Easter In St. George 2013

I was so grateful when we pulled into St. George that we had finally found Spring! While it has been warming up some up north, there hasn't been any color. It has been very blah still. I just had to take our Easter pictures outside by Grandma's Oklahoma Redbud. It was so beautiful, it smelled amazing and boy was that thing hopping with GIANT bees. Luckily, no stings!

Of course, once we were getting ready for church is when Ryland realized that he forgot his tie, church shoes and church socks. Sigh. Oh well. What are you gonna do?

Because Grandma's church was at 9 am we were left with only the option of taking pictures right after. It was a bright and beautiful day and that made it difficult to not squint and it cast some shadows but I knew I wouldn't get the family back in their church clothes later.

Once we had lunch over I sent Nate and the kids out for a walk. It gave me the opportunity to prepare The Hunt. Upon their return they could hardly contain their excitement.

They each received a little basket with some little things just for them. They also received a new bicycle helmet. It was a great Easter Sunday.

Life Story in St. George

It is Spring Break and we headed down to sunny St. George, Utah. Headed down to soak in the sun and spend time with Grandma Lundberg. I am prepared with my laptop, scanner, external hard drive and digital recorder to record her life story amongst other things. Super excited.

It is also Easter weekend so of course we had to bring an angry bunny along. Haha!

At one of our pit stops along the way we stopped for dinner. The kids soon found something to occupy their time with. It was one of the best $2 education you could ever get. They learned the lesson of the Rip-off.

Once Grandma and I got started on recording her life story the kids had to find something to do. So they made a Lemonade stand with their cousin Elaina who also lives in Grandma's neighborhood. Nate also took the kids to the park, swimming, the Natural History Museum, the Dinosaur tracks and the movies. All over the course of the weekend of course.

Grandma and I ended up recording over 9 hours of her Life Story. I was also able to scan a bunch of family photos, etc. We also dug out her Genealogy work and are preparing it to be copied for me. So it was a very productive weekend. I greatly appreciated Nate and his willingness to entertain the kids while Grandma and I got to work.

I love how in this photo I took of her while she was recording that there was a book in the bottom corner that is titled The Gift of a Memory. How fitting. Grandma has an excellent memory, even at the age of 88 years old. Like an Elephant, I tell ya.

On Saturday evening Nate's sister M'Lissa had us over for an Easter dinner. It was great to spend some time with their family as well. Matt and Jen and their family were also down for the weekend a bit. 

(Kendree, Savannah, Wesley. Anya and Evelyn)

Cousin love!

(Ethan, Savannah, Wesley, Anya, Evelyn, and Harrison)

We had a great, fun filled, relaxing weekend. Can't wait to go back down!

Wordless Wednesday: She Is A Natural

Glasses Club Inductees

Ally was super excited to hear that Shaylen and Sawyer were getting glasses. She was super excited about having some new members of the Glasses Club. Don't they all look cute?

Poor Ethan on the other hand, wishes very badly he could become a part of the Glasses Club. He wants glasses and braces very badly. Unfortunately, to him, he has 20/25 vision. So the kid decided to make himself some glasses in art glass. They are made of wire and scotch tape. They fit him perfectly and everything.

Photo Shoot Sunday: Three's Company

I remember thinking not long before Evelyn was born that it might be a good idea to do another picture of the three kids together. You know, to document that at one point there was just three. So, this is the photographic evidence that at one point, yes, there were just three of them.

 Ethan was coming up on being 8 years old, Ally was five and Ryland was about 3 and a half at the time. Yes, the personification of my hands being full.

Weren't they cute little stinks though!? I love these pictures. So cute. Great reminder of when I was only moderately overwhelmed, not completely overwhelmed with my responsibilities as a Mother. Like I always say, "Good thing they are cute".

Poor Pepper

 Poor Pepper. A feisty pup of a dog came barreling into our yard looking for adventure. He found it in the form of Pepper. She ran up our big tree so fast. Poor thing. She went pretty far.

Evie was quick to give her a snuggle once she made her way back down. Poor kitty.

Slumber Party

After I got back from staying the night at the hospital with Janet and LaVere the kids and I decided to have an impromptu slumber party in my room. Nate was still gone to Wood Badge so we went for it.  It was super fun, even if we did go straight to bed because I was so exhausted.

Flashback Friday: Aida: 2011

Our cute niece, Megan, was in her High School play, Aida, back in March of 2011.  She played the character Nehebka. She did amazing! We were so proud of her! I never would have had the guts to do that.

She is the beautiful brunette, kinda center left, with the reddish orange sash tied around her waist.

Ally, Megan and Ethan after the performance.

Ally with the the other two leading ladies.

We attended the performance with my Mom and her husband, Bob. Such a great night!

Ally's One and Only Band Concert

Ally had a wonderful Beginning Band Concert tonight. Unfortunately, neither Nate or I were there. Nate was gone for the weekend to Wood Badge and today Janet had her Thyroid Cancer surgery down at Huntsman Hospital. She had asked me to stay with LaVere during the surgery and then stay the night with her to help take care of her. So, what did we do for our little Clarinet player? Grandma Hale to the rescue! She came and stayed the night with the kids and attended the concert for us. She graciously also took pictures.  

So proud of you baby girl! Sorry we missed it.

St. Patty's Day Shenanigans

We took some silly pictures today to remember St. Patty's Day. Poor Evelyn. She is seriously struggling with the whole "wear green ALL DAY LONG" tradition. She only had in a little green bow after church and you would have thought we had dipped her whole body in green slime. So funny! "Whhhhhyyyy, do we have to wear green AAALLLLL DDDAAAAYYY LLOOOONNNNGGG? WHY?"

Ally and I got into it this year. A few weeks ago I brought home these awesome socks for us to wear. I admit I was a little bummed to see that St. Patty's landed on a Sunday this year. Oh well! We had a great day sporting these bad boys around the house. Next year we gotta find some Cincess sized Leprechaun socks.

Love these fun silly girls so much!

Photo Shoot Sunday: St. Patty's Day 2011

We had some visitors come to our house back in 2011 for St. Patrick's Day. Some Leprechauns came to our house. They put some gold coins into the kids shoes. We also had some sparkly shamrocks that were left behind by them. The kids were super excited when they woke up to see that they had come.

Flashback Friday: Karate Kids

Back in 2011 my boys took karate for a while. We went to a really great studio in Sunset, Utah.They really enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching them improve and seeing them work themselves to exhaustion. Here are some of the photo highlights from that fun time.