Why do I even try?!!!

I finally got all the kids in their Easter clothes that I made for them. I though it would be a great chance to get a picture of the 4 of them together. I don't really have any great ones and I'd love just one to hang on my wall. I've decided that taking a group picture of my kids is one thing I absolutely HATE! It never works out and then I turn into Momzilla. When I take pictures of other people's kids, I just think in my head, "yelling at them isn't going to make them smile" when they start getting all upset at their kids and what do I do? The EXACT SAME THING!!! So after a few really bad shots like this:

and this (although not too bad):

and this (but I love Cooper's face):

the best we get is this:

I think I'd rather hire someone and pay them to try than be having one of the worst experience and scarring my children for life! I decided that I'd just had to take individual pictures. Only Liz and Cooper really cooperated for those though.

Maybe we'll get a group one in five years!

A little catch up

In no particular order, here are a few things I haven't posted yet....

Will's Birthday Party

The last weekend in March, the cuz Will had a bday party and we went to the fire station for it. The kids had a lot of fun. It was a nice day so we walked over there, well, some of us walked.

Cooper was really into the fire fighters and wanted to help them put their clothes on. It was cute.

These two have so much fun together. It's so fun to watch them play.

 

And here's Papa John with the boys. Good times.

 

More Bell fun

While the Bells were here we dyed eggs one day. Caroline and Cooper loved being around Daniel.

Then on Bri's day off we went to the Fun Center and did a round of bowling, a few arcade games and rollerskating. Our kids gave up on the skating pretty quick and headed over to the jungle gym. I got pretty worn out after about 30 min and took the kids home while the others stayed to play a game of laser tag. We had good times together.

The last couple of days have been nice and warm so we've been able to get out. I was trying to get a picture of Cooper and Caroline and this is what I got.

We've had several episodes of Cooper dropping his pants down outside to go potty. I mostly laugh. I mean how can you get mad at this face?

 

And just a few random ones...I love seeing the girls use their imagination. I'm not exactly sure what was going on here, but they were having fun, so it works for me!

The other day the girls went to bed without coming upstairs and I thought I better check on them to make sure they weren't dead 'cause they've been getting out of bed just about every night. Well, this is what I came upon. Can you believe they can sleep like this?! I had to make sure Caroline was still breathing. Makes me laugh!

The other day we woke up with the deer on our yard. I thought this was a cute picture seeing them look out the window at them. 

1st week of Soccer

We decided to sign both the girls up for soccer this year. It's been 2 years since Elizabeth played, so Caroline is starting at the age she did. All during the day we were having bad weather so I was nervous they  weren't going to get to play, but it cleared up by game time, so all was well.

Or so we thought. We grabbed some pizza on the way over. The bad thing about the set up here is they have the girls playing at totally different places, about 20 minutes apart, so half their games we have to split up. Made me so irritated. I wouldn't mind as much if they had to play at the same time if it were at least at the same place because then I could catch both, but there's no way with how they've set it up here. Stupid! 

The games started out fairly nice. About 15 minutes into Elizabeth's I had to take Caroline to hers and then the weather got bad. Before we even started Caroline's game I thought soccer was the dumbest sport ever. I don't like it to begin with. I mean, any game you have to sit through a couple of hours (well, not at kid level) and only see someone score maybe once or twice is too boring for me. Plus, any sport you have to sit through rain, hail and snow (we got all 3) in is dumb too. With the exception of football of course. :) Anyway, it was a horrible start! All the kids were crying and freezing. We didn't dress the kids properly for the crappy weather so I was ready to quit the season.

But the next day Elizabeth had a game and it was perfect weather and actually quite enjoyable, so I think we'll stick it out at least another week. Elizabeth is doing great. I'm so impressed with how much she's already learned. I didn't realize they had positions in soccer, aside from goalie. That's how much I know! I was so proud of her after this game. She was in the whole time and running around like crazy. It'll be fun to watch. Caroline is in the let's run around and try and kick the ball stage, but it's still fun to watch her get in there too.

AWHC and Porter Egg Hunt

Last weekend we went to the Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Ceneter. It wasn't supposed to be too nice of weather but it turned out not too bad. We started out by getting a tractor ride over to the admissions area, then after we were in the fun began. They had a candy cannon that they shot off and then all the kids ran around picking up the candy as fast as they could. It was funny.

We of course stopped by to see all the baby animals. There were quite a few.

To me, the best part was the muttin' bustin'. The kids wanted to ride the horses, but we thought they were an extra cost, however, the muttin' bustin' wasn't, so I said, "we can't do the horses, but we'll let you ride a sheep." Caroline and Cooper bought it, but Elizabeth didn't. Our kids were a few down the list, so after watching the first few I turned to Brian and said, " I don't think this is a good idea. They are going to cry and hate us." So I went over to them and explained what was really going to happen and how they were going to fall off and they were still all for it.

