Spring

It got up to 80 degrees here today and we were very excited about it. The kids even played in the sprinkler for a few minutes, well Will and Savannah did anyway.



Our tulips started blooming last week and they are so pretty. I love all the spring flowers.

Our front flower garden


We have been spending a lot more time outside and it is so good for the kids to be able to get all that energy out in a good way.
The peach trees are starting to blossom, the peas are coming up and everything is coming back to life. I love this time of year. I just wish that it would stay like this for a while instead of snowing and then warming up and teasing me all the way until summer. I guess I should just enjoy it while it lasts and try to not get too depressed when it snows again.

Birthday Celebrations

I turned 32 (I had to add that up in my head to make sure) last Thursday. It seems like time is speeding up with each year. I can't believe how fast the past two years that we have been in Layton have gone!
I had such a great day on my birthday. Robby surprized me and stayed home to spend the day with me. My neighbor was nice enough to take the boys for a couple hours so that we could go out to lunch. We went to Olive Garden and it was so yummy! Then we did some shopping, which is always fun when you have birthday money to spend.
The kids were great all day and they all made, or found, me presents and colored me pictures. It was very sweet.
I made myself a chocolate cake and it turned out to be really yummy too.




Hopefully the next year will be as good as the past one has been.

Antelope Island

We bought another pass to Antelope Island and we went out there after dinner one night in the week before Easter and it was the perfect time to go. We saw tons of animals! We saw two coyotes, some rabbits, tons of birds and, of course, buffalo and antelope.



We also saw one of the prettiest sunsets I think I have ever seen. This shot was just as it was starting to get dark looking towards the mountains in the Northeast.

These next few were looking west over the Great Salt Lake. The colors in the sky and in the water were amazing!

The funny thing was as we were leaving the island, just before we got to the gate, Isaac said he had to go potty. We got to the gate and saw that just outside there was a bathroom so we stopped to see if it was open. It was locked and then Will said he had to go too so I took the boys behind the building and just had them pee on the rocks behind the bathroom. Isaac thought this was hilarious! He was laughing the whole time he was peeing and then the whole way home he was giggling and saying "I peed on the rocks". I was kind of worried about what that would do to our potty training and hoping that he wouldn't insist on peeing outside from now on, but luckily it didn't affect him still going in the potty at home. He still brings it up sometimes though. "Mom, remember when I peed on the rocks?"

Easter Morning-Finally

I can't believe it has taken me so long to get this posted, but here it is finally. Easter morning was pretty rushed for us since we were trying to get ready and to church by 9:00, but we did spend a few minutes seeing what the easter bunny had for us this year. (By the way, the giant bunny was an easter gift for Savannah from Grandma Waters several years ago but she still loves it and she thought it was especially appropriate for Hoppy to share in the fun on Easter)

Wicked!

Last Saturday I was able to go see the musical Wicked with some of my family and it was AWESOME!!! I really enjoyed all of it. I love the getting dressed up and going out and then the musical itself was so funny and well written. I loved every minute of it.
Robby and I got two tickets for Christmas from my parents and since this is not really his cup of tea he decided to sell his ticket and I went with the others in my family who were going on this night. (One of my sisters and her husband ended up going on Thursday night instead because they had a funeral to attend on Saturday in California.)
The kids and I have been listening to the music for Wicked since Christmas and we all love it so much. Isaac even knows the words to most of it and it is so cute to hear them sing it. I really wish they could have come with me. I know they would have loved it! If only the tickets weren't $200-$400 each. Oh well. Hopefully someday I'll be able to take them to see it also.

This is just a picture I found online of Elphaba and Glinda. (By the way, do not search for wicked pics online. It brings up some not so good sites. Search for Wicked MUSICAL pics and you get much better results) It was so fun to see how their relationship changes in the musical from "Unadulterated Loathing" each other to friends to "Changed for the better" for having known each other. Glinda's dance moves were hilarious and she is just so. . .what's the right word?. . . Blonde. I can say that now that I'm not blonde anymore. :) There were so many funny little lines in the play we were laughing the whole time. And the costumes were unbelievable! I especially liked when they went to the Emerald City. The costumes on those people were awesome!

