Naked Cuteness

Aftyn is a little over 3 months old now. She really is a super good baby. She is usually only up once a night now. She only cries when she needs something and she is easily satisfied once her needs are met. She loves to snuggle close and she also loves to play. She has a beautiful smile that just melts me. She is still a little thing but is starting to get a little chub on her. She is pure sweetness!

Little-D "SuperStar"

Daric decided to use a broken flash light as a micro-phone. Check out this short video of Little-D singing. He's so cute.

 I think he's amazing just the way he is. ;)

Easter Weekend

We had a fun Easter weekend together.

I know Easter is really about the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but taking pictures of us reading scriptures together isn't really that exciting, so here are some pictures of our Saturday/commercial side of Easter, not our Sunday/real side of Easter.

This year out of necessity I did small and simple Easter baskets. The kids loved them. They never complained or seemed disappointed. This is a lesson that is taught to me over and over again. Why can I not remember that small and simple is okay? Even better in most cases...I am a slow learner I'm afraid. :(

One thing I love to do is buy something they can use all year long for the Easter "basket". A few years ago it was cereal bowls, this year it was new drinking cups. They love having their own things, and I love not feeling like I'm wasting money on something that will end up going in the trash, sent to D.I, or left around taking up space.

Dying Easter eggs...notice there are no little ones. I put the little ones to bed so the older ones could dye more eggs, how sad is that? It's sad, I know, but we had fun. Kaylie is a tease if you didn't already know that. Earlier in the day when no one was looking she took the invisible crayon that comes with the kit and put a "k" on each egg. After a few eggs we began to notice and it began a game to find the "mystery k" on each egg. That joke went over pretty well....silly girl. ;)

The kids spent a lot of time outside this weekend. We spent some time on Saturday doing yard clean-up then the kids played together. This is a game of football. Tyler is trying to teach Kaylie and Todd to tackle without maiming. 

Here's McKenna and "Super-Man Daric". This is his own creation. He was running around the yard shouting "SUPERMAN" with his arms outstretched. Such a cute, funny kid.

Here is "SUPER-Aftyn" She looks like she's ready to take off on an exciting adventure.

Stick-pull .

Sydney won.

Saturday afternoon nap time. Ken spent Friday night at an over-nighter with his young men's priest group. He came home exhausted. He and Aftyn spent a few hours snuggled together. Talk about good times!

Sleeping Easter Angel. She is so precious.

More Aftyn Lovin'

Love this girl!

We also had an Easter egg hunt, but I got video instead of pictures.

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day too. After church Sydney helped me make a scrumptious Easter feast. Mmmmm....I'm suddenly craving fresh, warm rolls. We read about the last days of Christ's life/death/and resurrection from the Bible. We frosted cookies. We went for a walk and stopped to feed the horses some carrots and apples. Then we walked to UVU and let the kids roll down the hills and run around like crazy people. Then we came home and Ken and I sat on the porch swing and watched them run around some more. It was a beautiful day.  

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

Have you ever had one of those days when you momentarily forget all the great things you have to be thankful for and life just feels like one big suck fest?

Well today was one of those days.

Have you ever wished that someone would just magically know that life has dished out more than you can handle at the moment and show up on your doorstep to make it all better?

I wish for that all the time, it hardly ever happens though. Well more like mostly never, but today it did, sort of...

I love tender mercies that come right in the middle of days that feel bleak and crappy.

I did have a visitor show up on my door step today. She couldn't make everything better, but I know she came for a reason. Different from the reason she thought she came for. I needed to talk to her today. She said the thing I needed to hear. She answered a prayer and didn't even know it.

Life still feels like a big suck fest right now, but at least I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. For that I am grateful...

...among many other things I'll remember tomorrow. Just not today.

Spring Break

The kids were home all last week for Spring Break and Ken took a few days off of work, it was nice to have some family time. Monday we spent the day hanging out with Ken's parents before they headed back to Nebraska. Tuesday we took the kids to the Carl Bloch art exhibit at BYU. We had a great time hanging out on campus. We made a pit stop at the BYU bookstore for some goodies, then to one of my favorite places to take some pictures just for fun.  

