FIRE ME...

FROM THE ROLL OF MOTHER!!!

Sunday was a gorgeous day so as soon as we got out of church Brayd & I loaded up the girls, Easter Eggs in hand (I know, I know. Better late than never, right?) & headed out of town. We stopped at Subway on the way & picked up sandwiches (I know, we are naughty for eating out on the Sabbath). Once we arrived at our awesome destination (seriously, the other side of the freeway), we broke out "the picnic", pulled down the tail gate & ate. Ainsley & Addison could not quick raving about what great parents we were for taking them on the other side of the freeway to have a "Subway picnic" in the back of the truck & roll their Easter Eggs down the hill. Isn't it the best when your kids are so stinkin' cute about the littlest things?
We were just about ready to head over to the hill to do some egg rolling when we were surrounded by a flock of Seagulls. Addison could not get enough of them. She threw the rest of her lunch at them while trying to coax them into letting her pet them. She chased them for 20 minutes.
Ains was a bit more timid, to say the least. She stayed within 3 feet of the truck & would duck anytime a Seagull would fly near her. She was hilarious!
It was finally time to roll Easter Eggs!! We headed toward the perfect little hill & started climbing to the top. Once we made it, the girls were more than ready for some egg rollin'.
Way to throw that egg Addison!!!
That took about 3 minutes & 17 seconds, then it was back down the hill. Ainsley had noticed some very pretty, crystallized rocks while climbing up the hill & decided she would collect a few for her rock collection on our way back down. Addison thought it was cool for a minute but threw her rocks down as soon as I got this picture.

So you're probably wondering why I need to be FIRED from my roll as mother, right? Well, these next few pictures say it all.

WARNING:

View at your own risk. May be too much to bear for those of you who are GOOD MOMS!!!

WHAT THE *@^# WAS I THINKING??? Apparently, I wasn't because my 11 month old daughter has FLAMING RED, BLISTERED, SWOLLEN ARMS!!! I told you I should be fired.

EASTER... WHERE DO I EVEN START?

At the beginning I guess!

Early Easter morning I crept downstairs to wake up Danyette & Tweeb. The night before, we had agreed to get the girls up at 6:00 am to check out what the Easter Bunny had left. Hope & Ains were first to jump out of bed. Ellie, Addison, Mya & Liv were soon to follow. They were all so excited to see what had been left. They each got new dresses, swimming suits & lots of yummy treats. But the fun was cut short because we all had to be fed & ready by 9:00 for church. Charli was being blessed that morning. So it was kinda chaotic for a couple of hours but we made it out the door & to the church 10 minutes early. What?!? I seriously couldn't believe it. We are awesome!!

Charli was blessed by her Grandpa Memmott. He did such an awesome job & boy did she ever look adorable. After church we all ran home to grab salads & head over to Grandpa & Grandma Buchanan's where Tiff (one of my very best friends, who also takes awesome pictures) was waiting for us to take some family photos. She did an amazing job!!! Here are some of my favorites.Here's the whole family. I sure do love these guys!!!

I LOVE THESE PICTURES!!!!! Did I say I love them? I really, really, really love them!!!

I love this one too! Aren't we a cute little family?

By the way Tiff, you did such a great job! We truly LOVE our pictures & can't wait until they arrive so we can put them in frames & display them all over our house to enjoy every single day.

The blessing luncheon was at noon, so once Tiff had gotten pictures taken we were busy getting butter on the tables, spoons in the salads, ice in the cups, & so on. Earlier that morning, my Mom hid 21 Easter eggs for each of our girls. They couldn't wait any longer to go hunt them down. Each of the girls had to draw an Easter egg out of a bowl to see which color they would be hunting for & they were off, plastic bags in hand (duh? we totally forgot their Easter baskets). I loved watching all of them run around Grandpa & Grandma's giant yard searching for their eggs. They were adorable!!

