Easter Celebrations!

The day before Easter we had a lot of fun things planned!

We started the morning by going to Alpine with Lisa and her family for an Easter egg hunt there

It took Jack a few seconds to realize what was going on, but he was able to get a bunch of eggs

I didn't get any pictures of Ella gathering eggs, she had to be at a different part of the park where they had a hunt for older kids

Some of the eggs were marked with numbers, Jack was able to find one and get a prize!

He got this little yellow chick, which he then carried around the rest of the day!

Ella and Paige

Then just a short time later we drove down to Mapleton for their annual Easter egg hunt!

We have been able to go several times

See HERE and HERE

The kids were so excited! Even though it was pretty cold and was sprinkling almost the entire time!

Waiting for the count down....

After the kids had to sit and open each of their eggs to see what was inside

As we were taking these pictures Jack found...

a DOLLAR in one of his eggs! Lucky!

The kids loved going on this "hay ride" it was just a little trailer being pulled by an ATV

But they absolutely loved it because it went REALLY fast!

Our little friend Rachel was there and so she sat with Jack and Ella!

Then to the highlight of day, horse rides!

Jack as super excited! He remembered when he rode a horse last summer

Ella has ridden the same horse every year we've come, with the same lady.

The owner of the property where they hold the hunt each year, SO nice!

And then back to the hay ride!!!

I think they went at least 20 times!!

Time to go, but not before Jack said goodbye to all of the horses

When we got home the kids just couldn't stand going back inside the house

They are so sick of being cooped up!

So they played outside for several more hours

I love Jack's face in these pictures! The pure joy of being outside on your bike!

When the day was over the kids left a plate with some carrots (with dipping sauce) and cookies for the Easter bunny

and then to bed!!!

Easter Begins

Last Friday we started our Easter celebrations with coloring eggs and making sugar cookies!

I love the pictures of their little hands! I always want to remember when they were so tiny!

Everyone always gets way into decorating eggs, even Ryan.

That's Ryan's self portrait egg!

The kids loved having their own little frosting bags to decorate their cookies

Green- Jack Purple- Ella

I'm not sure they used enough sprinkles! Hehehehehehe!

My sweet little kiddies!

Field Day

This week Ella's school held a field day with each class taking part in a race!

Jack and I went to cheer on Ella and her class!

Ella and some of her classmates getting pumped up!

She wanted to wear her soccer jersey

Jack was excited! He loves going to Ella's school, he just wished that he could have participated in the race too

And she's off!!!

First jump rope...

Then this little scooter....

And then three laps around the huge field!!

Finish line!!!

She was SO tired!!

In all it was about three quarters of a mile.

Ella had been planning on running a kid marathon (a one mile race!) at Thanksgiving point in a couple of weeks but after seeing how hard it was.. she decided to wait and maybe do the marathon next year!

Jack was sad he didn't get a prize for running in the race

Great job Ella!!!

It was so nice to be outside, although it's STILL been rather cold around here.

Spring, where are you!?

Ella's class project

Last week Ella's class was learning about fables. At the end of the week they asked that parents come in so the children could recite a fable they memorized and show off masks they made that went along with their particular story.

Ella's was "The peacock and the black bird"

She did really well!

I wish that you could hear her better!! Everyone was telling their stories at the same time!

Good job Ella! Love you Belly bug!

We're expecting!

Two days after we moved to Utah we found out that we were expecting again!

We were VERY happily surprised.

I do not get pregnant easily and even if I do, that doesn't mean that I will be pregnant for very long. With my history we were holding our breath

Weeks passed and I was still pregnant

I started feeling awful!

I was throwing up everyday and felt as though I could hardly function

But we wanted to keep my pregnancy a secret

I hate when we have told people "we're pregnant!" and then within a couple of weeks it's ended and then I have to tell people, oh never mind..... awkward

The doctor even suggested that we hold off telling anyone until at least 14 weeks.

Which we did

Although we did end up telling my cousin Sami and her husband Tyler

When we moved here they started hanging around a bunch and well, with me throwing up and feeling as bad as I was, it wasn't much of a secret to them for long

It was such a blessing to have them here!! They were so helpful over those MONTHS of sickness! Taking care of kids, fixing meals and cleaning!

I could not have made it without them!!

THANK YOU SAMI AND TYLER!!!!

At 14 weeks Ryan and I anxiously awaited the doctors test results

Everything looked fine!

We called our families and close friends to let them in on our big secret!

Everyone was so excited!! This has been a long process with lots of hoping and waiting!