The nice thing was that for Cooper, since he's only 3, they run with them and pull them off so they don't fall. They did that for a 4 year old girl so we were like, "oh good. They'll do that for Caroline too. But they didn't. They let go and hers made a circle and headed right for the fence. That's where she fell off and the thing stepped on her, but she didn't cry, which really surprised us. They actually enjoyed it but Caroline said she wouldn't do it again. At the end of this post is Caroline's video, unfortunately it's sideways. Now I know. Oops.

Afterwards we found out the pony ride was included, so they all got a turn. Bella absolutely loved it and threw a little fit when Bri took her off.

From there we headed down to Sandy and had the Porter egg hunt. It was fun to watch them running around. Bella got more into this one.

We had some good times that weekend with our traditional penny walk and then we went to a park, had dinner and the adult egg hunt. It was so funny! I don't have any pics, but really video would have been funnier. Mom and Dad, and the kids, hid the eggs and then the rule was married couples had to hold hands and couldn't let go and Caroline got a head start. Well, Mel and Greg cheated and I about died laughing so hard as Brian dragged me all over the place. One time we were going up a slight hill and started  going for different eggs. I about wet my pants I was laughing so hard. I fully expected to be sore the next day because I haven't done that much moving for a while. It was funny.

I feel like I don't get much face time on the blog, which is fine, but I know I like to see the mama's and daddy's on others too, so the other day I took a few pics of myself... I know.... again. I'm not stuck on myself, but I think it'd be nice to see a few pictures of myself when I get older. JK. So here are 2 from the other day. Phew! That was a long post!

Easter Weekend

We've had a fun and busy last few days. Brian's sister Suzanne and her family came out here and spent a few days with us and it was great fun. We were sad to see them leave today. Cooper showed the most emotion which was surprising and so tender and sweet. We really had a great time with them.

 The kids played great and because of that, the adults were able to play too. We stayed up playing games almost every night. And to add to all the fun and great time just being together, one of Suzanne's favorite things to do it clean, so every night, she and Randy would clean the kitchen. HEAVEN!!! I was contemplating asking them to move in with us! The girls did a few "creative" projects and several times asked me to put their hair in "rocker" style on the side. I thought that was so funny. I remember doing my hair like that for real when I was Elizabeth's age. They had fun putting on a rock show and dancing around.

I told them to do an attitude look... guess Sydney didn't quite get it. ;) My girls know how to throw around some attitude though!

Alison joined them at the last minute. I think this will be one of those pics they'll look back on and love. I think it's so cute.

Easter morning Elizabeth and Sydney ran upstairs to see their baskets. They had left a carrot on the table and were anxious to see if he had come. Sydney said the funniest thing, she said, "now I know the Easter Bunny is real 'cause my mom would never give me that much chocolate!". I thought that was so funny.

Later that day we hid 200 eggs around the house for the kids to find. The younger girls wanted to be easter bunnies. Caroline's nose was itching, so she wiped it off and wasn't too happy. They found all the eggs in like 7 minutes. Not too many great places to hide the eggs inside. Blasted snow!!!

Isabelle found one egg, took it in the other room and called it quits. I guess she was more for the immediate reward than looking for more.

Elizabeth and Sydney had a lot of fun together. It was cute to watch them playing together and enjoying each other so much. It made me think about my cousins and the relationships we made when we were their age. I hope they have one that lasts forever like I have with some of mine.

This was the first year I was the one fully in charge of doing the Easter dinner. It was kind of weird. I don't feel old enough to be at that point. Everything went well except for when I went to make the deviled eggs. I had Brian buy me a new jar of mayo because I knew I was close to being out. When I went to open it, I noticed the seal was broken so no mayo. Brian wouldn't have my creative ideas for substitutes, so he decided to make the mayo from scratch. Long story short, 2 tries and about 1 hour later we had fabulous mayo and fabulous deviled eggs. Of course I had to get a picture of them.

Isn't he cute?! :) My hero.

Kind of weird to have him be the man of the house and fulfill those responsibilities too. He did great though and we had a very nice Easter dinner.Our menu was: Ham, brown rice, mashed potatos, green bean casserole, jello pretzel salad, pea salad, bread sticks, deviled eggs and sweet potatos. A lot of food and a lot left over, but it was  A wonderful end to the wonderful conference sessions this weekend. I felt like so many of the talks were directed towards me and my need to improve as a mother. Lots to work on, but we have hope! So grateful for the Savior and the example and sacrifice he made for us all! Thanks to Him, not all hope is lost. :)

Bella

We got this webcam last year and the kids will literally spend hours on it. I was watching a few of the videos and saw this one and thought it was so funny how Bella thought it was so funny. I can't believe how much her hair has grown since then.