::easter::

"Easter is that sacred season when the heart of each devout Christian turns in humble gratitude to our beloved savior."

-Elder Richard G. Scott

April 2010 General Conference

Our Easter weekend was busy and fun.

We colored eggs at Grandma & Papa Snowman's on Friday night. It was kinda messy, but the kids had fun.

(Porter-4 next month, Chloe-6 1/2, Cooper-17 mos)

Our Halling Easter party got moved to the church due to the 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground (ugh!). We all had lunch inside instead of outside and the kids ran for candy in the foyer instead of the yard.

(Papa Snowman & Cooper)

(Portie, Matt, & Chloe)

The candy hunters...

Afterwards, we went back to Matt's mom & dad's for a bit. J & Sae had to go to her family's for a party, so we played some Easter bingo to kill the time. Chloe won one game! Jared didn't win any (neither did Sarah or I, but it's funnier when Jared doesn't win). Matt didn't play 'cause he was holding a sleeping Cooper.

Then, we decided on a whim to go stay the night at Grandma Kitty's instead of the next morning. That way we could see the first session of conference instead of listening to it in the car on the way down.

"But how will the Easter Bunny find us??"

We left him a note...

(Chloe's note to the Easter bunny)

We had some Wendy's, I helped mom cook for the big dinner, got the kids to bed...

The next morning was a pretty exciting one. The kids squealed every time they found another egg. That Easter bunny can be pretty tricky...

(Easter baskets: Buzz/princess kites, candy, sidewalk chalk, new shoes, bubbles, tractors, balls-and some chocolate bunnies for the grown-ups)

They found 'em all-all 63 of them.

Our big Easter dinner. Everything was delish!

We watched conference (most of it). Chloe and I did some of the worksheets Grandma Snowman gave us.

I'm still watching the rest of conference (tivo) because when we all get together to watch it, it ends up being too loud and there are too many distractions.

The talks I've heard so far were beautiful. They left me with a greater feeling of responsibility for making the Savior head of our home, and creating an atmosphere where the Spirit may always dwell. I love conference. It renews my faith and makes me feel fortunate to know the gospel and to be a part of this faith.

::welcome spring::

Are ya kiddin' me?!!?

This is NOT Spring!! Where's the green grass? The tulips? The birds? The rain?

I was kind of excited the other day when it was so warm and windy. I knew a storm was coming, but with it being so warm, I was hoping for a great thunderstorm! But then it got freezing cold (39 when I picked Chloe up from school today), and started to snow.

ugh!

And they're forecasting more through the weekend!

We can't have an Easter egg hunt in the snow!!

::yesterday & today::

Yesterday,

The kids and I went shopping. Not for anything in particular, just something "cute." We picked Chloe up from school and went from there. We found a hairbow, some kinda cute things for the house, and a few clothes. Nothing too exciting. We always go in through Quilted Bear (cause we love that place) and have lunch (cause it's SO good!). We were hoping Grandma Kitty would be able to meet us there, but she was stuck in Burley (haha, Burley) all day.

Today,

After I took the kids to the store while Matt golfed this morning (for the first time this year!!), we took the babies to see How to Train Your Dragon. And we loved it!! Port especially! Chloe, not so much. She was a little scared, and even cried in one part of it cause she thought Hiccup died. Coopie just walked back and forth between us and at popcorn and M&Ms and even tried to drink some Coke that belonged to the lady next to us! And he roared (he says it like this: "waah") at the dragons. He also fell asleep for a bit. But Port-Port loooved it! It's a perfect little boy movie.

When we were walking out, Chloe says "that's waaay scarier than Princess and the Frog." I just told her that yeah, but sometimes we have to see boyish movies too :)

Chloe, Matt, Cooper, Porter (behind Coop)

::wrinkles::

Yes, I have wrinkles. Around my eyes. I don't like them. I think they're multiplying!

I'm vain, and I know it. I'm always worried about how I look, my clothes, my weight, you name it! I noticed the wrinkles a few months ago, and I just thought I'd better do something about 'em before they get too out of hand.

Mostly when I say something about the wrinkles people say, "What? You don't have wrinkles! I don't see any" etc.

BUT...

When I mentioned it to my mom, she says "I hear Olay makes a good cream." haha Oh, Mom. Always the truth outta her :)

I thought it was so funny, and it makes me laugh every time I think about it.

So I took her advice...

This is my wrinkle cream. I can't believe I have wrinkle cream! I've heard it's pretty good stuff and rivals the fancier ones sold at cosmetic counters.

We'll give it a try.

::basketball tourn. part 2 & other stuff...::

The second half of Matt's basketball tournament was on Saturday. After we all went to his first game at 8 (church ball), we headed down for two more.

He did pretty good. They won the church ball game that morning, and won one of their two ATK games. He was pretty tired by the end.

The kids love to go "watch" Da-Da.

We had LOTS of games and snacks for 'em. They pretty much eat and play the whole time.

