Happy Easter

Easter this year spread into two weeks as we had two Easter celebrations with our families. 

The first was with the Bellamy's this year. We had a fun egg hunt after dinner with 108 eggs hidden. 

 We found all of them but four of them. One of the lost eggs was Laine's and that was all we heard about for the rest of the week...more on that later though. 

It was a lot of fun and the kids took that candy as something to hold them over until Easter Sunday.

I have learned over the years that if we are going to take Easter pictures than we need to make sure we take them before church. With nine o'clock church this can be difficult, to add to that this year with my church responsibilities I need to be at church fifteen minutes early. This meant we were hurrying...we did get a few good shots in though. 

The girls picked out their own dresses this year, not unusual, what was unusual is that while shopping individually they both picked the two same outfits to try on. I thought it was funny that they both chose to try on the same outfits but chose differently from one another. 

The girls were easy to get pictures of, the boys....not so much.

Yup, life with boys, always fun. 

Since school pictures are generally not that good I take the Easter pictures each year and frame them in our home. Best decision we ever made. 

Laine is getting more beautiful every year. She has her own sense of style, which I love.  I was helping Laine with her hair that morning and she told me she did not want it curled, that wasn't the "look" she was going for. 

Eve can't stop getting cuter. She also has her own sense of style and it is very different from her sisters. While Laine didn't want anyone to touch her hair, Eve had her hair done in curlers the night before. 

The dog was very distressed while we were taking these pictures and decided to watch the festivities. 

The girls were easy to take pictures of...the boys again proved to be difficult. 

I did eventually get James to stand still and smile for one brief second. 

Matty was a whole other story. This little picture taking session amused the neighbors to no end.

 Yup...

 At least out of the fifty pictures we got one that was useable.

This one makes me so sad, They were all looking at dad so I was at the wrong angle.

 We got the pictures done and made it to church with time to spare.

 We dyed the eggs after church this year. Since we didn't do an egg hunt in the morning I figured that it was okay.

Then it was time for the Bradley dinner party We had 168 eggs for that one.

Matty insisted on wearing his viking hat during the hunt. 

The kids had a lot of fun with the egg hunt and Laine found her lost egg from the week before, right where dad had told her. 

Poor puppy was kept out of these festivities  too, but got a few dog treats from cousins. 

We tried to take a picture of all the cousins there...my James mad a crazy face in each one.

The best thing was the face changed with each picture. 

So happy Easter everyone!

Why yes, we do make our own dirt.

Last spring we put together a few garden boxes and planted a few berry bushes. I thought our garden was fabulous but Christian didn't think it was good enough. So this year we pulled out the power tools and once again built six new boxes, doubling the size of our garden. 

Christian and the kids did this one on their own. I tried to help, but was just in the way. So while I worked on Relief Society items in the basement they were all hard workers, Every once in a while I was able to come and help move a box. I have the skills and am hiring out.

There was measuring, and hammering and drilling.

 After we got the six boxes built it was time to start getting the garden ready.  The next Saturday we took out the tree which stood in the garden. As well as a rose bush.

 We had rented a pick up the day before and picked up everything that we would need to make our dirt the next week. We also took the tree, rose bushes and several other sticks and branches to the land fill and then brought back.....

....a pick up full of compost. 

We shoveled the whole thing out into the existing garden, some might have ended up on Matty. 

He seemed okay with that though.

Fast forward another week. It was time to make our dirt. A big tarp and a whole lot of shoveling. It was a busy day with everyone having their own jobs. 

 Once the dirt was made we hired a  landscaper to come and put down landscaping fabric, gravel, and install our new drip sprinklers.

We also installed a fence to keep the dog out...it hasn't quite worked yet but most days he decides to stay out.

With all that done we replanted berry bushes and added a few more.

Then it was time to plant a few items. We got our onions, carrots, beets, parsnips, and lettuce. Plus we have started our tomato sprouts.

When all is said and done it turned out to be a beautiful project. We are so excited and making lists of what we are going to do with the extra space.

 Now I sit and wait for summer and when this will become a beautiful garden.  I am so excited.

Happy birthday James!

It is amazing to believe that a year has gone by and it is James' birthday again! This sweet boy turned seven this year. James is a great big brother and an awesome little brother. He has a hilarious sense of humor and just keeps us on our toes. He loves to read and hates vegetables of all kinds. He loves science and learning about natural disasters. We love having him as part of our family.

His birthday started off with his favorite breakfast- breakfast pizza.

Then it was off to school where he chose PB&J for lunch...his favorite which he eats every day. 

For dinner he had spaghetti and meatballs and, as it was his birthday, I didn't make him eat any vegetables at all. 

In past years James has picked a random fruit and then asked for a cake. Blueberry, strawberry, orange...you know different flavors. At one point this year he was considering a grapefruit cake but he surprised us all by asking for a chocolate raspberry cake, a great choice if I do say so myself. 

Then it was time for presents, which meant a lot of legos and a brother helping.

James even found a hat to wear

He is a great boy and we are so happy he is part of our family. 

Women's conference

I remember when I was 11 or so my mom taking me to the General Woman's meeting. We went to the Parley's Stake Center and I don't remember much of what was said, nor do I remember who spoke. All I remember is I had a good a time with my mom and then we went to Marie Calendar's for dinner and pie. Shortly after I attended that meeting the decision was made to split the meetings to a General Relief Society meeting and a General Young Women's meeting. 

I vaguely remember attending the YW meetings, but I do remember joining again with my mom in September 1997 when I was old enough for the RS meeting. Again, I don't remember much of what was said, or who spoke, but I do remember being with my mom.

Full disclosure, when the Church announced last year that they were bringing back the General Women's meeting I was a bit nervous. I was excited but at the same time inviting all women and girls over the age of eight? There are days I struggle to get my girls to pay attention in an hour of church let alone a 90 minute meeting. I was willing to try though and the girls and I talked a lot about it and how special it was. 

We had planned to attend at our local meeting house but my mom called and said she had gotten tickets to attend in the conference center. We jumped at the chance and so last Saturday saw the girls and I with sisters, cousins, nieces, and grandma's heading downtown to a rather historic meeting. 

We got there fairly early to ensure parking and to get our seats. I had the girls bring notebooks to doodle in while we waited and that seemed to come in handy as we had to wait an hour and change for the meeting to start. 

The girls got excited when the choir started filing in their seats and  got super excited when the first presidency walked in. 

I had the privilege of sitting next to a woman from Switzerland who spoke French and Spanish. There came a point in the meeting when she and I both started crying and we just put our arms around each other. It amazes me how much the spirit of sisterhood/womanhood can just permeate a room. Laine on the other hand thought it was really weird that I was hugging a stranger and crying with her.

All in all I am sure that in twenty years my girls won't remember who spoke or what was said but they will remember attending a meeting with their mom, aunt, cousin, and grammy-to me that is what is most important.