Birthday Festivities!

My birthday was on Sunday and my little sister Abby got to come out for the weekend to celebrate with us! Her birthday is two weeks before mine so we decided to pool our b-day money and fly her out for a little visit. We had so much fun! On friday we went to Chagrin Falls with Ben and Molly and the fam. We had a picnic by the river, fed the ducks (who were too good for our bread), got huge glorious cupcakes at the little cupcake shop, looked at the falls, and ate ice cream and popcorn. We had amazing weather the whole weekend. 80's and sunny!



Then on Saturday we went out to Kirtland and saw the bronze exhibit and some of the church history sights. My sister really wanted to go because her best friend and roommate served her mission there recently. I had already seen the bronze exhibit in St. George, but it was just as amazing the second time. Then we headed out to Hinckley Lake for a bbq and some swimming, kind of, the kids mostly just got muddy, but they loved it.


On Sunday we went to church and everyone was so nice and wished me happy birthday. Then we had a very yummy, very preggy birthday dinner. In our family, the birthday person gets to pick the menu which has always been something that I have loved and looked forward to. However, this year being pregnant this was a stressful task for me. I have had the hardest time lately thinking of dinners to make let alone thinking of what I wanted for my birthday dinner. So after a week of stressing about it and deciding that nothing sounded good to me, I decided to have a dinner of all appetizers. It turned out to be one of my all time favorite birthday dinners! We had steamed artichokes with dip (a big favorite around the monson and hall households), bruschetta, crab cakes, avacado and grapefruit salad, and stuffed mushrooms. The best part was that I didn't have to cook any of it or do the dishes! Thank you to Ben and Molly, and Garrett and Abby for pampering me. The best part was the traditional Monson birthday cake which I just love! Abby made it for me this year and she did an amazing job.

I requested shaved dove chocolate and raspberries for my toppings and she really came through! It was quite the feast. I had such a fun day getting calls from friends and family and birthday wishes from so many people. Thank you!

To end the weekend celebration, we went to the Red Sox, Indians baseball game on Monday night. It will probably be our last Indians game in Cleveland which was really sad, but it was so fun to go with our great friends the Days and the Poyfairs; along with Ben and Molly and the fam.


We got great seats in the bleachers which comes with the added bonus of drunk fans, but still they were great seats.

The kids had so much fun and we all had our fill of peanuts and cracker jacks which is a must!

Of course Carter had to have a hot dog.

Rylynn was really into the cheering with her friend Jaxson!
Thanks for coming Abs! We had so much fun with you and miss you already!

Summer Hair Take 1

Rylynn and I were having a little chat the other day about how every one in our family is in desperate need of a haircut at the moment. She was so excited about the idea of all of us getting summer haircuts, so she decided she needed one too. So she hopped in the chair and a couple minutes later, this is what we got.

It is so much easier cutting her hair than Carter's or daddy's for that matter. Carter will not keep still for anything, and Daddy just asks every minute if I am done yet. He hates getting his hair cut! Carter's hair is completely out of control and I have given up trying to figure out what to do with it so I think I will be taking him to get his hair cut by my friend and see if she can work some magic with his mop. He definitely has my thick hair that grows right out of the back of his head.


Also my new favorite word that Carter says is mushmoos which means marshmallows. They are his new favorite snack and every time he asks for them I think that he is asking for mushrooms.

April update

"...this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teaching and the marvels of his wisdom." -Paulo Coelho

This is a quote that I love from the book The Alchemist. Garrett's friend recommended it to him and he loved it, so I read it after Garrett was done. It is such an inspiring and thought provoking book about each of our individual journeys and destinies in this life. I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a really fast read too, only 170 pages.

So that is what I have been doing the last couple days. Today was beautiful finally so the kids and I packed a picnic and walked to the park. They had a blast! The next couple days are supposed to be high 60's and sunny so we are probably going to be outside for the next few days straight.


I am excited for a few days outside since for the last two weeks my house has been turned into an art studio! Rylynn is loving cutting papers, glueing things, coloring, and then proudly taping her creations all over the house. Every night we have quite the mess of crayons, and tiny pieces of cut up paper to clean up.

