Spring is in the air

This Spring has been a piece of pure heaven.  Really.  I feel like I am finally having a normal, beautiful spring in Utah.  We haven’t had snow since March.  The temperatures have consistently been in the 60s and 70s.  And there has been rain!  We have really been enjoying it.  So here are a few shots from our outdoor adventures.

Temple Square

Every Spring Temple Square is a must!  And every year I cannot believe how beautiful it is.  It is unparalleled I think.  Loved it so so much!

Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

It was our first time to the Tulip Festival.  It was equally as beautiful as Temple Square.  Jack was a little under the weather so that tainted our experience a little bit.  But it still was beyond lovely.  The kiddos loved the waterfalls!

I failed to take pictures from our first trip to the zoo for the season and Wheeler Farm in Murray which is an actual working farm and its free!  Love that.  I know we will be back in the coming months to both places so I’m sure pictures will appear.

Tuckered Out

Sometimes strange things happen.  And this is one of those times.

After a couple of late nights at Snowbird, Sophie girl could not keep her eyes open any longer and crashed during lunch.  Looks comfy!

Easter

I am so far behind!  Easter seems like years ago really.  We had a great holiday!  With early church, we were only able to find our baskets and then scramble to make it on time.  So all of our festivities came after.  We colored eggs and went on a hunt.  My dad barbecued the most delicious meat and we ate and ate and ate.   I broke out the ice cream maker and we all enjoyed some Thin Mint ice cream.  It was a great day with family.

Spring Break

My parents were able to come up again this year for Spring Break.  It was lovely to have them here.  Ryan and Kara were able to surprise them and come down from Idaho for the weekend too.  It was fun to have everyone (minus Deeds…boo!) here for conference.  Although with the babies around we got about 25% of conference I would say.  We didn’t do much while they were here, but we are pretty chill like that.  We just like to be together!

We were able to visit my grandma 0ne day while she was at her bowling league.  Who thinks its awesome that my grandma is 78 and in a bowling league?  Me.  And p.s. she is way better than me!  The kids loved bowling a game.  Jack even got a couple of strikes.  Something made Sophs mad and I cannot resist putting a picture of her crying face up.  It is just too funny.  And too bad we didn’t find the race car arcade game sooner cause I’m pretty sure they could have sat there and pretended to race all day.

We ventured downtown to City Creek.  It really is so lovely.  The kids LOVED the Disney Store.  Sophie loves “Hot Dog” (her name from Mickey Mouse…she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).  She just wanted to hold and love on that stuffed Mickey so much.  So cute!

Once again I have like no pictures of my parentals.  But they really were here and we had a great time.

Idaho Trip

Just about 2 weeks ago we got back from a week long trip to visit Ryan and Kara in Idaho.  I really love it there.  My kids had a great time and I was overjoyed to have a week of training for my 1/2 marathon on flat ground.  We did a lot of fun things and I have about one million photos.  So here it goes…

Our first adventure was Monkey Bizness.  To sum it up, Sophie was in heaven and showed us that she is a real dare devil.  Jack was terrified of the big slide and really only started to cheer up when he found this rope swing.  And sweet little Isaac was spooked by everything.  I thought that big slide was so much fun.  I felt like a kid again.

Next we went to the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.  I thought it was so fascinating.  Prison life is so sad.  It is really tragic that people make such stupid decisions and end up in a place like that.  It seems like the most depressing place on earth.

Here are our best shots of the cousin photo shoot.  Someday maybe we’ll get a good one.  Someday…

One morning we spent at the YMCA pool.  The kids had the time of their little lives.  I think Jack could have played there all day.  Sophie spent the morning as a little boy since I didn’t have a swimsuit in her size yet.  Pretty funny.

Our last fun stop was another play place for the kiddos.  Jack surprised me when he wrote hot and stop on the chalkboard by himself.  I don’t even know how smart he really is until he pulls stuff like that.  Isaac’s love for balls is unprecedented.  He spent at least 75% of the time there shooting the ball through the hoop.  And Sophs loved the slides and riding on the tractor.

The rest of our days were spent at home.  Jack built one impressive tower.  Sophie and Isaac loved to pull all the cushions off the couch and play with the balls.  All the kiddos loved watching the music scenes from the movie Rio.  And the adults were so excited for bedtime so we could play games and eat ice cream.  So, so fun.  Thanks for such a fun time Ry and Sister B.  Let’s play again soon!

