Happy Easter!

Truth be told, I am glad today is over. Perhaps it was the sugar (even though they didn't have THAT much). Or having an Easter egg hunt. Or Easter baskets. But the girls were WILD today! They totally wore on my patience. I LOVE Easter, I love the Savior, and I love my family, but I am REALLY glad the kids are in bed right now.

But, parts of the day went well. Like when Audra spotted the baskets downstairs and came and woke us up and said, "I think somebody brought us something!" That was cute.

Here is Claire (and her drunken look) with the baskets. I made the skirts. I think they turned out really cute, and saved us at least 50 bucks from buying new Easter dresses.

 And the Easter egg hunt. This year it was warm enough to have it in our backyard. All through breakfast Audra kept asking, "where's the Easter eggs?"

 After church there were some trees with purple flowers. I thought they would match perfectly with their skirts and so I tried to take some pictures. "Tried" is the key word.

 This was Claire's tantrum as we tried to take pictures.

  I think this one is the best one:

Church ends at 4 so Claire misses her nap. But, she always falls asleep on the way over to Grandma and Grandpa's and sleeps on the couch for a little bit. Today when we first got in the car she said, "I'm tired. I'll sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's." We don't let her nap for too long, so here she is after her nap snuggling with me.

 Here's Audra wearing Grandma's glasses- she looks good with glasses:

 They got these bunny suckers and LOVED them- and they looked pretty cute:

 Audra just looked so pretty here that I had to keep this picture:

Here's our family Easter picture- it turned out OK:

Road Trip: Part 2

Here are some pics of our fun in Utah:

 We went to Wheeler Farm (that's probably not how it's really spelled). There was a chicken coop and the girls LOVED playing in it. They were there for almost an hour and didn't want to leave. It wasn't at all fancy or anything, but I guess they just loved the idea of it being two story and kind-of in a tree.

 They are pretending to ride a horse here.

 They both LOVED playing with their second cousins. It was really cute watching them play together.

 We went to the "This Is The Place" Monument and the Pioneer Village right next to it. I had always wanted to go to this monument, so I was thrilled for the chance.

 Unfortunately, it was incredibly windy and cold, but we still had a great time.

 We got to ride on a train. The conductor had a long beard and when we got on the train Claire said, "Santa is really excited to take us on a ride!" Believe it or not, there were even actual reindeer on the grounds so it all went together in a nice little Christmas theme.

 This is Claire having a complete tantrum. We were going on a tour of a mansion and Claire wanted to "get in the bed and take a nap." Of course, I couldn't let her. And of course, that set off a 30 minute tantrum. It was great.

So in a nutshell, that was our trip. I think I am now fully recovered. Claire has enjoyed being able to play by herself and have some downtime and both girls have had a lot of fun playing with Daddy and making up for lost time. It would have been even nicer if Ben had been able to come, but we really did all have a great time and I am SOOOOO glad we did it!

THE Reason For the Trip

 

Ben's Grandpa is 93 years old. I have been telling Ben for years that we needed to get the girls to meet him, but that blasted drive kept us from going. But, when the opportunity to go to Utah presented itself, I knew we had to take advantage for one simple reason: Grandpa needed to meet his great granddaughters!

We had a wonderful visit with him. We went to dinner at Chuck-A-Rama one night and the girls got to run off some energy in his backyard. This picture here made the entire trip worthwhile!

Road Trip: Part 1

This past weekend I drove with the kids, without Ben, to Utah. Thankfully, his parents were with me and helped with the girls and everything actually turned out to be really great- albeit exhausting. We ended up having a fantastic time and were able to do quite a few things. I even think Ben felt a little bad he missed out (he has been avoiding this trip for 5 years, and was able to worm his way out of it because his boss demanded he work tons of overtime. In 7 years, Ben has never had to work overtime, and it just happened to be when we were planning our trip. Coincidence? Perhaps. But, in the end, I think Ben would have rather been on the road trip than working incredibly long hours).

Here the kids are- ready to head out. Audra was so excited for a road trip. She had never been on one before, and she thought it involved an airplane, so I am not sure that it ended up meeting her expectations.

 We stopped at Little America for ice-cream- how can you not? It took us 12 hours to get there, and 10 hours to get back. I was worried about the kids so we took lots of stops to let them run out some energy. Really, though, they did great- I was surprised and impressed.

