Curse You Snow....

I woke up early to go the gym and was instantly in a bad mood when I saw what was happening outside. Dang it. I'm so done with cold/wet/cloudy/snowy weather. Enough already. Looking out my windows I see the not so distant memories of kids riding and playing around the NOT snow covered yard. A lot of nervous breakdowns have been averted (barely) as of late because I could send the kids outside. Luckily, Preschool stepped in and saved the day today.

I need warm weather..........for the kids' sake as much as mine.

A Visit With the Greats

We went to visit Maga and Papa last night. You see, Papa turned 85 last week, so we thought he needed a Birthday Visit. Better late than never right?
Morgan was having anxiety that night and didn't want to get in the picture. Oh well. At least they are all looking at the camera....except for Papa. :)

Trent and his Papa always have some pretty intense conversations when we visit. Its great to watch.

And, of course, there is always food to eat with Maga. M & M's, fruit snacks, and, my absolute favorite, Snickers Ice Cream Bar. Papa tried to get me to eat two. Good thing I am on a "diet" and was able to say no to a second helping. (and do you see Maga in the background. It's the only pic I could get of her. She does NOT like to get her picture taken. She would skeedaddle every time I pulled the camera out.)

You Sucka'

We were watching Oakley's friend for a minute, so I thought I should do something fun. You see, I want all my kid's friends to want to hang out at our house. Doesn't every parent? So, I decided to try making chocolate Easter suckers. There was a kit at Walmart with ALL the supplies. Pretty easy, but the chocolate didn't go very far.
I have a ton of these pics on my blog. They are all starting to look the same. You can just tell that we love our island. Our poor table never gets used.

The kids were waiting anxiously for the chocolates to harden. It took a while.

I thought the girls looked so cute with their girly suckers. The flowers were my favorite too.

Everyone enjoyed their suckers. Even Morgan....I just took the picture at the wrong second I guess. The kids loved their first Easter activity, now on to the dying of the eggs...

Natural History Museum

I've said it before, but I will say it again. I am in love with Preschool. My kids absolutely love going and I love the 'break' it gives me. Last week we ventured out to the Natural History Museum for a field trip. It was a good time.
I don't know what magical powers Mrs. Eggett has, but she can control this bunch of 5 year olds with no problem. They would follow her around and listen to everything thing she knew about all the exhibits. And believe me, she knew a lot. I asked her if I could come back to Preschool when all my kids are through...

At the end of the tour there was one of those old photo booths. I don't know what it is about these, but I love them. And how much fun to do with my boys. All in all it was a great field trip.

Moab

Last weekend Trent and I traveled down to Moab and met up with Jake and Candice. The reason for the trip was the Half Marathon, plus some extras of camping, jeeping, freezing, and movie watching. It was a good trip.
Trent and I got there a few hours before Jake and Candice, so we set up camp and hit the hay at 7:00. It was too cold to do anything else. Trent dozed off and I read for a while.

Saturday morning the boys ran their race. Trent did amazing and got 1:20:53. Jake got a PR as well....:) It was nice to have Candice there at the finish line with me. I am usually waiting by myself.

That afternoon we went jeeping. It always freaks me out. Then I look at the pictures and it doesn't even seem that bad. Makes me miss biking the trails though.

The campsite was pretty cool. Of course its not real camping, but it worked for the weekend. Saturday night we made an amazing dinner. I had to take a picture to remember it.

The end of the trip. Always sad, but always good to go home. Especially since I was cold the whole time I was there. I thought Moab was supposed to be warm?

Thanks Jake and Candice for coming and hanging out with us for the weekend. Always fun. And thanks to Kimmy and my mom for watching the Hoard!

Kristen's Shower

We had the 100 invitation shower on Wednesday. The food was delicious AND there was a ton of it. Everyone always says this, but our neighborhood/ward is the most awesome one out there. I am always amazed at the gifts and generosity of these people. They are amazing. Thanks to everyone who helped and congrats again to Kristen. Only a few more weeks to go!!! Hoorah!

Oakley's Reveal

All right. I just finished everything in Oakley's room. Crafts are done and hung. Stuff is repainted. And I finally found a cute lamp and got rid of the ancient one she has been using. So here you go:
The paint color is a little bright, but since it is a little girls room I think it works.