(when you're watching basketball for over 3 hours, you gotta have something to do)

(Addyson, Chloe, & Portie)

Then we went down to help Grandma & Papa move into their new house! The kids were waaay excited. It was a lot of work (they've got TONS of stuff). We got the kitchen all unpacked and organized (for the most part), did a lot of unpacking in their office, and some more in their bedroom. We were there 'til almost 10 that night, andwhen we left, it didn't look like we'd done anything! There were STILL boxes everywhere!

Their home is beautiful! They're going to love it there!

And I finally got to meet my baby neice...

(Chloe, Me, Mia-6 weeks old, Cooper, & Porter-in front of Cooper)

::this made me smile::

A couple of things I thought I'd share...

A lot of times when we're in the car, we'll practice counting or our letter sounds or something like that. We were doing "let's think of a word that starts with..." They pick the letter, and it was "A." So Chloe and I are saying things like "alligator, apple, always, around..." Then Portie pipes up and says "avacado!!" Every once in a while I'll throw something weird out there like "Adirondak" just to make them laugh-but this time I hadn't said anything like that. I guess Portie beat me to it :)

Today, we went to the store to get a few things. I was pushing a "boat cart" (those huge ones) with all three babies on it. This older man (probably late 70's early 80's) says "are all these children yours??" I said "they sure are" and then he says "How beautiful! What beautiful children!" It made me happy, and I almost told him I wanted one more ;)

::the princess & the frog::

It's finally here!!

We've waited months for this movie to come out on DVD, and today was the day!! We were SO excited to go to the store and get it, Portie brought his own pennies to pay for it (sweet boy)-we even used one of them.

So after Bubb went down for a nap, the big kids and I made some popcorn...

...and cozied up to watch the movie.

We laughed, danced, cuddled 'cause we were scared, and I even got a little teary (Weird, I know, but that's me.)

And what a great movie!! We love it!!

(even Port! He likes the shadow man 'cause he likes "scae-wy sings.")

::what's in a name::

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet"

We're big on nicknames around here. I was working on my next blog book, and came across a post where I called Cooper "googie." I completely forgot we ever called him that. So, I decided I'd better do a post devoted to our nicknames since we have so many.

Chloe

aka

Moogie, Baby Girl, Gogie (she called herself that when she first started talking), Googie-Moogie, Moo, Missy Moo, Tootie-Bootie, Tootie, Toot-Boot, Chloe-Bowie, Nowie (Porter's), Giggoo (Porter's), Sweets (Matt's)

Porter

aka

Porter-Torter, Port-Tort, Portie-Nortie, Tatey-Ratey, Tate-a-moe (his own when he tried to say tomato), Porter-Potater-Rater, Tater-Rater, Tater, Tates, Port, Port-Port, Poten-Taten, Portie,

Cooper

aka

Coopins, Coopenhagen, Coopinstock, Coopie-Noopie, Coopie-Roopie (Matt's), Coopie, Googie, Noogie, Googie-Noogie, Noo-Noo, Nuggie, Nee-nah-noo-nah, Bubba, Bubb-Nubb, Bubb-Nubb-Nubb, Bubb, Bubbs, Bee-bah-boo-bah, Bubbie-Nubbie

::matt's basketball tournament (part 1)::

Matt had his annual ATK basketball tournament this weekend. He played with one of his brothers (Adam) and a few other guys from work. Jared doesn't work there anymore, so we missed him and Sarah down there this year. I love watching him play ball. He's pretty good, and just fun to watch. The games started at 8 in the morning, so we all got up and, of course, had a McDonalds breakfast :) The kids love going to these games too because the gym's really big and there's lots of room to run around up above the bleachers.

I got a couple of action shots

(he's in the black and blue shorts and a black jersey-#24 of course)

I can't remember if that one went in...

He always thanks the refs afterwards. He's just that way :)

They won both games, and they play again next weekend. I'll try to get some more "action" shots for him. It's always good to see yourself on film-that's what the pros do, right? :)

In other news...

Cooper has a few new words. My favorite one is "eeew." He says it all the time. Everything is "eeew."

::"po-uh liddow Coopeh"::

Sorry, Bubb, but you are too liddow and it is too cold.

...But I bet you're glad Portie came in to make you feel better :)

(Porter 3 1/2 Cooper 16 months)

In other news...

Chloe hyperextended her knee in tumbling yesterday. She was doing some back handspring drills and another kid hopped on the trampoline and bounced her, and she landed on it weird. She cried. A lot. She seems to be ok now though. She just says she can't "push her knee back" which basically means she can't lock her left knee. Papa Guitar says maybe a couple of weeks, and she'll be good as new :) (I bet a little sooner though, cause she's already back on the tramp)

After it happened, I told her ya gotta be tough to tumble!! She giggle-cried. I told her it's only going to get tougher and about how her cousin (Keely) broke her foot doing tumbling. Was that a good idea? Probably not, but now she kinda feels cool 'cause she got hurt doing tumbling just like Kee :)