It's great to be 8!

Tyler turned 8 last Tuesday, April 6th. He requested a jungle cake, so we searched online for ideas. He wanted lots of trees and animals, so he gathered toys for me to put on top. We also decided to make it a fun 3D shape, so I baked a round cake and 2 small loaf cakes, then I piled them on top of each other for a rugged mountain shape. I iced it after he went to bed, and he was so excited when he saw it the next morning.

We took it down to my parents' house to have after Easter dinner.

He got to blow out the candles over and over.

We love trick candles. That's Ben's friend Barbara on the left.

He was excited to get his own set of scriptures.

Then we had our own little family party on his actual birthday.

Levi ate the packaging.

While Dave and the boys played Tyler's new game: Sorry Sliders.

This is my last Easter blog. I promise.

Anna and Brennan are so funny together. It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of them both looking at me because they kept looking at each other.

Can you believe Levi is 6 months old? I watched the October conference in the hospital. So now we have 2 conference birthdays - Tyler in April (I watched it in the hospital when he was born too) and Levi in October.We had our Easter egg hunt at my parents' house after conference. The easy ones in the grass were for Anna and Brennan.

And the tricky ones were for the big boys.

Sometimes they had to get creative.

Dallin was sad that he didn't get very many, so Tyler got this one for him.

Okay, I'm all done with Easter blogs. There's just something about all the bright colors of the eggs and baskets that makes me want to take lots of pictures.

Easter with my silly boys

How do I get my children to all smile at the same time? By promising them a silly picture once I get a good one.


Works every time. What a bunch of goof balls.

The Easter bunny hid our baskets again this year. And this was Dallin's first year to help read the clues.

It was a wonderful, relaxing morning. We usually have church at 8:30, but since it was General Conference we were able to stay in our jammies all morning.

We were so happy Brennan could eat everything this year. He even had a boiled egg and a sip of milk without getting a rash. What a blessing.

Always posing for the camera.

Tyler attacking his bunny with a knife.

Ouch. It makes my eyes hurt just looking at him.

Sometimes I have to beg them for a normal smile. I can only take so much silliness.

Playing Conference Bingo with Easter candy.

After conference we got dressed and headed down to my parents' house for an Easter lunch and Tyler's birthday celebration before my dad left for work.

Dying eggs

We invited Ellen's family over to dye eggs with us between conference sessions on Saturday.

We got the idea of putting the eggs in wire whisks from Family Fun. It worked out really well with our big whisks, but we cracked a few eggs trying to get them in and out of the smaller ones.

Brennan liked the smell.

I guess we'll need to do more next year. It's only the day after Easter and we've eaten most of them already. I haven't even made deviled eggs yet.

We survived April 1st

Today was exciting, but I'm sure glad it's over. This was the most our boys have gotten into the whole April Fools thing. When Dave heard that they were planning something big to do to him, he got to work setting things up as soon as they were in bed last night.

He filled a bucket with crumpled up paper and attached a string to their bedroom door knob. When they opened their door in the morning it all dumped out.

He attached string from the cereal boxes to the inside of the cabinet doors, so when they opened the doors, boxes of cereal flew out. He also folded a piece of paper full on foam shapes and attached it to the upper cabinet doors, so it fell on them when they opened it.

He put a cup of tongue depressors above the fridge, so it fell when they opened it to get milk. He also took the brand new bag of Fruit Loops out of its box and replaced it with Grape Nuts.

He put tape on the soap dispenser, toilet paper roll and toothpaste. Later the boys did the same to our bathroom.

The boys were busy all day! First they put empty soda cans and water bottles behind Dave's car tires so he would make a loud noise as he backed out of the garage. They were laughing so hard at the window. Spencer made this glass of jello, which he offered to Dave after work.

Other tricks: Tyler put baby carrots in an emptied out chip bag for Dave's lunch. Dallin put tape inside my shampoo cap. Spencer and Tyler attached the hammock to the inside of the garage door so that it lifted it up as Dave came home. Spencer put green jello in my oatmeal. Spencer cut out a mustache and big eyebrows and taped them onto Dave's face in our family picture. Someone hid our pillows. I mean it just went on and on! At least all the pranks were fairly harmless, and everyone had a lot of fun. It's a good thing it's just once a year.

Springtime

I love spring! Flowers blooming, warmer weather, daylight savings, spring break, my birthday, and of course Easter. I just have to buy daffodils whenever I go to Trader Joe's. And Cadbury eggs. Yum!

One day last week after the kids came home from school, I took them to the farm supply store to look at the baby chicks. At just $3.99 each, I almost wanted to buy one. But I figured they're not allowed in my neighborhood. Then the lady at the store told me our town allows up to 4 chickens per household within city limits! When I mentioned it to Dave that night he laughed and told me chicken coops are very stinky. He knows - he used to clean them when he worked on a farm. They're also a health hazard. One of the questions he always asks people with lung problems is if they own chickens. Spencer's probably allergic anyway. Oh well. Plus they're not chicks very long. The ones above were just 2 days old. The 1 week old chicks were already much bigger and starting to get feathers. Not nearly as cute.

I guess we'll just have to visit the chicks every spring and buy eggs at the grocery store.

When we went to the zoo last Saturday they had a little temporary spring exhibit with lots of chicks,

ducklings,

and rabbits. I would also love a rabbit. But Spencer's probably allergic to those too.

Lovin' this weather

The weather has been so perfect recently - mid-70's and sunny. It feels so good to be outside.

We've gone to about 4 different parks in the past week. Plus the local zoo.

We walked to school to pick Dallin up from kindergarten every day (it was minimum days last week, so he went in the morning and got home before the boys). It felt so nice out that we didn't want to go in the house. We climbed the tree in our front yard and rode bikes until the other boys got home.

Dallin took these pictures of me and Levi. They're a little off-center, but I think they're cute.

Levi loves to chew on my hair.

It's supposed to be in the 50's and rainy later in the week, so we are enjoying this while we can.