Hoppy Easter

Matchy, Matchy - I know it's so cliche' but what can I say. I want to take family pics in May when the weather is nicer outside so our outfits will serve double duty. I couldn't find matching dresses anywhere so at my sister's suggestion I broke down and made them. Now, I am not much of a seamstress so simple dresses turned into a huge project but at least they look cute. I made my skirt as well, another "Easy - 1 hour" pattern that took at least 5 hours, not including the hemming. Thanks to my mom for putting the zipper in for me.

We had a great time dyeing our eggs this year. We even tried some new techniques with stickers which gave us polka dot eggs. Cool. The kids were spoiled with 2 egg hunts by their grandmas and earned lots of candy and jelly beans for mom. :)

Over General Conference weekend Kris's cousins Erica and Angie came up from Las Vegas and Utah respectively to visit Grandma Hayes. Here are all of the great-grand kids, minus Emily Monk. They had a wonderful time playing all together and were nearly spastic over the Easter Egg hunt. Nana Meek - Jana, bought the girls all matching High School Musical shirts. The boys received other shirts and remote control cars which they had running everywhere.

The Saturday before Easter was cousin Gabby's baptism. What a special day for her. Tal and Sterling ended up with matching Easter suits, Kalene and I must have been on the same wave length. The girls all have the same style of smocking dresses although Kalene is a much better seamstress and added sleeves. We also had an Easter Egg hunt courtesy of Nana Fife and the kids were all spoiled royally.

10 Months and Soooo Adorable

Leah is the light of our family. I can't believe that my baby is growing up soooo big. She has the sweetest temperament and is learning and doing so much every day. Leah gives great kisses and hugs, especially after family prayer and on waking up from her naps. She still scoots around the house but she is really fast now. She is starting to pull up on everything: the couch, the chairs, Mom's legs are a favorite. But then she gets stuck and can't get down so she will start squealing. You can always tell where Leah has been because she leaves a little trail of destruction. A typical 20 minutes includes unloading the bathroom cupboard, unloading the bookshelf, unloading the DVD's from the entertainment center, unloading the magazine rack, and pulling off all of the CD's from under the computer desk. And if I ever get out of sight she will scoot around the house saying, "Mom, Mom."
Leah also has quite the independent streak. She decided that she didn't like to sit in her big high chair and would stand up in the middle of eating. So we moved to this little high chair which she seems to like better. She prefers to feed herself and when she is done she will throw the rest of her meal on the floor. If I shake my head and say "No, No" she will smile and shake her head back at me. Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, peaches, peas, cheese and yogurt. Tonight Kris gave her a drink of his punch and when he took his cup away she squealed and put up a fuss until she received several more drinks, ditto for an after dinner cookie.
Her hair has started to curl on top, to my delight, and I like to put gel in it and curl it up. Leah likes to look in the mirror while we do this but then she likes to run her hands through her hair and make it all crazy. She is fascinated with the baby in the mirror. I put her in front of our long mirrored closet doors and she likes to grab for and even kiss the baby in the mirror. She says Mom, Dadda, and Leah well and consistently now. Her new word is Abi, although she won't say it on command, she just likes to babble a conversation. Mom made her an Easter dress, you'll see more on the next post, and she loved finding the eggs at the Easter Egg Hunt. I hope I don't curse myself, but we are winning the war on naps and bedtime. She goes down really well most days, however we are still nursing 2x a night. Hopefully as we get closer to a year we will cut down to one. However, I don't mind spoiling her a little, OK a lot, and just love ( most of the time) this fleeting time when she is little.

Road Trip to my Jerusalem Center Reunion

This past weekend was my BYU Jerusalem Center 10 year reunion in Provo. I had not been on a road trip since we went to Boise when Kris was sworn into the Idaho State Bar. Sadly, in the past year the furthest I have ventured outside of Idaho Falls was to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes for family pics. So Kris and I decided to make a little adventure of our road trip and hit a few fun places on the way. Our first stop was Moochies Meatballs and More, made famous by one of our favorite Food Network Shows "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Philly Cheese steak - Awesome!!! Silly me though, I forgot to take our pics in front. We also hit an Asian market, drove by the construction next to Temple Square, strolled around Gateway Plaza, shopped at the Blue Chip Group and stopped at the Disneyland for Outdoorsmen - Cabellas. ( Did you know you can have your birthday party at Cabella's? Seriously.)

Next stop, my reunion at the Hinckley Alumni House at BYU. Beautiful by the way. I had so much fun catching up and reminiscing with my friends. Some of them came from so far away, I was amazed.
Here are my lovely roommates Amy and Rachael. ( Carli we missed you.) Love the red hair - It wasn't exactly supposed to be red but we went with it and had a great time anyway.
Here are some of my best friends from the JC - Vann, Rachael, (Me), Lloydell, Mindy, and Liz. Michelle and Carli we really missed you and I'm not sure where Jenny snuck off to for the pic. What wonderful memories I have of my time in Jerusalem and the testimony that grew there. Thanks to my wonderful husband who drove us down and back, chatted up my friends, and let me sleep on the way home.