Easter Fun

Dear Kate and Riley,
This Easter seemed to just sneak up on us (even though it was late)! We were able to squeeze in some fun though. We had a fun little preschool easter egg hunt (no pictures) and we also were able to go a huge free egg hunt put on by one of the local churches. I had seen the "eggstraveganza" before and wondered who would be crazy enough to go to that but when I found out every single thing there was free-- bounce houses, food, egg hunts, face painting, etc. I decided we would brave the crowds. It was great! The kids had a blast and it was free, can't beat that!

We also had a little hunt at the park with some friends. So the kids got MORE candy than they could handle and we had fun.

Loving the bounce houses and yes that is "s" as in many. I think there were five or more bounce houses!

This kid missed his nap and the egg hunt for his age group. But he was a trooper. He hung out in the stroller and was happy! He's always good on the go.

Zach and Will checking out their loot. I am pretty sure I have some variation of this picture for the past three Easters.

They had to really fight the crowd but these boys got more than their share of eggs I'm sure

Thanks Compass Bible Church!


On Sat. we had our own little egg hunt with some friends from the ward...

The kids were anxious

Brady got in on the action this time

He was a little unsure of what to do (poor younger child, with Zach can you believe I actually PRACTICED with him before his first egg hunt!?)

We know Zach has had PLENTY of practice!

More Easter pictures to come...

Love,
Mom

First Hair Cut!

Dear Kate and Riley,

Well, poor little Brady made it quite a bit longer than Zach before needing his first real hair cut. He did have a little shave of the mullet when he was a tiny baby but his hair has just had a hard time filling in! I am really just kind of counting down until he's old enough that I can feel justified shaving it off like Zach, somehow though I feel like he has to be a little bit older (or bigger) first.

Before-- excited to be in the rocket ship

During-- get this thing off of me!

After-- handsome and enjoying his first sucker (which he made a HUGE mess with!)

We love our little Brady!

Love,
Mom

Wild Animal Park

Dear Kate and Riley,

Zach had "spring break" from preschool and I decided we should do something fun. We were lucky enough to round up some friends to go with us to the Wild Animal Park which apparently has changed it's name to the Zoo Safari Park (what!?). We had a blast with all the boys and I was surprised at how many comments with got with our huge strollers and our brigade of boys.

Thank goodness I had thrown in Zach's swim suit just in case because he peed his pants within 20 min of us getting there. I felt bad because he said he tried to find me (we were at the playground) but I had wandered away to find one of Brady's missing shoes

All of our boys and our giant strollers

They loved the tram

Zach is still reminding me how we saw the big elephant pee and poo, apparently it was the highlight of the day

It was fun to be with our buddies!

Love,
Mom

Play time and More Snow!

We spent a lot of time in Utah playing outside. I did start to feel the boys are slightly deprived without a yard or a cul de sac but I decided the beach makes up for it.

Uncle Clint and Bret were playing lacrosse in the street and Zach said "mom, I want to play that net ball game"

Uncle Bret pulled all the kids around the yard on the sled which they thought was great

The kids tried to give Uncle Bret a turn but couldn't get him to budge. It was pretty cute to watch them try though.

leaping off the big rock

Brady wanted in on the action

Brady and Uncle Bret

It snowed more on Sunday morning and since we can't seem to escape 1pm church even when we leave town, Uncle Clint took the kids outside for a fun morning in the snow. Zach was so excited to build a miniature snowman and Brady was just as excited to knock it down.

I know they weren't really talking but I love that it looks like they are in a deep conversation

working on their snow man and snow turtle

Brady was unsure of the snow, he didn't know if he could walk in it

building the mini snow man, notice Zach eating snow again

And that sums up our Utah trip!

Love,
Mom

The Shower

And the reason we were in Utah in the first place... Aunt Jenny's Baby Shower!

It was so fun and we had a good turn out. It was a little stressful planning a shower from a different state but it turned out really well. Alisa was SO generous to let us use her house which took a lot of the stress off me.

I am so bummed I forgot to take a picture of the table when all the food was on it! It was super cute. I was proud of my rosette tissue ball, my only attempt at all to be crafty. I also missed a picture of the cute sign that said It's A Girl! You will just have to trust me that it was cute.