I wish I could trade out the Nemo pillow for a cuter one, but Oakley would never let me. Ever.

This was my big craft project. I had these green serving trays for about 2 years just waiting for a cute room for Oakley. Pheobe was my inspiration, you know, with her 3D art. Although mine is not as scary.

And now I can finally use some of the cute pictures Karina took of Oakley. they are perfect on her dresser. And the mirror is an old one that we have had forever. It used to be a distressed forest green. I am liking the baby blue.

Another thing I have been waiting to use is this cute magnet board. I even made the magnets. It is kind of weird being crafty again. Haven't done stuff like this for a long, long time. It was hard to get back in the groove of things.

And it is easy to see that Oakley loves her new room. I love it too. And I think you should all come see it in person. The pictures just don't seem to capture how cute it is!

Lots of Twins

We had Bill and Ann & fam up Friday night for a little get together. They have a set of twins too. And one cute little singleton girl just like us. It was good to finally have them over for dinner and a movie. I think Bill and Trent have been trying to set up a night for 5 years now. I'm not joking.
We loved the sight of all the kids eating. They got Little Caesars, while the grown ups got to enjoy Firehouse. Kids don't know the difference right? Thanks for making the journey. We will have to do it again.....and much sooner than 5 years!

(And I just finished my crafty project for Oakley's room, so as soon as Trent hangs it I will post some pics! Woot Woot!)

Road Trip

I had a fabulous weekend with a couple of fabulous ladies. It was a much needed trip for all three of us and we soaked up every relaxing, fun minute of it. Of course the first stop is always In & Out.

Lindsay and Alyssa didn't really want to eat at In & Out. I told them where they could go......as in another restaurant. But in the end they decided to join me. After this meal the motto of our trip was formed. "Everyone does whatever they want." ( and I love the glow of Alyssa's white teeth.)

I certainly enjoyed my meal and it is very apparent why I was the 'fat' one of the group. I just love me some good food!

The next day we headed down to Vegas. We are such party girls that we immediately went.....SHOPPING!

As I already said H & M was a huge hit. It was after this store that I made another rule for myself. Add up your purchases before you get to the register so you don't go into cardiac arrest when cashier tells you the total...

We decided to try the strip. I decided I am not a huge fan, just not my idea of fun. But we did get a pic in front of the famous sign! (Which Lindsay was NOT to happy about.)

We did not get lucky on the slots. Bummer. I was hoping for the same return as the last time I gambled. Oh well.

The next day we woke up late and did nothing for a while. It was heavenly. We did a little more shopping and then Alyssa went to the Temple and Lindsay and I had a great Saturday night girl date, which started with a pedicure.

Yep. While Alyssa was at the Temple I was getting pampered while reading some very uplifting words. Oh well. Linds and I enjoyed our date with some delicious food at not 1, but 2 restaurants. Thats right. One place for the food, the next for the dessert. If you are going to eat, you might as well do it right.

The rest of the time we just hung out at the house. It was heavenly.

We were all trying to hide our fat, which I was the only one that actually had a real problem with that. But we did finally get a great picture.

And these were are positions. We never changed spots and we could sit and read forever. You gotta love that.

And after a long weekend and a lot of driving, it was good to come home to this.

I couldn't ask for better kids and, most definitely, a better husband. Thanks Trent for always being willing to watch the kids. And thanks to Kimmy for helping out so much! It was greatly appreciated!!!

And thanks to my girls for making such a wonderful trip! I can't wait for the next one....maybe next month? ;)

Update on my Absence

A lot of people have wondered where I have gone in the World of Blogging. I am still here, just not as much. I have said this before, but it is more true now, life is crazy...and keeps getting crazier. Here are some updates from our lives and the reasons I don't have time to blog anymore:

