Mothers Day Card

I came home from climbing in Towerland to a great big Happy Mothers Day banner.

The kids had drawn several pictures on it. These were my favorite.

We recently had an ant problem in our home. So Ella drew me a picture of an ant eater.

Tyler and Darren drew me a picture of the mountains and our family.
I love my family!

Tyler's new bike

The other day Tyler and Darren went to the shop to assemble Tyler's new bike. He has been waiting very patiently but ever so excited. His old bike was so small on him and didn't have any gears. This photo is the morning after the bike was home. Tyler was awake at 7:00 AM. He ran to my room to get me to show me the bike. (They had gotten home around 11 the night before from the shop)

This photo is Tyler showing Ella his bike. I didn't stage it or anything. The conversation went something like... Ella these are the gears. See, I can shift it up here and they change back here. And then look Ella... these are the brakes, they shift right here....

He has put in a few good miles these last few days. He and Darren plan on doing a few little mountain bike races together this summer.

A day at the park

I spent the afternoon in Clearfield yesterday. My good friend Pamela is moving. There are four of us who have been getting together for years now. Once or twice a year we have lunch in a park or at someones house. My whole goal yesterday was to get a photo of all the kids and moms together because our gatherings have grown over the years, you know... more kids!

We have supported each other through long hours of husbands at school, babies being born so early we weren't sure if they would make it, the ups and downs of marriages and having kids, getting older and these stress (and love) that comes with motherhood. Good and bad, I am glad we have kept up our visits.

I think of these two as the miracle babies of the group.

Rolling down the hill
Pam helping Lee Charles roll...
And this was the outcome... kids were tired, trying to gather the shoes and scattered toy buckets, buckling kids in car seats then me remembering that camera in my pocket!

Amy Balls, Tiffany Erickson, Rachael Willis (and Pamela Noyes above)
Funny story: Ella had a little accident in her clothes. Luckily Rachael had size 9 month old pants in her diaper bag. Ella sported those "capries" all afternoon until it was time to go. So for the ride home she modeled the new look, "vest all a shorts".

Preschool finished!

I have been doing a little preschool with Ella and Tyler at our house.

We just finished up for the year.

Tyler is writing the Yy words we learned for the week.

Ella is telling me her colors.

We worked on/tried to learn:

A-Z

Calendar skills

Months

Counting to 31

Days of the week

Pledge of Allegiance

Rhyming

Money

Clocks

Weather

Counting by 5 and 10's

Writing

The Kid Artist

When I was a kid, I loved to draw.

My Grandma is an artist.

My Dad is an artist.

And most of my siblings are artistically inclined.

But there comes the day when some says, what is that? What are you drawing?

Then you start doubting that you can draw.

I hope my children will continue to draw and be creative.

One thing I learned while studying teaching at Utah State is to say things like...

Tell me about what your drawing?

Tell me about this interesting detail?

(not what on earth is that!)

Ella was very intent on coloring each corner of her paper purple.

Easter Weekend

Darrren drove to Moab and biked 102 mileson a Mountain Bike on Saturday. It is a jeeping/biking trail called the White Rim Trail. 100 miles on a Mountain bike is like 200 miles on a road bike. Lots and lots of ouch on your tail end.

Then after this great ride, you end up down there. At the bottom of the canyon. So to get out you have to climb/ride/walk your bike out of all these switch backs. I would have cried to be so exhausted and then see this.

We spent Saturday morning at Corie and Nolan's house. It was a great spring morning. We had some trampoline time. Since Nolan was the only Dad there, he had trampoline duty. I think he was tried by the end.

Corie had a fantastic idea. I loved how it made every thing so fair. Tyler could only get the green and blue eggs, Ella the purple and pink and Jonah the orange and yellow. Corie also put good things in the eggs like apple jacks, goldfish, fruit snacks, money, one chocolate per egg. It was a nice reminder that it didn't have to be all candy. It was a great afternoon.





Then we went to my parents house for a Hatch party. My mom always throws a good party. Lots of food and a fun Easter Treasure Hunt. Lots of Aunts and Uncles and lots of cousins.

We left that party and I went for a 50 mile bike ride out to Kennecott Copper Mine. It was a busy and wonderful weekend.

The mighty might snowman

It isn't very often we have all four of us together at home.

So to enjoy the day and the snow outside, we built a great big snowman.

The snow is melting quick and will fast be gone but we enjoyed it one more time.

Tyler loves to help his Dad with everything possible.

I don't think this snowball even moved an inch, but he sure was trying to be just like Darren.

And Ella tried to help.

Her little grunts make it sound like she is trying so so hard!

It was a lot of hard work

My little snow angels

Time for bed

Conference Weekend

This morning we woke up to no power, a 60 degree house, tree branches touching the ground and inches and inches of snow. Yesterday I had gone for a nice bike ride and done some yard work. Darren had even gotten a light sun burn while he was out during the day.

We were so glad the power came back on at 9:58 so we could watch conference at our house. (conference started at 10:00)

Ella sadly gave up her sippy cups when she turned three. They were such a comfort to her. She adores Toby and gives him plenty of attention. I am grateful his head is attached so well, or I might wonder if it will fall off one day with all the "loves and hugs" she gives him.

Ella sports a princess dress almost every minute we are home. She can change from one to another ... and than to anther within a matter of minutes.
We are happy our friends Dan and Katie are moving back to Utah. Our kids do so well together, and Dan and Katie aren't to bad themselves!

This morning we had such a nice quiet 2 hours of watching General Conference. The kids were occupied so well doing fun packets to keep them in a quiet mode.

Darren and I got to go on a date Friday night. I wanted to remember the answered prayer I got on our date.

For 10 years I have had terrible headaches. As we walked into the temple after a yummy dinner I got slammed with a horrible headache. It went from terrible to worse in seconds. I said a silent prayer that the Lord would help my headache go away so I could go to the temple and enjoy the peace and spirit there. Almost immediately it went away. For the two hours we were in there I was perfectly normal. My headaches never go away like that. Then as soon as we left... it was back with a vengeance. We made it home and I went right to bed.

I really believe in prayer. It has helped me so many times.

Ella is 3

Ella got to share her birthday with Grandpa and Grandma Balls in Logan. Seth got put in as a Bishop for a Young Single Adult Ward.

Cousins Jonah and Everett were there too, along with their parents of course. Grandma bought Ella a princess umbrella but couldn't resist buying one for the other two happy boys.

Ella is all girl. She can change her princess dress faster than you can blink. She has her favorite three and rotates them quickly. Her cake was pink, had sprinkles, and was a castle. It didn't look amazing but she was as happy as could be.