April Happenings

We started off the glorious month of April with General conference!  These smiles lasted all of two talks before the griping and complaining began.  Somehow GC is a little more uplifting when you don't have to break up sibling fights and calm down bored whiny children.  I'm just saying.  

3 birthdays later(my Mom, neice, and sister) we celebrated Easter!

The kids really loved dying the eggs this year and Rylynn developed a new passion for hard boiled eggs.  Carter wasn't feeling it.

Due to the fact that I had been rehearsing for three months for a Stake Easter program, we had to have a pretty low key Easter weekend.  I had performances on Friday and Saturday night.  It was an amazing program and such an awesome experience to be a part of.  I was planning on hosting the neighborhood egg rolling contest but due to the program we just had a family contest with the addition of our neighbor friend.

Garrett prefaced the contest with the most important rule that no one was allowed to cry if they lost:)  Rylynn was much better about that than Carter.  We all had fun though and once again Daddy's egg came out on top.  He let Carter roll the winning egg on the last round so he wouldn't be too sad.

Then we did a few egg hunts in the backyard.  Garrett's family used to hunt for the dyed real eggs when he was little so we decided why not try it so the kids can search for eggs longer.  They ended up wanting to do this about five times. 

Carter hid the eggs the last time and he did a great job but when Rylynn and the neighbor came to hunt he kept telling them where they were hidden:)  He was trying to help his sister to find them all!

Rylynn was quite the searcher

Seriously this entertained them for over an hour!

Beckett just stood in the yard and gave directions:)

Oh and looked really cute!

This little man is obsessed with the trampoline these days.  He seriously wants to go out there first thing every morning.  He calls it "bonk". We aren't sure if that's because he gets bonks when he jumps on it or if he is trying to say jump:)  He was enjoying watching the hunt from his favorite spot.

He was a big fan of the Easter bunny too!

The kids got a few little things in their easter baskets and then they searched for candy filled eggs around the house.

Proudly displaying the loot

The kids came to my Easter concert on Saturday night with the exception of Beckett but they were not very good for Garrett so it turned out to be a big let down for me.  After the program I walked back to find my supportive family and the first thing out of my kids' mouths was, "why was it so long?!"  I was kind of shocked they didn't like it because the previous two weeks we had discussed the passover and the resurrection for FHE and they loved it.  For our Easter lesson Garrett showed them an easter video and they wanted to watch it over and over again.  Oh well.  It was still an amazing experience for me.  The music made such an impact on my easter experience this year and I felt like I drew so much closer to my Savior through the performances.  The director was the most talented musician I have ever worked with and I have worked with a lot of talented musicians!  This woman arranged most of the music and wrote all the narration and directed a 75 person choir, piano, synthsizer, and violin and she pushed us all to perfection.  I loved it!

These are the kids Easter outfits.  We took these quickly before church but didn't get any with Garrett and I.  We all had matching blue and yellow for our theme.  We had Easter dinner with our friends the Chambers and the Brockbanks.  It was really yummy and we all ate way too much.  I was just so happy to not have to host after the crazy weekend.  Thanks Chambers!!

After the chaos of Easter died down it was time for my birthday!!  Garrett spoiled me endlessly with treats, shopping, girls nights out, birthday lunch to a brazillian grill, and a yummy family dinner on Sunday that he cooked for me.  My parents gave me a kindle which I am loving!  On the afternoon of my birthday my friend and neighbor Brenda threw a birthday luncheon for me and some of my girlfriends.  We didn't take the picture until after a few of them had already left but it was so much fun and really yummy too!  Brenda gave me some beautiful flowers too which always makes me happy:)  There are so many amazing women here and I am so happy to have so many wonderful friends.  I was just sad she couldn't invite them all!

Here are the pretty flowers from Brenda and my little collection of birthday cards from family and friends.  Even the little neighbor boy Seth made me a card (he's five:)  I felt very loved!  It was a crazy and fun month.  Now if we can just get some summer weather our way!

All grown up!!

