This is the place

For this guy to get into stuff...like this plant basket on the floor...

For sticky sucker faces and palying with cute cousins...

For Chuck E Cheese cheese-it grins...

For huggin your best pal on the rides on a week-day afternoon...

For big smiles...

For doggy piles on top of dad.... For friendships that picked up right where they left off....

For kids that are getting way too big....

For being with family we haven't seen forever...

 

We haven't done much of anything but play with cousins and family and it just doesn't get much better than that! Lovin our Utah spring break trip so far!

Saying Goodbye

The kids loved seeing their cousins even if it was for such a short time! I barely saw them all weekend they were always with each other playing, laughing, and of course a little fighting-but for the most part so much love. I don't even have any pictures of them playing since they were usually outside or at the park behind the house. Topher and Ryken had to stay in a lot since they are escape artists! It's amazing how much these kids get along together even after not seeing each other for so long. Isn't this a sweet picture? We hated saying goodbye, since we just barely said hello a day and a half before! It was such a short, last minute and surprise visit we didn't go see anyone else, we just stayed at the Ericksons ate some yummy Mona food and let the kids play together. We wish we could have stayed longer and went and saw all of our friends and family there, but I had to get back to work. SO if you live there and we didn't tell you we were there, or didn't see you, don't think we didn't want to-we SO wanted to. It was just too short of a weekend and we were just focusing on spending time with the kids for Easter. We are planning on coming out for longer in June though so we will let you all know about that trip! Loves!

Spring Fashion

Here are the kids styling in their new Easter ensembles complete with shoes. Too cute!

Egg Hunting

I know you all have the pictures of your kids hunting for eggs-and here are mine. We had a big Easter egg hunt before the blessing with all the cousins at Scott & Suzanna's house and they each got a pretty great haul-Everyone brought eggs and toys and prizes, so there was plenty for everyone. Topher even got $20 in one of his eggs!

Easter Morning

We did Easter at Scott & Suzanna's house since we were there Sunday morning, it's amazing how happy a basket of candy and a few little toys can make a couple of kids!

Cool even when he sleeps

Topher loves having sunglasses and hats on-I love that about him! I remember when my little brother was born and we couldn't wait to put hats and stuff on him and he hated them! I am so glad my little boy will keep them on! These pictures were just classic Topher, too cool and too cute!

Sweet Tess and other Sweet Cheeks

Since we were staying with Suzanna for the weekend she decided to bless sweet Tess while we were there. I didn't get too many pictures of her, but these of her and Topher were so funny, Topher LOVED her. When he was holding her and a couple of her brothers came to talk to her he would slap their hands away and say "My baby!" He got so mad when we took her back, he could have held her and watched her facial expressions all day.

While were there I also got to see my sweet nephew Christian for the first time and my great niece (I think that's right?), Madilyn. All 3 babies were so stinkin cute and loveable, it made me even more baby hungry than I already am! I hated to leave them knowing that they would change so much before I get to see them again!

Weekend Surprise

We decided to surprise Zachary and Ryeleigh, and Chad's mom this weekend for Easter and drive into town to see them. We stayed with Chad's sister Suzanna and took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. The kids had a blast, and even Bekah was climbing up and going down the big slides this time! I think she is growing out of that whole scaredy cat phase which I am thrilled with!

Lucky!

It's Saint Patricks Day today-and its got me reflecting a lot on how LUCKY I am!

I haven't written anything about little Reese because I figured most of my readers already know about her being in the hospital and are probably anxiously checking her blog a couple of times a day like I am for updates on her and her condition. For those of you who don't know her personally-she is a spunky little girl in my ward who is in my nursery class, Christophers age and has always reminded me of Christopher-how she is always getting into stuff and climbing on stuff and is just a curious little rascal. Well last week she got pnemonia and is now in the ICU. She is really sick-but the doctors are now saying she will recover, it will just take time. She has been on drugs that keep her asleep for over a week now and it has been SUCH an eye opener for me, my family and so many of my friends. Her family is doing well, they are feeling the love and prayers that have and continue to be offered in their behalf and know that everything will be okay.

Ever since this has happened I have realized just how fragile my little babies are. How easily they could be taken from me, how easily they could be in the hospital with some life threatening disease.

I have not dwelled on those thoughts though-instead I have dwelled on how precious they are, how wonderful they are and how lucky I am to have them.

I find myself not yelling at them as much-wanting to hold them longer, kiss them more, let them know how much I love them more and spend every minute with them that I can laughing and playing and just enjoying them.

One thing that Penny, Reese's mom, blogged that has really stuck with me, is that she will never say that Reese is driving her crazy again. I know that I say the my kids are driving me crazy at least a dozen times a day. I haven't said it once since-I haven't felt like they have been driving me crazy-I just feel LUCKY to have them....

Almost a Stair Master

We have some trouble here!

This kid is now completely mobile-crawling everywhere, finding me wherever I may go. Pulling himself up to any furniture he can reach the top of, standing up in his crib and now he's starting to climb the stairs.

This is far as he's gotten, but he is on his way to becoming a true stair master.

Yes, I know I need a gate.

Soon.

And these are just some dang cute kids in their pajamas that grace me with their presence every night.

I am so in love with all of them!

So Nice.

...the weather on Sunday, wasn't it?

We took advantage of the beautiful spring weather and went to our favorite spot to feed the ducks and geese out by my mom's place. Ahhhh-can't wait for summer!

Figured it out!

I think at this point he started realizing this day was all about him!

We were in the other room talking to Trae and Tabitha who came into town for the weekend-and wouldn't you know the little cutie-found his choo choo cake and started going to town on it! It's alright, I got some pictures of him blowing out the candle and him being excited about it-so I wasn't upset a bit. He got a little spoiled-shock shock! He got a train from Tab and Trae, some books, stuffed animal and a car from Grandma, a play grill from Papa, a movie from Bekah and a basketball hoop from us. He was thinking he was pretty dang cool!

It's your birthday mate!

We went to Safari Sam's for Tophers "birthday party". I figured he is still too little to have an actual friend party, so it was just us and Grandma, Papa and Uncle Tyler. The boys had a blast climbing all over the jungle gym-Bekah was terrified of it-Chad took her up there once and she cried almost the entire time-but you couldn't get Topher off it. Bekah settled for a game of miniature golf which she loved-so I think we all had a good time. I don't think I will be taking her back for her birthday though!