easter 2014

I love that Easter is in the springtime. It's so fresh, happy, bright, new. I really do love that part of the holiday. A couple of days before Easter, Justin asked each boy separately what they loved about Easter and what it was about. Each one of them said something referring to easter eggs and bunnies. Even after Corbin gave a great Family Home Evening the Monday before...  


I thought I had failed, but Easter wasn't over. I stayed up Saturday night after the kids went to bed and got some Easter eggs ready for them. Each had a scripture and an item that had to do with the days leading up to Christ's resurrection. (source here) We then watched Finding Faith in Christ. That bright Easter morning we felt the spirit. And that made me happy.

It really was a happy Easter. 

This was taken at our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Justin really was there...he was just off talking when they grabbed us to take this picture. 

spring break 2014

The biggest goal for spring break was to relax, sleep in, and enjoy.  

Sometimes we look back on school breaks that we have had and the boys can't even remember what we did exactly OR ELSE, as we look forward to the break, they want to know what every single plan is going to be. To help with this we sat down and wrote out a list so that they knew what some of the plans were AND so that at the end of the weekend they would see that we did do something.

We had a kickoff spring break party at Aunt Mandi's house. We ended up staying into the late evening, daddy met us there, we had pizza, watched some shows and it was great.

 We made one bow tie. And the only one willing to wear it was this guy. But luckily, Levi now wants one.

 This cyclops tooth hung by a thread all weekend, and by the end of the break it finally came out.

 With Conference coming up the following weekend, I wanted to take the boys to see Temple Square and to tour where Conference used to be held and where it is now held. They were amazed by the difference. Especially all the columns that were holding up the balcony at the Tabernacle and how uncomfortable the seats were. The Conference Center is quite an amazing building and Temple Square was incredibly beautiful.

At this point Corbin was not feeling so well, but he was still such a trooper. 

We ended the break with some sickness, extreme laziness, and even sqeezed in some swimming and three seconds of rock climbing.

It was a good break and according to Corbin's school planner, he only has to turn the paper seven more times until school is out! Boo Ya.

changes in the neighborhood

The first family we met when we moved into this neighborhood was the Allen family. They lived just diagonally from us. Their four kids are really close to the age of our kids. We clicked pretty instantly. So many hours were spent with the kids playing together; they played school, jumped on the tramp, played in the sandbox, played harry potter and percy jackson, had lemonade stands, lined up dinosaurs, coloring and spy games are just a few of those fun times. When I needed a missing ingredient I knew who to call and vice versa, I ground cups and cups of wheat at their house, we shared plants and seeds, we had so many laughs and conversations in our front yards. Our kids knew where to go if for some reason I was not home. We just love this family. 

On top of that we are blessed with some other awesome families in the neighborhood. All of us had to say goodbye to the Allen family this last week.

Some of us in the neighborhood and some of us that served together in young womens threw a luncheon party for mommy Allen, who is in polka dots. We had a great time.

The next day the weather was just so perfect. We had to have a going away party for the kids. One last time that all these kiddos in the neighborhood could play at the same time. It made me both happy and kind of sad to see this sight. That's a whole lot of awesomeness in those photos.  

Perhaps the saddest one to see them move is Rudger. He completely adores Emma. He looks out his window and points to their house and says Em..ma. And every time she comes to our house he gets so excited and follows her around the house so he can be right where she is. It's tender. 

Lucky for us they are just moving across town, so it's really not the end. I just hate seeing that empty house across the street.