Easter

We had a really nice Easter this year. The morning of Easter we surprised Carson with sand and sand toys in his sandbox that someone gave us last year. He was so excited and he played out there all morning. I make Easter shaped pancakes and we had a little lesson on Christ. Leading up to Easter we had been opening an egg every day as part of our scripture study. Inside the eggs were scriptures and an object associated with Christ and the events of Easter Weekend and the Resurrection. We also shared the testimonies of our family members with the kids that I had collected earlier. It was nice to really try and focus on the Savior and why we celebrate Easter.

Carson cracks me up. He has been making silly faces in pictures lately, and this thumbs-up one is one of his favorites. Haha!

Carly and Will came over for the day and went to church with us. After church we had a nice Easter dinner and then Jason and Will hid eggs for the kids in the backyard. By hid, I really mean covered the lawn in eggs.

 It was a great day. I love Easter. I love the meaning behind it and I am so eternally grateful for a loving Savior that came to Earth and atoned for my sins. He bore my griefs and carried my sorrows. He kept His promise and rose again on the third day.

One of my favorite talks about Easter is by Elder Holland. He says the following,

"My other plea at Easter time is that these scenes of Christ’s lonely sacrifice, laced with moments of denial and abandonment and, at least once, outright betrayal, must never be reenacted by us. He has walked alone once. Now, may I ask that never again will He have to confront sin without our aid and assistance, that never again will He find only unresponsive onlookers when He sees you and me along His Via Dolorosain our present day. As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,” ²¹ for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. "

Easter Egg Hunts

We had lots of fun celebrating Easter this year. Easter means the start idea hope of Spring, which always makes us excited. About a week before Easter, our playgroup had a craft and Easter egg hunt. The kids had fun and Carson was so nice about helping Brooklyn find eggs. Once she realized there was chocolate and candy in the eggs, she wasn't too interested in finding more. Carson helped her see reason and soon she was on her way again.

Ok, so I have to tell you my feelings about the Easter Bunny. Sigh. I don't hate the Easter Bunny. I grew up with the Easter Bunny in my house and I don't think there is anything wrong with having fun with the tradition. In fact, I don't not talk about the Easter Bunny, but we just don't focus on it. The Easter baskets don't come from the Easter Bunny, they come from Mom and Dad. We don't really talk about the Easter Bunny and hiding eggs is a fun tradition that we do as part of Easter. Again, I don't have anything against him, but we just don't really celebrate him. He is just another part of Easter that we might happen to see and take pictures with, if that makes sense.  It's not even something we consciously did, it just kind of happened that way. Besides, have you ever seen a not-creepy Easter Bunny costume? haha! Carson saw this Easter Bunny at an egg hunt we went to and he HAD to take a picture. Is it just me, or is he creepy looking?!

The day before Easter we went to an Easter Egg hunt in town. There are several, and this one was smaller than most - which meant less kids. The rule was that no adults could touch the eggs, so poor Morgan couldn't figure out what we were doing to her. She did manage to get 3 eggs in her bucket....with at little help from Uncle Will and Aunt Carly.

After the Easter Egg hunt, we went to Yellowstone Bear World for their Easter Egg hunt and their cub celebration. We went last year and we had a lot of fun so we decided to go again. Yeah, so did everyone else in Eastern Idaho. It took us about an hour just to get into the park the line of cars was so long. With all of the crazy people there, we decided not to do the egg hunt and just have fun riding the rides and looking at all of the animals.

Brooklyn and Carson both really enjoyed all of the rides they have there. They are meant for little kids their size and you can ride them as much as you want. We spent most of our time there and then went to the petting zoo area. Brooklyn is the braver of the two kids and would get a lot closer to the animals than Carson would.

 After we drove through the park and watched all the bears, we went home and rested. Later that evening we went to Orange Leaf and had some yummy ice cream. :) It was a fun-filled and exhausting day!

Kid's Fair 2014

We took the kids to the Eastern Idaho Kids' Fair again this year and they had so much fun. They love going. It is pretty crazy and full of people, but it's worth it when the kids are happy. :)

Little Miss Morgan was a trooper and only got upset when she was super hungry. Liza from Classy 97 walked by as she was crying and took her from me. She thought she was the cutest baby and really wanted to hold her. The kids got to touch lots of different reptiles, included a HUGE snake. It was gross, but the kids thought it was cool. They also loved all the games at the booths and all the candy they kept getting.

They also had a group of princesses there for the kids to meet. Brooklyn thought it was amazing since she loves Cinderella. We went twice, so she got to meet 2 different Cinderellas. I know I might sound awful, but I had to laugh at some of the princesses. I'll just leave it at that. The kids were amazed and that is all that matters. :)

 The kids also got to ride the ponies while we were there. Last year I waited in line for an hour and Carson refused to ride once we got up to them. This year he loved it and cried when we had to leave. Brooklyn giggled the whole time and laughed. Being a parent and watching your kids experience fun things is the best.