Hopey was on a mad dash to collect her GREEN eggs!! She was totally focused, no wonder she does so well in school.Ellie ran around the yard so fast that this was the one & only picture I was able to get of her while hunting for her PURPLE eggs. Mya Moo was so stinkin' cute! She would pick up every single egg she came across & would then chase down (or try to chase down) the girl that it belonged to. She did however manage to grab one of her YELLOW eggs from time to time.Ainsley had no rhyme or reason to her PINK egg collecting. She was all over the place. She would run from one area of the yard to the other especially if one of the other girls told her they had found one of her eggs. She was tuckered out after the hunt, that's for sure!Addison wandered the yard searching for her BLUE eggs. She was very thorough. She tried to grab every egg that was in a specific area before heading to another part of the yard. I think her method was definitely the most productive. What a smart little girl!!

All of the girls found Alivia's ORANGE eggs for her. She loved all of the attention. She especially loved the yummy treats inside of her eggs.

The girls had a blast running around the yard, searching for their eggs. They had definitely worked up an appetite after that. By this time, CJ's family had arrived so we all sat down to eat lunch. It was mighty good!! It was nice to sit around & visit for a while before heading back home. Once we arrived home, the Gladwell's immediately started packing up their things to head back to Salt Lake for the night. Their flight left the following day. Their trip seemed so short but we were so glad that they were able to come out for the week. We LOVED having them at our house. It was great to spend time with them. We already miss them & can't wait to see them in June.

Later that evening Brayd, Ains, Addi, Liv & I snuggled up in the theatre room & watched Harry Potter. The Easter Bunny brought the family the entire collection in blu ray. The girls were totally pumped to sit down & watch them. (All of you out there who think these movies may be somewhat scary for my 4 & 3 year old must know that they also love The Lord of the Rings. They are completely nuts, I know!) We ended up watching The Sorcerer's Stone & Chamber of Secrets that night. We LOVED them!!

So that's it. That was our crazy, awesome, wonderful Easter. We hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did.

GOOD TIMES WITH GOOD FRIENDS

As soon as the Gladwell's arrived at my house we (Danyette & I) left to go to our annual Favorite Things party. Bree, Tiff, & Sandi did a great job organizing the party this year. We all had so much fun eating yummy food, playing games, visiting, & exchanging gifts. I have such awesome friends!!!
Back Row (left to right): Laci, Dani, Brittnie, & Misty
Front Row (left to right): Tanya, Tiff, Bree, Cristan, & Danyette
Where's Bree you're asking?!? Trying to figure out the timer on the camera & run to her spot in the picture WITHOUT tripping over all of our gifts or the couch or the end table. Apparently by the looks on all of our faces, that didn't happen. Poor Bree!!
This is what we all walked away with. I loved every single item, seriously!!! I can't wait until next year.

TOGETHER AGAIN

On Monday, April 6th the Gladwell's flew back to good old Utah to spend the Easter holiday with family. WE WERE SO EXCITED!!! We had been looking forward to this trip for a very long time. So when 5:00 rolled around on Wednesday & there was no sign of the Gladwell family (they spent the first couple of days in the Salt Lake Valley with Tweeb's family), my kids were totally freaking out. But only minutes later they drove up to the house. You seriously could not wipe the grins off all of our faces. Ainsley ran out the front door, threw her hands in the air & yelled, "FINALLY!!!"

I told ya about the grins!
Hope was able to spend the first night in Salina at her best bud Maddi's house so Ains, Ellie, & Addi were inseparable. They played dress up & Barbies & babies & house. They read books, told stories, danced, & watched movies. They ate treats, drank pop, & played with Pawgo & Lisa Tingy. They ran around, sang loudly, screamed with giddy excitement, & tormented Tweeb. They had so much fun!!

JUST FOR CRISTAN

So this is my 6th picture in my 6th file & it's just for you Critan (sorry it took me so long).

Who: Tiff, Jake, Teya, Tai, Addison, Ainsley, Misty, Alivia, & Braydan

What: Chillin' on the couch

When: New Year's Eve 2008

Where: Our house

Why: To celebrate!!!