Jenny scored some cute stuff

Tiffany (who in my mind will always be like 5!) and Grandma Wiggins

The Packs-- Houston friends who live in Utah now so it was really fun to see them

Christian's mom made this beautiful quilt, the back is checkered minky, I've never even seen that! It is amazing and I'm going to have to beg her to make me a quilt for my next baby. She also took the fabric from the table runner and helped Jenny make a nursing cover! So cool!

This kid was supposed to be napping, but once he figured out there was a party going on he wanted no part of napping.

Jenny and Aunt Kelli

Utah continued...

Brady liked having a partner in crime, however, Cadence wasn't so sure about Brady, he was a little pushy (older brother influence?) and tended to just push her right over.

How sweet is that face?

Auntie Brooke was a bad influence on Cadence

We have too many cousins to all fit in the bath together any more! So we had little cousin bath time.

It snowed one day and Zach was so excited. But when he got outside all he did was eat the snow!

Still eating it! The purple jacket was courtesy of Summer and Ali. He was sad after his nap when the snow was all gone.

"Spring" trip to Utah

Utah... in parts

Dear Kate and Riley,
Some day, yes some day, I think we'll get to go on a trip that is not in the state of Utah. But, not yet. This "spring" (I put that in quotes because it was HARDLY spring where we went) I decided that the boys and I would ditch Dad for a few days, let him put in some real tax season hours guilt free and head to Uncle Clint and Aunt Kelli's for a week of cousin time.

We actually started out at Uncle Andrew's where we were limited to a short visit because they were leaving town. Aunt Stacy was so nice to let us crash at her house and feed us all the day she was trying to get ready to leave on a trip. I'm sure she was overwhelmed but we were grateful to get a chance to see some of the O'Farrells on our mostly Hansen trip.

We loved visiting with cousins and the highlight was getting to throw Aunt Jenny a baby shower. We are so excited for our newest cousin, but we sure wish someone besides us would start having some boys!

I braved my first solo flight with 2 kids. We had one very successful and relatively easy flight out and one nightmarish and embarrassing flight back. Oh well, we're 50/50 I guess.

I also got a chance to visit with Michelle (not long enough) and felt sad and old when we ran into a friend of hers and she introduced me as "my old college friend" and we realized it had been 13 years since we had first met in the dorms! Strange because I don't feel much older and only slightly more mature.

Andrew and Stacy's: days 1-2

Sklyer had this super cool basketball hoop in the basement. Zach wanted nothing more than to follow Skyler around and play basketball with him. All the kids fought over who got to be Jimmer! It was hilarious and slightly annoying.

The kids had a blast. They even slept under that basketball hoop! And Zach hasn't stopped talking about it.

Love,
Mom

Our First ER Visit

Dear Kate and Riley,

Well, I knew that with two boys it was only a matter of time until we had our first ER visit. However, I thought it would be a Buzz-inspired leap off the coffee table or a McQueen-inspired race that would send us there. Not the neighbor's dog.

Zach got an unfortunate (and definitely un-warranted he wasn't teasing the dog at all or even looking at it) bite on the face from our neighbor (and friend's) big dog. It was a fatal mistake for the dog, unfortunately, as this wasn't his first strike. Zach was a very brave boy, really I was so impressed with how brave he was because I know he was very scared. I have to say, I was also pretty impressed with how calm and put together I was (although I had a minor melt down after it was all over and he was in bed!). It really wasn't that bad all things considered. We were lucky that it wasn't closer to the eye. Three little stitches and he was in ship shape. Getting to play games on my phone and the sticker drawer they let him raid after led to the comment as we were walking out of the ER, "Mom, that place was so fun!" which made everyone laugh and the doctor call after us "Come back any time!" uh, no thanks!

I took him for ice cream for dinner since we had missed it and he told me a few more times what a fun night he had. One thing about Zach, he is the most positive, optimistic kid you'll ever meet. He's so enthusiastic about life and he really thinks everything is so cool. So really, he even found a positive spin on getting bit in the face. He was excited to show all his preschool buddies his stitches. Really, I'd say getting them removed a few days later was more traumatic.

Love,
Mom