All Things Pink...

Remember how I said that I have a  pretty awesome neighborhood?

Well, I do.

One of our friends is about to have her first baby, a girl! So a group of us put together a neighborhood shower for her. I just had to document all the cuteness. My friends are very talented and super crafty. I can only take credit for the donuts and some appetizers. But Melissa made this incredible butterfly cake, Jamie made these delish Oreo truffles and Camila did the rest which included the invitations, butterfly mobile, baby sign, party favors, pasta salad, home made rolls, home made mints and slush drink. She was an incredible host.

And because we live in such a fun neighborhood, we had such a good turn out. Every one was so nice to bring something for Lisa even if this was the first time meeting her.

And the fun part. Gifts gifts gifts!

And look at what a cute pregnant woman Lisa makes.

Best wishes to Lisa and her family. Can't wait to finally meet baby girl.

Weekend

This weekend was a doozy.

It all started Thursday afternoon right after dropping Trent and Larry off at the Airport. They were off to meet the rest of Team Bonk! for Ragnar in beautiful sunny Southern California. Since I opted out of running this time around, I was chosen to watch the Jensen Hoard. Everything went smoothly. In fact, I think this was the most well behaved that everyone was so it made watching them that much better. We stayed very busy playing outside in the nice weather, going swimming, playing games, watching movies, eating out and just being together. There was never a dull or un busy moment with a group that size and come 10:00 PM every night, I was ready for bed. I love that I have been able to be a part of these sweet kids life and that they are also a part of ours. I've said this time and time again, but Oliver is so blessed to have all of them to show him "the ropes". Most of the time it's good and let's face it, sometimes not so good, but experiences non-the-less that he wouldn't otherwise have if he weren't so close to those little stinkers. Bottom line, I love them and I wouldn't have changed our weekend together....except maybe for not watching them and actually running with the team, but you know what I mean. 

The only picture that I have of the Jensen group from this weekend is this one...

And then Oliver.

Like I said, it was busy busy and taking pictures was not at the top of our lis of things to do this weekend.

In other news...

Congratulations to team Bonk! on a successful race. Sounds like it was an amazing adventure.

Vagabond?

Luke was making fun of me the other night because I was dressed like this...

I don't know what he means. I thought this outfit looked very flattering on me.

But really, this is what happened.

Luke wanted to go on a walk Sunday {late} afternoon and it was cold. So, I changed from my short sweats (I know, but it was Sunday. Sweats of any kind are appropriate) to my long {man} sweats and threw on a few layers on top. When we got home from our walk, I was still so comfortable that I didn't take any layers off and therefor, I was dubbed a vagabond. At least it's a fancy way of calling me a bum.

Just say "NO"

Once upon a time there was a man and his wife. They lived in a town where they were bombarded with solicitors. Every spring they did not look forward to the very pushy, albeit, nice southern salesmen that would come a knockin' door to door trying to get you to buy their cleaner. One day there was a knock at the door. It's was a polite salesman asking the very kind wife to buy a forty dollar bottle of this all purpose, non toxic, long lasting, amazing smelling, {did I mention} forty dollar cleaner. The nice wife had a hard time turning down the equally nice salesman, but she remembered that her husband had told her time after time to just say "no" in any situation like that no matter how charming and complimentary they were because they are just lying and looking to make money off your ability to not being able to tell someone "no". So, as kindly as she could, the beautiful wife {felt that she needed to} explained that due to them being poor with kids and schooling, that she could not buy this amazing life changing miracle cleaner and she sadly said "no". That night when the wife told the husband what happened, the husband was happy and told the wife that it really wasn't all that bad to say "no", right? The wife was just relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with that for another year and was able to squeak out a "no".

Flash forward to the next year. This year. 

Beautiful loving kind wife is in the kitchen making dinner when she hears the familiar script of the amazing, must-have-liquid-gold-in-a-bottle-that-never-runs-out, safe-to-even-spray-in-your-mouth-cleaner coming from outside. She lets husband continue to deal with salesman because she knows it's easier for him to just say "no". In walks husband...with a strange man speaking in a twangy accent. "Hello Ma'am" salesman says. He turns to husband and says {no lie}, "This has gotta be your younger sisterr, raght?"

Husband realizes that saying "no" is harder than he thought.

