Easter 2010

This weekend was a lot of fun. We thought that my sister Natalie was coming to town, but she got really sick so she didn't end up coming. So, we had a quiet Easter weekend.

The kids had fun picking up candy at the Washington City Easter hunt. It is an awesome one to go to because there is a TON of candy and they just dump it right on the grass. The kids had fun grabbing as much sugar as they could.

I think we all ate enough sugar to last a lifetime.

Mike and Jess came down on Saturday and it was fun to hang out with them for a little bit while the boys went to the Priesthood session. We took the kids to the park, and I couldn't help but snap some pictures of this little darling. Gracie is 8 1/2 months old, and she is the cutest thing ever. It's so fun to see both sides of our family grow. I'm everyone's favorite aunt...well at least that's what I tell all my nieces and nephews!

I watched most sessions of conference, and it is always great to hear some much needed advice from our Prophet and Apostles. My favorite talks were the ones about our youth, and I really enjoyed the one about Mothers and daughters. I loved the comment about the Moms being "thrifty" and the daughters learning to be "thrifty" too! It honestly "pinged" me when I heard it. Since I love being thrifty. Hopefully my girls are learning that too.

Londyn has been so funny lately. She's going through a separation anxiety time that happened much sooner with our other kids. She cries every morning that Daddy leaves. She also cries almost every time that I leave her at someone's house. Well, except at Kelly's house. She LOVES Kelly's house.

Kelly is Dan's mom's cousin, and my kids have adopted her and her family into ours. It is so cute. Londyn goes to Kelly's house every Mon. Wed. and Fri. when I teach at the college for an hour or so. She honestly BEGS to go to Kelly's. I love having a place for Londyn to go that she loves. Otherwise it would be super hard to leave her kicking and screaming every other day.

She jumps right into bed with us every morning and she loves to "snuggle" something that my other two didn't like to do. I love our snuggling time, and this is what I wake up to almost every morning. She's a happy go lucky morning person just like her daddy. I'm a little grumpy in the mornings. :)



Things here are great, and adjusting to have a home is finally getting into a routine. I can't believe that we've lived in our home for 9 months! HOLY MOLY time flies! It is soo much work and the pressure is sometimes a little more than I expected. I have LOVED being settled though, and I finally feel like we are "where we will be." That is a great feeling.

In case you are wondering we are still in love with St. George. I'm sure you aren't surprised, but this city is honestly a great place to live. I know you think we may be crazy to live here in the heat, but the heat doesn't even bother us anymore. Our kids are definitely St. George kids and were so excited to see "SNOW!!" on our way to Salt Lake a few weeks ago.

Our backyard is our next project, and we'll be working on that soon. The house behind us just sold, and we are excited that it is some friends that we've known in our ward. So, as soon as we can put up a wall back there, we'll be steadily working on our backyard. I'm really excited!

We want visitors! We haven't had any visitors for awhile, so if anyone wants to come down, we have an empty room just waiting for someone to come.

As for me, I'm keeping busy as always. I'm kind of crazy sometimes, and I realize that sometimes I need to take a break and read a good book. :)

All Things Thrifty is steadily growing, and it has been so much fun. I've had a lot of fun being in the SYTYCD contest, and All Things Thrifty has won several of the weeks.

I still take pictures here and there, but it is not something that I pursue much. Taking pictures of babies and toddlers is by far my favorite pictures to take.

I still teach over at Dixie College, and I have had more challenges this semester than others. My class doesn't seem to appreciate getting an education like classes in the past. It makes me sad that I have to reprimand them sometimes and I had to give a speech about coming to class if they "WANT" to learn and not coming if they don't. Crazy. College is too much money to just flush it down the toilet. It's going much better since I gave that speech.

I have learned a lot about myself over the past year or so. I've learned that I'm much happier if I have a steady goal to work towards. I'm a self driven person, and if I don't have something to challenge me, I get bored really easy.

The kids are growing up soooo fast! The two older ones have started to help me around the house with their "chores" and I LOVE it. They are such good little helpers. Connelly and Oaklyn unload the dishwasher every time, and it is sooo nice because that is one of my least favorite chores. They are great at sorting laundry and they help me put their laundry away after it is done. YAY!

They are both obsessed with High School Musical and can sing almost all the songs word for word. It is so cute. Connelly especially loves to sing. He has a great little singing voice, and he even mimics Troy's movements with the movies.

Oaklyn is steadily working on her splits and practices every night her right, left, and center splits. She is learning pirouettes and is such a cute little dancer. Here she is with her team at her dance competition last weekend.



Here she is during the competition doing her little heel stretch.
We also signed up the two older kids for t-ball. So, that will be interesting to see how they do! Connelly is all registered for Kindergarten and I can't believe that I'll have two kids in school next year. Connelly is growing like a weed! All of the sudden all of his clothes are too little.

I guess it's time to have another kid, huh! No this is NOT an announcement, but we are thinking about it. I'm getting old. I can't believe that I have three kids. CRAZY.

Hope all is well with everyone else!

By the way, the reason I went private on this blog is just for my own sanity. I want to be able to write freely about how I feel, and I constantly found myself holding back because of who "could" be reading it. Since this is how I keep a journal, I want to be able to speak freely.

Some funny things the kids have said lately:
"I want my armpits back, they are invisible" says Connelly.
"I want to go to D.I.!" says Londyn after we just got done at Children's place. (Can you tell she is with me most of the time when I'm searching for furniture to redo!?!).
"I love St. George because it has Cafe Rio," says Oaklyn.