Easter eggs

Brian was on call this past Sunday, so we tried to get our Easter eggs dyed on Saturday, but we could not fit it in.

So after church on Sunday, the kids and I decided to dye our eggs. The first problem was I could not find the coloring kit. I know I bought a kit (I have the receipt to prove it), but I could not find it anywhere. I'm sure it's sitting in that perfect spot right now.

Fine. We decided to use regular old food dye...unfortunately, I was nearly out of every color! After some intense squeezing, we had enough to make six different colors. They turned out to be the best, most vibrant eggs we've ever made. It was fun.

Right before my camera battery died, I managed to get these few pictures.

I got this picture of Julie as I was yelling, "Don't drink it!" What an awesome picture. Dye is organic, right? :)

Easter

I am a poor photographer, and my children do not seem to be that photogenic. Those things together make very interesting photographs. The following are my attempts at getting a cute picture of them.I think the pictures are pretty cute, but I want them to be together. At this point in the photo shoot, Julie was refusing to stand by Samantha and Landon.

Here I finally got them all in one place, but it is a terrible picture. Landon looks like he is in pain, and Samantha looks like she is on the toilet.

Once I tell Samantha about her toilet look, she tries to sit up, but then thinks the idea is so funny she starts saying she is on the toilet. Julie is spitting here...I don't know why. And Landon has left the picture.I just included this because it is cute. That's all.

So then my new tactic began. I try giving them faces to make, in the hopes that I will get something great.

Ok, be silly...

Even more silly...

Now, the funniest face ever...

Be surprised!

Now be really angry...

And finally, happy!

Happy---c'mon guys, HAPPY!

The session was definitely over. The kids had all exhausted their abilities to pose, smile, and sit that closely to each other. The day was nice, but we actually celebrated the next day. More on that later...

Sense and Sensibility

It is one of my favorite movies...ever. I could watch it again and again and never tire of it. I love it that much.
I have a sister a few years older than me. She is my only sister and I love her dearly, but we are very different. The past several months it has become apparent that she is "Sense", and I am "Sensibility." I'm not sure I like it.
Most of the time I like to relate to the hero or heroine in the movie...the one everyone is rooting for. I want to believe that my traits are closest to her own. What a shock it is when you actually discover you are more like another character altogether....the one that says mean things occasionally, cannot seem to hold her tongue, and suffers publicly while others keep their same suffering private.
It stings a little at the realization. Ouch.

Happy Birthday to me!

It is my birthday today...I'm 32. I imagine my parents have the same disbelief that I shared in the previous post. Thirty-two used to seem old, and now here I am. But I swear to always tell my real age and celebrate it, no matter how old it is. So there.

I'm 32! Yippee-skippee!

Growing Up

It is hard for me to let my kids grow up. Now, there are definite select times when I wish they had more maturity (like in the midst of a grocery store meltdown), but I usually feel that they are growing too fast!


Samantha loves Hannah Montana and wants to go to a concert. She also knows who Zac Efron is. She told me yesterday that Peter Pan is for babies! What?!!

I cannot wrap my mind around that fact that Landon will be going to kindergarten this fall. He just seems too little to leave home.

I am reminded of this now because we just got rid of Julie's pacifier. A small step, but she is so much older already! Holding on to things like pacifiers and security blankets gives the illusion that they are still my babies, but it is merely an illusion.

It is inevitable, but my children must grow up. It just doesn't seem that long ago that they looked like this.But alas, now they look like this.
This I know...they won't stay looking like this for very long either. Time is flying by at breakneck speed. I think I'll go play a game with these three kids while they still want to play with me.

My true self...

I am an old-fashioned mormon, if there is such a thing. Someone told me that I would be a good pioneer, which made me laugh, but maybe...

I want a lot of kids. Now, my current family may not reflect that desire, but it is there nonetheless. I hope I get to have more...many more.

I like to quilt, scrapbook, and do crafty things in general. I think I would have really enjoyed good nights of homemaking.

I am content to raise my family at home. I don't want to work outside the home and am not counting down the days until I can go to work...I don't have some great side business or THE idea that will change the world.

I like singing, dancing, and potluck dinners. I love playing games with friends. It is one of my favorite pasttimes.

I love teaching and learning square dances and other american folk dances. I love that Brian will do that kind of stuff with me. I love when other people will do it too. Its great.

Maybe more people share my sentiments...but it just doesn't seem to be so. I may have fit in better in my mother's generation.

Snowcaves and Snowmobiles

Just a few more pictures from our trip. The kids and Brian dug out this pretty cool snowcave. They said it was warm...uh, ok. I'm sure they meant warm in a very relative way.
We had so much fun with the snowmobiles. Julie loved them, but couldn't ever go very far because she would fall asleep.

One morning on our way out, we saw a female moose just standing and eating. We watched her for a while. Of course, we didn't have our camera with us. It was the closest I had ever seen a moose before!

I would say it was a very successful trip. Brian only got stuck once, and we easily dug him out, and nobody broke, tore, or strained anything. We returned home from Idaho as healthy as we had left. With our history, that is saying something. :)

The Cabin

We got to the cabin on Monday morning and the kids immediately wanted to play in the snow. It was really cold, so the snow didn't pack very well. It made it difficult to have a snowball fight or make snowmen. Instead, we picked up chunks of ice and had an iceball fight...carefully, of course.

I love the way little kids look all bundled up. It reminds me of Ralphie's little brother in The Christmas Story. I laughed every time I looked at Julie. So cute! This picture shows how much snow there was, and how hard it was to pack! Brian and Landon worked forever to get this little snowman. Landon played outside the majority of the time, and his game of choice was Hoth (as in, the ice planet in The Empire Strikes Back). He and Brian played Hoth for at least a couple of hours each day. Landon and I played Transformers. It was very fun.