St. George Sand Dunes

I'll catch up on the details, but wanted to just post a few pictures quickly today...the boys had a BLAST in St. George and a HUGE thanks to our neighbor and friend, Preston, for letting us stay at his fantastic house and showing us around the area.

St. George and Our Little Girl

We went to St. George last week and I will be posting pictures soon...here's a preview of another post coming soon...

An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ

While preparing my lesson for Young Women today, I ran across this and needed to share it. It's a beautiful testimony of our Savior.

April SnowDay

It hasn't really been the Spring Break we were planning on, but we had lots and lots of fun playing today at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the snow.

My 10-Day Diet

I've had a few people ask me for this, so I thought I would go ahead and post it. Click on it to enlarge it and you can just print it out if you want. Jon lost eight pounds the first time we did this - and I lost six, which is a HUGE win for me considering I never lose weight while breastfeeding. We're gearing ourselves up to do it again after Spring Break.

Commando

Harry: This pull-up is itchy. (still in the one he slept in)

Mom: Ok bud, there are some Nemo underwear over there, go grab 'em and I'll help you put 'em on.

Harry: No it's ok....I want to go commando.

Guess that means a little less laundry for me!

Easter Part II

Here are a couple more shots from our Easter festivites. We did a little hunt with the cousins and had a delicious dinner and too many yummy desserts. On the way out, my sis and I decided to try to capture the kiddos all together in their Easter duds.

They started on the hammock and then fell off - these are some of my favorites.

Then, the bench - can you tell they were full of sugar? This is the closest I got to a "nice" shot of all of them.

And to me, this is my money shot. Cuties.

Missing Loved Ones...

Twelve years ago today, I lost one of my best friends ever. For those of you who read my sister's blog - she did a post about this yesterday and you may wonder why I am a day late. I was on my mission in Lithuania in April 1997 and in a different time zone, therefore April 15th has always had a different meaning than to the rest of my family - not just Tax Day. As Doc might have said, "a day late and a dollar short!"

My Doc-ee was such an awesome man, and everyone who remembers him knows he was always a "ball of fire." One of my fondest memories is whenever I would get home from a date early, or didn't feel like going out, I would head over to Doc and Grandma's and he would cook up a steak for me and we would play pinochle for hours. Another favorite is one time he wasn't able to come to my softball game at Snow College, while I was playing for UV, and he was on my mom's cell phone right before I hit. He said, "Hit a homer for me," or something like that, and sure enough, I hit that homer, with him on the phone - and he said he heard the crack of the bat!

The beautiful image above is the headstone my mom and uncle designed for their parents. Grandma left us on New Year's Day 2000 - she said on her way out she just wasn't Y2K compliant. She was a great lady too, and made lunches for all her grandkids everyday for years and years. Then Doc would pick us up and take use to school. They really did spoil us! I miss 'em and I can't wait to see them both again.

This time of year, with Easter just behind us, I turn to the Gospel and think of all the wonderful things in store for us. I am grateful for the knowledge we have that families are forever.

Bigger Pictures....

I've been trying to figure out how to get bigger pictures on my blog and I finally did it! These are a couple oldies but goodies....just for fun!

Easter Part I

We had a very nice Easter yesterday. We went to church first thing in the morning, which I actually prefer to the gifts and candy aspects of the holiday. The boys were so excited to see the Easter Bunny had come to the house during church. They quicky found their baskets and then we went outside for a little plastic egg hunt. They even stopped to let me snap a couple quick photos of them in their cute new spring outfits courtesy of Grandma Lorelie.

Harry was the champ of the egg hunt, much to our surprise. He gathered all 21 of his eggs and some of Luke's in no time!

The boys got Webkinz in their Easter baskets and Luke instantly fell in love with his new loepard, he lovingly named "Jack the Jaguar."

Harry's is a chicken he named Cluck. And he quickly built this nest for him out of the grass from Z's basket.

Part II is on its way. Stay tuned...

Cookie Cutters

I took the boys to Cookie Cutters on Saturday for haircuts and what a great experience it was! I was really pleased with the stylist we had, Ashlee, and the boys both liked her - and Harrison is a tough one to please. I totally recommend this place for those of us who try and miserably fail to cut our own kids' hair. This was so much less stressful and they look pretty darn cute. The only thing I would change....next time let Daddy have this fantastic experience with his boys!

Which One?

I've decided to enter a little online photo contest and it closes tomorrow....the theme is Easter - which one would you choose?

Happy Easter!

Senior Pictures - Whitley

Being a Laurel Advisor is so much fun for so many reasons - and one of my favorite perks is getting to take their senior pictures. As I'm building my portfolio, they are so cooperative and fun. Whitley and I went out yesterday before mutual and took some fun shots. Here's a sampling. There are more over at my photography website.

We Can't Wait

Our kiddos are the only grandchildren on Jon's side of the family, so when Rob and Nicole told us they were expecting their first in October, we were so excited. They came in town for conference and grandma's birthday party and being the out-of-towners, it was naturally their turn to hold the baby.

Don't you think they look so comfortable with a cute little boy? I especially love the last picture of Rob covering his ears during something a little bit loud for his tiny ears!

They are going to be fantastic parents and I only wish they lived closer so we could spend more time with them.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma

I couldn't even begin to iterate how highly I revere this woman and how blessed I feel to know her, let alone be part of her family. Since I married into the family, I've adopted Grandma F. as my own- since my sweet grandparents Doc and GG have long since passed.

Last night we had the opportunity to share in her 85th birthday celebration with about 50 close family members. What a legacy she has before her and has built in her own children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Happy birthday Grandma, you truly are great.

She sang for all of us - a beautiful voice from a beautiful spirit.

This is my favorite picture of the night. She looks so peaceful and as if she is closing her eyes and looking into the heavens.

FIRST TOOTH!

Luke lost his first tooth today. He bit into an apple and it popped out...then....he swallowed it. We're writing a letter to the toothfairy to explain the situation, so hopefully she'll still bring him some cash tonight.

Mr. Men Puppet Show

Luke has an assignment to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end for kindergarten this week, so we worked on his visual aids last night. When we were done making the Mr. Men puppets, I asked him to practice his story. He and Harry both told me to go get the puppet show theater and took turns telling us their stories. I think Luke will do a great job tomorrow!

Fun In the Sand

No sun? This Spring, that just doesn't matter to my boys. Harry insisted on wearing shorts yesterday and when we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's, he ran straight for the sand box. They also played checkers with Grandpa, made stick puppets with me and my mom, and read several of the Mr. Men books with Grandma. They always have so much fun at my folks and last night after we left, Luke said it was one of the best days ever.