Easter Weekend

On Good Friday, our youngest nephew had to go to the hospital so the 2 older boys spent the day at our house. It was a very busy day entertaining 5 kiddos!

We set up the slip n slide in our back yard which they all loved.

We watched a movie with 3D glasses, Eli cracked me up wearing his.

I had planned to make Resurrection rolls with my kids that day so we went ahead and did it with all of them. I thought they were mostly for teaching the kids but they were actually really delicious too! In between reading the story from the bible, Dade entertained us with his beloved Titanic book.

All 5 finally relaxing!

The next day, we colored Easter egss.

Haylee had 7 done before any of us really got started. She has always been that way, drops an egg in each color for a second and calls it done. She'd rather eat them.

Zach concentrating.

Finished batch

Easter morning began with Easter baskets

Then an egg hunt out back. I didn't get any good pictures of the girls hunting, they were too quick. Zach loved it, he especially loved it once he discovered the candy inside of the eggs. Here he is in an early morning candy induced daze. "Where's the eggs?"

Us!

Each of the kids in their Easter Sunday best.

Rylee

Haylee

and Zach

After church service there was an egg hunt for the kids. They turned in their eggs for a prize and I thought Zach was so cute. He booked it over to the table and handed his bucket over. He knew what he was doing. I don't think they could even see him down there.

We then went over to my mom's for a big family dinner and another egg hunt. They were pros at this by then, Haylee even found the giant egg. She scored $20!

18 Months

Zach is now 18 months old! I took him for his well check appointment and all suspicions that he is a big boy are indeed correct! He weighed in at 31 lbs and 34 inches tall. Which put him in the 95% for everything! The doctor said that since he is perfectly proportionate, he's just a big guy!

I love this age. He's turning into a little kid but still so cute and innocent. He understands pretty much everything we say to him, and he follows direction really well (for now, ha!)! He has a few words which are Mama, Dada, no, ya, up, dog, more, bowl, bye bye, ball, and car. And he loves cars. Whenever we go anywhere he points and yells in excitement at every car (or his favorite, trucks) and doesn't stop yelling until you acknowledge him. He has the cutest run where he takes off with one arm swinging full force. He loves running and being chased. Whenever he wants anything he'll usually come up and smack ya a few times to get your attention then point and grunt. He still loves being held, which isn't working so well anymore because he's HUGE. He is a very picky eater, even though he doesn't show it physically! He is using a fork and spoon just in an extremely messy way. But don't even dare try to help him. He is still considered to be very cute by his sisters, they really baby him. He has such cute expressions, glares, and a scrunched up nose when he laughs. He still has quite a temper though and we still have days that remind me of his newborn screaming days and how I don't miss that part! We've started sending him to his corner and find it hilarious because he actually goes and stays there. He is all boy and the older he gets the more differences I see. Especially the fact that he loves sticks and attacking things (people) with them and playing with toy cars. He also is very accident prone and is always getting into some sort of trouble ending in bumps and bruises (mostly on his forehead!) I love my boy, I still look at him daily and thank God for not only blessing us with two beautiful daughters but a son too.

Scrunched nose


First Popsicle

Jennifer's Wedding

My sister, Jennifer, (she is actually my half sister, same Dad), got married last Friday! I was so glad we could make it! It was at a park in Payson and she looked beautiful!
Our Dad walking her down the aisle. And my niece Ivy behind her!

The I Do's

Our Dad, me, my sister, and her husband Paul!

Just had to throw in a picture of my handsome little guy! ;)Group pictureCongratulations Paul and Jennifer!

Spring Break

Last week was Rylee's spring break and, to be honest, I was not really looking forward to it. I just envisioned a week of my girls fighting over everything and constant tattling and by the end of the week just being done! I was so very wrong! It was a wonderfully perfect week! I really liked having Rylee home again, it felt like a break for all of us. No having to get up and be ready by a certain time, no last minute morning stress or afternoons cut short, no homework!, and Haylee had Rylee to play with all day (mostly outside) which actually gave me a break.
One of the days, our favorite day, was meeting up with Holly and her boys at the Train Park. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast!

Riding the carousel

Rylee and Dade on the train

Haylee and ZachHolly and Elliott (and Eli is down there somewhere!)

All 6 kids we managed all day, on the train together

Zach was so happy and content just sitting in his corner of the train. I think he liked the freedom he had.

