Easter

The kids after church.


My Mom has this pet bunny that lives in her house. Alyssa and Cole love it! I had to hold her for a picture for Easter, not a great pose, but it is the only way you can hold her without getting bit. She loves to be petted, but is scared of heights. We have a family egg hunt every year and this year it was at my Mom and Dad's house. We have a yummy breakfast and egg hunt/games for the kids. I am so glad we started this tradition 4 years ago. Participating in community egg hunts, where you have to fight for your kids to get one egg, while trying not to get trampled on, do not sound fun. What we do, is sooo much better! Next year the party will be at our house. We are excited because our yard will be great for the egg hunt!


Cole was not happy about participating in a family picture (he gets that from his Dad), notice his mad pout face.

We had these bunny masks for the kid's egg hunt. We made the eye holes small for the big kids to give them a disadvantage.




Alyssa got a bike ridding lesson from Grandpa afterward.

Our 8th Wedding Anniversary

At the end of March, Mark and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate, we went to the condos in West Yellowstone with our friends, Ryan and Melanie Daw. Mel and I were roomies in college. Funny that we didn't have a romantic getaway with just the two of us, I know. Mark and I had a couple of getaways this winter and since the codo in West Yellowstone has such a nice indoor pool, we thought we'd take the kids. And since we were taking the kids, why not take another couple with kids??? It was a super fun weekend!! We played cards and ate lots of yummy food. Alyssa and McKinley had their own room and thought that was pretty cool. We all had fun at the pool and Mel gave me a swimming lesson, which was pretty funny because I can barely doggie paddle!

You know that feeling when someone is totally rude???? Well, maybe they REALLY didn’t see you standing by their car waving. Or maybe, they were late for an appointment and have intentions of saying “Sorry, for not saying Hi” the next time they see you. Or maybe, their stomach started to gurgle and they really had to....you know. Or maybe, their cell phone started to ring and they really had to run off to take the call. Well, whatever the reason, I know there is a perfectly good excuse why Mr. and Mrs. XXXXXX drove off without even turning their heads to smile or say, “Hey, How’s it going?” So... no hard feelings on my end, it was another good day.

The Kiddos

Cole has been really interested in the potty and has been "practicing" a lot. Notice him "wiping" in the first picture. I know we won't be potty training for a while, but am glad that he likes to practice. He did go poop in the potty the first of February though. I am not sure how that ever happened. He refuses to sit on the potty without his clothes and will yell "No Potty, No Potty!" if he's naked.

And Miss Alyss....she was asked to go up to her room and get dressed. When she came back down stairs, she had this pink sweater wrapped around her waist with the sleeves tied in a knot in the back. She said "Mom, I want to have a dress JUST LIKE THIS, but not with my underwear showing." Yikes!!! We both went back upstairs to find a long sleeve shirt and long pants. We chatted about modesty and dressing for the seasons--as we have several areas in our yard still covered with 3-4 feet of snow!

Yellowstone Bear World

We heard on the news that you could go to Bear World for free and hold the bear cubs. You could pay 15 bucks for a picture if you wanted. They also said that Bear World had ten little cubs this year. I know normally admission for this place is pretty steep. I had never been, and thought the kids might enjoy it, and since we live pretty close, we decided to go. I knew it would probably be pretty crowed, but thought with 10 cubs to go around, we should get to play with one a bit. Well, the real story was that if you wanted to hold a cub, you had to purchase the picture. You could pick one person in your group to hold the cub for the picture and they took it away and soon as the picture snapped. The other people in your group, could pet the bear on the way out. With a line going out the door, they only had one cub out! It wasn't so bad for us because Cole didn't care that he didn't get to hold the bear, not because he was scared of the bear, but because he was scared of the lady holding it. He did pet it though. I am sure that families with several kids were disappointed at not all getting a turn. The cub was real cute though and we were glad we got to see it--We are loving that Mark is home more so we can go on little family outings!!!

DING DING DING DING DING DING

Mark had to work in SLC yesterday and had a hard time driving home late last night. He felt like he was going to fall asleep, so he stopped at Fort Hall to walk around and wake up. He couldn't withstand the temptation of the slot machines and put 20 bucks in a nickel machine. He won 25060 nickels!! Being too tired to do the math he thought "Cool, I won a couple hundred bucks." After cashing out with the cashier and getting his picture taken, he was handed 12 hundred dollar bills, 2 twentys, a 10 and 3 ones. Whoa!!!! He was wide awake and drove home safely. I was shocked when we walked in our bedroom and handed me the wad of cash. I still can't believe it!

Not Such A Smartie

Alyssa came to me today almost in tears. She said "Mom, I have a problem"... Turns out...This little hand...

Put one of these...

Up this...

"Mom, my nose has a problem." Well, after lots of hard blowing and threatening the doctor would use tweezers, she finally was able to get it out.

I was having a hard time not laughing at her because I knew she knew better. After it was all over I asked her what made her think to do that??? She said she saw some boys putting things up their nose on nickelodeon. She learned a lesson and was very embarrassed! Poor kid!