Aprons and gardening...

The lighting is terrible on these photos, but I had to get some cute pics of the kids in their new aprons. I bought them at Roberts or Michaels and got iron-ons to personalized them. Richard picked out a frog, and Hannah picked a flower. I think they turned out so cute! I love my little chefs!

Today we planted our garden. It is so nice to have it done. Well, almost done. We need to buy more seeds. But, it looks great and I'm so excited to grow our own produce. We eat so many veggies that it just makes sense.

And the kids had so much fun helping out. There are awesome helpers!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's (and future mom's)

Before I was a Mom,I never tripped over toysor forgot words to a lullaby.I didn't worry whether or notmy plants were poisonous.I never thought about immunizations.Before I was a Mom,I had never been puked on.Pooped on.Chewed on.Peed on.I had complete control of my mindand my thoughts.I slept all night.Before I was a Mom,I never held down a screaming childso doctors could do tests.Or give shots.I never looked into teary eyes and cried.I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.I never sat up late hours at nightwatching a baby sleep.Before I was a Mom,I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop thehurt.I never knew that something so smallcould affect my life so much.I never knew that I could love someone so much.I never knew I would love being a Mom.Before I was a Mom,I didn't know the feeling ofhaving my heart outside my body..I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.I didn't know that bondbetween a mother and her child.I didn't know that something so smallcould make me feel so important and happy.Before I was a Mom,I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to makesure all was okay.I had never known the warmth,the joy,the love,the heartache,the wondermentor the satisfaction of being a Mom.I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .

Another nice day

Not much has been going on in our house, except illness. But I think we are all just about over it. So, today was a nice day, not too hot, but the kids love swimming and sprinklers so I let them play for a little while. They were both pretty cold so it didn't last long. :)

Hannah said, "It cold."

Richard is crazy about the water. Whether it is a bubble bath, a swimming pool, drinking water, the sprinklers, or a water gun. This boy loves it all!

The tulips that have been coming up in the middle of my lawn for 3 years. I finally let them grow this year and I love it! :)

Here Hannah kept saying, "It get me." She was speaking of the sprinklers out of the slip-n-slide.

She finally got brave when Richard turned it down real low.

One fine day!!!

The last three days have been incredibly beautiful!!! Today was so hot I let Richard fill up the kiddie pool and he and Hannah played in it for hours while I did some yard work. They had so much fun! I love spring/summer!!!





Richard was pretending to be a fountain. He is so imaginative!

Jan & Lani's Annual Easter Party

This time of year is one of my favorites, partly thanks to Jan and Lani and their Easter party. It is so much fun to see everyone, and the kids have a ball. We eat, play, color eggs, play, eat, hunt for eggs, play, and sometimes we eat more. All the while, we visit and have tons of fun. This is the only time we get to see some of Chris's family.

The following is a slideshow of all the photos I took today. The kids had a lot of fun, even though Hannah was really tired since we were there during nap time. The weather was beautiful, too. What a blessing.

Thank you Jan and Lani for all the work you put into for this wonderful event. And for you dedication to the family. You guys are so wonderful!!! And thank you for always welcoming us when we just drop by. You are the best!

And Jana, thank you for the wonderful gifts for the kids. Richard thought they were so great and said, "I love Aunt Jana!". And Hannah kept saying, "Thank you, thank you."

We had so much fun and look forward the gathering next year.

Happy Easter!!!

The day of Easter parties

This morning Chris and I got up at 5:30 to make breakfast for 200 people in our ward. At the breakfast we had an egg hunt. Then as we were loading the Xterra with the supplies, I saw the community egg hunt was about to begin. The kids and I ran across the parking lot and joined in on the fun. Then this afternoon we went to the Ogden-Eccles Dinosaur Park and participated in the egg hunt there.

The kids had a lot of fun, but I am worn out! The following slideshow is from some of the day's acttivities. We had a good time today.

First family fishing trip (of the season)

Hannah with her Barbie fishing pole

Best of friends

Throwing rocks, she didn't stop

Richard hiked up the hill and would slide down on his bottom. The kids had so much fun.

Richard caught a fish. He was so excited and thought it was pretty cool. Chris had a bite on his hook and lost the hook. While he was putting another hook and bait on it Richard said, "That's ok Dad, we will try again." He was so into it.

Look at that face!

Richard and Hannah had so much fun throwing rocks. They did this for almost the whole time we were there. (a couple of hours)

Look how excited Hannah is about her snack. So funny!

Throwing rocks!

Taking a break from all that fishing, hiking, and throwing rocks.

On the way home we saw many deer. I had to catch a photo of Richard looking in his binoculars to try to find them. He said, "Dad, did we bring our guns to shoot the deer?" What a funny boy!