Happy Easter!!

(I know, I know. I'm like weeks late. Get over it.)

We had a fabulous Easter in spite of the so-so weather. Okay, the downright crappy weather. It's been the winter that never ends around here. But I'm pretty sure it can't last forever...right? Anyway...where was I?

Oh yes. So the boys started off with a Saturday morning Easter egg hunt. But not just any Easter egg hunt. Like, the BIGGEST Easter egg hunt on the planet. Of all the treasures this awesome neighborhood held for us, who would have guessed this?!

This wonderful lady above, from our ward, is the ring leader on this and here she is getting things started. (See the megaphone? That's how big.)

Luke is just getting started. That bucket of his is not even half full...it was overflowing when this was all over.

Mikey on the hunt

Just a few of those bonus prizes. Quite possibly one the hardest decisions of Mikey's little life.

Replenishing after the big morning

And what is Easter without some egg dyeing. Joey, of course, wanted to be a part of everything

The final product

And finally Easter dinner at Mimi and Bampa's. When kids have empty buckets, what else are they going to do...? (I didn't really take many pictures. So bad of me.)

*sigh*

Yes, I'm smiling, but it's in spite of myself. That shirt is part of a set of outfits purchased for all three boys for pictures recently taken, but more importantly for family pictures hopefully in the near future. Oh the damage one little piece of chocolate can do when a child finds said chocolate in a quiet corner by himself.... (Luckily, it did all come out.)

Happy Easter!!

Luckiest Mom Ever

That's me! The luckiest mom ever. I can't believe I have three perfect, beautiful babies that are mine. All mine! Mother's Day was fabulous. I basically slept and read. Just what I wanted. :)


(And the reason there are more pictures of me with Joey and only one with the other two is that I can grab my little Joe and he doesn't go anywhere--the other two only take pictures on their watch...so we take what we can get. But it's cute when we get it!)

And though I may be the luckiest, I am far from the best. My mom has that title. Thanks, mom for being the best mother ever. I owe it all to you. Happy Mother's Day.

He did it!!

Yay for Lance!!! After three long and grueling years, last Friday Lance graduated from BYU Law School! We are so proud :)

The proud wife

The proud father-in-law. Unfortunately, the timing was bad and Lance's parents were not able to make the trip, but it was great to have both of my parents there to join in the celebration.

Yes, we made him pose so that we could get his hood and all

I was so proud of myself. From clear across the Marriott center, I spotted Lance immediately on the floor during the commencement exercises. This looks like it would be easy, but the camera captured this better than it actually looked from so far away. I know my hubby when I see him ;)

The two days of graduation were fun for the boys as they got to hang out with their cousins Abigail and William who live so close to BYU, but it was also exhausting. This was what we found after the long drive home one night. (And this was probably how Abigail and William's mom felt each night after they left.)

Be sure to notice the "Y" in the background (because that's what we were going for.)

Lance with all his law-school-suffering peeps. They all made it! Congratulations!


Now just a few months of bar prep, the bar, and then his judicial clerkship starting August 1st.... And that's why I'm blogging from Hawaii :)

Career in Advertising...?

Do you think Dairy Queen would pay us for these?

Cute baby Joe

Oh my sweet baby Joe!!! I can't get enough of him. He is just so frickin' cute. I love him. He's about 10 1/12 months now. He is EVERYwhere. He tries to climb the stairs whenever given the chance (which isn't often because we just don't want to go there yet.) He opens every cupboard we have (spilled an entire container of oatmeal a few days ago--that was great), and just reaches and grabs everything he can. He stands and cruises along a little, but no walking. And he has some way awesome snagglely (snaggelly? snagley?) teeth. Oh he's so cute. Did I mention I love him!!!

Lance hates these leggings things and makes fun of me every time I put them on him, but come on, look how cute!! I love them. And look how cute he is.

He does this little head-tilt, shy-face thing all the time and it's my favorite.

And he LOVES dad. He gets so excited when dad shows up.

That's all. Just wanted to share some cute ones.

5 years already

Just look how big that kid is!!! When did that happen!


Mikey turned 5 last week and I can't believe it. It was a great celebration.

Mom and dad with birthday boy

It was really kind of sad to watch him ride his old little 12" wheeled bike with his knees up in his armpits, so it was time for a new bike.

Mimi gives the best gifts :)

Birthday breakfast


And then there was the birthday party!

(these aren't in any particular order)

We had all Mikey's favorite cousins and some friends at the Classic Fun Center. And I must say, it really was a FUN center. The kids had a blast with all the big bouncy houses, jungle gyms, arcade games, and scooter track.






And FINALLY...the cake. I just couldn't help myself. As I stay up until 4am I think, "why can't I just do something simple." But I can't. This was my first attempt at fondant. Eh. Not my favorite, but it sure can be cute.

Get it? Superman lifting the building?

Happy Birthday, Mikey!!! We Love you!!!

Never!!!!!

That is what Luke says. Whenever his answer is "No" he yells, "Never!" as though it's some persevering battle cry. Sometimes it sounds a little naughty as he says no to a lot of things, but it still makes me laugh every time. I don't know where he got it.

Beans

I love it when my babies start eating beans because they make the biggest mess. Okay, so it's really a giant pain because they are the WORST to clean...but it's still just so cute. So, so messy and so, so cute.

Seriously, look how cute.

Seriously.

Catching Leprechauns

Mikey gets pretty excited about St. Patrick's Day because last year they made a big, fun deal about it at school. Lance was the enabler this year because the night before he and Mikey set up many traps all over the house like the one below to catch leprechauns.

If you look closely you can see the coin (probably an old Chuck E. Cheese token or something) underneath because everyone knows leprechauns love gold coins. Unfortunately, all the leprechauns were too fast and were able to get the coins and set off the traps without getting trapped. Bummer. One even left G.I. Joe-sized, milky footprints to and from one of the sprung traps. Go figure.

But leave it to Mikey--he was not to be deterred by a little thing such as St. Patrick's Day being over. The next day Mikey brought us to his room to show us this:

It's small and a little hard to tell, but it's a little trap with a coin you can just see underneath and it's right smack in the middle of his room. Mikey continues to talk day after day about how he still wants to catch a leprechaun and so he keeps his trap there. But day after day, the trap is growing....


He explains the layout when asked about it and how it will be even harder for the leprechaun to get out because of his many barriers....


Here is the current state. It just keeps growing. Can you see WAY down there the tiny little trap we started with? I'm not sure how long this will go on. Perhaps when he runs out of things in his room? That or when he finally catches his leprechaun.

If you work really hard...

I was out with Mikey running an errand. It was just Mikey and me so we actually had a chance to talk.

We were talking about school. Mostly because he is obsessed with starting Kindergarten and talks about it constantly. We started talking about moving on to first grade and second and so on and so forth. I was feeling so proud of Mikey because he was completely jumping on everything I said and pointing out that if you don't learn enough you won't be prepared to move on. This conversation was a good 10 minutes, and like I said, I was feeling so good about the conversation and all he picked up on. He was sounding so mature and smart. And so when I said that if he worked hard he could be whatever he wanted and the harder he worked the more choices he had, I had high hopes for his response...

Mikey: I'm going to work so hard and you know what I'm going to be?!
Me (with great anticipation): What?!
Mikey: Superman!
Me: Of course.

I really don't know why I expected anything different.