brother wanted

(jack squeezing his four year old buns into his sisters 2t miniskirt)

i took eden to get her ears pierced.

jack asked if he could get his ears pierced too.

hotishness

its that time of year.

yep.  the time when our temps jump from the 80's to the 100's.

in a matter of days. so............

we may be seen wearing a lot of...

swimsuits.

(ava applying her sunblock like a good little arizona girl.)

and eating a lot of....

frozen gogurts.

*and whatever frozen cold deliciousness we can find.

easter night

on easter night we went to jason's brother's house

where we stuffed our faces full of more food, mingled a bit,

and had one last easter egg hunt.

jack and ava were still surprised after their third

hunt to find more candy.

the three amigas.

cousins: ava, bella, and lucy

jason and brian trying to start 

"the put your hands in your pocket club".

so far, they're the only two members.

eden hangin' with her cousin taylor.

we spent time with family. ate tons of food. tons.

and reflected on the resurrection of christ.

it was a glorious easter weekend.

easter mourn

easter morning started out with jack waking up at 6 something in the morning. from there he decided he would go through his easter basket and then proceeded to play with his new little treats from the easter bunny and eat some of his new candy. cool. so by the time me and jason rolled out of bed, jack was already in full swing. ava, however, waited for her sleep deprived parents to get up until she discovered what the easter bunny had brought her. she was so excited.

the easter bunny brought candy, bubbles, books, 

and some fun little toys.

eden was super excited for her new little duck.

easter egg hunting.

jack and ava could not wait to blow some bubbles.

ava chased while jason and jack blew.

eden also loved her new caterpillar.

she couldn't wait to chew and drool all over it.

jack putting his lightning mcqueen puzzle together.

we were running a little late for church, so, i only had time to snap some quick photos of eden and ava all fancied up.

it was a happy easter mourn.

easter eve

every year on the saturday before easter, my lovely parents host a marvelous easter egg hunt for all the grandkids. the kids all hunt for eggs and then we indulge ourselves with a huge delicious breakfast.  this year, we woke up to a cold unusually rainy easter eve day. but that didn't stop the kids. they had a blast sloshing through puddles until the last egg was found.

the menu:

*delicious homemade cinnamon rolls.

*french toast casserole with homemade raspberry syrup. 

*fresh to order omelets.

*fruit salad.

my brother garrett preparing the fruit salad.

my dad, the master chef, making omelets for everyone.

he is seriously one of the best cooks ever.

he's totally into it.

everything was so yum.

my mom and eden.

ava finding those eggs with help from her aunt kayda

and her cousin hannah.

jack soaking wet and loving it.

his uncle jeremy helped him search.

the hunt is over and the counting begins...

thanks nana and papa!

little chicks

the kids came running inside from playing and were yelling "mom miss kitty gave us chicks!" first of all, kitty is our sweet old neighbor who lives across the street. her full name is miss kitty upchurch. that's for real. it's creepy enough that we live in a perfect tree lined street neighborhood but we also have a neighbor named kitty upchurch. she is probably 80 going on 150 but she is pretty sweet. 

so at first, i was thinking real chicks, what? then i see jack and ava holding these little fluffy chicks. they are so cute and my dear old neighbor who puts up with who knows what from my sometimes annoying kids, gave these little eastery creatures to them. not only did they love them but it put a big fat smile on their dirty little faces.

thanks kitty!

weekend overview

(spring artwork by the lovely jack and ava)

this weekend started off with a visit to the doctor for eden's 4 month checkup. we always knew she had a ginormous head but it didn't hit me until i saw it in writing... 97th percentile! no wonder we have to stretch her shirts out to get them over her head. a big head to go with her big eyes. but she is the most beautiful baby and such a sweet chunkster.
other highlights of the weekend:

*completed my 18 mile run. yay! (my longest run before my next marathon which is may 3rd in eugene, oregon)

*seeing my happy children's faces and my supportive husband as the brought me water and gatorade during the grueling 18 mile run.

*got to watch conference. i love hearing the general authorities speak. it is like one big giant pep rally getting me all spiritually pumped up for the next 6 months.

*our bathrooms got cleaned and my wonderful husband can take all the credit for that. i do the laundry (and everything else) and he does the bathrooms. fair trade? maybe, if you saw how disgusting our bathrooms were.

*no church meetings for jason!

*got to spend large amounts of time with my family :)

a chocolate explosion

this is what happens 

when ava and a riesen collide.

 one big fat

 chocolate drooling fest.