 Lessons I learned from this trip:

-DVD players in cars are GENIUS for road trips- that seriously made the trip so much more bearable!
-I will never live in Wyoming. Ever. That wind is awful.
-Audra is an excellent sleeper.
-Claire is a horrible sleeper.
-There is reason God's plan calls for both a mom and a dad: having another one to share the burden saves Mommy from going insane.
- Ben's family is awesome! I loved being able to get to know them all better!!!
-Claire gets motion sickness. Poor girl- she gets it when looking down (coloring). She also doesn't like  having throw up on her.
-Ben owes me BIG time.
-As long as Claire has a cat to love/annoy, she is pretty happy- even in a new environment with all new surroundings (though some time alone to play by herself also helps).
-Even though it was a little rough at times, I am really glad we did it. But now I need to go get some sleep...


Stay tuned for what we actually DID on the trip as opposed to just a round-up of the trip itself.

I Rock!

I am definitely not a crafty person, but I am pretty proud of this concoction. I took an old shirt of Ben's and turned it into a dress for Audra! How cool is that?!?

This is Ben wearing the shirt back in 2007 (doesn't he look so young?):

 This is the shirt re-purposed as a dress for Audra after Ben wore out the elbows and couldn't wear it anymore:

 Claire wanted to get in on the photo action:

 

This is the original idea, which you can find HERE.Sometimes Pinterest does work out.

Admittedly, hers turned out better. But, I took a shortcut and went with the belt because I didn't have elastic thread to do the shirring, and I got impatient (as often happens when I sew), so I went with the belt. I think it still looks cute. I also took a shortcut on the sleeves. I like her ruffle sleeves better, but again I went with a shortcut. I am really not good at sewing at all, so when I had Audra try on the dress and realized the way I cut the shirt made a nice little cuff sleeve, I decided to just leave it.

I wouldn't say that this is a nice church dress or anything, but it is a perfect everyday play in dress- which she happens to need a lot of. Next time I want to try the shirring. I just need Ben to wear out some more shirts!

Ben's Birthday

This year may have been Ben's favorite Birthday since we got married. Why? Because I did practically nothing for it.

Normally, I like to do something big- a cruise to the Carribean, a trip to the Broadmoor, a surprise party with a gift of a Wii, but Ben never seems to really like it. We are different in that regard. I like big. He likes to stay home and relax.

So this year we kept things really simple. In fact, I don't even know what I got him for his Birthday. He found something on-line he wanted (some kind of USB something or other) and he ordered it for himself and that was that.

I did wake up early and make him his favorite breakfast (the baked pancake I raved about HERE). If you know me, you know that was a great sacrifice. I am SOOOOO not a morning person!

 Audra made him a really cute sign that we hung up:

 (I know it is hard to see, but I still want to remember it in years to come):

 Here is Ben with the gift my mom got him: Will To Win: How Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos Made 2011 A Season To Remember. Based on what has happened the last couple of weeks, I am really glad he got this book.

 As a special Birthday treat, I made him a "Chocolate Chip Molten Lava Cookie." For those of you who do not know Ben, chocolate chip cookies solve ALL of Ben's problems. If you get in a fight, need to tell him  you're pregnant- whatever it is, chocolate chip cookies make it all better. So on pinterest I found this recipe and thought I would give it a try. It didn't work out too well- though it looked really pretty, it was pretty raw in the middle. I don't know if I will try it again.

Then, like most good wives on their husbands' Birthday, I left Ben for the night so I could go to book club and he could enjoy his Birthday night alone.

Do not be too sad. He got to play his new computer game that his parents bought him for his Birthday all night long while I was gone, so really, truly- I think this was his best Birthday ever.

Happy Birthday, Hon- I love you!

So Sad

Ben and I are both really, really sad to see Tim Tebow go. You have to have lived here last year to truly understand "Tebowmania" and how much FUN it was to watch this guy play. We could be down by 20 points with 3 minutes left in the game, and you still thought we would win- and often we did.

And beating the Steelers in the play-offs? People were letting off fireworks and everyone was partying and so excited- it was awesome. Truly, I have never seen anything like it in my life.

Of course, he is being replaced by "Peyton Freakin' Manning" which is exciting in it's own way, but it won't be nearly as exciting as the 2011 season- unless we actually do win the super bowl.

We will miss you, Tebow. Thanks for the great season last year- we will always be your fans!