Tyler sleeping

My friend Nicole always posts pictures of her kids sleeping in the most interesting places and ways. I laugh and think... my kids only sleep in their beds. But today... Today Tyler didn't!

Well he started in his bed for a little nap. (which he doesn't take very often anymore) but today he was tired. So he laid down and took a 45 minute nap. Then as I worked on the computer I turn and find him coming down the stairs, he doesn't even say anything but just lays down in the chair next to me.

Then his nap continues for another 30 minutes.

Nellie Graduated!

Aunt Nellie graduated!

My kids sure love her!

She curls Ella's hair, paints her finger nails and plays with both kids all the time.

We got together at the Logan zoo with some friends. Kate, Abby, and Fluke. Darren was teaching the kids to say Fluke dog in the car... then reminding them.. now what was his name... Fluke dog! but you have to say dog long and drawn out... doooog! And then Amelia with her two kids. Paul showed up shortly after this picture was taken.
Ella was undaunted by this long long long ladder. There was a killer steep slide at the top and she was going to do it over and over and over again. She loved it. Crazy kid!
She also loved Holland. She wanted to hold "the baby". She sang to him, played patty cakes with him and cried when she had to let go of him. WHEN we have a third baby, I am going to really have to watch that she doesn't smoother it with love!

Family time

I got to see two of my sisters this weekend.

They drove down from Washington to be here for my Grandma Hatch's funeral.

My Grandma had Alzheimer's for 5 years and even more so,

was without my Grandpa for 11 years.

The Hatch family is a massive bunch. It was so awesome to be together for the weekend. The grandchildren and great grandchildren (and all spouses) sang two songs up in the choir seats during the funeral services. We filled up the whole area.

It is pretty neat to think from two people- there are so many.

I am so glad my Grandma gets to be with her husband/Grandpa again. I hope I wont have to be with out Darren for that long. It was also nice to know her suffering is done.

I reflected a lot on loosing a mother. I am grateful my mother is doing everything in her power to stay here for a long long time. I need her and her Grandchildren need her.

Loosing a parent is not something I hope to experience.

We got in some good cousin time too. And eager for more.

I have a little problem

The day after Easter I went to the grocery store. I only planned on buying 2 bags of robin eggs. They are my favorite candy of all the seasons. I mean I can eat a snickers or a bag of cheetos any day but if I had to pick a holiday, Robin Eggs at Easter would be my pick.

Well- They were selling them for 99 cents for a one bag. Any guesses... How many bags did I buy? Well I ate the first two bags pretty much by myself in less than a week. Then I gave the other three bags to Darren to hide. I couldn't do it. I tried to put them up high, far back in a cupboard, put them in a bag and tie a double knot... None of these worked.

So he hid them. 3 bags of them. I asked for them every day. I knew they were in my house. I just needed a couple. We agreed after my half marathon we could celebrate with one bag. That bag lasted less than 24 hours.

Here is the bad part. Well... Darren has been working a lot. And I needed some sugar. So I decided to look for them. DARREN STOP READING!!!!! Logically, they wouldn't be any where I would interact with on a day to day house stuff.... So they had to be somewhere where only he would look. FIRST PLACE I LOOKED---I found them :( Crap!



They are gone now. I loved every single egg. I didnt' share one. I can't keep secrets from Darren. And this one was kept for 3 days. He sent me this quote today. He didn't know I was eating them as I read it. It made me feel guilty. And no one mention the fat content of two bags in 3 days. I dont care. They were really really good.

"Greatness isn't just one step beyond mediocrity; it transcends mediocrity, and it does so by taking one step beyond, then another step beyond, then another step beyond--hundreds of thousands of tiny steps until the distance can neither be measured nor even fathomed. The only way to get there is to go farther, harder, longer than almost everyone else, to push well past the point of logic or reason. If it looked easy or even attainable to most, then many more would get there.

In consumer culture, we are constantly conditioned to gratify our impulses immediately: buy, eat, watch, click --now. High achievers transcend these impulses.

I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO~~~

Can we return this???

This weekend we started a project. We hope to have it finished by the end of summer. We gave in and bought the play house at Costco. Friday night we stayed up until 11:30 watching the 40 min video of how to put it together, unpacking the 6 boxes of hardware and materials, and then sorting it out. It only took us about 20 minutes into this process before we both started saying, can we return this?? The directions say 10-15 hours for two people to put together.

Tyler was a great helper. We kept telling him that it wouldn't get finished that day but he didn't believe us.
They spent a good hour up there on Sunday, reading books and asking when it will be finished.
So this is the status. We even had Renee and Ben here helping for quite some time. We are about half way done, according to the directions.
Toby got sick this weekend. He got into his treat bag and ate about two pounds of treats- chicken jerky treats. We were pretty scared but I think he is on the mend now.


This is Roxanne- She wanted part of the action as I took pictures of Toby. I think her parents must cuddle up with her more than we do. She is seeming more and more needy every day.
Do you like my new ride? Pretty sweet car huh! No actually this is Kyle's car. Owner of the dog above. He is bringing his wife to Utah. Ang we are so excited to have you be a Utah resident again.
The bike shop is making some good strides. Yeah for SBR Sports!!!

Half Marathon

I ran a half marathon this weekend. I would do it again.

It was great.

I trained hard and did well.

This is me at the finish line. My knee was killing me.

I ran the whole 13 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes. Which is like a 9:35 minute pace.

YAHOO for me!

Darren gets to give one hair cute a year.

He always tries to do the mo-hawk but it gets finished with a buzz cut.

I remember how much I hate the buzz so I do hair cuts after that.

We love that our Dad has a good job so that I can go to the park with my kids,

have a picnic and play on the toys.

(This was also a bribe for if they were good during

the four furniture store stops we made prior to the park)

Easter

Pat and Seth (and Nellie)had a fun easter egg hunt for the grandkids. They really enjoyed it!

Thank you!

I got very sick over Ella's Birthday. So Darren took over getting Ella's "cake" ready. I know he had help. Thank you- you know who you all are! I wanted to do a fruit pizza since Ella loves fruit more than anything.

Kids

For Easter we dyed and then deviled some eggs- Tyler ate three whole eggs (6 halves) and then we told him he HAD to stop! He is turning into a pretty good cook.

Ella turned two years old. She blew out candles several times. Tyler didn't even have to help! Tyler has worked really hard on his United States puzzle. He can do it alone now. He cant name every state but he can put them together and tell you where all his cousins live!

Our fun weekend

I have searched almost every furniture store in the valley. First for a kitchen table ... finally found that. Then for a sofa/sectional for the kitchen... finally found that. Then to find couches for the front room... couldn't find those! I actually had about given up on Thursday. As I walked out of the four furniture store that day (with two kids in tow) I said a bit of a prayer. I needed help to get my house in order. It has been almost 3 months since we started working on this project and you can only live in an half way house for so long.

My mom called me Friday morning and said she had happened into a furniture store and just saw these couches (below) and thought I should come in to see them. The sales man dropped the price a lot. I loved them!

Saturday Darren picked up 4 couches- 2 on the west side and 2 downtown. We still have accents and pillows to add but we have somewhere to sit/lay/relax.
Our kitchen table with a bench- I love it too!
So while listening to conference Darren and I (and kids) painted our bedroom. No more sea mist green. But a nice soothing tan/brown. So today I have to touch up all the white trim.
I think you can live in a home for a long time but it takes some time to figure out what you like and make it feel like your own! I love my house! Thanks Darren for putting up with me!