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent cleaning, running errands, doing yard work, & playing, except for Emma, she spent those days puking, hacking and coughing, she has had a nasty cold/flu thing all week.  We had a nice week but by Saturday I was feeling a little blah because I am craving a vacation. I want to go somewhere and do something. Ken asked me what I wanted to do on Friday and I told him I wanted to drive to Yellowstone. He reminded me that he had class at 6:00 so we didn't have time to squeeze in an out of state adventure. Instead I settled for a Saturday afternoon date with Sydney and Kaylie. We went to lunch, did some shopping at the mall, did some shopping at the Quilted Bear, then did some shopping at Sam's club. Good times!

Sunday Ken and I took the three little ones for a walk around the neighborhood. We stopped by the neighbors "farm" to feed the ducks. The kids loved visiting the ducks, lambs, horses, and chickens. I even got to come home with a dozen fresh eggs.

Run duckies, RUN! Just in case you are wondering McKenna is wearing her jammies. It's all good, she looks cute in anything. Even one of the little neighbor boys told her he liked her outfit and he was totally serious.

Here's a little family update....Ken is almost done with another semester of school. He'll have about a week off then start back again for summer. I am doing good. Aftyn is sleeping better at night so I feel like I am catching up on sleep a little. I just need to get myself in gear and start exercising. Somebody send me some motivation, please! Tyler gets his braces off in less than 2 weeks and he is counting down the days. Emma is getting over her cold, but still sounds like she's going to cough up a lung sometimes. Aftyn is still a little squirt but she is getting bigger. I'm sure she is at least 8 pounds now, but I doubt she's reached 9. We are enjoying her sweet coos and big smile. Daric seems to be growing by the second, and so does Todd. Speaking of  growing Sydney is only an inch or two shorter than me. Soon she will be taller I'm sure. All the kids are doing well and growing fast. Kaylie is my big helper with the little ones, she has a magic touch with Todd, Daric, and Aftyn. I love it!  I think everyone is looking forward to school getting out. They only have about a month and a half left to go, and this time usually flies by with all the activities going on. It was this time last year when we started visiting the emergency room on a regular basis. Wish us luck this year ...I am hoping for an accident free spring/summer. Is that too much to ask? I'm pretty sure we met and exceeded our quota last year.

Happy Spring everyone! Enjoy this nice weather before the blazing heat arrives! :)

A Special Weekend

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend with family. Both the Robert's and the Wolfley's got together to see our sweet Emma get baptized and our little Aftyn get blessed.

I took tons of pic, here are a few of the many.

Baptism Pics...

Blessing Pics...

Misc. Family Pics...

When Ken and I woke up on Saturday morning little people kept filtering into our bedroom. This is 11 of the 13 cousins that were at the house. Snuggling with our nieces, nephews, and kiddies is a fun way to wake-up.

This is a typical self-portrait shot of my brother, Mike.

Part of the gang hangin' in the kitchen.

This is my sister, Heather. She is my pal and mother to most of the little's you see in these pics that don't belong to me.

Ken's dad catching a snooze. This might seem difficult with a house full of people buzzing around, but Dad drives 16 hours from Nebraska to be here so he deserves all the cat naps he can manage to get.

The Roberts' gals.

Joshy, Benny, and Darren

Mimi, Aftyn, and the back of someones head.

We had a great weekend. It was wonderful to see family and make memories together. We are so proud of Emma for choosing to be baptized. And Aftyn couldn't have been a more sweet little thing on her special day. This is the second time we got to do a blessing and baptism on the same weekend. Two years ago we baptized Tyler and blessed Daric the next day. It sure makes for a neat couple of days. I'm grateful we can be so lucky.

Zach's Tree

On Sunday after conference we had a private family memorial service for Zachary. It was beautiful. Every family member had a part in the program. We all shed lots of tears, but it was a beautiful experience. We put together a memory box, and Monday evening we planted a new peach tree in the backyard in memory of our little Zachary. I love it, it warms my heart.

Everyone got to help plant Zach's tree by putting a shovel full of dirt in the hole. I love looking out the window and thinking of Zachary. I love that we have something we can nurture and watch grow. And I love knowing that families can be together forever.