Easter Weekend

We had a very busy and exciting Easter weekend.

Friday night, we colored a bunch of eggs with the kids. They loved it and had a great time. Sadly, I didn't think to take any pictures. The kids did a great job and we only cracked a few of the eggs.

Parson, my oldest baby, was baptized on Saturday. It was wonderful. He is such a good boy and I am so very proud of him.


After, we had a big family dinner.

After that, we had a huge egg hunt. We usually do it outside, but the weather here hasn't been that great, so we did it inside. It turned out really well. The kids loved it!


It was funny to watch my girls. Abbie caught on right away to the whole "hunt" idea and was picking things up right and left. She was getting so upset that the eggs were falling out of her bucket because it was too full.


Ellie, on the other hand, wanted to open each and every egg that she picked up. It took some coaxing to get her to keep going.


And as soon as it was over, she plopped herself down right in the middle of the floor and enjoyed the contents of many eggs.


We had a wonderful day on Easter sunday, as well. The Easter bunny came and brought the kids some great stuff. Everyone was happy.:)

Hope yours was great as well!

Encouragement

Matt and I have been playing on a coed soccer team the past few months. My kids don't get to come to very many of the games, because they are usually too late. They have come to a few, though. When they do get to come, I am yelled at every few minutes, "Mom!" (wave). Once while I was sitting out, Joshua came over by me and said, "Mom. You're losing. But you're still really good, and I still love you." My favorite, though, is when he gives me a thumbs up and winks at me. I get this a lot lately at soccer and at home. It cracks me up. And I love it.

Night Out With The Boys

Yesterday, I was able to go to the Jazz game with all my boys. Matt got us tickets just a few days prior for our family. We were so excited! Especially Parson and Josh. My sister thought we would be crazy to take the girls and even offered to babysit them for us. We decided that was definitely a good idea (Thanks Joy!!) Since we had two extra tickets, we invited Matt's mom to come and we invited one of Parson's friends to come. We went to dinner first and then to the game. It was so much fun! The boys loved it! And it was a great game on top of that! Go Jazz!! They had an exciting win over the Pacers, and I had a fun night out with my boys. Joshua even got "knux" from Thurl Bailey in the hallway, which darn near scared him to death! And Matt got to shake his hand. Unfortunately the camera missed it.

Don't you just love Joshua's cheeser smile? And Parson's missing half of his teeth!!

I love my boys and this activity makes me want to spend more one on one time with them. The girls demand a lot of my attention right now. It was really great to go do something fun with just the boys.

Photo Story Friday

Some of you may remember this post. Well, I think it's about time for an update in status. That's right friends, there's nothing like a California vacation to help you go right up the ladder! While in California, this is what Joshua told me: "Mom, you've squeezed into first place and now you're tied with Grandma!!" Add in as much enthusiasm as you can possibly muster, and that's probably still not as enthusiastic as it was said. Somehow I have remained in that tied position for a whole month and Joshua reminds me of this often. I'll take it for now...we'll see how long it lasts.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are some of my favorite 2008 Halloween pictures thus far.

Giant candy corn in California Adventure

This is made out of legos! At Legoland, of course!

Ellie with vampire teeth

Scary me and my little butterflies

Ready for the party!

Train ride with the butterflies (they really were happy!)

Pirate Parson

Cowboy Josh

All the cousins at Grandmas big annual Halloween party, complete with carnival games, a train ride, awesome food, and of course, a Frankenstein pinata!!

We have been to some great places and parties this year and had some great fun!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Wordful Wednesday

I think I have mentioned before how I love to watch my husband play and interact with our kids. He is an excellent Father and our kids adore him. Here are a few pictures from our recent trip. We were at California Adventure and it was closing time on our last day there. They allowed just a few people on for one last ride.

I love the expressions on their faces! I love to capture moments like this!

Go check out more Wordfuls at

Photo Story Friday

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Last year we went to a Halloween party and Joshua decided he wanted to enter the pie eating contest. They say a picture can tell a story...I'm going to let the pictures tell this one.

