To Utah!

We had a great trip to Utah at the end of April/beginning of May. We had a blast visiting family and friends, celebrating my Grandfather's 90th birthday, and celebrating the weddings of 2 of Dan's cousins.
Megan, Brooke, and I headed out on April 22, 2011. The girls did really well on our flight (thank goodness--I had been pretty nervous about flying alone with them!). And a special shout-out to Dan's mom, Jane who met us at the airport to help coordinate the 2 kids, 2 carseats, and suitcases while we got a rental car.
 
We spent the afternoon on April 22 getting reacquainted with Grandma, Papa, and Ben and headed out at bedtime to my former roommate Maren's house.  The kids slept great and we woke up excited to celebrate Easter weekend with a little Easter Egg hunt with Maren and her boys before heading over to my Grandfather's 90th birthday party.

Megan enjoying the swings at Grandma and Papa's. (April 22)

Brooke played too (April 22)

Sadly, Brooke woke up and immediately threw up. So she had to miss the Easter Egg hunt for a nap, but I decided to head over to the party with both girls anyway--Brooke hadn't thrown up for 3+ hours and it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing!  When we got to the party, I let her have some tortilla--bad plan--she threw up again.  (Thanks Uncle Shad and Aunt Carrie for helping clean up!).
The party was great in spite of Brooke being clingy and not feeling well.  Thankfully she didn't throw up again.  (*But don't worry, we weren't done with the tummy troubles then, Megan threw up from 10 pm to 3 am that night).  My parents and 3 of my siblings were there for the weekend (Carrie, Shad, and Tyler).  I was able to see my grandfather, lots of my cousins (some I hadn't seen in years), most of my Mom's siblings, and lots of my Mom's cousins I had never met before.  In the late afternoon, Brooke and I took a nap while Megan went with Carrie and lots of my cousins to swim and play wallyball at a nearby rec center.   They had a great time.
I'm so glad we were able to be there--Grandfather's memory is pretty bad these days, but he hasn't lost his kindness and love.  He was so sweet to me and my girls and I loved being near him.  He seemed to just enjoy watching everyone around him and was so happy to celebrate his birthday.

Brooke was a pretty happy sick kid--this was shortly after throwing up (April 23)

Megan and Brooke watching Maren's hubby Brian do some woodwork--they were fascinated (and freezing--Utah seemed to miss the memo that spring was here)

Brigham, 4 years old and Megan, 3 years old ready for the hunt!

Searching...

That's Ben, 2 years old in the orange

And there's Maren!  She was just 1 1/2 weeks away from having a baby girl...

Brooke giving water a try...

Grandfather and 5 of his 8 children, April 23, 2011 (his 90th birthday). From left to right, Grandfather, Penny, my Mom Candy, Terri, Tab, and Tami

Grandfather and his living siblings

Grandfather and me

Grandfather, Megan, and me

An Early Easter

With my Grandfather's 90th birthday party planned for Easter weekend 2011, my parents decided to host an early Easter with all the kids.  As I sit writing this post nearly 2 years later, I am so thankful for this last, nearly perfect holiday we had with Mom.
Mom was in the middle of her additional rounds of chemo and we were still full of hope that they would be effective.  She was feeling pretty good and this holiday felt almost "normal".
Mom hosted (her first big holiday to host in her redone kitchen).  She made assignments, the food and atmosphere were fun (as always).  Along with 4 of her kids and 7 of her grandkids, there were neighbors in and out too.

We had an egg hunt for the kids, tossed Easter eggs and had a great time.  And since she knew I'd shared an Easter message at the Primary activity the day before, she asked me to share it with the kids so they could focus on the real meaning of Easter for a few minutes.  I remember sharing the story of Jesus's trial, death, and burial.  I asked the kids the same question I asked the day before at the primary activity--"have any of you had someone you know die?  Like a grandma or grandpa?"  And I remember at that moment making eye contact with my Mom and being a little startled as I realized the group I was asking were mostly HER grandchildren.  Of course they hadn't experienced that.  Not yet.  I remember telling the children about Christ's miraculous resurrection--and that because of Him, we would all be resurrected.  And because of that knowledge, when someone we loved died, we didn't have to be too sad because we would all be resurrected one day and be together again.  I remember a sweet peace as I told them that.  And even though that sweet peace can be elusive when life seems long and Mom seems far away, I hold on to the memories like this to carry me through.

This was the email she sent out to invite us over.
April 15, 2011:

"Dear Amy, Amber, Carrie and Rishelle,

I talked to Amy and we would like to do Easter dinner together this Sunday, since we will be gone for Easter Sunday.  Let's plan for 4:30.

Amy - turkey, gravy

Candy- Ham, dressing, mashed potatoes

Other possibilities

green beans

asparagus

fruit or jello salad

rolls

veggie tray

any of your favorites

Let me know if you would like to come and what you want to bring.

