Levers

Tuesday I was in the bathroom doing my makeup.  Porter came in and went to the bathroom.  When he went to flush the toilet it wouldn't go down (it is a very hard handle to push!).  He got so frustrated and said, "Mom!  This lever won't go down!"  Chant was in the bedroom ironing his clothes.  I looked at Chant and he looked at me and we started laughing.  What three year old says lever?  Porter, that's who.   

Trampoline!

 About a week ago Grandma and Grandpa got the kids a trampoline.  They were so excited to get it set up.  We started early in the morning and had it up a few hours later.  This week has been wonderful!  The kids have been outside jumping for hours every day.  It is amazing!  There has been way less fighting going on between the kids since we got it.  I think they are using their energy having fun instead of fighting.  Every day the kids have taken their lunch outside and sat on camping chairs underneath the trampoline.  It has been so fun to watch them.  They have played many games on it.  One day Ainsley and Porter took out a bunch of stuffed animals and they played like they were on a soccer team while jumping the animals all around.  The favorite game so far has been to play Wild Kratts.  Brinnley is always the animal, usually a Bengal tiger, and Porter is either Martin or Chris.  I have been dubbed Aveeva.  My job is to make the power suits that Martin and Chris have to wear to rescue the animals.  SO fun to watch them.  I think this is going to make of an even better summer.  Hopefully there will be no more "I'm bored!"  I know, I'm dreaming with that one!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!    

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails. That's what little boys are made of!

 Saturday, April 14th was Kristy's baby shower.  We held it at the clubhouse of her apartment complex.  I was in charge of decoration, and I was really nervous about it.  But I think it turned out nice.  Jen and a friend of hers made these amazing cake pops.  They looked so pretty and tasted so good!

 The girls were so excited to be invited to a big girl party.  I curled their hair and they wore their fancy shirts. 

 The theme was cartoon animals.   I found a few of these snack containers and thought they were perfect for the table. 

 Aunt Jen

And Aunt Kristy opening her gifts.  She made me cry when she read the note I wrote and started crying herself. 

She got the cutest Yoda hat from one of her friends.  I cannot wait to see our tiny nephew in it.  We are so excited to welcome a new little boy to our family.  Not much longer now!

Easter

 Easter was a little sad around our house this year.  Porter and Brinnley had nasty coughs and I had a horrific head cold.  But of course we still had to dye eggs! 

 It cracks me up how one color per egg is never enough.  The girls keep dipping them until sometimes the eggs looked gray.  But we still had some pretty awesome looking ones!  And they kids colored on the eggs first with glitter crayons.  That looked pretty awesome!

 This year the Easter Bunny brought awesome colorful dresses.  The girls loved them!

 Porter didn't get the traditional dress shirt this year.  The Bunny knew he'd love this awesome Avengers shirt.

 Even though the kids didn't feel well, they woke up excited to see what was in their buckets.

 Ainsley was the only kid that went to church that day.  She didn't want to wear her dress without Brinnley there to match, but she did throw on a fancy necklace.

When they got home I hid the eggs in the yard and they ran like crazy to gather them all up.  It was a very good day even though half of us didn't feel well. 

After all the fun, we made sure to talk to the kids about why we celebrate Easter.  They knew the importance of it and we talked about Jesus being resurrected.  It was a great day!

Conference Weekend

 Conference Weekend my brother Kasey and his family came to stay at our house.  It has become a bit if a tradition for them to come and we love it!  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.  And Lance and Lacey were good enough to watch the kids so the adults could go to dinner one night.  It was really nice! 

(Kasey, Porter, Luke, and Lance)

 The night they came Tracy, Lacey, and I went to Gordman's.  We were there 2 1/2 hours and could have stayed longer but the store was closing.  Gotta love that store!

 Mom and Dad came Saturday and stayed till Sunday.  We had 14 people in our house!  Oh boy, bodies were everywhere!  Mom's birthday was the 28th so we celebrated with a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and presents.  The kids all made cards for her.  I think she felt the love.