I had to do a little post for my not so little man Beckett.  As of last week he is finally officially weaned!! I honestly thought he would be nursing well into the twos so I am kind of shocked still.  It took 19 1/2 months but it actually wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be.  He had bad reflux as a baby and so he has never taken a pacifier like my other kids did.  He also is super picky (at least for my kids) about food.  But the hardest thing has been that he has just figured out sleeping through the night because he didn't have a binky to comfort him like Rylynn and Carter did.  Garrett and I were seriously worried that he wouldn't sleep through the night till he was three.  But After months of constant teething and off and on sickness, he finally figured it out.  He loves his blankies which he calls "Da Da's" and yes he has to have BOTH every time he goes to sleep.  It is honestly funny to think about how far I have come as a mother.  Just today I was remembering how impatient I would get if Rylynn didn't go right to sleep and sleep through the night and she was honestly the world's easiest baby.  Now I can handle a lot more when it comes to being patient with these tiny people that I love.  I'm thankful that I have been able to get better with each one and that I didn't have to jump to my "hard" baby first.

Although he has been hard in some ways, our Beckett is a joy in our home!  He has become such a good little helper to me.  Every morning he helps me unload the silverware from the dishwasher and he puts it into the drawer and gets so happy.  It is so cute.  He is talking a lot more now too.  It's so funny how he has just kind of taken his time when it comes to walking and talking.  Rylynn and Carter were so much faster at both, but I am honestly thankful that Beckett took his time to walk.  It made it much easier on me.  Anyway, I can't believe he is weaned and sleeping now and I all the sudden feel like he is all grown up and not a baby anymore.  He loves being one of the big kids and doing what Rylynn and Carter are doing.  One of his favorite things to do is to dance with them.  He moves and grooves with the best of them:)  

Daddy Son Date

I am playing catch up a bit and I came across these darling pictures on my camera and realized I never did a post on Carter's first Daddy Son date. 

Garrett knew he was taking Rylynn to the Daddy daughter dance and he knew Carter would get sad if he didn't get to go on a special date with Daddy, plus he thought it would be fun to surprise them with those special events for Valentine's Day.  So he called me from work one day to tell me that he was going to buy Monster Jam tickets for their special outing!

Carter had so much fun and didn't care for one minute that it was deafening in the arena:)  Garrett wore earplugs but Carter refused.  Garrett paid a little bit extra to be able to go a little bit early and see the trucks up close.  Carter couldn't believe how huge they were in real life!

His favorite was Gravedigger!  He has been looking for the matchbox version of Gravedigger ever since but he seems to be everybody's favorite because he is always sold out.  Carter loves cars and trucks and racing.  It was a dream come true!

St Patrick's Day!

I haven't been able to blog lately due to a broken camera!  Yes it has been broken since before Rylynn's birthday and yes I just took it in yesterday to be fixed so I shouldn't really be complaining but still.  So the only pictures I have from St Patrick's Day are from my phone and let's be honest, phone pictures aren't great.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun building a leprachaun trap for Rylynn's Kindergarten class.

Then we had our yearly corned beef and cabbage dinner with lime fluff cake for dessert.  We all made sure to wear green so that no one got pinched!  The kids were so worried about getting pinched:) And of course Garrett's favorite part of St P's Day is all the basketball being played.  I am killing him in my bracket so far BTW:)

In other news I had to quickly record this story for posterity.  A friend of mine is the primary music leader and my visiting teacher.  So she called to schedule a visit and told me the cutest story about Rylynn.  Apparently last sunday they had a cancellation on the Junior primary talk so they asked if anyone would be willing to come bare their testimony to fill the time.  Well if you know anything about my daughter you know that her hand flew up immediately without one moments thought.  My friend said she went up there and did a great job and she was so impressed with how confident Rylynn was.

I was a little surprised that I hadn't heard about this from Rylynn since she usually can't wait to tell us about those kinds of things but she hadn't.  So when I got off the phone I said, "Rylynn, sister so and so just told me that you bore your testimony in Primary and did a great job!"  Then I asked her why she didn't tell me and what she had said.  She said, "oh I forgot to tell you Mom.  I don't remember what I said, but it was really sweet!"  Haha that girl cracks me up!  This is just another Rylynn story that makes me laugh and smile because my daughter has confidence coming out her ears.  It is a tough thing to deal with sometimes but it also brings me so much peace as a mother because I know she won't let anyone push her around.

