April family time

 Kay had a great time swimming.

 Cute little Thomas, Landon wished you lived closer.

 Landon and Phoebe enthralled with the t.v.

 Dad, John and Michael skiing.

 All the yummy gyoza we got to eat.

 The kiddos just before the egg hunt, they were so excited they could hardly stand it!

 Landon stealing some popcorn from Nathan.

 All ready to go outside and hunt for eggs.

 Phoebe and Miriam (her head is cut off) blowing out their birthday candles.

 Landon opening an egg during the hunt.  He quickly figured out what this was all about.

 Counting our eggs to make sure we got them all.  We didn't and to this day we are still missing a few things.

 Landon was eating the treats soooo fast!

 All the kids got these little bunnies.

 Landon, we really don't starve you!

 We got loaded with candy and we are still trying to finish it off!

 Me and Thomas the night before they left.  He finally didn't cry when I held him.

 Phoebe, Anna, Kayleigh, Grace and Miriam all dressed up in me and Marie's old ballet costumes.  I guess my mom just knew they'd come in handy some day! ( Gotta love how the kids put the hair pieces on.)

 Attempt at a grand kid picture with them all in matching outfits Nana gave them. 

My brother and his family recently moved and as they drove to their new place they stopped in Utah.  We were all so excited to see them!  With them living far away we aren't really sure when we'll get to see them next.  They visited in April and were here for 3 days.  While here we packed a ton in and I think everyone had a really good time. 

The highlights of their time here were of course our annual Easter egg hunt and the big boys going skiing.  Besides that though, the kids watched Tangled together, pretty much the cutest movie of the decade I think.  They all quote it and act it out, they love it! 

We celebrated birthdays in the family near that time which included Miriam, Marie and Phoebe.  The girlies got to dress up to their hearts content and swim a couple of different times.  All the mommies got to go out for dinner by themselves, it was heavenly.  We attempted some pictures of the kids in matching outfits.  And we even got some game playing in after the kids had gone to bed. 

I love my family and am grateful for our time together.  I feel bad because you get that many people together and things are a little crazy and we make a big mess, but thankfully my parents put up with it at their house and all in all it was fabulous.  Kayleigh loved spending time with her cousins and was sad when their trip here came to an end.  We wish my brother and his family luck in their new adventures and hope all goes well.

Feeding the ducks

Back in April when my brother and his family were in town (post about that coming soon) we wanted to go and feed the ducks.  Well, we tried to pack so much in while they were here and sadly the ducks didn't get fed.  But, we had been saving all our old bread for it so last Thursday we pulled some out of the freezer (only half, so I guess the ducks will get fed from us again soon)  and went to Barnes Park.

The kids, we went with my sister, had a blast.  Even Landon pushed some bread through the fence, but then we caught him eating it later, silly boy!  He acts like we never feed him.  I think the ducks and geese there get fed a lot because there were some pretty big geese if ya know what I mean!

After exhausting all our bread we let the kids play for a few minutes before I had to go to work.  Luckily the weather was beautiful that day and allowed for us to do it.  Speaking of weather though, this whole week has been rainy rainy!  It's getting old.  Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!

Our garden this year

First I have to say, I know my outfit looks amazing! Ha!  I had just gotten home from work and just changed from white capris, that matched, to these lounge capris so the white ones wouldn't get dirty.  Okay, now that that's out of the way...this year we decided to not plant corn.  We wanted to try some other things and since we don't have a huge garden, we kind of have to be selective.  So we are trying, for the first time, potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, and banana peppers.  We are also doing green peppers and tomatoes like we have in years past.

Because of the nasty wind and rain we have had, our little cucumber plant has already broken off and will need to be replaced.  Other than that, things seem to be doing fine.  Kayleigh was seriously such a good helper when we planted.  She wanted to do everything and try it all.  I remember the past few years when we've planted and of course she has been right there, trying to help, but this year she really did help and do a great job.  I can't believe she's growing right up.

Letting them go

I know what you are thinking, another butterfly post? Yep, sorry. Letting them go outside was pretty fun though and it was neat to enjoy it with Kayleigh. She really liked having these "pets" around. She has since asked me what our next pet is going to be. Hmm, I don't know.

  

Michael was the best at getting them out in his hand so we could get some good pictures of them. We tried really hard to get Kayleigh to hold one but she didn't want to. I think she thought they would stay around in our yard, but when she saw them fly off one by one she got sad and almost started to cry.

As already stated, it's really amazing, all the different creatures on the earth. It was fun to watch the butterflies change first hand and enjoy some "pets" for a couple weeks. Fly free butterflies!

Trying to catch up: Miller Motor Sports Park

 Michael, Kayleigh, Tyler and Mason

 Kayleigh and Mason

 Watching the race

 Kayleigh with Daddy on the zipline (Kayleigh was lucky enough to be tall enough to do this)

 Mason and Kay playing on the bleachers while the dads took turns on the go carts

 Michael on the go cart

 Kayleigh begging Michael to let her have a turn in the human bubbles

 Dad, the big softy, gave in

At the end of April, Michael and Kayleigh were invited to go with our friends, Tyler and his son Mason to the Miller Motor Sports Park.  There was a lot to do there and they had such a fun time!  Kayleigh's favorite part was being able to ride the zip line.  Michael says it's more of a controlled zip.  She also really liked being in the bubble on the water (swimming pool) and not getting wet. 


Michael had a blast doing the go carts.  You get to ride for 10 minutes and it wasn't long enough.  He had a great time and wants to go back.   He also enjoyed watching the Utah Grand Prix.  Michael and Kay were cheering for the #3 car which was a Cadillac.  Tyler and Mason cheered for #4 which was a Pontiac.   Of those two cars #3 won and #4 crashed.  Kayleigh was so happy her car won!  And Tyler still owes Michael a dollar for that.  J/K! 

And what might you ask, did I do all day long without Michael and Kayleigh around?  Well, I reorganized the kids closets and vacuumed.  Sounds fun, right?  It actually was because Landon was very helpful and it felt so good to get it done. 

Thanks, Tyler, for the invite, they had a ton of fun!  And on a side note, it looks warm with the sun out, but they were actually pretty cold!

Is summer coming?

Some days the weather is wonderful around here and we can enjoy getting outside.  Other days we think it might be winter again!  Springs in Utah are so Crazy!  Here are some cute pics of my kids on a day when we did get to go outside and swing. 

Kayleigh has learned to pump by herself and it is so nice.  Landon has learned to hold himself on a regular swing, no baby swing needed, which is great because our swing set doesn't have a baby swing capability.  We've been getting our garden ready to plant, hopefully this weekend or beginning of next weekend.  We'll do tomatoes, peppers and zucchini for sure and maybe a couple other things too.

We are still attempting to grow Kayleigh's bangs out.  It's a very slow process!  If we ever have another girl she won't have bangs from the get go. 

And that's what we've been up to.