(I think he might have got one of the nasty sugar free pies!)

Brothers? Really?!

Isn't it amazing how people raised in the same family, in the same environment, with the same parents, rules, discipline, praise, etc. can be so completely different?!

Parson and Joshua are SO different!
Parson is my more reserved child. Very tenderhearted, very connected with Mom. He cried almost every day of kindergarten and 1st grade. His first grade teacher would literally peel him off of me every morning while he bawled his eyes out. She would call me daily and update me on how he was doing. His reasoning for all the tears was always "because I miss my mom." It took him a while to make friends. Not because he isn't a great kid, with a great personality, but because he was too busy missing me to let himself have any fun. Things have improved greatly now that he's in 2nd grade. He has lots of friends and he actually likes school. I still worry about him. Because he is so sweet, I think sometimes his friends take advantage of that and I have to remind him to stick up for himself and that he doesn't always have to do what they want to do. He is a money saver. In real life, on Webkinz...a saver. It doesn't take much to punish him--all I have to do is give him a certain look and he will burst into tears. He doesn't get away with much because he wears his guilt on his face.

Joshua, on the other hand, RAN to school from the very first day! He speaks very loudly and constantly and to everyone! He is in no way reserved and definitely likes to be in charge. He is a spender! He wants to buy everything! I have to give him the opposite speech that I give Parson and tell him that he doesn't always get to choose everything. And that if he wants to have friends, he needs to let them choose sometimes and not always get his way. He is always making jokes and tends to tell a lot of fibs. He also tends to sit in time out a lot and it doesn't really faze him all that much. He is equally loving. He has a stronger confidence about him. He is also very much a salesman. And a good one, at that.

These are a few of their differences. I recently read a post by Octamom talking about birth order. I was a little surprised how well my boys fit the profile for oldest and 2nd child.

They amaze me every day. I love their differences, I embrace them. We all have things we need to work on, of course. As different as they are, I love them so much-- differently, yet equally.

Photo Story Friday

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Yesterday, I went with my sister to try to get some good fall pictures of her family and my kids. We drove out to where she had seen some awesome fall colors a few days previously.
We started our little photo shoot and were able to get some cute shots. The ones she took of her kids were absolutely gorgeous! My kids weren't cooperating so much. I had been on the run most of the day and had some very tired little girls!

Here are a few of the shots I took of my kids:Parson with a cheeser!

Joshua with a robot smile!

I actually got a few half-smiles out of Ellie!

Abbie wanted no part in any of this!

Can you tell I had very little cooperation? We had potential to get some really good ones, but nobody wanted to participate! That is usually the way it goes for me. I really need to learn to use good software so I can just combine the good faces to the good poses. Especially in the group/family pics. That would be very helpful!
Anyway, back to the story. After about 45 minutes or so of taking all kinds of pictures, my niece starts screaming. Not even 10 seconds later Joshua starts screaming. Only seconds later I see a bee on my sisters arm and realize we are under attack! Everyone starts running back towards the cars, swatting at bees as we go. In the minute it took us to get back by our cars, we had 8 stings! And a lot of hysterical kids! For my family the casualties were Joshua and Ellie. Joshua had been stung almost right between his eyebrows. Ellie had two, one on her eyebrow and one on the side of her face. It was crazy! They seriously came out of nowhere and just attacked us!
This morning Joshua got out of bed and his face was all swollen up and he was nauseous.

He came to me and said, "Mom, I am very sad." I asked him why and he told me, "because I just looked in the mirror and I don't look like me anymore."
I had no idea he was allergic to bees, or that a reaction would happen a day later. After a dose of benadryl and a trip to the doctor, I am now equipped with an epipen. And I hope with all my heart I never have to use it!

The Mind of My 5 Year Old

I know I have posted a lot about Joshua lately, but this is just too good.

