Distracted Mother

I recently went on a week-long family history spree.  I was so distracted that apparently, I missed this....

He decided to use his stamp set he got for Christmas.  If you look closer, the ink splotches resemble dinosaurs :)  

Hope of America

The fifth grades in our school district perform at the Marriott Center every year.  It was such a fun program!  We loved getting to see Jace.  He told me I HAD to take a picture of the flag because he couldn't see what it would look like when he was inside it.  

And of course I did what they were hoping we wouldn't.  I got up close and personal to get a picture.  I couldn't see him from where I was, OKAY!

Grandma and Jasen came to watch it with us.  Kent was thrilled to get some one-on-one with G-ma!

Good job, Baby Jace!

Birthday Girl

For Erica's odd year B-Day, she chose Ellery to come stay with us on the weekend before her birthday.  We went to a movie and Golden Corral.  My kids pick good places, right?!

Can I just say how easy it is to take my kids to movies these days. Seriously!!  I don't have to take anyone out, keep anyone quiet, or stuff any toddlers full of candy so they don't cry through the whole thing.  So Easy!

 I don't think I'd really seen Erica blush up until this.  You can kind of tell, but by the time she sat back down from them singing to her, she was BRIGHT RED!

On the actual big day, G-ma and G-Pa Smith came to celebrate with us :)

NINE candles!  Way too old!

My baby, Jace, is one of the most tender hearted kids there is. He tries to get gifts for everyone on their birthday.  Jace found this scooter broken in a dumpster (yeah, we teach 'em to dumpster dive).  He fixed it, found an old Styrofoam helmet, painted that, and then gave Erica her gift.  That's my boy!

And of course, no birthday is complete without a spankin'.

Happy Birthday to my BMDF!  

(We made that up cuz' we're cool like that...In case you haven't deciphered it yet, it means Best Mom and Daughter Forever.  Yup, we're cool)

General Conference Games

Tony and I have made it a rule that our kids have to listen to at least one full conference session.  As they get older, they listen to more.  Jace was a bit more involved this time.

On Saturday, we have them listen for a bit, but Sunday we try to keep them close by the entire day.  We make it fun with Conference games like Bingo or coloring pages.  I still think they're adorable!

Sometimes it gets a bit goofy, but we try to make it fun!

Zoo Pass Overabuse

I've been getting a zoo pass about every other year and really try to get my money's worth.  Of course, with all of our kids, we pay for it in less than 2 trips...but anyway :)

Here we go on another zoo trip.  This one was with the Campbells and the Everetts. Poor Stacy put the whole thing together and then woke up sick the morning of!

I still don't understand why I'm always taking pictures of the kids with the FAKE animals while I'm at the stinkin' zoo!  Next time I'll get it right!

Spring Break

Our little family has NEVER taken a vacation over spring break.  This was the year!  Tony used some of his Marriott points again and we headed to St. George.  The great part was that our friends, the Everetts were staying at the same hotel the first night with us.  Once we discovered we were doing a similar vacation, we merged plans and did it all together.  It was such a fun trip.

We started out at what Melissa called "The Slot" in Pioneer Park where you had to literally SQUEEZE through a crevice.  All of my kids had a blast so we did it twice.  Even Tony fit and therefore inspired some other men who had been wondering if they could make it.  I can't even imagine how he made it.  It was squishing me!  After that, we went to Snow canyon and did some hiking.  I snapped some pretty stinkin' cute pictures that day!

Buddies (Ryan and Christian)

BFF's (Erica and Bronwyn)

We could NOT keep this little man off of the walls.  He was climbing and crawling, jumping and running through the whole park.  I was constantly chasing after him, making sure he wasn't jumping off of some cliff or climbing too far out of reach.  My Kent was MADE for the outdoors!

The next day was hiking at Zion National Park. We all loved every second of it. 

The kids were seriously climbing and crawling up anything they could get a grip on.  They are at the top of a big rock, and I zoomed the camera so I could see them, but now you can't tell that they've climbed up anything.

These cute kids and I waited patiently while the older kids and parents went on a little detour that I was worried would be too tough and steep for the youngest.  Since I was the paranoid one, I got the kids :)

Dad's hiking/fishing/anything buddy.  Tony is loving getting to bring Jace with him everywhere.  He's such a fun kid and is the only one who can endure the kind of long day that dad aims for when he's outside!

I'm seriously thinking that this is the first trip that I'm in pictures with the kids.  We used Tony's phone for our camera, so I was actually in some shots.   I was here kids!

And finally, we're done.  We just plopped right down and took a break!

It was such a fun trip.  I would love to go back again!

See....fun!

The All Day Easter Party

We wake up at dawn...(looking especially beautiful)

Head to church...

And then off to Grandmas!!

Easter Egg Hunt!  On your mark....

Happy Easter!