And what family party would be complete without a dog pile?  Not one of ours! 

And of course listening to Conference was amazing!  I cannot wait for the Ensign to come out so that I can read what I missed.  Love the spirit during Conference!

Food For Thought

Alma 26:2 reads: "And now, I ask, what great blessings has He bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?"

I love this! It hit home to me today. Every day we are blessed with so many things that we take for granted. We pray several times a day in our home, but I ask myself how often do I really stop to think about all that I have been given, to recognize the miracles both great and small that occur every day in my life. Be grateful!

Spring Fever's Kicking In!

Man, I feel antsy today! I have all these ideas and wishes rolling around inside of me, thinks I want to learn and do. I feel like a ball of nervous energy. I have so much I want to do! I want it to be spring, not just the teasings of spring with snow on the horizon. I want to plant flowers, wear flip flops and shorts, and go on long walks in the sun. I am getting so desperate I might even want a potted plant or flower for my table. (Gasps are coming from my mom right now.) I am ready to throw open the windows and do my spring cleaning. Like pulling out the fridge and oven to clean under them and reorganizing the basement. I want order!
I want to learn how to do more creative things with my hair. I have been reading a blog called The Small Things. Love it! Kate is a wizard in the art of hair. Seriously, every style she does is so cute! Now my hair is long enough I might be able to do some of these things. Now all I need is a new pack of bobby pins and someone to hold my mirror behind me so I can see where to put said bobby pins. A three-way mirror would come in handy. And while we are on the subject of hair, I could use some highlights or lowlights. Or maybe a side-sweep bang? Whatever, I just need some SHINE! And I need to make some headbands. I would wear my hair down more often if I had one or two to help hold it back from my face a little. SO many cute headband ideas and not enough time or money to make them.

I've recently become obsessed with fashion. I don't want to buy brand names like Prada or Louis Vuitton, but I want to learn about them, their history. In fact, I have learned a lot. For example, Louis Vuitton was started in 1858 with a specialty in flat-bottom trunks. It wasn't until 1999, the year after Marc Jacobs was made Louis Vuitton's Art Director, that they introduced the first ready-to-wear line. 1999! That surprised me. I recently checked out this 20th Century Fashion book. It talks about fashion from the 1900's to 2000. It is really interesting to see how connected fashion and social culture are. I have loved learning about each decade's styles.
I've also recently had a desire to learn more about art, specifically the impressionist artists. In the many books I have read I am constantly seeing references to artists. It has been fun to look up the artists and see their style and how the characters in the books I read view what they are looking at. It makes me what to really see these paintings for myself and discover if they move me or mean anything significant to me. I love the stories behind the paintings as well. I am loving Renoir and Claude Monet. Even Picasso is starting to make more sense to me as I learn more about him. I loved reading about Gertrude Stein and the many pieces in her art collection that hung from the walls in her Parisan home at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Fascinating stuff. I only wish I had paid more attention to my art classes in college. I was so wrapped up in my history classes at the time. Too bad I realized too late that art in itself is a form or history and showing what things were like during a certain time period, what mediums and styles were in fashion at the time.

See what I mean? I am all over the place!

Our New Ride

Saturday, March 3rd Chant and I went on the hunt for a new ride. After looking at several, and I mean several, dealerships we finally found the perfect dealership, the perfect salesman, and the perfect car! I could not have asked for a better experience buying a car. It was a low-stress experience and we felt so good about it when we left the dealership in our new car. We are now the proud owners of a Nissan Versa. I love it! So fun to drive. And it fits all our kids :) and two full carts of groceries in the back. When we picked the kids up from Gran's after buying the car, we were trying to come up with a name that started with V. All I could think of was Victor. But Ainsley came up with Venus and it is perfect. Venus the Versa! Love it.

We are now a one car family but so far it is working out well. Even though it was a rough week, I feel like it all turned out how it was supposed to. We are so blessed!