18 months

The little lady is 18 months.  So big already.  Time sure goes by fast.  We took her to the doctor last week for her “well baby” visit.  And wouldn’t you know it…she has a double ear infection again!  Except this time I had no idea.  She didn’t have a fever and was not any grumpier than usual.  Poor lady.  So just when I thought my trips to the pharmacy were coming to an end, I found myself there once again.   Holy cow.  But at least we got to learn her stats which are as follows…

23 lbs 12 oz. (50%)

33.5 inches long (95%)

19 inch head (85%)

Not sure on the accuracy of the length measurement since she hasn’t seemed to outgrow too many of her clothes.  But I guess she’s pretty tall.

At 18 months Sophie girl is so funny and still so sassy.  She is obsessed with her shoes and jacket lately and wants them on all day everyday.  Unfortunately, she has become a little attached to me.  It is not my favorite.  This had made the transition to nursery a little tricky.  But lucky for her (not me), I have been asked to sub the last 2 weeks in nursery.  She has a real opinion on most things and sure let’s us know when she is not happy with something.   And that is about 95% of what Jack does.  So she is pretty vocal all day.  One day this last week Jack and I listed all the words that Sophs says and she is up to 45+ words.  She said her first phrase a couple of weeks ago “Mama…eat!”  She knows all the actions to Popcorn Popping and loves to sing it so much.  We sure love her cute smile with those big front teeth.  It is adorable beyond words.  Her hair is growing in more and more which makes her hair that much crazier when she pulls out her rubber bands.  Jack was laughing hysterically about it the other day and that led to the last picture you see.  It is pretty wild.  She has become pretty good at telling me when she has just gone potty (#1 and #2).  And then she asks to go sit on the potty even though she has already gone.  Pretty cute and funny.  She brings a lot of joy (and drama) to our family and we just love her.

Couldn’t forget about Jack and had to include one picture of his latest spelling venture.  It always comes on spaghetti night!

He spelled stop and go with his noodles this time.  He is getting really good at recognizing a handful (probably 15 or so) of words.  He really is a smart pants.

Sweet Jacob and Springtime

We visited Jacob on his birthday this year.  We sure miss him and wish he were here with us so we could play.  But we are eternally grateful for the Plan that brings us hope and peace knowing that someday we will be able to play together!  Can’t wait little buddy.

It has been warming up.  The flip flops are out and so are the short sleeves.  It is barely breaking 60 degrees.  But that is warm here and we are loving it.

Hello Mini Me

Have you ever wondered who this lady looks like?

I’ve been cloned.  And if my attitude was anything like her’s at this age, I owe my parent’s a profound apology.  Just sayin’.

Under the weather

2 kids…2 double ear infections.  That has been our life the last 2.5 weeks.  Just as Sophie was finishing up her antibiotic, Jack got his.  So we are going on like day 14 of antibiotic.  Pretty fun.  In reality, though, it has not been too bad.  We only had a handful of rough nights.  Life is pretty much back to normal now.  Thank goodness.  Can I just say…we have had our fair share of sickness this winter and it hasn’t even been that cold of a winter.  Summer please be better to us!

So we’ve watched a few more cartoons than normal.   The kids sometimes like to share the computer chair and watch Curious George together.  Its pretty cute when they’re friends.

Most days we’ve just been hanging around the house emptying bottle after bottle of ibuprofen.  Poor kiddos.  They sure are cute though.

Snow Day

We finally had enough snow to go sledding in our backyard and play a little.  It is the first time that we have really put Jack’s snow boots and suit to use since he got them for Christmas.  And Sophie inherited the infamous marshmallow/penguin snowsuit and looks completely puffy and adorable in it.  I had a good time outside with the kiddos.  Sophie cried a lot but every time I tried to bring her in, she cried too.  So we ended up staying outside for like 45 minutes.  We slid down our hill at least 30 times and made snow angels.  So fun!

Jack has found a new subject for his picture taking hobby.  She seems to like it.

Today in preschool I told the kids to practice writing their name at the top of their paper.  I was proud of how Jack’s turned out and that he really did try instead of just blowing of my request.  I had to document since it really is the first time he has attempted to write his full name.   So proud!  Can you tell that it says his name?

So thankful for my little kitchen helper.  He has been so interested in helping me cook dinner lately.  Sometimes it is hard to find something for him to do.  But I try to encourage it since I want all my kids to learn how to cook.  Tonight he helped me cut the zucchini.  He was awesome considering he was using his plastic Ikea knife.  I think I’ll call him little chef!