Tulip Festival

So I've been wanting to go to the Tulip Festival for a while now. This year I decided was the year. We went back and forth about whether or not to take the kids and then had it all planned out to go last weekend while the boys were with Papa, then it was raining. Then I had resigned to just find a friend or 2 to go with and when that didn't work out, Mike was nice enough to suggest going back to plan A and taking the family. I was unsure if the boys would like it or not so I was hesitant, but boy was I wrong. They loved it. Especially since it started in the Children's Discovery Garden. They raced boats down the stream, climbed on the spider web, went in the caves and ran around the Arc. They wanted to do more but Mom led them into the big garden to start our long trek. It was beautiful (as always) and really busy but the boys still had some fun running around, checking things out and rolling down the big grassy hill near the restaurant. They were pooped by the end and ready to go home but I think a really great time was had by all of us (even Mike, who was the biggest complainer of them all). I am so glad the other plans fell through and I did this with our little family. I think it may become a new spring tradition. I need to add it to our spring bucket list for next year for sure.

6 Weeks!

The official vacation countdown has began! Today marks exactly 6 weeks until we emabark on our grand roadtrip to sunny Cali. The boys are starting to get excited and the twins have been talking about meeting Donald, Goofy and Mickey. I'm not sure how we are going to keep the excitement level up for 6 more weeks but we are going to try. I made some fun calendars for the boys to take turns marking off a day each day starting today and then at the end, listed pictures as little clues of what we are doing every day of the trip. It's going to be so much fun. :)

Faith 7 Month Photo Shoot

Faith 7 month Photo shoot - create a slideshow with music
I knew I wanted to get Faith's pictures done again after she could sit on her own. The photography studio that we used for our family pictures last year (fotofly) just opened an outside photo studio at Thanksgiving Point that I wanted to try out. So Saturday our appointment finally rolled around and we caught a lucky break in the weather just long enough to snap a few poses. I posted about half of them to Facebook but here's the entire shoot in this slideshow. She was seriously so good the whole time. Only got upset with them a couple of times. It was so fun to do and they turned out amazing! They are definately my new go-to photo place. I love FotoFly.

Pictures at Papa's

We unfortunately had to take a trip to Price over the weekend for a funeral for a dear cousin of mine. But since we were going down, I decided to take the camera and snap a few pics for my sister of her newest baby Wyatt. We set up some staging with some of Papa's antiques and went to work. Baby Wyatt wasn't the least bit impressed with being nearly naked so we didn't get in as many shots as we wanted to, but I still managed to get a few really cute and fun ones.

Well of course my kids had to play and be little posers in between so I managed to snap a few fun ones of them as well.

After the funeral the boys got to stay the rest of the weekend at Papa's while we came home with Faith and got some stuff done and had a little break. They had a ball with Papa and their cousins and didn't want to come home.

2012 Conference

I was recently asked to help put on a conference at the college that's going on this week for all of us Financial Aid folk in Utah. Mike has been nice enough to let me use his skills and combine them with my creative flair and we got to do all of the design work. This is a smaller picture of the official logo and theme we came up with. I have received tons of compliments since the conference started and I have to say it looks really cool printed on the official "swag" people get to take home. It was a fun opportunity but I will be glad when it's all over...1 more day!

Easter Day

It was a very fun Easter morning here at the house. We all got up to see what the Easter bunny had left us and found that he had left a little something for everyone. Dad got a giant chocolate bunny and Mom got a big Reese's egg all to her own.

Baby girl got a fun toy purse that makes noise. It was filled with a few toys and some new sun shades then she got some new outfits and a new Minnie Mouse. She had a ball going through the purse on the floor kept pulling stuff out and squealing. Then of course mom had to put her in her shades and some bunny ears for a fun pic.

The twins each got a toy robot, some coloring books, some books to read, each 1 game for their leappads, bubbles, Mickey Mouse toys and lots of fun candy.

Caleb got a new star wars tranformer toy, a yo yo, a bug magnifier, some books, some squishy baff , bubbles and lots of fun candy. His favorite thing was his 2 new mysteries books to read.

This year it was finally warm enough that the Easter Bunny tricked them and hid all the eggs outside in the back yard. Caleb was convinced he hadn't left any until it started getting light outside and Zaden spotted a few on the deck. So they raced to get dressed so they could go on the hunt.

The rest of the day we spent playing some, resting some, and doing a few chores. It was a nice day and we finished it off with me cooking a nice big ham and roasted red potatoes for dinner. Yum.

Eggstra-Eggstra

After Dad and Caleb got home from the penguins today, we got to work prepping for the Easter Bunny to come and finally got around to dying those eggs. It was such a beatuful day that we took advantage of being able to do it outside. The boys all loved it and are still admiring their handy-work tonight. It only took about 10 minutes total to do every one's eggs but I think it was the best 10 minutes of the day. At least for me it was.

Penguin Encounter

A while ago I came across a Groupon for the Penguin Encouter at the Living Planet Aquarium and we snagged one for Caleb. I came across it again in Feb and realized we hadn't used it up. I called to make our reservation and they were booked 2 months out, but today was finally the day we got to put it to use. Mike and Caleb had another Dad-son date at the Aquarium. They got there early enough to walk around some and visit the Sting Rays and then got to go in the back with a small group and get right up close to the penguins in their enclosure. They weren't able to touch or feed them but they did learn a lot about them and freeze their butts off doing it. They asked some questions and had a good time. Mike wasn't sure it was worth the full price it usually costs to go but the price for the Groupon was worth it so it all worked out. I'm so glad they got to go and put it to use. And of course I sent the camera along with orders to take some pictures.