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Husband is now the proud owner of this melt-your-heart-because-it's-so-amazing-best-forty-dollars-you-will-ever-spend-cleaner.

Wife still does not own such a product because she in fact, can just say "no".

The end.

Easter Endings

Easter morning was a very nice morning for us. Oliver came into our room and snuggled with us which is our favorite thing ever. After eating some breakfast we told Oliver that the Easter Bunny had left a special Easter Basket for him hidden somewhere in the house and that he had to find it.  When he saw the basket in his old baby room he was so excited. His favorite item was Nacho Libre which he wanted to watch right on the spot. We loved watching Oliver get excited throughout the weekend with all the Easter activities.

 

To close the Easter holiday we went to church. I was not prepared to enjoy such a wonderful message especially in Relief Society. Each member of the RS shared a special message. We watched a couple short videos of our Savior and the Resurrection, another sister sang the sweetest song and then the president (my MIL) shared a wonderful message about adversities in our lives. Note to self: Waterproof Mascara next time. Like I said, it was beautiful. Sacrament meeting was just as good with 2 perfect speakers and wonderful music preformed by our choir. Aside from watching Oliver light up with excitement, church was the highlight of Easter and a perfect way to be reminded of the love that our Savior, Jesus Christ has for each of us.

Easter Lovin

Saturday morning we woke up early to get the busy Easter day started. We met up with Wendy for the annual Easter Egg hunt at Kenzie's old Elementary.

They always have the kids line up around the perimeter of the soccer field...or in this years case, the black top, where all the eggs are dumped.  At first they are only allowed to get 3 eggs and for the finishing round, they can collect as many as they can get. Oliver isn't too aggressive and was perfectly happy with about 10 eggs.  

Love my lumberjack.

After waiting in line for a while we made it up to the Easter Bunny. He sort of freaks me out a little and this year I think Oliver picked up on the freakishness of him as well so he wanted me to sit with him.

They also had a raffle where you could pay $1 a ticket to be entered to win an Easter basket. They had about twenty baskets up for grabs. I didn't think O would win since we only put his name in twice and with only 2 baskets left I was sure we weren't going to win.

But we did! Oliver was pretty excited about this. So was I.

Luke was a good sport for joining us. His favorite part was listening to the LOUD cheesy Easter music blaring through the speakers.

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That night we had my family over for a little Easter party complete with Hamburgers and hot dogs.

Look how cute my hubs is.

We tend to go all out with these burgers to make them extra delicious.

This is my mom's favorite food we put on. It makes her very happy. 

We loved starting up the fire and roasting marshmallows. First time this year.

And then the Easter Hunt began.

We took more video than pictures so I don't have any actual hunt photos, but the kids loved it. The adults got to smash confetti eggs all over each other and the kids which was fun. My mom also usually does an egg hunt for the adults where she hides money in eggs. This year she only did a 1 one-hundred dollar bill. Wendy won it.

And want to see the most awkward photo of the night?

Here ya go...

I don't know what most of us were looking at or why Luke looks like a lemur or Jonny like Nacho Libre, I don't know what I'm showing all my teeth and why suddenly Kat turned into a pimp. Luckily Phia and my mom look good.

Spring Break

Friday

We went to the movies. Remember I said how much we like movies??? Well we do and so do all these kids. So after picking up a couple buckets of popcorn, a couple large drinks, and a box/bag of candy for each kid, we were ready to watch The Lorax.

Which was not my favorite, but still fun.

And Amy, oh Amy. She cracks me up. 

I think Jonny Depp as a vampire made her pretty thirsty eh?

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That night we decided to stay in and make our own dinner which was so nice. After dinner we boiled some eggs and colored them for Easter. It was our first time ever doing this as a family and it was so much fun. Oliver loved using the whisk to dip his eggs in the water and watching them change. He even ate one. 

 

Holidays as a child were so much fun, but holidays with your own children are simply the best.

Spring Break

Thursday

Today we spent most of the day relaxing. Oliver just wanted to be home and so we did just that. We slept in late, stayed in our jammies, watched some shows, took early nap, ate lunch together and played until it was time to actually get ready. I had to work at the Chiro for a few hours so Oliver went up to cousins house.