Joshua: Mom, I love Grandma the very most of everyone.
Me: Oh really? You love Grandma more than you love me?
Joshua: Yes. She's in first place. (Pause) Mom, I'm going to tell you something, and it's probably going to make you really angry.
Me: OK...
Joshua: Grandma is a lot cooler than you are...
Me: Oh yeah?
Joshua: Yeah, and I like her face a lot better than I like yours.
Me: Thanks, buddy.

Don't you wish your child was as honest as mine?

Joshua Tag

My sister-in-law Michele tagged me, or rather Joshua, in this fun little meme.

Name and meaning: Joshua Matthew is his name. Joshua means God rescues. Matthew means Gift of God. (I didn't previously know these meanings. I just looked them up about 2 minutes ago!) So, how did he get this name you ask? Well, we had been debating a few names (Joshua was not one of them.) and hadn't made a full decision. I pretty much had a name picked out for him, but Matt wasn't sold on it. We went to the temple one day and after went to lunch. When we were eating lunch, Matt told me that he knew what the baby's name would be. He then told me that the name Joshua had come to him in the temple. Honestly, I didn't like the name. It wasn't something I had ever considered. But, come on, how could I argue with something that came while in the temple? He remained nameless for a few hours after birth until I gave in and we named him Joshua Matthew. (Matthew obviously came from Matt). If I'd had my way, he would be named Max (after my dad) Allen (after Matt's dad.)

Age: If you ask him, he is 5 and a quarter.

Nickname: Joshy boy

Favorite Activities: He loves to color. He is constantly making pictures for people and loves to deliver them to anyone and everyone. I cannot tell you how much paper and envelopes we go through because of this child. He makes them for all the neighbors, family members, his doctor, his church and school teachers, and sometimes just gives them to complete strangers. He is very enthusiastic and can make you get excited about pretty much anything. He loves to play with his friends, play the wii, watch movies, and be very noisy.

Favorite Foods: Corn, watermelon, popcorn, popcicles, cake, spaghetti, and whoppers.

Least Favorite Foods: Tomatoes and mushrooms.

Favorite Music: I don't know that he really has a favorite. He does like Ryan Shupe and the Rubberbands song "Hey, hey, hey!"

Favorite Toy: This definitely changes from day to day. He rotates through them on a regular basis and puts them in his "secret place for toys that I love."

Favorite Book: This also changes daily.

What makes him happy: Everything makes him happy! He is excited about life. He gets excited about the little things, which is one thing I adore about him.

What makes him sad: Being told that he can't do something.

I tag anyone that wants to do this tag! It's kind of fun to analyze your kid and be able to share the wonderful things about them. So, consider yourself tagged!

And since we are talking about Joshua here, let me just tell you how our Saturday went.
Saturday is soccer day for my boys. Joshua couldn't find his soccer shirt and I was getting very frustrated trying to get everyone ready and out the door. He looked for it for a half hour and I finally went in his room and found it in about 30 seconds. Then he couldn't find one of his cleats. Again, I went right in and found it. Like I said, I was frustrated and knew we were already going to be a few minutes late. I said, "Go get in the car, now!" And I continued getting the girls in the car, along with my purse and the diaper bag.
We hit the road and we were about 3 minutes from the soccer field.
Parson: Mom. Joshua doesn't have any pants on.
Me: What?!
Parson: Joshua doesn't have any pants on.
Me: What does he have on?
Parson: His underwear.
Me: Are you kiddin' me?!! Joshua, why don't you have any pants on?
Joshua: I forgot.
Seriously, how do you forget your pants? So we turn around and head for the nearest store where I run in and buy the kid some shorts. At the check stand, I grab a pack of gum and a pack of crackers, thinking the girls can eat them at the soccer games. We started to go back to the soccer game but decided it wasn't worth it since the game was going to end in about 5 minutes. Later that day Joshua preceded to tell Matt that he had missed his game because, "Mom bought gum and crackers and wasted all my time." Uh-huh, suddenly this is all my fault.

Wordful Wednesday

"Mommy, I want to look just like Grandpa Craig!"