By the time we were done, all 3 kids were exhausted. As soon as we got in the car they all fell asleep. I guess that means it was a success!

St. Patrick's Day

I love St. Patrick's Day! It is such a fun little holiday. I remember growing up my Mom used to make us green food and I thought it was the coolest thing. I had plans to do fun things for the kids that morning, but we had just gotten back from Washington about 4 am and I was beat.
Jason decided to stay home from work that day and hang out with us. We took the kiddos to I-Jump to get all of their wiggles out from being in the car the entire week before while we were in Washington. It was the first time Jason was able to go with us. The kids had so much fun jumping with their daddy and throwing dodgeballs at him.

I even took Morgan out to bounce for a little bit. She wasn't sure what to think of it all and had a death grip on me the whole time.

After we were done at I-Jump we went to our normal playgroup for a St. Patrick's Day activity. The kids got to do a craft and decorate cupcakes with their friends. We love playgroup days! It's fun for the moms to all get together and it's fun for the kids to play.

BYU-Idaho Employee Family Day

BYU-Idaho does a family employee day each semester and Winter Semester's family day happened to be at Badger Creek. I had just told Jason how sad I was that we hadn't taken the kids sledding this year when I got the email. We decided to brave it and take the kids. The drive was a little over an hour from the house and we spent all morning making sure we had every possible winter gear we would need to keep the kids nice and toasty.

They had horse drawn sleighs for us to ride when we got there. The kids watched the horses with fascination. I'm not sure they knew what to think about them.

They had a few games for the kids to play and hot chocolate and donuts. Brooklyn was in a grumpy mood and it was hard to convince her to do anything. Poor Morgan was tired and just wanted to sleep.

We finally made it to the top of the hill with the sleds and were able to take Carson and Brooklyn down a few times. A very kind student employee held little Miss Morgan so that we could all go together. Once we started heading down the hill the kids thought it was AWESOME! They giggled and laughed the whole way down. The snow was pretty soggy, so we didn't go terribly fast and we had to push start a few times down the hill. For the kids' first time really sledding it was perfect. We all got so warm that we had to start shedding layers of clothes. We also forgot sunglasses and it was extremely bright out there.

It was a fun little day trip, but Jason and I were both very happy to be home at the end of the day. Sometimes, doing fun things for your kids wears you out! This was one of those trips that was more work than fun for the parents. All that matters is that we are making memories with our little ones!

Weekend Getaway

The weekend of our anniversary, Jason and I sent Carson and Brooklyn to stay with my sisters and we headed down to Salt Lake. Morgan came along with us because she is just so cute - oh, and she is nursing. :) On our way we drove up to the Bountiful Temple where we were married 6 years earlier. It was fun to go back to the temple, especially on our anniversary.

We had a great time in Salt Lake. We were able to go out to dinner some friends of ours and relax. I was also able to go to a conference that I had really looked forward to attending. I was able to meet some of my favorite bloggers (Tara from Dating Divas and Six Sisters) and spend time with my good friend, Chelsey. I have an amazing husband who is so supportive of everything I want to do.

The weekend flew by and we were anxious to get home to our kiddos. Poor Brooklyn and Carson really missed us (as evident from our Skype call below). I think its important to get away every once in a while and focus on being a couple. Having a healthy marriage is important! :) That being said, I always miss my babies terribly.

Thanks for the great weekend, Jason! Love you!

Family Christmas Party

This year for our family Christmas party, we got to have Santa come visit! We met "Santa" at church one Sunday when he came to listen to the primary program. We sat next to him and he played with the kids during sacrament meeting. At the end of the meeting he handed me his card and told me that he makes Santa visits during the Christmas season. We thought it would be fun so we scheduled him to come to our party. 

We set gifts on our porch with the kids' names on them and he put them in his sack before he came in. He came in ringing his jingle bells and the kids were amazed/surprised/shocked that Santa came! It was so funny to watch! They didn't really know what to do!

None of the kids were scared, which was kind of amazing. Even Santa was surprised that the little girls were excited to sit on his lap. Brooklyn was so excited, but she wouldn't smile. It was so funny. She kept standing by him waiting for her turn and when he finally called her name she climbed right up on his lap like she knew exactly what she was doing.

Brooklyn waiting for her turn

It really was so much fun for everyone. The kids had the best surprise and it was so fun to watch. I think it is something we will probably do every year from now on. Before he left we sang Christmas carols and he explained what the colors on the candy cane represent to the kids. Such a fun new tradition!