Baby Animal Days

Josh has a pass to the American West Heritage Center through his work, and he wants to make sure that we get the full use out of it that we can this year. So for Baby Animal Days this year, I took my kids on Thursday with Nick and Sara and their kids. There was a possibility of rain that day, and it was still pretty muddy from rain the entire week, but I thought it would be totally worth it to beat the crowds. And it was.

 The weather was great, the lines were short, it was rainy-but not too bad. And Grant with the baby chicks was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. Don't you agree?

 I really considered buying one after those faces.

 We were all pretty bummed that Grant was too young to ride any of the horses there, although I thought about trying to pass him off as a 3-year old.

 Oh! That boy! As I say to Meili frequently, "It's just not fair for him to be that cute!"

 (And I kind of like this little girl too.) Everything was all well and good until this bunny had been sitting on her lap too long, so she tried to get it off herself, which I think scared the bunny, and it scratched her. Then she was pretty much done with Baby Animal Days even though I tried to explain that the bunny wasn't bad.

 We went back again on Friday with Kami, Brayden and her family. We just hit some of the highlights one more time because it was a lot more crowded.

The next week, Meili went back again with her preschool. Needless to say, every time Josh mentions me taking them to the American West Heritage Center again, Meili isn't interested. We'll have to take a little break, and try again in the summer.

Bike, Birthday, Buds

I told myself that Meili should probably learn to ride her bike without training wheels before she started kindergarten. I, of course, was still in no hurry to try to help her with that. Josh decided as soon as it was warm enough that it was time, so he took the training wheels off. She tried with him once or twice without success. On March 10th, I tried to help her for a little bit and decided that we would probably have to put the training wheels back on for the summer, because she wasn't even close. She seemed so wobbly, and I felt like I couldn't let go of her for a even a second. Josh came home from work that day, and I was downstairs sewing. I told him what had happened, and that I thought she wasn't even close. He agreed. He went outside to work with her, and literally, less than 5 minutes later she came inside and said excitedly, "Mom, I did it! Come see!"

 And just like that, in a matter of minutes, it just clicked for her, and there has been no stopping her since. For the next couple days, she worked on starting and stopping on her own, and she likes driving scary close to mailboxes and cars. We told everyone in our neighborhood, and we couldn't get her off her bike for days.

 Those are the moments that she seems to grow up right before my eyes.

As for my birthday...
From the moment that Josh helped the kids pick out a birthday present, to the moment they gave it to me, Josh tried to give me hints about what it was and couldn't stop teasing me about it. I should have known.

For the back story- I hate Snuggies. I think they are such lame invention. Josh has tried to get me to buy one, win one, inherit one, for years, and I refused. So of course, that's what the kids would get me for my 31st birthday.

 This is what I have to say about that...
This picture is proof of a Mother's love for her children. Because there are exactly two people in the entire world that could get me a gift as ridiculous as a Snuggie and have me actually put it on. Meili said that I can wear it when he have sleepovers on the tramp, and you better believe, that for her, I will do it. As for Josh's part in all of this... Let's just say my Father's Day revenge begins now :)

Josh asks me all the time about my opinion of Snuggies now that I actually own. He wants me to admit that it's better than I thought it would be. Sorry. Nope. Still think it's ridiculous. I use it, regularly, as a blanket, because I like throw blankets, and the kids love seeing me use it. But I still don't think that my blanket needs sleeves. There are oversized robes for that.

As for the day itself...
I did exactly what I wanted to do. We started the day with me taking the kids swimming, then my mom, Emily, Nick, Sara, and all our kids went to my Grandma's house for lunch. Then Chloe watched all the kids at my house while my mom, Emily, and I went shopping. (Shopping without my kids? With money to spend? Yeah, dream come true! Doing it all while pregnant? Kind of a bummer.) That night, Josh took me to dinner, and a neighbor came over to watch Meili and Grant. It was a totally fun day!

...And a random picture from one day when I watched Hallie and Caden and they all decided to dress up. Such cuties!

General Conference

For me, having young kids during General Conference means that if I actually plan well, I can have a meaningful conference experience, and hopefully help my kids to really look forward to Conference. As an added bonus, this conference, I had nothing else going on, and could actually sit and listen to all four sessions.

 I decided to make up my own version of this paper bag thing that I have seen people do. Every time one of the 12 apostles or First Presidency talked, the kids went and found the bag with their picture on it, and then there was either an activity or a treat in the bag-sometimes both. The biggest surprise for me, is that quickly my kids were pretty disinterested in the treats, and really wanted to activities. Also, I decided it would be nice to know who was going to speak when, and I could plan a little better. But all-in-all, it was a total success. I was able to listen to all the talks (maybe even better than I would have on my own) and Meili really enjoyed it. (Grant too, for what he could grasp of the whole thing.) Bad news: I may have set myself up for a new tradition that takes time and preparation.

 There was a word search, maze, color by number, play dough, finger nail painting, a recipe for a healthy snack, conference bingo (of course), a cereal necklace that we put together according to the words that we said in the talk, painting, and more!

Easter Traditions

First, there was dying Easter eggs...

 Last year and this year, we tried some "no spill" technology so that Grant could be totally involved in Easter egg dying without making a huge mess, or breaking all of the eggs.

 How did that turn out? I think I boiled 30+ eggs to end up with less than 24 that were totally smashed.

 And his hands say it all where the mess is concerned. We usually start out with the best of intentions, but by the end, it's just Meili and Grant transferring eggs over and over from one color of dye to the next.

 It's worth it in the end. After a few baths, there hands are usually back to normal, and we have yet to permanently stain the counter.

 At this stage in life, I love that we basically just get to move from one holiday tradition to looking forward to the next.

 Speaking of... The Saturday before Easter, we had an Easter egg hunt and my parents house, and then headed to Honeyville for another Easter egg hunt. For Easter being so early this year, I'd say we couldn't really complain about the weather.

 Grant was just as excited to find what he believes is one of Papa Randy's golf balls.

 Neither in Bountiful or Honeyville did my kids leave needing more candy. My mom asked each of her kids to bring 12 eggs to contribute, and then I think she said that she added 100+. Mind you there are 11 grandkids in the family.

Whereas in Honeyville...

 I don't think anyone has ever bothered to count the eggs. There are always PLENTY. Lets just leave it at that.

 Can we just admire Gigi's pose for a minute?

 The 2 littlest boys who are not going to be so little anymore next year.

 William didn't even need the candy inside, just the Spiderman egg.

 ...And then there was Sunday morning.

Easter candy is my favorite, and our house was LOADED. Oh my goodness! That many treats would have lasted the average family like a year, but even in our house it was a good 3 weeks-which is saying a lot to have it last even that long.