Feeling Loved

Yesterday morning I woke up to the sweet sound of my children coming through my bedroom door, and the sweet smell of deliciousness.  Ben had helped the kids make me breakfast.  The girls were carrying the food and Qyntn had a gift.  He climbed onto my bed and threw it right in my face, we all had a good laugh.  While reading the cards and opening gifts Q tore apart my sausage mcmuffin and started to eat it.  He's a fun little guy.  They all gave me big hugs and made me feel very loved.  But there was one more surprise... Ben got me a new camera!  I was over the moon.  After church I got to take a heavenly 2+ hour nap, and later we went to see my mom and family and had a nice meal that I didn't have to cook.  What a great Mother's Day, so grateful I get to be a mommy!

Happy Birthday Ayz!

Today was Ayzha's busy, busy birthday!  We started out the day by cutting down a tree and ended it with ice cream cake.  There were 3 volleyball games, presents, a soccer game (Ayzha scored an awesome goal), and Golden Corral in the middle.  Hope she had a wonderful day, I'm exhausted!

Volleyball tournament...
disappointing finish, but still took 3rd place!

OOPS, I wasn't supposed to tell the waiter
it was her birthday, but I did.  She got to
stand on her chair while they sang to her.

Y

Holly's Baptism

Yesterday Holly got baptized! 

Sometimes as a parent I wonder if my kids listen to anything I say.  I try so hard to do all the right things.  Since Holly was born I have read scriptures with her daily, and we have always had family prayer.  We've always attended church and I started doing Family Home Evening with the girls when they were 2.  Often the lessons don't go quite like I would like them to, scripture study isn't nearly as reverent as I would like and our prayers need some work, but we're trying our best. 

Elder Bednar gave a talk a few years ago called, More Diligent and Concerned at Home.  He talked about looking at a painting.  If you look up close you can see each tiny brush stroke.  Each time we pray, read the scriptures or have family home evening, etc. it's like we are adding a brush stroke to our family painting.  Some days we may wonder if these things are having any effect.  On other days we have the opportunity to take a step back and see that the painting is coming along quite beautifully.  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  Even though it takes a lot of effort and diligence, I know that each tiny brush stroke is important for creating a masterpiece. 

I'm so proud that Holly chose to be baptized. 

Bacon!

Ben and I went to a bacon party the other night at Sam's.  Everyone was supposed to bring a creative bacon dish and we decided to go all out. We agreed upon some recipes, bought the ingredients and spent half of our Saturday cooking.  I love getting creative with Ben in the kitchen...we make a great team!  At the party we ate way too much bacon, laughed like crazy while watching a bit by Jim Gaffigan about bacon and camping, and won some fabulous prizes.  Yay for us!

Maple bacon cookie dough truffles
"Best Dessert"

Bacon Explosion
"Best Overall Dish"

Take Another Booster Seat Out of the Car...

Holly turned 8!  It was a three day celebration with lots of love for Holly and fun for all.  Love this girl!

Making these super colorful webkinz cupcakes
turned into a family event.

Of course we had a birthday piñata

She picked ice skating instead of having a friend party

We pigged out at Golden Corral

and she got her new best friend...Blotch!

Easter

I love Easter!  I love everything it stands for, which makes it my favorite holiday.  Tonight at dinner we talked a little about resurrection.  I told the kids about an experience that happened on my mission....

I was walking down the street and my companion and I decided to stop at a house.  We clapped (that's how you knock in Argentina) from outside a fence around her house, and a woman opened the door.  I noticed she had crutches and looked down to see that she had only one leg.  She made her way slowly to the gate where we stood and opened it.  We introduced ourselves, told her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and that we had a message to share with her.  She immediately began to walk away uninterested.  As we turned to go I had a strong feeling that I needed to go back.  I turned around and called out to her and she stopped.  I simply told her that some day she would be able to walk.  She returned to the gate and invited us in.  Once inside I was able to teach her about the resurrection and told her that one day she would have her leg.  She started to cry and told me that she had always loved watching dancers and had dreamed of being able to dance.  She said that she really wanted to believe that what we were telling her was true.  She didn't invite us back so we stopped visiting her, but maybe I was able to help her feel a small glimmer of hope that day. 

That is what the atonement does for us, it gives us hope!  I am so glad that I have a knowledge that this is true!  That those in this life with physical, mental, or spiritual maladies can one day be made whole and that even though we die, we can live together as families.  What a great thing to celebrate!

At the Orem Easter Egg Hunt
Reyn got one of the special prizes!

The BYU Easter Egg Hunt was pretty
Chaotic, but we got 4 t-shirts!

2 of our little chefs helped with dinner on Easter eve.

The Easter Bunny found us!

Spring Break

This year spring break got off to a rough start... it's my own fault...I have conditioned the girls to think that we have to be going somewhere and doing something every minute.  I've tried to make life magical, to fill their lives with cool experiences, but sometimes I think I go overboard.  Today I wanted to take a break from all of that.  I just wanted to relax and enjoy conference but the girls didn't like it.  Luckily I had prepared a craft for them to do.  We made stepping stones from plaster of paris and painted them.

Day 2 went much better, we drove up to spend the day at my parent's house.  Every conference Sunday we get together there for brunch between sessions.  YUM!  I always eat too much, but it's one of my favorite family traditions.  The change of scenery was nice for the kiddos too.

Day 3 was even better...we went to the zoo.  What a gorgeous day!  We met up with some of the other families in our ward, enjoyed the animals, and had a little picnic.  The girls seemed to be in heaven and Q, although kind of a handful, was enthralled by it all.  The grizzly bears were especially fun.  They were playing together, wrestling, chasing one another, and even got right up in front of us behind the plexi-glass.  Pretty awesome!

Day 4 I took a little time for myself and went to the gym in the morning (cycle, my least favorite group class, but it kicks my butt.)  The girls went to a birthday party (for Alyssa's birth-sister Tayla) which took some of the pressure off me trying to make the day fun, yay!.  After the party we met up with some friends at the the Provo Rec Center and swam.  You may be wondering, where was Ben in all of this?...well, he was in Germany for work.  I was on my own for spring break this year.  

Day 5 started off right.. Zumba, love it!  Then we went over to have a crochet lesson with Jackie, my friend and visiting teaching companion.  Boy am I all thumbs when it comes to anything crafty, it's embarrassing! Hopefully the girls will be able to learn how to do it despite their mother's ineptitude.  We spent the rest of the day in Salt Lake at the Discovery Gateway, another fun day!

Day 6 the little ones in the neighborhood got together for an Easter egg hunt.  Alyssa and Holly helped out by hiding the eggs for the kids, it was great fun.  Qyntn had more interest in the rocks than the eggs, but that's okay, there's always next year.  In the afternoon we went to a movie, and again Q had more interest in other things.  He loved the popcorn but wouldn't sit still for anything.  I let him wander around the theater, he lost his shoe, but ultimately we spent most of the movie in the lobby.  That evening I took the girls to be with their dad.  Phew, I made it through another spring break, and Ben will be home tomorrow, YAY!