From My iPhone

So fun to have my own phone to grab pics with (and in all honesty, play DrawSome on too :)

Scenes from life this past month:

girl cousins at the SG temple Easter morning

Spring!

 

Livs and Luke are my constant sidekicks when the kids are at school

I gave Olivia a little manicure the other day

 

Love this chubbylicious baby

playing with Sadie and Max as well as my brother's family at my mom's house this past weekend

 

Luke's hat turned into a sleeping mask (and an effective one) during and after our walk

Corner Bakery with my little sis and her kids

 

proof that I actually do change out of my PJs every now and again

I would proudly love to turn my girls into shoe lovers like their mommy :)

Eggs and Hunting

 

We had a lot of fun dying eggs, as we do every year. But thanks to Pinterest we tried some new things with glue dots and glitter—made tons of colorful polka dots— and then used the classic rubber-band, tape and double dipping tricks to create pretty patterns (we learned that little girls small elastics worked really well). This is an Easter tradition I have loved ever since I can remember and will still love when I'm 80!

dyed eggs are always so pretty

 

Luke's first Easter—you can tell he was way into those eggs while snoozing away in the Bjorn :)

 a fun hairdo for Caroline (also a Pinterest find...of course:)

 Our new(ish) tradition of finding treasures from the Easter Bunny and hunting for eggs on Saturday instead of Sunday. Leaves our Easter Sunday more spiritually focused and about the Savior instead of a bunny and candy. I have been loving making this change the past 3 years

 We had to wake our Caroline up so the kids could get out and find eggs already. This happens with her every year! That girl can certainly sleep like a rock. Love that about her!

 

 That tricky bunny hid all 60 of the hard-boiled eggs we made as well as about 100 plastic eggs filled with candy. All the kids' baskets were filled to the brim after the hunt. I held Livs' for her because it got so heavy! Quite the successful egg hunt!

 

Then There Were 11

On Wednesday night my big sis arrived in SG with her 5 kids en route to Phoenix. My hubby flew back to join us late that night too. It was so good to have him back with me and to have at least one dad in our mix to help entertain all the children. Even complete mama's girl Sadie warmed up to Joseph after a while and decided to call him "daddy" and snuggle up with him as such.

On Thursday morning I woke up to an excited and full house (yes—after feeding Luke twice in the middle of the night I was worn out and the last one awake :) I loved seeing all the kids playing together—they were only missing cousin Mason to make the group complete.

At one point in the late morning I was downstairs in my room feeding Luke and suddenly heard some serious crying going on. I knew Joseph was around to help any of our kids so I didn't worry about it. When I came back upstairs I discovered that it was my sweet nephew Ethan (oldest of all the grandkids) who had fallen off his long board on the very rough asphalt and ripped up the palms of his hands quite badly. He was in a lot of pain, very upset and very scared. All the younger cousins were gathered around him in shock and so worried about him. One look at his hands and I was quite worried about him too. My first thought was to ask him if he wanted Joseph to give him a priesthood blessing and he readily consented. It was such a comfort and blessing to have Joseph there and ready and willing to bless Ethan. He had to consecrate some oil and then anoint and bless Ethan with healing and especially feelings of calm and peace. Ethan's demeanor changed right after his blessing. His crying ceased and he became much more calm as he and his mom headed off to the nearby clinic. Poor boy ended up with several stitches in one of his hands and a warning against any swimming for 10 days—right during his spring break in sunny Phoenix.

The rest of the day seemed pretty mellow after Ethan's accident. Joseph took some kids on a walk around the golf course, we took the kids swimming (Eth and I sat in lounge chairs chatting in the sun and trying to keep his mind off of not being able to swim with everyone), a big group of kids gathered on my mom's king size bed for a movie before bedtime, and Joseph introduced Ethan and Will to the Draw Something app which the boys (Eth, Will, Bentley and Joseph) spent a long time playing together that evening. In the morning my sis and her family left for Phoenix and the house suddenly felt so empty with a mere 6 kids in it :)

Splash Pad and More

More St George fun included an afternoon at Antigravity (trampoline gym)

 

 lots of swimming, roaming in the yard and going for walks

  crafting fun making paper plate chicks, foam sticker pictures and homemade play dough

 

 and a visit to the fabulous splash pad on Main Street

With the Allens

My little sis and her 2 adorable kids came all the way to St George from Minnesota! It was a long travel day for her (driving from Rochester to Minneapolis, flying to Vegas and then driving up to SG) but we got a whole week together out of it which was so much fun.

Even though our kids don't match up by exact ages, they played together really well. Little Sadie just turned 2 and Cares wanted to become her second mom. In turn, Sadie fell completely in love with baby Luke and was the most excited to see him and squeal his name whenever he woke from a nap.

Max (almost 4) was the perfect little "cousin brother" for my Bentley. Bentley loved having a buddy who thought every single thing he did was awesome or funny—who wouldn't right? On our first day together we managed an outing to Target, playtime at the park while Sadie napped at the house with my mom, and lots of outdoor and indoor play. While we were at Target, I had Max with me while Heidi took Sadie over to a different part of the store. By the looks I got I'm pretty sure people thought all 5 kids were mine and in theory they could be! That would be one crazy life I tell you—fun for the kiddos but crazy :)

 

Easter Sunday

Such a lovely morning at the St George temple, and I loved being there with my dear family. A happy Easter indeed knowing our Savior made resurrection and eternal life possible for us all.

Sunny G

Weekend in sunny St George:

 

 

 

Hiking in Snow Canyon between conference sessions:

 

 and a sweet shot of my Livvy Lous

The kids and I are still here playing with my mom, little sis and her 2 darlings. I am loving all the cousin bonding going on—there is always a new Lego, ball, scooter, or doll/baby game going on. So cute how they can enjoy playing together ALL day. Lots more to come from the south...