Slade's Birthday Dinner at Bucca Di Beppos!

Tonight we were invited out to dinner by my grandparents for my brother Slade's 30th birthday! I cannot believe that my youngest brother is turning 30! We had a great time celebrating.

Slade is a wonderful husband and father to 2 girls. It is amazing to watch him with his daughters. They can get him to do ANYTHING! He adores them! It's so surprising to see how he completely softens around them.

Slade is a very hard worker and will do whatever it takes to support his family. He is an awesome provider and makes sure that my SIL, Sara is able to be the mom she wants to be. Sara is a huge blessing to our family. We are so lucky that Slade found her! She puts up with so many of his quirks and teasing and is still able to put the smack-down on him when he's out of line! Love her for that! Seriously, though, she really loves him and takes good care of him, too.

So, "Happy Birthday, little brother!" I love you so much and I think you are pretty amazing!

This was the huge dessert! It was a brownie sundae with gelato and whipped cream!

The kids thought that this fountain was hilarious and wanted me to take their picture in front of it!

On Our Way Home From Church....

The kids were laughing so hard! They thought he was in his underwear riding his bike!

Spring Break in Vegas 2010!

This Spring Break was a trip to Vegas with my best friend Mindy and her two youngest kids. We stayed at our timeshare off of the strip. I reserved the penthouse so that we could be comfortable and have lots of room for the kids.

On the way, we stopped in Baker to get some Alien Jerky for Mindy. It's her tradition and since she lives in Utah, she doesn't get to get it very often. The kids love taking pictures of the Alien family in the Taxi.

The first night we couldn't check in until 5pm, so we took the kids to the pool. It was cold and windy- low 60's, but to Utah people, it was summer! I had my jacket on! The kids had fun swimming and going on the water slides. I had fun relaxing with Maryn in the hammock.

We went to the grocery store that night and bought lots of food to make and treats to eat so that we wouldn't have to go out. The kids had fun in the freezer section picking out food!

The next day, we took the kids to the M+M Store and did the whole tour and 3d movie. They had a great time! We also took them next door to the Grand Canyon Store and got them a couple of souvenirs. Maryn got an Indian Doll because she said it would remind her that her birthday is on Pioneer Day. OK? Charles got a ridiculously priced container of M+M's.

(Freddy uses a cellphone now! BEWARE!)

That day we took them swimming and then to the mini arcade in our timeshare. Emily was a pro at the Claw game and won herself and Maryn prizes on the first tries!! Maryn was quite ecstatic and gushed about it for a long time! Emily certainly impresses her! Maryn laughs at all of Emily's crazy stories!

Charles and Joseph loved playing games together and they had a blast just being together! They were like twins the whole time.

On Thursday, we took the kids to the Lied's Children's Science Museum. It was so much fun! There were so many different activities for the kids! I could have stayed there all day if there hadn't been 3 bus loads of kids that arrived at the same time. But, our kids were anxious to try everything and didn't notice the crowds! They LOVED it!

After the Children's Museum, we went across the street to the Old Mormon Fort Museum. This was my favorite activity! I learned so much and I could have stayed there much longer. The kids loved running around and looking at everything. We stayed until the kids got hungry.

Then we took them to find a buffet so they could pig out, but we couldn't find a reasonable price on any. So, we stopped at the Excaliber Hotel and let them eat at the food court. They were happy to get Happy Meals and Cold Stone's!

After the late lunch, we took them swimming for the last time. It was way warmer that day so even I put on a suit. I couldn't get all the way in though- too cold! I found one of the jacuzzis and sat with Maryn in there!

At night in the hotel, we'd let the kid's play in the jacuzzi on the balcony and watch movies. They had so much fun together and got along so well together. It was so pleasant!

I let Maryn and Charles each have a long bath in out huge jacuzzi tub in our room! It could easily fit 4 adults.

Mindy and I would sit in the jacuzzi after the kids would go to bed and just talk for hours! It was so nice and quiet. We stayed up late and played our Phase 10 and Skip-Bo. I totally lost almost every time! We have a tradition that we get matching PJs. So this time, I got us cute pink cupcake nightgowns because Mindy love cupcakes. The kids thought it was funny to see us wearing the same PJs!

The trip was such a wonderful trip and I loved every second of it! Having Mindy, Joseph and Emily there to share it was awesome. We all love them so much!

Easter 2010

Easter was pretty low-key this year. We watched Conference, dyed eggs, and the Easter Bunny came! Last night we had a great talk with the kids and told them about the Resurrection and Atonement. It felt good to answer their questions and also bring Christ into Easter.

I just wanted to share some of our Easter picks with you. I laughed when I realized that Maryn is dying the EASTER eggs, while wearing a HALLOWEEN shirt, and we're using an old plastic CHRISTMAS tablecloth.