Easter!

We were at Grandma and Grandpa Perry's this year for Easter, due to the conference weekend. It's always more fun at G-ma and Gpa's house anyway!

We don't have many traditions, but coloring EGGS is a must!

Check out the concentration!

And they're finished! What beauties!

Easter morning was wet, so we had an egg hunt inside. Here they are anxiously waiting while mom has to take yet another picture...

Brinly even joined in on the hunt!

I think she likes hunting for Eggs!

Sheer Joy!

And for your own enjoyment: can you find the eggs?

There's one! I think Dan's parents might be finding eggs in random spots for a while....

Utah trip

Chelsea had almost a full week off from school due to parent teacher conferences, so I took the opportunity and braved a drive [without Dan] to Utah.

We had a great time! It was one of those vacations that just went wayyy to fast.

We left Friday, after Chelsea finished school at 2:30. We stopped in Caldwell, not quite halfway, at a hotel for the night. The hotel had a WARM indoor pool, with a little kiddy pool. It was perfect for Brinly's debut swim!

This was Chelsea's swimsuit when she was Brinly's age. I had some serious memory-floodage when I put it on Brinly....

On Sunday, after Church at my brother's ward, we went up to Temple Square, in SLC. With conference coming up, we had been talking a lot about the apostles, the conference center, etc. so it was neat to show the kids where it all takes place.

Then we went to the Visitors center, where we saw the statue of Christ. The kids had seen a picture of it in the FRIEND magazine and were fascinated by it.

We've also been learning about the 12 apostles, so the kids enjoyed this display. 

My brother Evan, came with us, and was a huge help with Brinly!

I don't think he minded...it certainly attracted the ladies! :)

My brother Nathan also brought his two boys, Noah and Cannon. I'm so glad they joined us!

I have always loved this "picture spot" so we had to stop by it. It was windy and a little cold, but they were troopers!

That night we had a family birthday party for Noah (my 1 yr old nephew) and Evan, my 19 yr old brother. 

Check out the awesome cake!

AND, it was even more delicious!

Our Next stop, was in Gunnison, Utah, to see my little sister Tawna. We were there for St. Patrick's day and woke up to a little leprechaun mischief:

Tawna and her family just moved into a new house last fall, so their front yard is unfinished. The kids had a wonderful time playing in the mud!

Brinly loved watching, and poking her newest little cousin, Anna. 

We also swam in the Gunison city pool. I'm thoroughly jealous that this little town, with only ONE grocery store, population of about 5,000, HAS A POOL! UGH.  

Isn't my sister and her little girly so adorable?!

What? March already?

Um, anybody else wondering where February went? 

We had a great month. 

Michael had his first "season" of indoor soccer. He loved running around. In fact, I think he thought it was a game of chase, because he would take off running down the gym, giggling, and looking behind him to see if anyone was getting close....meanwhile, the ball is headed the opposite direction. The snacks were definitely the hi-light! :)

Dan and I went to a friend's house with a few other couples, and had a taste-test night. We each brought a name brand food item and a store-brand item. We brought crackers and cheese. The cheese brands were Tillamook and Walmart. Other food items were syrup (we had to decide between regular, sugar free and light), whip cream, hot chocolate, ice-cream, and a few others. The results were a little surprising. Generally, the store brought items were preferred! It was a fun game.

These are the Valentines the kids took to give to their friends. My friend game me the idea, but she'd only described them to me, so I just kinda went with it. Hers turned out much cuter, but I still loved the result. I think this will be our valentine standard. :)

Tent-making has become very popular in our house as of late. This mansion was built with help from one awesome daddy. Despite the enormous mess, one awesome mommy allowed it to stay up for more than just one day! :) It had 4 separate rooms, and even a TV nook. It was pretty cool, but I just can't stand the mess for too long. OCD.

Dan helped out in primary. He dressed up as Enos in the snuggie he got me for Valentine's day (among other things: paper shredder, pizza cutter, paper towel holder, and a book). He did a great job, despite how much he hates "acting". 

This is a sneak-preview on my latest hobby. It was supposed to be a quick, fun weekend project, but it has turned out to be a LONG, 6 week (and going), frustrating, and learning experience. It will be a while before I show you what "It" is, because I want to have it completely finished first. 

The weather has been warming up here lately. This past week we even had a few days in the 60's. We are all very anxiously awaiting spring and summer, where we can spend more days outside. This was a weekday when Dan got off work early, so we took the kids to a park. 

It was Brinly's debut on the swing. She liked it...