Happy Birthday Rylynn

Rylynn turned six on Friday and we had a fun celebration weekend!  First, we have a tradition from my childhood that the birthday child gets to pick their favorite junk cereal for their birthday.  Rylynn chose Trix this year which was always my go to.  She was so nice to share with Carter and Beckett.  Then she had dance class like she does every friday but I drove the carpool and suprised her and her friends with donuts.  Then after dance, we went to Red Robin for her birthday meal.  Unfortunately, our camera broke the day before Rylynn's birthday and I was so sad that we weren't going to get any pictures.  So I called our friend who so kindly tried to fix it and then when they couldn't they lent us their camera to use for her party.  So we didn't get any pictues on the actual day.

After changing her mind about 10 times, Rylynn finally decided on a Hawaiian themed party.  My kids have been completely obsessed with Hawaii lately so I made her this Hawaiian sunset cake complete with sparkly sand.  

She also really wanted pizza so we had a little pizza and punch for the party.  She got to have a lot of her buddies come and it was lots of fun.  A little crazy, but fun:)

Daddy was in charge of the games and we did the limbo, a pinata, and animal charades.  Rylynn was a lizard.  It took a while for her friends to guess hers:)

I had to include this picture even though it is a funny smile for Rylynn because the boy standing next to her is her "boyfriend".  He is such a sweet little boy from her Kindergarten class and she totally loves him.  It is so cute.  So I had to get a picture of Kelty for posterity!

Here is her birthday loot from her friends!  She totally got spoiled.  She had so much fun playing with all her toys after everyone left.  She also got cards from Grandmas and Grandpas and aunts and uncles and racked up something like 80 bucks!

Had to have the blowing out the candle picture.  Rylynn wanted the "6" candle instead of six little candles.

Silly kids.  They loved the pinata and they each got tons of candy in their little bags.  All my pinata pics were blurry though.  Too bad!

Carter was loving the party and all the friends.  Have I mentioned before that he thinks he is 5?

This is Payton and Seth.  Two goof balls from Rylynn's Kindergarten carpool.

Campbell, Meghan, and Ella have all become Rylynn's good friends this year at school and church.

And of course Kate and Kylynn are the neighborhood buddies that Rylynn loves to play with.  It was so nice of everyone to come and celebrate with us and spoil Rylynn.  We had a great time!

After hours of playing with her new toys she got to go to a daddy daughter dance to cap off the celebration day!  She and Garrett had so much fun.  Her favorite song was the YMCA and the chicken dance!  

We are so happy to have Rylynn in our family!  I honestly can't believe she is already six years old.  She is such a good helper to me and such a great big sister.  Her brothers absolutely adore her.  Some random facts about her at six are that she has all the sudden decided she hates dresses and will only wear skirts.  She loves art and is constantly creating projects around the house.  She is very creative and always comes up with fun games for Carter and her to play together.  She is very responsible and does a great job keeping her room clean and doing her chores.  She is liking her dance class and loves her friends.  She can read very well and loves to do homework.  She is really loving Kindergarten but she is so excited for first grade where she will get to eat lunch at school!  Her latest obsession is to quote movies such as Despicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon.  It is really funny! :)  Her favorite color has gone from pink to purple to black to white and back to pink this year.  Her favorite foods are mashed potatoes, artichokes, and brussel sprouts.  She is so great about always remembering to say a prayer when we need help or we lose something and the thing I love the most is that as soon as our prayer is answered, she always remembers to say another prayer to thank Heavenly Father for helping us.  She has such a sweet spirit and always wants to do what is right.  We love you, Rylynn!!

Had to Share

Okay so I just had to record a few random moments for posterity.