The girl's favorite part was the ice cream cones! Here is Haylee looking a lot like her Dad with that goatee!After the park, we ventured over to the mall for lunch and to get Rylee's ears pierced. Rylee had been asking for a long time to do it so every time she asked I would tell her that it will hurt so she has to be ready. Once when she was 4, she hit the nurse out of pain when she got her shots. So I felt the need to really prepare her! She was so excited all day. When we got there she quietly sat in the chair waiting patiently as I filled out the paperwork. I could tell she was nervous. It was over with so fast and she did amazing. Afterwards, she sat there so still but tears welled up in her eyes. She softly said that hurt but within minutes she was fine and so thrilled to finally have earrings!Before she got her ears pierced, we were walking around the mall and we had to take the elevator down to the next floor. Rylee and Haylee jumped in first and we asked Dade to hold the door open so Holly and I could get both strollers in. Well, he thought the door was going to close on him so he jumped back and the door closed before we could get to it. The elevator immediately went down and I could hear Rylee panicking, yelling on the way down! Holly raced over to and down the escalator to save the day and she brought back up 2 little girls, one (being Rylee) in tears because she was so scared. Later, I asked her what was worse, the pain of getting her ears pierced or getting separated at the elevator. She said the elevator experience. Easily. Ha!

Haylee originally wanted to get her ears pierced too but decided not too after Rylee did hers. Which surprised me since Rylee reacted so well. Someday though!

I got home feeling like it was such a wonderful successful day, I am so very thankful to be their mother! I love spending time with them, especially when they make it easy on me taking the 3 of them out all day!

Later in the week we had a beautiful rainy day and while we were eating lunch it started hailing. It came down so fast and crazy and completely blanketed everything in white.
It was crazy looking out and seeing our neighborhood like this!We couldn't let the "snow" go to waste so we quickly built a snowman, AZ style, before the white all melted away.

Snow!

My family rented a cabin so we could enjoy the little snow we have gotten this year up north! We actually went on the perfect weekend since it had just snowed and a little more was to come. We are so thankful they do this because we actually get to go on vacation!! We arrived first since Rylee had a half day at school and the kids were extremely eager to get in the snow!

The next day, Scott and the girls went outside first. When I went out to see what they were up too, Scott had hiked all the way up to the top of the road with plans to sled down it. It was very successful so we were able to have an amazingly long and fast sled ride right outside our front door!

It was quite a hike to the top but so worth it. I must have hiked it at least 15 times, one of those times I carried Zach all the way up for his first sledding adventure. I don't think he liked it all that much though..So Zach hung out with Uncle Terry, or whoever was not sledding at the time. Zach hated the snow. He didn't mind the flat spots with minimal snow, but the deeper stuff he would just cry if we sat him down. He even hated touching it. My Aunt went down the hill almost as much as the kids and I did. Sometimes we'd catch her trekking up by herself.

Rylee sledding with her new BFF, aka Uncle Terry. These 2 were inseparable that weekend. And when we left, she cried saying her favorite part was hanging out with Terry!

My Mom even went down a few times. Couldn't convince her to go down from the top but the girls were thrilled to go down with Grammie.

At the bottom of the road it turned to the right and you had to pull a Cool Runnings move to successfully turn the corner to keep going. I held the record for going the farthest (boo ya Scott). Haylee and I made a great team. The boys also built a jump at the bottom and Terry decided to show me how cool this was, saying I just had to try it. The suspense and coolness came to a quick halt when he came to a dead stop at the start of the jump. I laughed pretty hard. I tried it though and made it over the jump but then got stuck in the snow. Rylee then tried it and landed in a bush. Nice jump, boys.We went out to lunch at the lodge just down the road and when we came back the snow had melted enough to make a small snowman.We then crashed inside. It was a tiring day! We came up with this plan to put Rylee up on the beam in the living room of our cabin. She agreed but then quickly changed her mind.So I stepped up to the plate. Ha ha

The next morning, the snow had melted too much to sled anymore so we were at a loss of what to do. But then it started snowing! It came down pretty good and it was so nice to actually see it snow! It also snowed enough we could make a few more sled runs down the hill. It was icy and scary in some spots but still fun.

Here is Zach walking around with his tongue out trying to catch a snowflake.I couldn't get over how adorable Zach looked in his snow gear. I loved it.The whole gang just before we left!