Happy Easter

I guess I'm getting a little behind, since Easter was 3 weeks ago. But, the family had so much fun that I had to include it anyway. Saturday, the day before Easter, was a busy, busy day! After a morning that included a Primary activity and Stephen's first spring football game (more on that in a later post), we headed over to Doug's sister Janet's house for egg dying and Easter treats. Thanks, Janet, for letting us make the mess at your house instead of ours! And, for those of you that were wondering, Easter egg dye does in fact wash out of clothing. Lindsay proved that for us yet again this year!

Merry Christmas! Oh wait, if it were Christmas, it would be completely dry. So, this must be Easter. Easter with 4 inches of snow on the ground! And I still wore sandals to church. Yeah, I'm dumb!

Thanks to Grandma Smith, the kids looked really cute on Sunday morning! She made matching dresses (well, they are different colors, obviously, but the same pattern) for the 3 girls and sent Stephen a new tie.

The Easter Bunny was good to them this year and they had fun hunting for treats at our house and then again at Aunt Heather's that evening. It was a really fun family day.

But, the best part of the day, and the whole week really, was being able to share with them our testimony of Jesus Christ, His atonement and His resurrection. We hope you were able to feel of that spirit this Easter as well!

Snow Forts and Snow Angels

So, the storm blew its way through by this morning leaving drifts as high as 2 feet around our fence in the backyard. Perfect for snow angels and a snow fort, right? This time all four of them marched out into the yard to get to work--and yes, I made sure that today they were approprately dressed! But, since it's still 21 degrees out with 25 mile and hour winds, it wasn't long before they headed back in for some hot chocolate. They make me smile!

Lindsay is knee deep in the snow

Stephen, Jessica and Lindsay digging the entrance to their fort

Kaitlyn making her way through the deep snow

Springtime in the Rockies

As you may know, Spring in Colorado always means a big snowstorm or two. And we're getting one today. We actually haven't had very much snow this winter, so when Lindsay and Kaitlyn saw that the snow was actually starting to accumulate, they decided it was time to play! Still in their pajamas, they donned their boots and mittens (Lindsay actually only had one mitten, but she did add her cap and shawl) and headed out onto the deck. Ignoring Mommy's strenuous objections, they had a ball sweeping the snow off of the deck chairs and licking the snow off of their mittens. Their little adventure only lasted a couple of minutes--it was only 18 degrees outside today after all--but it was definitely photo-worthy!

March Madness

This has been a wild month! I guess that makes it the perfect month to start posting in my blog, so, here goes!

On March 11th, our little guy Stephen turned 10! I can't believe that it's been 10 whole years since this little baby boy joined our family. (Gotta love that '90s quilt too, huh?) This is him at about 3 weeks old.

So, he celebrated with 7 of his closest friends by going swimming at Aunt Shannon's pool (complete with cannonball contests), eating football cake, roasting marshmellows in the firepit on our deck and having an all-night Halo 2 marathon. Wow was he tired the next day! He actually fell asleep a couple of times on his way to bed the next afternoon.

His favorite present was a new little hamster from Jessica. Christened "Boba" (as in Boba Fett from Star Wars), he has become a little celebrity in the house. And Snowflake, our cat, is especially interested in the new member of the household! We'll let you know how that one works out.

Next, our 3 girls, Jessica, Lindsay and Kaitlyn, had their big spring ballet. This year was "Stars and Stripes." It was Jessica's 8th show, Lindsay's 4th and Kaitlyn's 2nd. They are really cute little ballerinas and getting better at dancing all of the time. How could they not--since they are constantly dancing! Even walking down the aisle at the grocery store! They are really fun to watch though.

Just 3 days later was the big pinewood derby for Cub Scouts. This year, Doug and Stephen procrastinated building their car a bit more than usual, and the paint was still pretty tacky when it was time to put on the wheels (10 minutes before Pack meeting started). The result was big, graphite-filled fingerprints all over the top of the car! Once they got over the frustration of it, they got into it and added a bunch more. Stephen named it the "Ugly Buff" (since it was painted gold and had CU Buff stickers all over it) and decided that it didn't matter how it looked, as long as it was fast! And, fast it was. At first, anyway. He won all three races in the first heat by a mile. But, something happened to the car between the first and second heats that really slowed it down. We're not even sure what! He made it one more round to the third heat, but was eliminated before the finals. They had fun, but I think that Doug is glad that Stephen will be in 11-year old scouts before next year's derby!

The last big news of the month is Jessica's hair. It hasn't been trimmed more than an inch or so in the last 4 years. Her long, pretty locks went down to her bum and made beautiful big buns for her dance recitals.

Well, this hair, lovely as it was, was constantly getting terribly tangled and was really hard for a 7-year-old to manage. So, Jessica thought about it and decided that, since there is 9 months before her next dance performance, it was time to cut some of it off. We decided to cut off enough to donate it to Locks of Love (she is super excited about giving it to a place where it can help other kids). And here is her new look! She looks really cute!

So, that's the update for now. Hopefully I will have more news to share soon!