Tonight we were driving home from Costco and Rylynn asks, "Hey mom why was the girl sitting on the baby?"  I said I don't know, why?  She said, "because she was babysitting!!"  Then busted out laughing hysterically.  She said she made it up all by herself and I have to admit it was quite clever.  I just love how she thinks she is so funny!  She gets that from her mom:)

In Beckett news:

I had to do something I haven't done in over three years yesterday... clean out poop from the bathtub!!  I forgot that kids did that.  Seriously.  When he did it I was so caught off guard and then was like oh yeah I remember when Rylynn and Carter did that.  Anyway, of course it happened the two days after I had just scrubbed the tub.  Also this afternoon before lunch I was trying to blow dry my hair quickly before making lunch and getting the kids out the door.  So I came down the stairs to Beckett on top of the counter with a fist full of cookie and cookie crumbs all around him.  The cookie jar lid was off and all the cookies inside were smashed to crumbs.  Nice!  I just made a double batch of my favorite cookies and most of them were demolished by one little chubby fist.  He is definintely busy these days.  He has learned to move the stools and climb up on the counters and it is definitely making me stay on my toes.  I can't get too mad though cause he's just too dang cute. PS the above picture is Beckett's morning yogurt bath.  Rylynn was nice enough to snap a picture for us:)

These two love to play together and create elaborate towers and games every morning.  I love seeing their creativity and friendship grow, but it makes for a messy house!  Also to update on Carter, he had to have a hearing screening yesterday because he is back to asking us to repeat what we say 2 and 3 times since his tubes fell out in January.  The tubes made such a huge difference in his life but I was so bummed when he got another ear infection immediately after they fell out.  The next step is removing his adnoids to see if that helps.  Poor kid has my terrible ears.  He was a really good sport about his hearing test and he actually did a lot better than I expected.  His left ear is still a little weak, but that's the one that was infected about a month ago so they think it is still healing.  We will see.

And finally, in random family news, we found out today that my brother Jordan got accepted to the BYU MBA program!!!  We have been praying for him for months and the kids were so excited to hear that their prayers worked!  It was a sweet moment and a great testimony builder for them.  We are so excited for you Uncle Jordan!

Happy February!

So I have been the worst blogger ever, but let's be honest, January and February are boring!  Especially January, it never ends!  So to combate this sad trend, some of our friends hosted the coolest party ever.  It is called First Friday and they do it every year after the Christmas/New year's hype wears off.  They change the theme each year and this year's theme was superheroes!  We each had to come up with our own superhero name, costume, powers/abilities, theme song, as well as weaknesses.  It was so hilarious.  

Here's the whole gang!

Here are our awesome hosts, Latin Spice and Mustache man AKA the Albrechts.

I was supermom and Garrett was Tort man.  I sewed my little utility belt and Supermom cape.  The kids were loving the cape!  Notice Garrett's ridiculously large bling on his pinky:) Rylynn's costume jewelry!

Okay these are our friends the Beykirchs and everytime I think about them or see this picture I just laugh.  They went ALL OUT!  Loved them!  I seriously couldn't even tell who they were when they walked in the door.  Their characters were brown hornet and I forgot the other name from Fat Albert. 

All the super women!

And the super men!

So we played some fun games and then we rocked out to sing star.  I had to post this picture because Damon(Batman) totally reminded me of my Dad while he was singing.  He had all the same moves and was soo into it.  Garrett and I were dying laughing.  I don't know if he realized what an awesome compliment that was when I told him he danced and sang just like my Dad, but we loved it:)

I also got my craft on this February and made this cute Valentine's Day wreath out of cupcake liners.  We have a craft group and let's be honest, I am not so crafty, but when someone else is in charge, I usually enjoy making things.  So I gave it a try and I love how the wreath turned out.

Over the weekend before V-Day Garrett was gone on an overnighter with the YM so the kids and I made the traditional sugar cookies ourselves.

We had lots of fun decorating this year since the kids are getting old enough to not make an enormous mess!

Well maybe not this one:)  He sure liked licking the frosting off those chubby little fingers though.

Carter was very meticulous about his sprinkles.

We even made Daddy his very own plate!

The kids also helped with the decorations!

For our actual Valentine's Dinner on Monday we had this yummy asian chicken salad that we all love and then for dessert we had chocolate turtle fondue with strawberries and bananas.  So yummy!

Then the kids got to open their Valentine's bags.  They were so excited because we got Carter "Despicable Me" and Rylynn got "How to Train my Dragon."  They have wanted those movies so bad lately.  So we threw them in with all the other candy and goodies.  They have been watching them NON STOP!

Beckett was in heaven with his balloon and endless suckers.  I'm so happy to have so many adorable Valentine's in my life!  Okay so maybe February isn't so boring, but January was too long!