At 17 weeks we went in for an ultrasound and saw very clearly- WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!

EVERYONE thought it was going to be a boy!

(Except my sister Mary and my mother-in-law!)

I always thought it was a girl, although I wasn't ever sure if that was just because I wanted another girl so bad!

So now I'm almost 22 weeks.

I can't say that this has been an easy or uneventful pregnancy.

SO many tests, ultrasounds and worries, but right now things are looking good

We are so excited to have another baby girl to add to our family!!

I am due on September 8th, my birthday!

Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes!

Now.... what to name her!! We have no idea!!

Spring Break 2011

Spring Break!!!! To bad it totally doesn't feel like spring outside yet!

I didn't have too much planned for the week. Ryan already had his spring break and with funds low, there wasn't going to be any huge trip this year

Lisa, Tiffany and I all decided to take all of our kids up to Park City for one night in a hotel

(Poor Ella, she got soooo car sick on the way up!)

The night before Jack and I put together some treat bags for everyone to enjoy on the drive up. Jack munched while watching Toy Story

This guy still has such a stranger danger feeling around me. Wouldn't even look at me, that stinker!

Brielle was a perfect angel on the drive up

We hit up a little shopping at the outlets that morning before heading over to the hotel

The kids think it's so fun to stay at a hotel, but before long started getting pretty bored

So we were off to the pool!!

Jack put one toe in the pool and ran straight for the hot tub. A man after his fathers heart!

He never did go in the pool, too cold for him

Then back to the room for bathes and jammies

The only picture of me from the trip

Lisa ran to the store, so I got to watch Brielle

SHE loved me and cuddled right up and fell asleep

We spent the evening watching movies and eating pizza.. along with a truck load of other junk! I am surprised that nobody threw up with how much candy was consumed!

The boys didn't care so much for the movie, but they loved playing with the hotel phones, once they were unplugged from the wall

Silly girls!!

The hotel was great!

well, except for two little problems.

One- the adjoining rooms worked great. Would have worked a ton better it they would open wider then 12 inches

Two- our TV didn't work! We could watch some fuzzy TV, but never could get the DVD player to work.

In the end it worked out to be good things! The hotel gave us a voucher to come back for another free night!

We know what we are doing for Lisa's birthday next month!!

This time without children!

Ahhh.. finally the kids crashed and all fell asleep. Really, for all of them to be asleep around midnight I thought was amazing! My kids can stay up until 3am easy..

Next morning we got up and went to breakfast

While there we ran into a couple from Wisconsin who thought it rather funny that three women with a bunch of children were all staying together.

(We are from Utah after all!)

Lisa made sure to include in the conversation that we are all married- to three different men!

After breakfast and getting dressed we headed to the outlets for some more shopping!

All of the big girls had matching hair

Thanks Lisa and Tiff, it was so much fun!! We'll have to do it again sometime!!

Last week and why it sucked

You know those days when you can just tell that something is going to go wrong, you just have an ominous feeling.

Last Tuesday I did not feel that way.

In fact I was thinking it was going to be a pretty good day

The house was clean, laundry getting done and happy children playing together

Then Ryan called........

He had been in a car accident!! What!? The guy who I always tell everyone "if there was ever someone to drive an ambulance or a car full of children it's Ryan, he's the best driver I've ever known!" So this came as quite a shock to me.

He said he was okay, but that the car was in really bad shape and that I needed to come and get him.

He told me that I as I drove on the other side of the freeway I would be able to see him and his car in the middle of the road in a construction zone.

Sure enough, there was traffic backed up for miles

and then THIS!

Poor guy, Ryan was pretty shook up

I'm just so glad he was okay!

I guess there was a lot of traffic on the freeway and he was worried about a big semi truck swaying next to him, while watching that semi he didn't notice the two cars in front of him breaking hard due to another semi swerving and breaking in front of them.

Ryan tried breaking and in an effort to not cause an accident hit the cement barrier to his left before unavoidably hitting the back of the two cars in front of him.

Anyways, it was quite the mess and took quite a while to get everything worked out there at the scene and then at home on the phone with the insurance company

Mostly I'm just happy that he was okay, along with the other two drivers

The day after the accident Ryan and I went to go pick up his rental and THIS is what they had for him! Heheheheheheheehehe! We got a good laugh about it and kindly asked when they would have something else available!

Ella sure liked it though! She and Jack called it the buggy bug and loved driving around town in it

Thankfully the next day they had something a little more suited for Ryan

What a week!! Good thing I was going on vacation just a few days later!