Easter egg hunt at Omi's

My grandma wanted to do a little Easter egg hunt for her great grand kids. She is so sweet! After I worked on Saturday (day before Easter) we went to her house. Luckily it didn't rain while we did the egg hunt in her backyard. Kayleigh of course loved looking for eggs and treats. Landon still isn't too sure but he does like being outside and he loves eating the treats!

After the hunt we went inside for some cookies and milk. Then the kids all played together for a little while and we headed home. While driving home we realized (thanks to a text from Marie) that we left our camera there. So we turned around and went back. I hate it when we leave things. I feel like we leave things all the time and I really try hard to not. Oh well. I guess it isn't the worst thing in the world.

We ran to Costco on the way home and Michael got a hair cut. Once home we did our little Easter egg hunt because while we were gone the Easter Bunny came by our house. Kayleigh was very excited! The bunny left a note saying he had hid our baskets somewhere in the house and we had to find them. When she found hers she was freaking out because there was a Tangled barbie inside. She's been playing with her ever since. We've braided her hair and put clips all over to decorate it like in the movie when she has flowers in her hair. Also, Kayleigh's Ken barbie has become Flynn Rider. How fun, right? To be a kid again...

Easter surprise from Suzy

Michael's mom gave something kinda cool to her grand kids for Easter. They each got 5 caterpillars that will grow and hopefully become butterflies. Crazy huh? Right now they are in a jar with holes in the top to breath. Once they hook themselves to the top of the jar you take the lid and pin it to the side of their "home", it's like a mesh container. Then after awhile they will be chrysalises and then butterflies. You can then let them out into your yard and let them go.

Kayleigh thinks it's pretty neat and the first thing she wanted to do this morning was go see the worms as she calls them. She claims they grew already from last night. I think it will be interesting to see how many butterflies we get. I need to read all of the instructions to make sure we do it all right. Quite the Easter science project we have! Thanks, Suzy.

Our Happy Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter Sunday. First off we went to our church. Kayleigh, Landon and myself left early to go to Michael's cousin's farewell. Unfortunately, Michael had to stay behind at our ward to direct the ward choir in their Easter program. I wish I could have seen his program and he wishes he could have seen his cousin speak.

Kyler, his cousin, better known as Bubba, did a great job! He talked about having a personal relationship with our Savior, it was great. He leaves next Wednesday to the San Diego, CA mission. He will be a great missionary. Kayleigh really likes Bubba and she will miss him at family events while he is gone.

After church we headed to Bubba's house for a yummy lunch. There were so many salads to choose from and some pulled pork sandwiches along with lots of desserts. Michael's sister and her family made the trek up from St. George to hear Bubba speak. So after lunch we went over to Michael's parents house to spend some time with them Kayleigh loves Brooke and Tyler. She mostly played with Brooke and their new Rapunzel barbies which they both got from the Easter Bunny. We also went to a park in Michael's parent's subdivision and the kids loved that too.

Then we came home and put the kids to bed!

Books and more books

The old shelves
The new bookcase and don't mind the flag there.

The lovely me

After patiently waiting for our local IKEA to get this bookcase in stock, we finally have it in our living room. I really like that it's much more sturdy than the two we had before. I also like how deep it is so my big binders don't hang over the edge. Now we have plenty of room for more books and it really looks nice. It was super easy to put together and thanks to my husband it didn't take too long.

A mother's instinct

We really enjoy watching the show The Amazing Race. Quite often during the last season of the show we would have our friends, Lance, Kellie, and Abbie over to watch it with us since they like it too. Since the last season ended and the current season started, Lance and Kellie added a new little one to their family. Her name is Sadie and she's a cutie! Kayleigh just LOVES to hold her! If Kay ever gets a baby sister I don't think anyone else will get a chance to hold her. She is so cute to watch when she holds little babies. At stores when we see a baby Kayleigh has to point it out to me and say what a cute baby that is. I guess she already has that motherly instinct.

A reason to actually use the backyard

We finally got a swing set! It's kind of a cool story of how we came to acquire it. A few posts ago I said that maybe some day we'd get a swing set. Well, my sis-in-law up in Alaska read that and called me up to see if we'd be interested in theirs. They are moving and won't be able to take this with them. So we said sure, of course, who wouldn't say that to a free swing set!

It arrived here on Tuesday and it was all Kayleigh could do to wait for Daddy to come home and set it up. She was so excited! With the weather being so rainy here, we haven't used it too much, but I know as the weather dries up and warms we will use it a lot.

Landon needs to learn quick how to stay on a regular swing, he is so used to the baby swing. The first night when he was trying to swing he got so frustrated with it, it was kind of funny. Anyway, we are grateful to have it, thanks John and Katerina, for giving it to us, that was so nice of you to think of us!

Side note: Yes, we are trying to grow Kayleigh's bangs out, it's a process.

Kayleigh's Talk

Kayleigh did great today in Primary! She spoke right into the microphone and wasn't scared at all. She improved a ton from last week's nervousness. Last Monday for family Home Evening we sat down and wrote her talk about how Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. I asked her what she wanted to say and she said she wanted to talk about when Jesus was born. So, here is her talk, with a little help from Mom and Dad of course.