I love getting dressed up and going out so I shopped around before the show and found this dress on sale at Ross for $20. I also found some very cute shoes at Savers for $6. I love finding a bargain!

It was barely long enough, but close enough to make me self-conscious so I bought a yard of tule netting fabric for $1.50 and added some to the bottom to make it longer and to dress it up a little bit more. I also added a little fabric in the front to make sure I was covered there too. I think it turned out pretty good. I meant to have someone take a picture of me before I left for the show but I forgot and the only full-length picture of me turned out kind of blurry.

I met my parents and two of my sisters and one of their husbands at the Olive Garden and they were nice enough to share their leftovers with me since I got there too late to eat with them.

Dad, Amberly, Mom and Ali waiting for a table

All of us at Olive Garden

Me and Amber at dinner.

All the girls. Mom, Ali, Amberly and me (Wish you were there Heather)

We took enough pictures to make Ben feel like he was with a bunch of tourists.

The whole group at the theater on the stairs to the balcony.

You can kind of see my dress and my shoes.

In our seats on the 4th and 5th row

It was so much fun! Thanks again Mom and Dad for the great present. The only bad part was when it was over.

Easter at Waters

And the Easter fun continues! On Saturday we went to Robby's parent's house for an Easter party and this is what we saw when we walked in the door. . .

There were papers with each child's name on it attached to a string and the strings were strung all through the house. The kids were very excited to play this game and were not-so-patiently waiting throughout our barbeque lunch. We ate and talked and then it was finally time for the kids to follow their strings to see where they would lead.
Savannah somehow managed to talk Grandma into letting her go first and she followed her string up the stairs. . .

Through Grandma's room and back down the stairs.
Behind the couch. . .

Through the dining room and the kitchen and down to the family room.

And that is where she found the end of her string.

You should have seen the look on her face! It was priceless. She was VERY surprized that her string had not led to some sort of Easter treat and had in fact led her to nothing. It was pretty funny!

She called for Grandma to come and she told her she had found the end of her string.

Grandma soon figured out that her string had been caught under the chair and had somehow been cut so we found where it picked up on the other side and . . .

Sure enough, it led to a bunny basket full of Easter goodies. As you can see she was very relieved to find out that her string had actually led her to something good.

Will was up next. Robby helped him roll up the string as he went.

Through the living room and into the dining room. Under the dining room table. . .

Under and over everyone else's strings. Through the kitchen and the family room. . .
Down the basement stairs and through the family room and the storage room. . .

And finally under Papa's desk downstairs was . . .

A basketball basket full of goodies!

Rebecca was next, but Isaac couldn't wait any longer so Richard and Lisa followed her while I helped Isaac with his string.

He was very excited having seen the other two follow theirs and also seeing what they ended up with so I had to keep telling him to slow down and stay behind the paper where I was winding the string for him.

We went through the kitchen into the dining room. Under the dining room table. . .

Back into the kitchen and under the kitchen table. . .

Down through the family room and then back up the stairs to the landing and . . .

Inside Grandma's new stereo cabinet was a soccer ball basket full of Easter goodies.

He enjoyed seeing what was inside from the comfort of Papa's lap.

What a fun idea Grandma! The kids loved it!

After the kids did their activity it was time for the adult's egg hunt outside. Luckily we didn't get rained on. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy looking for eggs. Robby found all his first, as usual, but Lisa and I weren't too far behind him. This has turned into such a fun family tradition that we look forward to every year! We missed those of you who couldn't be there for it this year though.

A while later the kids colored eggs with Grandma. They had a lot of fun decorating the eggs with a crayon and then seeing how it turned out with the color.

We also had cake for my birthday and Jessica's next week and we talked and hung out some more. It was such a fun party! The only bad part was that we had to leave early so that I wouldn't be late to go see Wicked. But that is the next post. . .

Coloring Eggs

We colored Easter Eggs last Friday. Savannah was out of school all week for Spring Break and by Friday the kids were so bored and sick of each other that I decided to do this activity out of desperation to keep them entertained more than anything. The pictures didn't turn out very good, but the kids had a lot of fun. Isaac wanted to use the wire egg holder thing and ended up breaking both of his eggs.

I told Savannah that when I was little my brothers and sisters and I used to try to make a golden egg and so that is what whe was trying to do with one of hers.

