Mother's Day

My favorite things about being a Mom: Evan-Wyatt-and soon to be new baby girl
The way my kids smell
Wet noses just out of the tub
Their constant need for milk and snacks
The never ending hugs and kisses
Story time
Watching them learn something new
Getting to be a kid with them all over again
Listening to them tell their stories
Feeling the new baby move inside of me
Watching Evan transition from toddler to a little boy, and watching Wyatt transition from baby to toddler
Learning/remembering all the words to nursery rhymes, and kid songs
Hearing them say their prayers
Watching their faith grow
Knowing that everyday I get to wake up and be apart of their lives.

Evan made me some edible flowers and a card and Wyatt made me bookmark out of pressed flowers. Thanks boys for the best Mother's Day Ever!

Wyatt is 2!

Wyatt is such a big boy. He turned 2 on April 17th and had a great birthday. Some of my favorite things about him are how polite he is, how sweet and funny his personality is, how he always wakes up with the best smile, and how he loves being his sweet self.

We decided to let him open one of his presents before his party so he could play with it during the day.This is a plasma car and they are so much fun. He loves it. You sit on it and wiggle the handle to get it going and then steer. He loves to use his feet to get it going but he does wiggle the handle sometimes. He likes it because it goes fairly fast and he likes to keep up with Evan on his big kids bike. Here is Wyatt's cake. He had a more car themed party so who better than Lightening McQueen to be on his cake. We went out to cottonwood for a cookout for his party. We had a blast, he loved the fire, and the camping atmosphere (in April it is still to cold at night to camp, so we did the next best thing) As you can see his hot dog ended up mostly covered in ash. Grandma helped him actually cook one to eat. Evan and Wyatt turned and pushed the coals for as long we would let them. Trying to keep them both out of the fire was a bigger chore than I thought.Getting ready to blow out the candles. He was playing with some toys and we asked him to stop so we could do cake, he was a little less than pleased.Once he saw he got to "blow out the fire" he was back on board and excited to do cake.

Presents were his favorite part, he loved all of his gifts but took quite a while in opening them because he wanted to play with his toys before moving on to the next one.

Looking in the bagHe loves his soccer ball. He wouldn't put it down for quite a while.He is quite the bean bag tosser. The kids all played bean bag toss and he did pretty good. He liked it a lot. He had a great birthday and we look forward to many more. I love you my sunshiney bear and am privileged to watch you grow up.

Evan's 4!

My baby is 4!For his birthday this year he wanted to have a Dora party, because Grandma and Chee live so far away and don't often make it to both boy's parties we decided to throw a party in Bountiful with some of our friends kids. He had a great day and loved his party. We went on a treasure hunt, for the kid's goodie bags. They had to go over the big hill, through the tunnel slide, and dig in the sand pit where X marked the spot. We also had a horse pinata. Evan is quite the hitter so all the other kids were standing far back. The kids made their own Dora cupcakes. Here is his birthday cake; it is Dora's face. Blowing out the candles is always his favorite part however the wind was blowing pretty bad so it took us quite a while to get them lit and then he had to blow them out really quick. He got a lot of presents from family and friends and loved the attention of getting to open them all.
Evan playing with Jason and Wyatt; He got hungry hungry hippos for his birthday and we were trying it out. Funny how this was also my favorite game as a little kid.

Kangaroo Zoo

Last time we were up North we went to Kangaroo Zoo, and it was so much fun. Evan had a great time, it took Wyatt a little longer to warm up but towards the end of our time there he was having a great time. Evan loved this Dragon slide, he also loved the cougar, and snake as well.

Wyatt's favorite. He didn't like the bouncy part but he loved the slide; and went down over and over on his belly.

He is quite the hitter!

Easter

As I said earlier we went to some friends for Easter. We started to settle in, had a great meal, and decided the kids could go play outside with the other kids. Less than 10 minutes later Russ came running in with Wyatt who was bloody from his nose down to his bellybutton. He had done a belly flop off their trampoline onto the gravel and happened to catch himself with his face. He had a bloody nose, cut lip, and lots of scrapes and bruises. After we got the bleeding under control and things started to settle down he eventually had had it and fell asleep in my arms. I love this photo; Wyatt was tiny the last time he fell asleep in my arms. I loved just holding my baby, and spent nap time enjoying every minute of just Mom and Wyatt time. While Wyatt and I were lounging, the rest of the family was outside playing "Nerf wars." This was Evan and Russell's team. I love Evan's attitude! He had a blast and actually was pretty good, during the "kid round" he won the match. After Wyatt woke up, and the wars had subsided the kids were ready to hunt for eggs. Our friends go clear over the top with toys, candy, and little trinkets. The kids had a great time looking for eggs. Wyatt got to go out a few minutes earlier than the bigger kids because he is so young. He appreciated the time because after the big kids were let loose he didn't get too many more eggs.
Evan looking for eggs. I think they were both a little spoiled this year. Thanks so much to our gracious hosts for all their hard work and love they put into each gathering. If you look close you can see a few of Wyatt's scrapes on his nose.

After the kids have their hunt; we do an adult Easter Egg hunt. These eggs consist of money and are camouflage and super hard to find. Here is Russ with his home made "Easter Basket." We both walked away with money which is so worth it for us; I think for the "parents" it is more fun for them to watch us hunt for the eggs. Hunt is an understatement considering we are lifting lawn mowers, and shingles, digging in the dirt, crawling under the deck and vehicles, etc. I think the onlookers enjoy it as much as we do.

Coloring Eggs

This year we went to some friends house for Easter, we loving visiting with them because we always have a great time; and they do everything over the top. It is always super fun! Well we were asked to bring real eggs for the Easter egg hunt; we've tried real eggs in the past but with our children so small most of them end up cracked and smooshed before they even get hid. So this year we did eggs the day before Easter in hopes most of them would make it till Sunday. Saturday morning the kids went to our local community egg hunt. It was so cold, and there was snow on the ground but the kids enjoyed themselves anyway.

I love this picture of Wyatt. He is so excited. This is the finished product. We did walk away with 24 non-broken eggs to take to our party. The kids dyed all of them and couldn't have looked more proud.

I love the concentration. Russ helped Wyatt and I helped Evan. Wyatt was able to be way more involved this year, and loved being able to color his own eggs.

Evan needed even less help; it's amazing how fast there growing up. He had some good looking eggs and loved putting the stickers on them once they were dry.

Dad getting ready to help, It was so hard to keep them un-involved long enough to get a starting photo. They were so excited, and had a great time coloring Easter eggs for their party.