St. George trip #1

I love taking pictures in this hollowed tree. It is so weird for me to have photos of me and my kids in this tree that I have a lot of photos of my siblings and I in when we where young. It if sun to bring them to a place that I loved as a child.

We got to go to St. George mid April with the McConkie family. We had so much fun. Jane and Eli don't get sick of lizard hunting.

We went to Snow canyon and played in the sand. All the kids had so much fun. Eli buried me. Walt was jumping and rolling around in the sand having a blast when he decided he would try a taste. He bent down and licked the sand like a dog. Not what he expect I guess. By the end of our time in the sand Eli had figured out he could do front flips down the sand hills.

Jane had so much fun reading with Grandma and going for hikes.

I was so happy we were able to do one of my favorite hikes while we were there. Red cliffs. Jane and Eli were little mountain goats. Even Hyrum walked most the way.

It was fun getting to spend time with Mark who just got home from his mission.

We had such a great time. I am so grateful to have such wonderful in-laws, who I enjoy being around.

I Miss Polaroid Pictures

There was something so fun about taking a picture with a polaroid camera. Shaking the film, waiting for the photo to appear. I was very young, but I remember my parents had one that I got to take a few pic's with.

I heard about this program that lets you turn your existing photos in to polaroid look-a-likes. I thought it was so much fun. I showed the photos to Matt and his reply was, "The color on thoughts is awful." Well that is exactly what I love about them. They look like they have been siting in a box for thirty years. I love that even tough Matt does not share my obsession for things that look old and I don't share his obsession with giant pumpkins we seem to get along just fine. :) Here are a few of my favorite photos turned polaroid.

Easter Photos

I love, love, love all the face's Hyrum was making this day. I am so happy to have the many face's he pulls preserved in pictures.

This has become such a special little Easter suit. One year for Easter my Mom made us all Easter outfits. This was Seth's little suit. Since then Eli has worn it, Hyrum wore it and now it is Walt's turn. It is so supper cute. Every time I have put it on one of my boy's I have thought of all that sewing my mom did. She is so talented. The suit is mad so well, to make it through four little boy's. I am trying my best to keep it in tip top condition because Seth has asked for it back when I am done with it.

Ah, the rain boots. I had to bring these to our little photo shoot. All my kids have loved and pretty much lived in rubber boots. I have lost track of how many pairs Jane has gone through. Once they are walking we slap a pair of rubber boots on. What a great invention really. They are practically indestructible and I don't care what they walk through. :) They make us all happy.

I was happy Haley snapped this photo of me with the kids. I am so grateful I get to spend all my time with these awesome little people. It was my birthday that day and I had so much fun with my kids. All but Hyrum loved the bunnies and chicks. Hyrum didn't want anything to do with them. He told me they stink. Then Haley's cat came out and he said, "Oh no, I hate cat's to." I guess just because you grow up with animals doesn't mean you are going to like them.

I love getting pictures done with Haley. She is a lot of fun and we have the same style and taste. I loved her little set-up of old linens and baby quilts. I don't know what my kids will think of when they look back on these pictures but I hope they remember having fun. I think it is fun every once and a while to get dressed up. I love having the photo's to display in my home. They are such fun Easter decorations.

Happy Birthday Dino Boy

Hyrum turned three on April 9th. He is my little dino boy. I am not sure how long this obsession with dinosaurs is going to last. For now I will just keep feeding it because I love the way it makes his face light up. This year for his birthday he wanted a dinosaur party just like last year. We had a really fun day. I got to spend some time in the morning with Hyrum while Jane and Eli were at school and Walt was napping. Hyrum has such a fun personality. He is very smart and one of my most favorite people to have conversations with.

Hyrum's favorite neighbor's, the Quigley's gave him this balloon. Notice the dino shirt he picked out at the store.

Hyrum got a dinosaur leapster game from us for his birthday. He love's playing leapster in our linen closet. He takes out the bucket of tub toys, climbs in and shuts the door. The bucket of tub toys in the hall lets me know where he is. I think he discovered no one bugs him or try's to take the leapster away when he is in here.