Here is a proud display.
She is getting really good at writing words on her pictures too with her letters. I love seeing her creativity shine through lately.

The other day I finally had to put my foot down and take down most of the pictures. We are now keeping them all safe in her princess folders so we can take them to our "new house".

In other random news, Carter and Rylynn are completely obsessed with the movie Tinker bell right now. We borrowed it from our friends and after watching it everyday for the last couple weeks I finally broke down and ordered it on Amazon. First thing in the morning Carter comes out of his room and says, "I want Tink!" I have to say that I actually love this movie too. It has such a great message and it is done so well. Carter is also obsessed with Daddy's golf clubs, his are not cutting it anymore. It is a little worrisome though because they are way too big for him and he hits them into things all the time. He is talking so much now and he says the funniest things. We really need to get him on video soon so we don't miss this stage. These kids are always entertaining!

Happy Easter!

"Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. "

I saw this quote on my friends blog and loved it. It is from Jeffrey R Holland's talk from last weeks General Conference which was definitely my favorite talk of all of conference. The whole talk is amazing so if you are interested in reading it click here.

I have to admit that Easter is probably my favorite holiday. I love Christmas because of all the traditions and the fun that goes on and on, but Easter is the most important holiday to me by far. I love how the world just takes a small step back from the commercialism of holidays and remembers that without the Savior we would have no hope in this life or the life to come. I know the commercialism is still there, but even in eggs and spring colors there is symbolism of the Savior's resurrection. I found myself all week hearing random conversations in the grocery store about religion and Christianity and people wishing each other a happy passover, or happy easter. It was kind of amazing to me since I feel like these conversations are a little bit frowned upon in our daily lives. Maybe it is just me, but when we are in desperate times, we seem to be a more humble and accepting people. For some reason I feel like the "PC" world has relaxed a little bit as of late because let's be honest, we all need to cling to our faith a little more when we are struggling.

Anyway, we had such a great Easter this year. We had a special family home evening on Monday to start off the week. Rylynn loves hearing the story of the resurrection and it was a great reminder of what this holiday is really about. Then today at church we heard some great talks about the life and death and resurrection of the Savior. I wish that was the topic of every sacrament meeting because that is really the whole point of the gospel. I was also able to sing with the choir a beautiful song called "Here I am Lord". It is all about being willing to go and do what the Lord asks of us. It was a great reminder that even when I am struggling and feeling lost in this world, the Lord is by my side and ultimately, I am committed to doing His will no matter what that entails. It brought me a lot of comfort during this uncertain and stressful time in my life.

After church we had a delicious Easter dinner with Ben and Molly. We had our famous easter lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, strawberry salad, lemon asparagus and berry cobbler for dessert.

We ate the cobbler picnic style on the kitchen floor so we could all sit by Babo Reagan. She was very envious of the dessert we were consuming.

Carter gave her an empty plastic egg to suck on so she wouldn't feel so left out. Just wait till next year Babo!

When we were stuffed to the point of rolling, we dyed easter eggs with the kids and had an easter egg hunt outside.



Rylynn was so cute to point out all the soccer and football eggs to Carter so he could get them.


She focused all her efforts on the pink and purple eggs. Apparently they have better candy in them.
They were so excited for all their candy!

Then we had our annual easter egg rolling contest and Molly pulled out victorious! It was some tough competition and the girls represented. It was Molly and me in the finals. Rylynn wouldn't participate because she didn't want to hurt her eggs. She dyed a pink one and a purple one and she has not let them out of her sight since we dyed them. She actually asked if she could snuggle with them tonight but I had to tell her no on that one. We put them in the fridge and she said she is going to wake up in the morning and feed them breakfast. She's so funny.

To top it all off today is my little sister's birthday so we called and sang to her and got to wish her happy birthday. I love my family and I am reminded so much of how much my family loves me and what they are willing to do for me when my family and I are going through hard times. I am so thankful for a family that supports me through good times and bad. I was especially struck by the fact today that I am so grateful that because of the resurrection of my Savior, I can live with my family that I love so much throughout eternity. I wish we could have all been together today, but I am so happy that we live by Ben and Molly and can celebrate these special holiday moments together.