Will dipped each of his in one color for about 10 seconds and he was done. He watched us for about 10 minutes and then decided to do more on each of his.

How Did I Let This Happen?

You feel bad enough for your kids when they get hurt, but it is so much worse when it is your fault that they are hurt.
So, tonight I was making Cheesy Chicken Soup for dinner and I was moving the boiling pot of water off of the heat to another burner on the stove when I accidentally sloshed some water out of the pan and right onto the back of Isaac's leg. He was wearing pants, socks and shoes so it took a minute to get all that off of him so I could put the burn under cold water in the sink. He was screaming like crazy and I felt SO BAD! It was the saddest thing. It started to blister immediately and I knew it was pretty bad. It had been boiling on the stove for 20 minutes after all. The poor kid was trying to be brave but I knew it hurt really bad. I gave him some Tylenol for the pain and decided to watch him for a little while to see if I needed to take him to the Instacare. After 30 minutes when he wouldn't do anything but cry and ask me to hold him I decided we better go get him looked at. The worst part of it all was when he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said "Mom, did you pour hot water on me?" That just about broke my heart. How do you explain that it was an accident to a two-year-old?
It was actually the best trip to the Instacare I have ever had. They were really quick to get us in and very concerned and they brought him an ice pack and told me to just ask if we needed anything else. I was very impressed since usually a trip to this Instacare is a three hour ordeal. Luckily it was not that way this time. The doctor said it was a 2nd Degree burn and that the most important thing was to keep it clean so it wouldn't get infected. He prescribed an ointment and I get to change his gauze and clean the burn twice a day for the next couple of weeks. Isaac was actually really good about everything at the doctor's office too. He stopped crying and was playing with Will and Savannah until they had to look at his leg and then when they had to wrap it up. He got a sucker and two stickers and he was actually really happy when we got home. He said "Mom, the bandaid makes it feel better. I don't want to take the bandaid off, OK?" What a good kid.


My poor bandaged boy with his sucker and two stickers.

Easter Party at the Airds

Yesterday we celebrated Easter and the April birthdays at my parents house. It was a lot of fun with great food and company as always. Ali and my mom made an Easter Egg hunt for the kids with clues in each egg leading to a big basket with goodies at the end. The kids had a lot of fun with this.

My Mom reading the first clue and the kids ready to hunt.


The kids were all really good about letting everyone get a turn to find an egg and they were not fighting or pushing.
Jake found an egg behind the sewing machine.


Isaac with his egg and the next clue.


Clara found one on the blue room bed.

Tyler had to shake the tree in the family to get his egg down. He was really gentle trying not to hurt the tree so Randy helped him a bit in shaking it down.

It was close, but Will found this one on the piano.

Alonzo wanted to play, but he watched from a safe distance with his daddy and enjoyed the prizes afterward with the other kids.

Will posing with his 2nd egg. He was pretty proud to be the first one to find two eggs.

Amberly holding Heather's new baby, Lily.

The egg on the porch was pretty easy to find so we made the bigger kids let the little ones find it. Isaac wasn't too excited about sharing the glory with Boston.

And, finally, the big prize at the end was hidden in the garage.

They each got a mug with their names on them (or a plain one if they didn't make one with their name on it) filled with candy, coins, and toys.

Will with his mug and goodies.

Alonzo was more excited about eating the mug than the candy. Whatever makes him happy, right?

Ali and Alonzo eating his mug.

Tyler and Savannah checking out their prizes.

After we did the kids' hunt it was on to the adult fun: Our annual game of Deal or No Deal!! This has quickly become a favorite new tradition. We even got Dan and Amber on Skype so they wouldn't miss out on the fun.

Savannah helping Grandma with Deal or No Deal.

Mom passing out the prize money. I love this game!

It was such a fun day spent eating, playing and visiting. It was fun to be able to talk to Dan, Amber and Megan too and we had a good laugh watching videos of Ben (I mean Elder Aird) eating cow eyeball and being attacked by a dog. I'm glad he's doing well up there in Washington. It is so nice to be able to get together and celebrate the holiday and birthdays all together. Thanks again Mom and Dad for having us all over. These are the times we will always remember.