Jesus is my Savior. He was born a long time ago in a stable in Bethlehem. As He grew up He made really good choices. He was kind and helpful to those around Him. To be obedient He was even baptized. I want to be baptized like Him. I can follow Jesus' example by being obedient and helping others. I know Jesus loves me and if I follow Him I will be happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Article of Faith #5

This month in our ward in Primary it is the Sunbeam's turn to help with the talks/prayers/etc. Today it was Kayleigh's turn to say the 5th Article of Faith. She practiced hard all week singing it and saying it. She seems to pick them up very fast when she can learn them in a song. By last night she knew it and had it all memorized. She even said it for my parents.

Sunday morning, nerves were running high as I knew they would be . I had prepped her by telling her she might get nervous standing in front of all those people. I told her to just look at Daddy because he'd be in the back of the room. She was very excited to do it and had a big smile on her face as she sat at the front or the room during the announcements and stuff. Her turn came and she said in the microphone, "Article of Faith number 5..." and then she turned in to me, I was standing right by her. She got very nervous and didn't want to finish. I told her to just look at Daddy but that didn't help. Then I told her she'd be sad when we got home if she didn't do it. After that she just looked at me and recited it to me.

Since it wasn't in the microphone it was really quiet and I don't think many heard her but I was so proud that she did it! I know for her first time it must have been really scary for her. I was just happy that she at least said it and she had it all memorized and she remembered it.

Next week it's her turn to do a talk. We are going to practice a lot again and hopefully have better results. After church she told me she just needed a practice and the A of F was the practice and now she's ready and will do her talk next week. We'll see...

St. George

Every two years I am required by the state to complete 20 hours of continuing education for my pharmacy technician license. Eight of those twenty hours have to be live. The easiest place I have found to get these hours is at the Annual Utah Pharmacists Association Convention. It was held this year at the end of March and into April in St. George at the Dixie Convention Center. Since Michael’s sister and her family live in St. George we decided to kind of make a trip out of it. Kayleigh got very excited when we told her we were going. She really likes her cousin Tyler that lives there. Tyler has a little sister, Brooke, who is actually closer to Kayleigh’s age than Tyler is, but for some reason she really likes Tyler. During March she often asked how many more days till St. George. We were glad she was so excited to go. I wasn’t as excited to go and sit in classes all day long.

My dad was able to arrange for Michael to play in a golf tournament in place of me while we were down there. Since this began on Wednesday at noon, he left with my dad pretty early Wednesday to get there. The weather was very nice that day and Michael had a great time. I drove down with the kids, my mom and Nathan. We left at 10 that same morning. Because of the stops we had to make for lunch and the potty, we rolled in finally to Michael’s sister’s house at 3:45. The drive really wasn’t too bad, but it’s nicer when you don’t have to stop. Nathan did better than I expected him to. Kayleigh did great with the drive and Landon even did okay too.

Once we arrived, Kayleigh began playing immediately outside in their backyard. They have a tramp and swing set and she loved them! That day we got all unpacked and settled in. We had some great hamburgers off the grill that night for dinner. That evening I ran up to the outlets to use a coupon I had for The Children’s Place. When I came back the kids were in bed thanks to Michael and so we sat down to play a game. Staci and Bill taught us a new game called Nine’s that you play with Skip-Bo cards, it was pretty fun. We ended up playing that a couple nights while we were there.

The next day (Thursday) we just chilled in the morning while the kids played. I then had to leave and my first stop was Bill’s office. He was nice enough to check my eyes and get me an updated prescription while I was down there. Apparently my right eye is getting worse and now needs a little stronger contact than my left eye. Really, I am only 26 and my body is deteriorating already!

Next stop the convention center where our first C.E. began. That night followed with a dinner and I finally got back at 10 at night just in time to go to bed so I could get up at 5:30 the next morning to go back for more lectures. Fun! Unfortunately, on Friday Brooke got sick and started throwing up. So Michael took the kids on a little walk to the local school and he played with the healthy kids on the big toy. Kayleigh thought it was great! It’s basically just like a park anyway.

From then on we washed hands a lot and tried to stay away from Brookie, poor thing! It’s kind of funny because it seems any time we go down there, someone is sick. Last year we went about this same time and Brooke broke her leg the day we got there. Landon got a cold also. The year before I went down with Kayleigh and left a day early because she got a cold. I don’t know what it is about us being together, something like that always happens though.

Friday night we went to dinner with Mom, Dad and Nathan for Mom’s 55th birthday. We went to the Pasta Factory and it was really nice. We ate outside and the weather was perfect. Then we accidently left Landon’s binki and binki clip on the table. So long farewell to that, oh well. Saturday we made the journey home. Kayleigh did great and Landon not so much. He just isn’t that happy in the car for very long. We did manage to have him watch a little of the Baby Einstein’s DVD and that helped a little. We rolled in a few minutes after six and Michael ran off to the Priesthood Session.

While down there, Mom and Dad brought their empty car over to Staci’s where we loaded her crib, changing table and lots of Tyler’s old clothes for Landon. She is done using them and offered them to us if we wanted them. We thought sure, we’ll take them, they are free and newer than the ones we have. A huge thanks to her and Mom and Dad for doing that. All in all, it was a fun trip!