We were invited to go to dinner with the Hoard at the Training Table. Turning that down would be difficult and I really did want to hang out with Jensen's (In spite of what others Ahem, Trent may think ;))

After the delicious meal, we went back up to play. Oliver (somewhat) slept over while Amy and I played what she likes to call Adult games. I on the other hand, like to call it X-box Kinect.

All the kids slept under their fort. Oliver just loves to be with his cousins. Every morning he asks me who's house he will be going to and every time I tell him Jensen's he excitingly whispers "Yes!".

 Sadly I don't have any pictures of Amy and I playing the dance game and sport games. I know we looked silly, but at least we had a fun night.



Spring Break

Wednesday

This morning we were finally able to make it to Play Group, a little group that my ward puts on weekly. Today they were doing an Easter egg hunt. Oliver was pretty excited to go to this. He helped my get ready by putting the chocolate treats in the eggs and then in his bucket. He even said "Mom, it's like trick-or-treating!"

I had to stop Oliver from finding all the eggs. He was the oldest one so he had a pretty good advantage. He enjoyed playing with all the kids...Mainly the girls.





I also enjoyed chatting with the ladies. I really can't wait until the summer where we can do this on a weekly basis.

And because we love movies around here, we also bought this one and watched it today.

Spring Break

Tuesday

This morning was so nice. One of the main reasons was because nothing was rushed. We slept in until 8:30, got up and made breakfast. I even ate breakfast with Oliver at the table instead of getting O to eat quick and just eating something on the run.

I have been trying to collect old movies that I grew up with and this was one that I loved as a kid, so I bought it. O saw it once before with his cousins and liked it so when he saw that we boiught it, it was the first thing he wanted to do. So this morning after our breakfast, we cuddled on the couch in our jammies and watched it.

I still love it. Nostalgia maybe?

After our movie morning we got ready to go meet cousins and friends at the zoo. Finally, I was going to be able to take Oliver after he has been asking me for weeks months.

It was pure chaos. We weren't the only one to think to take all the kids to the zoo today. Needless to say I didn't get my camera out much.

And after naps and dinner, we took a little stroll to the library. We read a few books and brought a couple home. 

Oliver took a nice shower/bath {Explanation soon to come}, and we enjoyed reading together on his bed and singing primary songs. The highlight of the entire day was to hear him sing "I am a Child of God" with me. Such a sweet guy.

I think I could get use to being home with him all day again. 

Spring Break

I love working for a school. Because of it, I get to have holidays and summers off and this week, spring break. My plan was to spend as much time with Oliver as possible doing something fun everyday of the week.

So here we go...

Monday

We were still in Stg and I think that right there is enough for a fun day, right? One of Oliver's favorite things to do while traveling to and from stg is to stop at the gas station for treats. We always let him pick a treat and then I end up sharing most of my Funyuns {a total must for long driving trips and yes, four hours counts as long}. We got home late that night so Oliver went right to bed. Okay so today wasn't totally fun but it beats not being with him at all.

Sand Hallow/Zions/Stg

We have been trying to plan a family camp out since the last time we went which was down in Bear lake 2 years ago. We haven't been very successful until this year when at the last minute, everyone was able to go and things just worked out perfectly. Baker's decided to go with or without us and I guess that was just the extra push we needed for the rest of us to go.

We camped in Sand Hollow which was a really cool place. The camp spots were a little small, but we made it work. The kids enjoyed hot dogs and s'mores and I enjoyed just sitting around the fire. Camping with out a fire just wouldn't be camping.

The second night we all hung out around the campfire with my mom and sister who were able to join us the second night. 

We couldn't think of any scary storied to tell, so we made scary faces instead.

Can you tell who is who?

Pretty scary, right?

But we got a better one of the entire group.

The following day we headed up to Zions.

The weather was pretty perfect and the kids loved hiking and playing in the water. When we sat down at the lodge, the wind started to pick up and didn't stop until we went home 2 days later.

We finished off our trip at Pioneer Park aka: The Rock Park. The kids loved playing on all the rocks and going through the crack. Luke and Kat were even able to squeeze through.

And before going home, I shopped just a little tiny bit with Taleesha which is always a must when in Stg. 

The trip was a huge success and we are already planning our next family camp out. We are thinking either Goblin Valley or Moab, but we'll see. Hopefully it's not another 2 more years until we get around to it...