April Card

Card group this month was at my house and, as always, we had a blast. I love these girls and I am so glad that I can keep in touch with them! The theme was mother's/father's day and most of us chose Mother's Day. Let's face it, girlie cards are just more fun to make! Here is the flower pot card I made:

We have grass!

The title says it all! We are so excited to have our yard in. We still have to do a fence and want to add a deck, etc., etc., but we have a huge chunk out of the way. It is so nice not to have dirt and dust dragged into the house. Before the grass was put in we spent a lot of time planting, adding mulch and finishing the play area (thanks mom and dad!). I think it looks awesome and it is a dream come true to have a big backyard where the kids can run and play!

Before
After

CoUsInS!

For Spring Break Dan's sister and her family came to visit and see the sights in Utah. Between their 6 kids and our 4 it was a packed house! 7 of the boys slept in the same room and Bradley and Ben even slept in sleeping bags instead of in their beds. Grant slept in his own room and the 2 girls (or should I say princesses!) shared Kylie's room. Sunday we spent the day watching Conference, Monday we went to BYU for lunch and bowling, Tuesday we went to the Dinosaur Museum in Lehi and then Cafe Rio for dinner and Wednesday we went to Salt Lake to tour the Conference Center and Temple Square. The kids were all so well behaved and it was so much fun to have them stay with us! Tyler and Amanda-I hope you guys plan on coming back because the kids are already looking forward to next year!

The boys lined up like little sardines
The girls started out this way, but ended up sharing the bed!

Posing in front of the shark

Digging for fossils

What a cute little archeologist!

Ben riding the dinosaur

Dan and Grant just hanging out

On top of the Conference Center

Salt Lake Temple

The Fam

Easter Saturday

Whew, I have a lot of catching up to do! April has been such a packed, but really fun month. This year the Easter bunny came on Friday night because the Eccles were coming to stay with us on Saturday. The kids all went looking for their baskets and it was a little trickier this year in the new house because of all the space! Bradley's was hidden behind the living room couch, Kylie's was in the oven, Ben's was in the hall closet and Grant's was in the family room. After finding the baskets, everybody ate a ton of jelly beans and chocolate and then we got ready for the cousins!

The Easter Bunny brought some funny masks
Kylie displaying her basket

Bradley found his basket

Grant found a sucker that one of the kids had dropped and I had to take a picture before I took it away!

Kylie is 6!!

Yesterday Kylie turned 6 years old! I can't believe it. She is such a joy to have in our family. Kylie has a huge imagination, a big heart and a fun sense of humor. She has made a lot of progress this year in Kindergarten and is reading well by herself. Six years ago I became a mother of a daughter which gave me a pass into the world of princesses and fairytales! I love shopping in the 'pink' aisle at the toy store and feel grateful that I have a reason to! We're so glad that she is in our family.
Kylie had a luau theme birthday party complete with a sand castle cake. We played a bean bag toss game, limbo and a game with a hula hoop. We also had a tiki pinata. Kylie greeted her guests with a lei. It was a very fun day!

Dan made her a special birthday breakfast. Her favorite: ham and eggs
New bike

Opening presents

She got a couple Zhu Zhu pets with accessories

This is the 'sand castle' cake I made

Kylie with the cake

Everyone singing 'Happy Birthday'

Bean bag toss

Hula Hoop game

(The kids had to hold hands and get the hula hoop down the line without letting go)

The tiki pinata
(The basement was the perfect place for this!)

The loot

Easter duds

Since Easter Sunday is General Conference we decided to dress up the kids last Sunday. Unfortunately Grant was really sick and just cried when we tried to take his pictures so these are just of the older 3. We'll try again next week!

Ben only agreed to smile nicely if I let him do a silly picture too!

Moab Trip

Last weekend we went to Moab as a family to cheer on Dan in a half marathon. We decided to make a little vacation out of it and see the sights. On Friday the kids didn't have school so we drove down and went to Arches National Park. It was really beautiful and had a lot of cool hikes that we'll have to try when Grant is a little bigger. The kids loved the Balanced Rock and of course the Visitors Center. The next morning while Dan went to his race I took the kids back to see a few more sights. Afterwards we got lunch and went to wait at the finish line. It was very exciting watching all the runners come in and Bradley and Kylie tried to see how many high fives they could get. Dan did a great job! He even had enough energy to take us all to Canyonlands National Park on the way home. Unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries so we didn't get any pictures of that, but we definitely plan to go back soon!

Balanced Rock

Delicate Arch

(This is on the UT license plate)

Up close

Wolfe Cabin

Window Rock

Dan at the finish line!

Dan and his work buddies that also ran the race