• I got a new calling. I am now the 1st counselor in Young Womens. Basically, the same as being an Advisor, but with a few more meetings. Still loving serving in YW's. Love the girls and the leaders.
• All the kids have moved into new bedrooms. Aiden and Andrew got Jill's room. Paige and Morgan got big girl beds and I am having the cutest patchwork quilt being made even as we speak. Oakley got the old nursery and Trent is in the process of painting it a more girly color. I will be posting pics as soon as the rooms are done.
• More remodeling. Trent has finished his sound panels in the theater room and now we are just waiting on our couch and the room with be complete, even with the ugly, soft brown shag. Our mudroom is just waiting for our lockers to be made. Once again, I will post pics when everything is perfect.
• I got to enjoy a girls trip to St. George this weekend (post to come). We have had it planned for months and it was so good to just do whatever we wanted. And now there are 2 things (besides Mandi and fam, and Jake and Candice) that I will go back to Vegas for. H & M and Max Brenner. Loved shopping at H & M and I found the perfect dress for Jill's wedding. And it was only $35-for a full on dress! Yay!
• Made 100 baby shower invites for one of my BFF's Kristen. Its a ward shower, hence the reason for so many invitations. They turned out really cute and, we, at the Hoard, are so excited for Blake and Kristen! And thanks to Linds for perfectly putting the flowers on the invites and Tracy and Emi who helped deliver!
• I am making 5 dozen rolls for our Relief Society dinner tonight. Enough said.
• Morgan will go pee pee in the potty 1/3 of the time. Progress towards a diaper free home. If I had the time and energy I am sure she would be completely potty trained.
• I am getting back into the routine of exercise/running. I feel so much better when I exercise. And my knee has somewhat cooperated with my running. Hopefully I will be running outside, on the hills very soon.
• We thought we were beyond the baby stage at the Hoard, but we forgot about Oliver. We watch him a few times a week and have to remember to put things away so he doesn't get into them. The kids love him and he loves them back. He fits right in here. See Jamie, I can handle watching Annie once in a while.
• With Jill getting married Brooke will be homeless. I have been trying to get Brooke to live with us for the past year and I guess she got desperate enough that she accepted. So come June we will be a family of 8!
• The usuals of laundry, cleaning, preschool, meals, groceries, playing, gymnastics, sleeping, reading, and some Internet have taken to the rest of our time.

Sorry for the boring post, but its all I could get done at this moment. As soon as a certain someone emails me some pics I will get a fun post up. You know who you are. :)

ps. I have 144 new posts on my google reader....so you may not get comments from me. Just know that I am out there reading all your wonderful, amazingly entertaining posts (I am not being sarcastic). Hopefully next week things will have calmed down a bit. Until then...

Sadness

My cribs are gone. And I am kind of feeling sad. This is the first time since Paige and Morgan, my last babies, were born that I have had a sad feeling about being done. Not sad enough to do it all over again, but my heart broke just a little bit. You see, I searched all over to find the perfect Nursery set. I finally found the perfect ones at Pottery Barn and I justified the price because of all the work and time it took us to even get pregnant. And they were the perfect cribs for our 5 years of baby time. Just 5 years. Imagine that. I thought I would have them for at least 10. Its amazing how life works out.

When the last crib left on Wednesday I almost cried. Almost. And now they have new homes, good homes. Luckily, people I love have adopted them. And I did ask if I could have visitation rights. Maybe in the next month or so I will have to pay my friend a visit. But for now I can focus on getting all 3 girls in their new rooms and making them cute. That will take my mind off the sadness.

My Hoard is growing up.

If only we were done with diapers too. I will not even think about shedding a tear over that.

Mush for Brains

We got the Wii for Christmas thinking it would help us survive the winter. It has indeed given the kids something to do. The boys mostly. They want to play it all. the. time. We decided to look on the Wii time log and see how long it was played on a particular Saturday. Wanna make a guess???

12 1/2 hours.

I am not joking. At all. And in my defense I was gone all day. And in Trent's defense he was working on the all important sound panels for our Theater room. After we came to the realization that we might be the worst parents around we decided to try and find some other things for our kids to do. Welcome the melting beads:

I used to love playing with these things when I was little. And the kids love them too. Aiden especially. He could do it for hours....maybe even 12 1/2. The bad thing is I have to be with them the whole time because of the hot iron issue. So, my kids may not be having their brains melted by the Wii as much, but I don't get anything done except bead crafting. But thats okay with me.