I guess.  I'm so happy that he had another boy to play with that was close to his age.  Casey taught Caleb a little gun safety.  I am my mother's daughter when it comes to guns.  They make me nervous.  

I think Luke has social anxiety or something.  I really do love him, but it takes an hour or more for him to relax when we get in crowds of people.  You'd think he'd recognize everyone by now and realize they aren't going anywhere.  He was happy once he had a bucket full of Easter eggs and he loved flying a kite with Grammy.  Lexi loves everyone.  And she loves cookies!  At one point she kept putting 1 jelly bean after another into her mouth and eventually stuffed about 15 jelly beans in there and Angela was cracking up.  It was a LOT of candy!

Little miss bug-a-boo.  She really is always happy.  Happy to be with her people, happy to be busy, happy when content, and always smiling.  Her new thing is giving people rabbit ears in pictures.  She's a silly little miss.

Eva had on the cutest little hippie headband ever.  She is so cute.  She and Taylor & Rylee & Lexi & Elysha's daugher, Macee, were so cute together!  They had their little spats, but what girls don't?  They all loved each other at the end of the day and can't wait to get together again!  Jackson was so fun to watch walking on the uneven ground.  He was the most adorable and cautious little walker ever!

Sometimes I want to sit at the kid table.  I bet that their conversations are the best!  I love the picture of Casey and his twinsies in the little cave.  Caleb & Parker were off on an adventure,  that is why he is missing. 

I think that shooting after lunch is going to be a new tradition.  Blake got a new shotgun for Christmas and was itching to try it out.  He was a fantastic shot!  It must be all the practice from the Xbox games.  Golf balls were brought out this year for some odd reason.  Whatever floats your boat I guess.  The cows even watched the boys shoot.  Weirdos.  Dylan has become quite the gun enthusiast.  Sun's out, guns out.  #pewpew

  Until next year!  

Easter - Part 1 - DC

Easter weekend is one of my favorites.  It's so busy and full of fun and family!  Casey thinks I have a problem.  That I always have to be doing something or be busy or I'll go crazy.  Oh well...he just better keep up or he'll get left in the dust.  

The Friday before Easter we headed out to Dove Creek.  It is always an adventure.  There is an outhouse there that we can use for potty time.  Taylor needed to go, but sure wasn't interested when she saw it and held out as long as she could.  Rylee eventually had to go #2 and I waited outside for her and I heard her say, "Hmmmm....I wonder which poop is mine?"  So funny AND so gross!  It's a good thing Brad & Mona have a little palace for shelter.  We experienced a little rain, some cold breezes and even a little snow.  BUT - there was even cracks of sunshine.  

We dyed our Easter eggs.  I don't know why, but it is one of my least favorite holiday traditions.  They always turn out so pretty....but it stresses me out for some reason.  Maybe it will become more fun after the kids are a bit older.  I'm not wishing this stage away - just predicting how it will be in the future.  Luke wouldn't try any color but BLUE!  He was in love with his blue egg.

We ventured outside while our eggs were drying and the Easter bunny had been by!  Taylor & I even saw him on our little 4-wheeler ride.  We took a few selfies and Grandma had the BEST Easter bonnet ever!  It blew bubbles!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day.  After the egg hunt the kids went and sat around the fire pit to inspect their findings.  Content.  Happy.  Adorable.  I heart them.