Easter Weekend

I think I am still recovering from our Easter weekend.  We had a great time!  We started the weekend on Friday.  JL was itching to get out on the lake (all our rain has filled it!!!) and so was Isabel!  Ever since the weather started to hint at summer, she would ask if we could go boating!

So, Friday morning, we took everyone out!  It was a great ride!  The kids (even Wyatt!) got to tube around for a while.  After that, they swam for quite a while.  The water wasn't too cold for them, apparently! Although, Wyatt didn't stay in too long!   After the kids were satisfied, JL got to wakeboard and skimboard for a while.  Me and Quatro drove the boat!  It was really fun!

Right after boating, we returned home to pack for our ward campout.  JL and I packed in the air mattress (Quatro insisted!) and the kids' sleeping bags.  It was a really fun time!  We made enchilada casserole for dinner in our dutch oven.  The kids favorite part though is always the tent!

Our friend giving James a roping demonstration!

The next morning, the ward sponsored an easter egg hunt for the kids.  This is always a wildly popular activity for my crew.  Wyatt got a lot more out of it this year.  He didn't need any help with the concept and would find eggs faster than his sister! :)

That afternoon, we returned home to dye a few of our own eggs.  I cooked up two 1.5 dozes - which is by far the most eggs we have ever dyed.  It's no secret that we have an over abundance of eggs around this place lately!  :)  Next year, I'm going to cook up three 1.5 dozen!

Here they are cooking - aren't they pretty?

Are you sure we need to dye them kids?  They are so pretty already!

The eggs turned out great!  A lot of our eggs had natural crevasses and  imperfections on their shells.  These made for some really interesting dye results!  Notice the really dark ones there in the right front?  They turned out really cool because they were imperfect.

James and Isabel woke up Easter morning about 10 minutes after sun rise!  They were both so excited to hunt eggs and see what the bunny left for them.  But, Dad and I wouldn't let them explore until Wyatt was awake.  To try to curb their enthusiasm, we all headed outside to feed animals while we waited for sleepy Wy Guy to come downstairs.

Little did we know that while we were all outside working on chores, Wyatt had snuck down, hunted a few eggs, eaten the candy from said eggs, and already found and disassembled his Easter basket!  Naturally, Isabel and James were ticked!  It was hilarious - but so sad for the two patient ones!

We found him eating a chocolate bunny from his basket!!  He was covered in incriminating evidence!

More clues to his free for all!  

I never knew it - but Wyatt is our biggest candy hound.  I always thought it was Isabel!  But no!  It is Big Wy!  He had 1/2 his candy eaten before we left for church!

James is a saver.  He will look at everything multiple times.  Then he'll have like one piece of candy here and there for a few weeks.  He likes to saver.

Isabel is somewhere in the middle.  She'll eat a lot, but she paces herself also.  She still has a strong dislike for chocolate (what!!) so her favorites are always the skittles and the jelly beans.

I tell ya, he never stopped eating candy!

After church, we fired up The Ten Commandments on the tv and rested!  It was a busy, but really really fun weekend!  I cooked up a ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole and some jello for our Easter dinner.  Ah.  I am so blessed for my family!  I love our little crew!

Library Time

Last week I took Isabel and Wyatt to the local library.  This is something I haven't done in a very long time!  I don't know why - I guess it just doesn't cross my mind that often.  Anyway, this was the Wednesday before Easter, and the library was hosting Tiny Tails.  It's a local group that brings baby bunnies and baby ducks and baby chickens to events such as this for kids to hold and love on. 

Before the show started, the kids had a chance to explore the children's section of our library.  It was really neat!  They had a full size jeep parked right at the front for the kids to climb in and drive.  Isabel and Wyatt probably spent 80% of their time in this jeep!  It was hard to tear them away to explore the rest of the library! 

 

Besides story time, the library had coloring!  These two love to color, so they sat nicely and did a beautiful job on their artwork.  

Then it was time for the show.  As I suspected, Izzy and Wyatt were captivated!  They sat through the stories and the presentation of the animals and stood very patiently in line for their chance to hold the critters.

Once inside the pen, all Wyatt wanted to do was love on this cute black bunny!

Isabel was so excited about her little gray and white bunny!

But she didn't mind holding the baby ducks and chicks either!

At the end, we went back to the play zone so they could burn off a little more energy before we headed home for lunch.  I need to remember this, and take them to the library more often!

This is how we do it

Conference Weekend: April 2012

A double rack of ribs on the smoker, the tv outside under the shade of our tree, blankets and activities for the kids, a hammock for me, and a lounge chair for daddy.  Doesn't get much better than this!

Izzy working hard on her conference packet

Our set-up

Our meal

Best thing to come off the smoker since we got it!

They were phenomenal!

Phillie Cheese Steaks

This season in baseball has been really fun!  James has progressed so much from the fall, it is amazing!  He's learning more about the rules and strategies and other skills besides just trying to hit and run.  It is exciting to go to his games!  One of the things he loves best is getting to practice at the ranch with his Dad.  He is always trying to sneak in some batting whenever he things Dad might have some time.  Here's a few pictures from Saturday afternoon.  We all got in on it!

Here's a few from his recent games.  We still have yet to officially win a game, but the kids don't know the difference.  They always have a great time and their coaches are wonderful about not stressing if they won or lost.  I've been really impressed with the league.

Here's a few pictures of my silly Izzy.  She was posing for the coach's wife who was taking pictures with her fancy camera for the team website.  She sent me these two of my clown. :)