Field Trips

Whoa. Busy couple of weeks for us.  I am just lining up babysitters left and right, and pawning off the kids to whoever is willing to watch them for what seems like days on end. 
Both kids had scheduled field trips, and of course, for both, it meant the world to them if I could go.  So I did what I had to do....and went.

Brynn's class went to Safari West.  It was probably the wettest, coldest day so far this year, but she will have nothing but great memories of it, because it revolved around animals, and that is her favorite thing ev-er.  At one point, it started hailing, which was fun....









 
 
 
 
 
We saw tons of cool animals, and besides me being almost mauled by a very tall crane (bird), it was a pretty fun field trip.


Cannon's class went to Tolay Lake, and they learned about healthy foods grown in the garden, chickens, goats, Indian houses, and even took a short hike.  It was a pretty fun day as well!

Great Weekend

We had one of those awesome weekends last weekend.  The weather was amazing, Rich was home for the day, and it just felt like a relaxed time together. It's been awhile since we've had one of those....

Saturday morning started with some cartoons (could B and C sit any closer), and a little guy wandering outside with both sets of car keys.




 

 

Then we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a little hike.  We even got a family picture!

For dinner we met some friends at the park again, and bbq'd up some sausages, and Easter marshmallow peeps.  The kids played hard, and were excited to come home and go to bed because......


......daddy set up the huge tent in the garage and they slept in it! What fun!  Everyone had a great time except for this little one who had a bad attitude about something and decided to show it....in pictures.

On Sunday, after church, we took a long and curvy drive, up a mountain to visit some special friends.  I happened to look back at one point and saw this.....

....someone had fallen asleep with her head in the barf bucket. 

These kind of memories will last a lifetime.

11th Anniversary

Our anniversary was pushed aside a little bit this year due to Opening Day of tball, but we managed to enjoy the small part that we celebrated.  We had to cancel our plans, and reschedule and cancel again, and reschedule, so by the time we actually got to celebrate it felt long awaited.
Rich planned a special dinner for me for a total surprise.  He arranged for Billy and Elissa to watch the kids for us, while we had dinner at THEIR house!
Elissa set up a really cute table for us, picked up the food, and made sure that it was a special meal, even if it was squeezed inbetween errands, and other stuff.  My eyes leaked a few tears, I won't lie.  Its been a really, really, really, really long time since we've had time together alone, that he has planned, and it absolutely meant the world to me that he did all this!

11 years...wow. 
Here's what he says - Happy Anniversary hun.  Our day was filled with opening day parade, cleaning the house, and coaching.  Not exactly romantic, but there is no one I'd rather spend it with then you...and hopefully next year will be better.

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun this year.  The kids loved their baskets, and tore into them before I could even snap a picture!  Nolan scored these sweet frames....
 
 After church was over, we went to Gigi and Papa's for lunch, and a HUGE Easter egg hunt.  The cousins were there too, so it made the whole event even more fun!

 
 Nolan caught onto the fact that the eggs had things in them early this time. He would pick up an egg, break it open, and see what was inside. If it was wrapped in foil, it went in his mouth, foil and all, and if it was a sticker, toy, or other "non-desired" item, it was thrown down with the plastic egg. 

 
 The kids traded their candy after the hunt, but kept all the money to themselves.  Cannon got a golden egg, so he felt pretty good about his day!


 This was the last egg to be found.  Pretty good hiding spot right??

I made some carrot cake cupcakes...and they were delish!


 

Entry Way

I got an "inkling" to make some changes in our entryway.  I mean, you know, it's been a year and a half since I nested, and I kinda needed to get my paint on....
It started out this color.


I thought I wanted yellow to brighten it up, so I used the leftover yellow from the kids room and painted away.
 

  
Unfortunately, the yellow barely stood out from the tan walls of the rest of the room, so I hopped in the car, and raced out to buy orange. I painted a small square and we stared at it for awhile, and then I got impatient and painted the whole thing. 



Whoa.  Needless to say, it didn't look great.  I got up early the next morning and decided that I didn't like it.  So, I went back to the store, and got some more of the neutral tan of the rest of the house and started to cover the orange wall by wall until I it got to be the way that I liked. While I was at the store, I found a bench seat that I liked.  Not loved, but liked, and I picked that up too. 



I was a little worried that the paint would NEVER dry, since I had literally painted 3 heavy coats of different colors in less then 12 hours.  (It did dry...eventually).
While we waited for the paint to dry, I put Rich to work on a few other *small* improvements.
I got a free light off of craigslist, painted it antique white, and put it over the kitchen table.


And then finally figured out a spot for the kids to put their school work in when they got home.


Then we took the light from the kitchen and moved it into the entry way, where it happily shines down now!
And Voila'! A little paint - or 3 coats - whatever, and some handiwork from my handy hubs, and my need to change things up has been met for a while.....

Oh, I forgot to mention, that this whole project got started because I wanted a shelf with hooks to hang the jackets and backpacks on when the kids get home from school.  So, we made that too.....

Spring has Sprung!

Tball season is in full swing. After a pretty lousy start, with all games and practices being cancelled by rain, we finally had our first game!

Some highlights:
Uniforms...how I love thee!
Daddy and Uncle are the coaches....always a good time.

Luke and Cannon can't get enough of eachother on or off the field.
Everyone hits REALLY good, when its tball.
Everyone gets to run the bases when its tball.
Everyone wins, when its tball (but if you ask Cannon, his team "definately" won).

Go Cubs!