A lot. Doesn't that look so comfy and cozy? 

And just cause' she's cute. 

Brinly started crawling before 6 months, and it was a matter of weeks before she was up cruising furniture. Now we've caught her a few times letting go of the furniture, and staying up! AHHH! This can NOT be happening! She is determined to keep up with her siblings. And if that means walking by 10 months, so be it. 

Which leads to other problems...

She opened this cupboard and pulled out all the bowls. All by herself. I really don't want to have to put child locks on our new cabinets, so hopefully I can just deal with it until she grows out of this stage. :)

And like I always say..."Good thing she's cute!"

Our ward is the last to meet in our  building on Sundays, so we get to put up all the chairs after the meetings are over. You can see that the boys don't mind one bit.

Chelsea won this jar of sweethearts (YUCK!...they are the chalky kind) by guessing the closest amount. Dan helped her with her guess at her curriculum night. There were 271 in the jar, and their guess was 310. She was so excited about this, and had talked about it for days before the guesses were due. I'm glad she won!

Michael had a Daddy day at his preschool. (It was right after Soccer, and his last game, hence the medal and soccer attire) It was only an hour long, but looks like they had fun!

And one last picture. Yup. That milk is some GOOD stuff. (Wink Wink) 

See ya next month! 

Random updates...

So, a friend in my ward, asked me if I wanted to go to a concert in Spokane with her.

 I had never heard of the artist, Brandi Carlile, but I was ALL for a girls' night out!

I was so excited that even though it was a week night, I was able to arrange things to be able to go.

My ward is filled with super fun people. This is just a small handful of them, but we had such a great time. It's a 2 hour drive to Spokane, and the concert didn't even start until 8 PM, but it was so worth it. And now, I'm even a big fan of Brandi Carlile!

There wasn't much seating, but we found a spot with 3 stools. Genius Holly thought of turning them on their sides, and putting our coats on them so we could all sit. We had to massage our (own) patooties occasionally, but it wasn't bad. The concert was great, the company was great, and even the drunk guy 1 ft in front of us added to the whole adventure!

K, enough about me...

Let's hear about Dan...

Dan went hunting with his Dad and Uncle.

Well, that was exciting. Let's move on now...


:)



Tragedy has struck our home.

Our poor, beloved hampster of two, yes TWO years, got sick.

 We found him like this one night, and despite our best efforts, he has passed on, kicked the bucket, went to the other side, saw the light, etc.

(He died.)

 It was a rough night for Chelsea.

We've had 5 or 6 hampsters, but none that lasted near this long, or were as gentle. "Hampsie" will be missed...

I don't think Michael understood what was going on... :)

 

We buried him last Sunday morning...

Rest In Peace, little Hampsie.

Next up...

Brinly is trying to grow up WAY to fast...

With a little help of course...

She never wants to miss out on any of the action...

Like when Brother is taking a bath...

"who me?!"

 Yup. Brinly, You've been caught.

"This is no laughing matter! you are NOT to see your brother naked!"

Oh, fine. You win. (Dang, she's cute!)

Michael, on the other hand, has turned into a self-taught Chef!

Don't ask where I was. I'm not sure. probably just down in the living room...

He was so proud of his cooking...

The ingredients:

Cheeze-its

brown sugar

light corn syrup

vanilla,

salt,

crayon (orange)

baking soda

and water.

Looks, scrumptious, right?

You should have seen how excited he was to try it.

He took a great big spoonful...

and said "MMM!....."

(the ingredients now reaching ALL the taste buds...)

...face distorting now...

skin color looking paler....

...and it's down the hatch.

"I think I need a drink mom! "

We'll have to fine-tune that recipe before we invite guests over...

I wish so bad I could have been faster at grabbing the camera, or better yet, the camcorder. It was priceless. I've never laughed so hard as a parent.

Funny stuff...

overheard at our house...

I was busy doing some things on the computer, and realized I hadn't seen Michael in a while. I called out to him:

Mom: "MIIIIIICHAELLLLLL!  What are you doooooooing?"
Michael: "Laying on my bed."

This is quite unusual for my active little boy, so I went to go see what exactly he meant by that. To my surprise, he was, actually, just laying there.

I sit down by him, stroke his hair and say:

Mom: "Why are you laying on your bed?"


He responds, very mater-of-factly...

Michael: "Because I'm in time out."

Oh yeah. I remember now.

 I had sent him here a while ago for doing something I had previously told him not to do.

I think he had been there for like 30 minutes.

I had forgotten....

Mom: (hangs head in shame)