Thought it would be nice to share the Easter story together.  and also to have an Easter egg hunt in the front yard.

Amy and Amber do you want to figure out the Easter story.

Carrie and Rishelle, do you want to do the egg hunt.  Just tell each family what to bring, either real easter eggs or plastic

eggs with candy. 

Love ya,

Candy"

Love you too Mom.  Love you too.

Dad's 59th birthday party, April 9, 2011

Cousin Molly's blessing day, April 10, 2011

Brookie snuggling her Granny, April 14, 2011

Telling the Easter story to all the kids, April 17, 2011

Egg hunt time...

Egg toss--raw, real eggs--yup, we take our egg tosses seriously.

The kids enjoyed their spoils and tried not to get hit with egg yolks from the adult egg toss...

Some pictures from Mom when she was in Utah--this is from Thanksgiving Point on April 22, 2011.

My Mom and her Dad on his 90th birthday, April 23, 2011.

Ward Campout

We had a great time at our ward campout in April.  It was held April 15-16, 2011 at a state park that was only about 40 minutes away.
When Dan got home from work, we ate dinner really fast and then headed on over to the site.  It was a big group site with these sand-filled squares to place tents on.  The sand plots were nice in some ways (very level and pretty soft to place the tent) but our kids had WAY too much fun digging in, eating, and throwing it around.  Our tent was pretty sandy by the time we were done!
The weather was cooler and drier that weekend, but sadly, there was a burn ban in effect so we couldn't have a fire.  We let the kids stay up to eat a few coal-roasted marshmallows and sing some campfire songs.  They passed out around 9 or 9:30.  Dan and I slept pretty good--except for the nice slow leak in our air mattress.   To help his 26-week pregnant wife, Dan refilled our mattress at 2 am and we did fine from then until morning.  (We're pretty sure we didn't wake any kids with the pump :)...just a few adults--sorry!).
In the morning when we woke up, it was only about 48 degrees--COLD for us Houstonians--especially with no fire.  Our kids were turning purple--we had to go sit in the car to thaw for a few minutes after breakfast. 
There were some fun little trails to hike and a small stream near the campsite.  The girls had a blast and we're so glad we made it this year.

On the road!  April 15

Brooke found the sand...

Megan and Megan throwing rocks at the stream...

Waiting for some 'mallows...

Camp songs with Daddy...

Purple lips in the morning--April 16

Buddies and Bluebonnets

After preschool on April 6, my friend Ashley and I decided we better try to get some bluebonnet pictures of our kids before the end of bluebonnet season.  Bluebonnets are the Texas state flower and they are almost exclusively found on the sides of roads or in fields or on hillsides growing as wildflowers.  They start showing up around mid-March and I love seeing them. 
Ashley heard about this place not too far away where they grew alongside some walking trails that surround a drainage area.  I'm glad we tried it--it was close and so fun!
Of course, going after Megan's preschool meant that Brooke was starving and then tired...so she was thrilled to take pictures (as you'll notice).  We took some shots (keeping our eyes peeled for ants), had a picnic, and walked a little.  It was a beautiful day!  We are so happy we have Ashley and her 3 girls to play with.  My girls can't get enough of them and Ashley is usually game for the same things I'm interested in.  It's a good thing I'm having another girl--she'll fit right in!

The five girls... (7 months, 27 months, 21 months-Brooke,  3 yr 9 mo, 3 yr 5 mo-Megan)

"Ok, let's get just my girls in a picture!" "Brooke?"  There was no coaxing her back.  She knew the food was in the stroller and she was going to get it.

Megan was a little more cooperative.  Love those dimples.

After some nourishment, the 4 big girls ran and ran.

Me and my sweethearts

Pretty flowers...

Conference Weekend

This was our first attempt at big-girl pants for Brooke on April 2, 2011.  I figured Hey-it's conference!  We'll be home, it will be a great experiment!  And it was.  For an hour and a half she was dry.  Then she peed...and didn't care or notice really.  Experiment over.  But we did enjoy a pretty quiet Saturday. And I got to enjoy a nice girl's night that night. 

 Sunday morning (April 3) was beautiful and the girls enjoyed some swinging before conference started. 

And for a blissful 12 minutes, they watched and were quiet and enjoyed their snacks.  

Cute, aren't they.  And even though their good behavior was short lived, we had a pretty good conference Sunday.  We had dinner at my parents' house between sessions and enjoyed our time together.  

And from April 4, 2011, here are my little helpers making chocolate pudding for family night treat.  P.S.  If you have some super old chocolate pudding mix from the cannery--it tastes kinda gross.  And stays lumpy and soupy.  Obviously my kids didn't care in the slightest and ate it in mass quantities.  Mmm, delish.