Melissa's Utah Trip

Last weekend I did what every mother needs to do once in a while- I went on a little vacation without my kids. My dear sweet wonderful friend Melissa Whitchurch got married on Thursday and I was not going to miss such a big special day so my dear sweet wonderful husband agreed to stay home with the kids so I could go. Originally the plan was to meet my mom and sister there but unfortunately, my mom broke her wrist a couple days before and couldn't go but fortunately (very very fortunately) my brother Scott decided he wanted a little Utah vacay- so he and my sister Julie and I met in Utah for a wedding and a party. So to recap with some brevity here are the highs, the lows, and the pictures...

The highs:
-the wedding of course (they were married in the Provo temple) I just love Melissa Whitchurch and love that she is so happy and love to see her and her family too
-Julie and Scott sibling bonding (We had a good time- lots of laughs- lots of memory making)
-Cousins- We spent a night at my cousin Amy's house and got to see her family and Ginger. They were so much fun to spend some time with and so sweet to host us.
-Shopping -poor Scott put up with way more of this than he wanted but how could I not visit the BYU bookstore, the Quilted Bear, Deseret Book, Provo Town Center etc etc etc
-Food- Cafe Rio, CPK, Zupas, just to name a few...

The Low's:
-My Camera- I bought it on a whim the day I left. I did not want to spend hours researching so I just went and bought one that was cute, small, and cool looking and I thought I had heard or read somewhere that it was a good camera--- but all my precious pictures are grainy and fuzzy so that irritates me greatly.....I took it back to Walmart today.
-Scott got sick- that was a bummer- just a cold- but he didn't let it cramp our style- he was a trooper.
-Kevin wasn't there- a definite low point :( but he did a super job of holding down the fort for me at home so that I could be fancy free in Utah.

And now the pictures:

Here's the culprit of my bad pics- maybe I can prevent this camera from happening to one of you.. though you must admit, it's pretty cute.
Here's us waiting outside the temple...

Here's the Whitchurch crew...
Here's the table I sat at, at the wedding luncheon...And here's me with Melissa at the reception...

Scott and I at the Wilk...fun, fun, fun.It was a great trip.

When Moms Away...

Kevin took these pics/ video while I was away in Utah and he was in charge of the kids. Apparently, while I was gone, Brielle's "climbing on the table" issue continued to be a problem, or a cute habit- I am not sure which."Queen of the Kitchen"

I guess the weather really warmed up and daddy let them water bounce for the first time. I am pretty sure dad is way more fun than mom. :)

Brielle goes to Nursery!!!

Yesterday was Brielle's big first day of Nursery at church. It was a whole new experience for me too since for the first time I actually felt like it was too early- she's my baby and I almost want to keep her with me- thats a pretty significant "almost" though. I am glad to stop being that disruptive, discombobulated, frantic and frazzled mother trying to keep her toddler from playing the piano durring Sunday School and pulling off the tablecloth durring Relief Society. On the other hand though, sitting there in Relief Society with no baby felt awfully different- guess I better start bringing my manual.
As for how she handlied the transition- well of course she cried- and of course I came in to her rescue. I figured that since we don't have a regular nursery leader at this point there is no need to make her cry it out only to have to rebond to a new face next week. Anyway, Kevin came in with her the second hour and he was able to leave for a little while (snack time is always a pretty good distraction) but he did have to leave Priesthood near the end when he heard her wailing out in the hall. She wasn't really going for that "hold the rope and go for a walk" activity.
All in all it was about what we expected. Even if we don't get to attend our meetings- at least we can hang out with her in the nursery instead of the halls...

gotta luv her!

Build and Grow at Lowes

Lowe's runs free kid clinics every Saturday. We signed the kids up to make a birdhouse and they had a great time and actually were pretty independent builders. They even got to keep their aprons and glasses.

Easter Sunday

Easter morning, we found our baskets and accompanying eggs.Then they enjoyed a delicious candy breakfast.

Then we were off to church. The girls had new dresses to wear but we rushed out the door with no picture so I'll try to take one next week.For Easter Dinner, we had some wonderful friends over to enjoy the Easter feast with. As always, I love a good table setting...

After dinner we watched this wonderful short video clip to help remind us that Easter is not just about candy and bunnies.
Then we let the kids get in one last egg hunt in the backyard.

I hope you all had a happy Easter too.

Egg Roll

Saturday we carried out one of my favorite family traditions. We rolled our Easter Eggs. Brayden must be lucky this year because not only did he win the March Madness trophy but he also won our Easter Egg Roll. He sure looks like a winner- what great form he has!And so you see where Brayden gets his great form. If you look carefully you can see him sticking out his tongue- and I thought that was a Matkin thing.

Makenna is our less competitive child. She treasured her eggs and played in the car as we rolled them.
Brielle was mostly interested in peeling the egg but we did eventually get her to try rolling it (in the second video). The first video just shows Brayden's delight in winning.

Crazy Friday

Last friday was the last official day of Spring Break. I had been telling the kids since the beginning of the week that we would go to the zoo and the children's museum and color eggs but every day something else came up so on Friday I transformed into some super mom and did it all. Can you say exhausting....anyways- here's some pics from the zoo--- their faces were painted from the children's museum.

Brielle loved the animals. She got so excited about every bird, giraffe, lizard and squirrel she saw. She loved to wave "hi" to them. It was really cute.

And then it was on to the eggs...

I thought this picture was so cute- Brayden was trying to give them Easter bunny ears. I was sad to send Brayden back to school this week (shocking, I know). These two were really good buddies which just made for a happy home and a happy mom all week long.

Making his mother proud...

Here is a school assignment Brayden brought home. He told me they read a story about a purse and they were supposed to make up a story about their own purse or briefcase. And in case you can't read or understand it, here is a translation:
"I have a briefcase. I keep 100 dollars in it. Once I get 1000 dollars I will save it up til I get 15002000 and then I'll give all of my money to the "pores" My briefcase says my name so I know whose it is and my briefcase has sparkles on it."

Isn't he sweet...giving his money to the pores. Makes me so proud...not sure if the sparkles on the briefcase make dad so proud....but it sure is cute!

Conference Weekend

We love conference weekend. It is always such a nice break from life and the world. On Saturday, it was cold and on Sunday it was really cold so it was the perfect weekend to hunker down and spend some time together, listening and learning from the leaders of the church. In between sessions on Saturday, Kevin took Brayden and Makenna to an Easter egg hunt.I hope you all enjoy this picture as much as I do. I can't look at it without laughing- that bunny is just too much! To make it even more hilarious, Brayden was just looking at it over my shoulder and said "If I had those two front teeth, I would look like that bunny" (...what?!!!...not quite sure what he meant by that).

Yes, those are all eggs in the grass.

And look at all the friends they ran into while they were there!

And then on Sunday we continued our tradition of a lovely brunch. We had some good friends over. The kids colored quietly and watched the whole first hour. We were very proud of them.
We hope you all had a great weekend too!