Go see who else is playing Wordful Wednesday at

Fun Stories

I have noticed lately that Parson asks Joshua which girl is doing something. He'll say "Josh, which girl is that?" or "who is this one?" So I was asking them, "Parson, you can't tell who is who?" And he said he couldn't. So I asked Josh how he could tell them apart and he told me, (very matter of factly) "Because their faces don't look the same. They look different."
Here is a recent picture of them. What do you think?
I was thinking about another funny story today, so I thought I would share. It was probably a year ago. We were picking up my sister in our minivan to go somewhere with us. My boys sit in the back seat of the van on each side. My sister was going to have to squeeze in between them and sit in the middle. Joshua sits on the passenger side, the side that my sister was entering. It is a tight squeeze, as you can imagine, getting in. My sister starts backing herself into her seat.
Now imagine if you will Joshua sitting in his chair watching her backing herself past him. He says, "Whoa! You've got a big fat butt!!" And of course, my sister says, "Joshua that isn't very nice! You shouldn't say stuff like that. You really think I've got a big butt?" And Josh says, "yes." My sister replied in a quick, sassy voice, "Well, I think you're annoying sometimes."
Hehe, I still laugh when I think of this story. Maybe you have to actually hear my sister's response to find it funny?
Oh well...here's another pic, just for fun!:)

Happy Birthday Joshua!

I can't believe he is 5! He is growing up so fast! Let me tell you a little about Joshua. Josh is my funny child. He definitely keeps me guessing. And laughing. He talks loudly and constantly. He is a sweet talker and a charmer. He has adorable little freckles and a dimple, too. He doesn't like to be tickled or kissed (ewe!). He can be a very big help when he chooses to be. He loves his family. He loves his extended family, especially his cousin Alyx and his Grandma Carmae. He loves to color and play games. He absolutely LOVES to be bald! And if you talk to him about it, he will try to convince you to be bald, too! Every time I do someone's hair, he comes in to tell them how amazing they look. He tells me I'm pretty and beautiful on a regular basis-especially when I wear a dress or skirt. Last year on my birthday, Matt asked him what they should get me and his answer was immediate, "a dancing dress!" He was popular with all the kids (and teacher) in his preschool. He is always talking to people everywhere we go and considers everyone to be his friend. Last week at the park he said, "look mom, there's my friend!" I asked what his name was and Josh had no idea. He had just met him. He loves everyone. He reminds me regularly that "We have to love the bad guys and strangers, too". He has energy and enthusiasm that would make anyone smile. He uses the words "sweet" and "oh snap" on a regular basis and I have no idea where he picked these up. Last night, he said "Look Dad, I ate all of my dinner!" and Matt said "Good job, buddy!" And Josh said, "Dad, you could have said you're excellent or you rock!" (insert an extreme amount of enthusiasm!) I love you Josh!
Today for his birthday, he wanted to ride the train to breakfast again, like we did for the girls' birthday. We actually pulled up just as the train was leaving and missed it. We gave him the option of going somewhere else, or waiting the half hour for the next train. He wanted to wait. All morning he had been talking about ordering a scone for breakfast and he was dead set on getting that scone!
We had a party for him on Saturday with my family. It was a lot of fun. He wanted to have a swimming barbeque party. We set up 3 little swimming pools and a slip n slide and had water balloons, while Matt did barbeque duties. Joshua's parties are my favorite of all my kids because I love doing backyard parties! I never really wanted a summer baby, but now I love it! I love that all the kids can just roam and the parents aren't constantly worried about them. We can just sit back and relax and visit, while watching them run and play. It just works for everyone! Anyway, back to the party.
I don't know if anyone noticed, but in my girls' birthday post I didn't mention much about the cake. Well that's because I made it and it was a disaster! And after such a cake nightmare, I have to admit I wanted to buy one for this party. But Carissa inspired me to try again and look what I created!
Yes, it's a snake! And yes, it's the easiest design I could find but let me tell you something, Joshua LOVED it! And he wanted a chocolate cake and a banana cake, so depending on what side of the cake we cut, we could choose our flavors. How's that for fancy? Ha ha.
Anyway, Josh had a great birthday. Thanks to everyone who came!