Of course we had to have a dinosaur pinata. Hyrum loved it. That thing was indestructible. All the kids hit it with a blindfold on, then again with out the blindfold. after no success, Matt hit it open. We also played with clay. We had some crystals and rocks to put in the clay. Hyrum and I thought this would be a really fun idea. It was a hit at the party, once the party was over however, I found Eli crying because he had one of the fake crystals stuck up his nose. We had to go to the insta-care to have it removed. Hyrum was pumped because he got to go to the park with the Quiglys. What would we do with out the Quigleys? When we got back we had Quigleys over for taco soup ("bean soup" was Hyrums request).

We had eight little kids come to the party. Mostly Eli's friend because that is who Hyrum always plays with, and a few kids from his church class. We did some dino art projects. Hyrum loves to color, cut and glue.

I love you my little dino boy. You make me so happy. I am so grateful to be your Mama. Happy third birthday. Love, your squishy face Mama. (That is what Hyrum calls me, because he loves to squish my face, I just love to hear him laugh)

First Time On The Slopes

I love, love, love this photo. These two boys have a lot of fun together.

Loving the goggles!

How awsome is Matt to rally three kids on and off the lift?

Eli and Jane can go down by themselves, Matt helped Hyrum down.

Hyrum went skiing for the first time this weekend. It was so cute. Matt is the best Dad ever. I don't think I could say that enough. He and Jane went up to Snow Basin first thing in the morning. I took the boys up around 1:00. Jane had such a fun time, she didn't want to leave. I loved watching her come down. She has really good control. Eli is a hoot to watch. He book's it straight down and gets right back in line for the lift. Hyrum had fun but didn't like the falling part. after we got home he told me "I need a stick thing like Dad, ya know with a poker thing on it. Then I wouldn't fall down." It was so cute to see him thinking of how he could stay on his feet next time.

Easter

We have had a bit of a sugar overload day. I only got to listen to a few talks during general conference. Each child had a minimum of two major meltdowns. Needless to say I was feeling way ready for the kids to go to bed. As they were brushing there teeth I was thinking about what I had gotten from conference. Usually I feel lifted and ready to conquer the world. Today I was just tiered and cranky. I opened a gift from my mom. It was a book called The Easter Walk. I was excited to read it with the kids. After they were done brushing, we got cozy and read the book. It was very sweet and fun to talk with my kids about Easter. Not that we don't talk about it other times but it was a nice way to end today. They really liked the pictures. Hyrum was very tender and was sad for Jesus. The spirit in our home was nice. I then felt better about myself and the talks that I listened to today. I want to lead my kids. I love to lead them, teach them, love them unconditionally. I heard a quote the other day that said "the days of a mother are long and the years are short." Wow your telling me. I think next year there will be no candy in our house!

Happy Easter :)

3rd Annual Easter hunt

I love, love, love our neighborhood. Every Easter they do a eater egg hunt in the park in front of our house. There really isn't any were to hide the eggs so we just put them all over the grass and let the kids run wild. It's like when a pinta is broken open and there is a mad rush for the candy. This year we had some snow so we blocked of the road with Melissa Qigley's cute chairs and put the eggs in the road. I was nervous we might have some kids turf it on the asphalt but we made it with no injuries. The kids had a lot of fun and it was nice to visit with my neighbors.

Welcome Home Elder McConkie

Elder Mark McConkie returned home from his mission in Argentina on tuesday March 30th. It was so much fun to see him. He look's wonderful. Mark is really one of my most favorite people. He has such a great personality, supper sweet, very caring and always happy. Man that kid has a awesome smile and he wear's it so well. He makes me happy every time I see him. To top it all off he has a strong testimony and is willing to serve. I am so thankful for Mark and his example to my kids. I know that our family was given a lot of blessings because of Marks service to our Father in Heaven and to the people of Argentina.