Easter 2009

We headed off to church on Easter Morning with our little Brayden Jack. We had just spent the entire Saturday with him and had a riot. Now it was time for Church. April and her girls joined us which was nice. Karah and Lyss were so full of hugs and kisses during the entire meeting. They sure know how to make someone feel loved! Brayden on the other hand slept the ENTIRE time. Not sure why this little guy was so tired! Maybe it was because his PAPA HOWIE kept him up all night! (okay maybe me too)

After Church we thought we'd try to get some pictures in their Easter clothes. I swear we took at least 15 -20 pictures just to try to get the kids looking up at the camera at the same time. They worked out fine if only one child was in the picture. Smile big Jack-Jack!

My girls in their Easter dresses. I love Karah's hugs except she has to be very gentle with my neck because it is still so sore! Everyone calls her hugs "Head Poppers" because they actually feel like she squeezes so hard that your head is about to pop off. I personally call them "Cindy Simper hugs". That is my cousins daughter and many years ago we would go to visit them and she would squeeze so hard and so long that you honestly thought your head would POP! She was such a lovable kid just like "Boo"

Pictures with cousins.....

My wiggleworm Lyss......

Sweet "Boo"......

I absolutely love springtime. Everything is blossoming and so colorful....

Lyssi is checking out the yellow blossoms. I wish Luke was here to take some spring pictures with all the kiddos! Ash and Ty decided to go to their own ward and just come over later for dinner. I missed him with us that morning. It would have been fun to have all of our grandkids with us for church. Oh well.... he'll be here soon!

Posing with the Pinata.....

It was quite the job getting this pinata back from Mexico. It is much bigger than we thought. What were we thinkin' when we bought it?!? I think I was just so excited because it was so dang CHEAP!!! Luckily there was a very nice person helping us at South West Airlines. They took great care of this cute bunny and it arrived safely back to Utah.

I have promised the kids for months now that I would charge the battery on the airplane. Now that the weather is finally nice I decided to bring it out. Brady loved to drive it around especially when he would steer it straight for his Papa trying to run him over.

Steve would jump over the airplane as it got close to him and all of the kids would giggle. It was not until I later watched this video that I realized how close we came to having Lyss seriously injured. She was running to give Howie the bat at the same time that Steve jumped over the plane. Steve's foot came WAY too close to her little head. It ripped her arm up and the bat went flying! We are so LUCKY she didn't get hurt.

As we waited for Ash and Ty to come we decided to do an art project.

The girls did rip art easter eggs.....

Give these girls paper, scissors and glue and they are in heaven!

Yep, I look like a total geek! But my girls are darling!

Brayden has nothing to do with these "girly" art projects....

He makes his own fun!

Coloring Eggs.....

Ash, Ty and Luke came just in time to color eggs....

Howie is pretty brave to wear that white shirt around our grandkids and egg dye.

"I can do it all by myself!"

Brayden helping out mom....Pretty colors!

April had a great idea to put rubber cement on the eggs before you dip them. Then the dye only stays on the part of the egg without the glue. You take it out and rub it dry. Then repeat. They turned out pretty nice! I don't have a pict of just an egg but they were cool!

I think the kids were starving! As soon as we mentioned FOOD the kids jumped up to help Papa put up their table. Then as the adults finished getting dinner together the little ones just sat there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I was really impressed. They are really great kids. I love the a ton!

After Dinner Fun....

After dinner we had a little fun for the adults.....

We had tons of candy thrown out on the grass and they were given just a minute or so to gather as much as they could. Each type of candy was worth a certain amount of points. Once all of the candy was collected they found out the point value and then the math began. The person with the highest total won the prize.

Kendra was the WINNER!

Bryon (Ty's Dad) was the LOSER! He had to do pushups :)

When I was deciding on the point value for the candies I decided to have the candybars be worth NEGATIVE 20 points. Those people who searched out the chocolates lost LOTS of points. I think that is the only candy that Bryon even went for. His total was like, negative 40 or something like that. He was a great sport!

Pinata.......

After the adults had their little candy fun it was time for the pinata!

Steve hoisted it up in the tree and we were ready to go.

We let Brayden go first because we were also celebrating his birthday.

Next was Luke's turn. This little plastic bat was just NOT cuttin' it. It didn't even make a dent. The younger kids did not like the blindfold so we just let them have at it. They were all grins and giggles.

Boo attacking the poor bunny.....

Kendra was much more brutal with the bat. Steve would raise and lower it so that sometimes they would swing at just the air. Kendra had a great technique of making contact.

We would blindfold the person, spin them around several times and then let them try to find the pinata. Kellyn found it quickly and proceeded to beat the tar out of the bunny but STILL NO LUCK! That is one tough pinata! Or else one extremely wimpy bat!

We decided to let the kids try again with a real bat. Brayden knocked the crap out of it this time. I remember that earlier that morning he was saying how he shouldn't hit girls and this was a girl bunny. He was really concerned about hurting her. Those thoughts didn't enter his mind once he got hold of this BIG bat. He let it RIIIIPPP!

Hey! Have Mercy on that poor little bunny! Watch this video....He has a wicked swing for such a small kid.

Lyss could barely lift the bat but she made contact a few times and was all giggles.

Lyssi in action...

Lyss wanted to just rip it apart with her hands. Karah is removing her to save the bunny.

Once the body of the bunny was finally broken Ty helped the candy scatter. The kids were not sure what to do. They needed a lot of encouragement to pick up the candy as fast as they could.

They filled their new easter baskets with the candy....

Luke, showing off his stash of candy to his grandparents.....

Help from Papa....

Even Evan got his stash of candy.... Eat up April! He needs the nourishment from all that yummy Mexican candy!

Time for the Head....

This pinata had two separate compartments for the candy. The body was demolished by the kids. Now it was time to crack open the head. It also was filled with candy. We decided to let the adults take a whack at it. Jan was the first to try. Kendra spun her mom around and around to get her dizzy and disoriented.

Once Jan had her blindfold on she decided she would put on her "shades" to block out the sun :) She is a riot. She is soooo funny. She has that same easy going, happy go lucky personality that Steve has. We really enjoy her company!

Ashlee got hold of the bat and really whacked it good. She is the only person who actually held the bat with both hands and riiiipped it. She was an awesome baseball player and if this bunny head were a softball, it would have been a HOME RUN! She really swung HARD!

We had April take a turn and decided to blindfold EVAN. No peeking!

A swwwiiing and a MISS!

This bunny sure took a beating but soon it's head was cracked open and the candy spilled out. It was a lot of fun and WAY too much candy. We are all going to have to go visit the dentist after eating all of these sweets.

We also bought some sling shots when we were in Mexico from this small boy on the street. They have been fun to play with and I have some really great targets to practice on, that like to hang around my pool :)

Here is Tyson teaching his son how to load, aim and fire!

Brayden is really concentrating.....

Kendra and Boo.....and my dalmation style railing.

I WILL PAINT IT THIS YEAR!!!!!!!

Birthday Time......

We headed inside to have some birthday cake for dessert. Howie found some awesome candles for Brayden's cake and he was excited to blow them out.

Usually there is MAJOR drama when a birthday cake comes out at our house. Lots of fights as to who gets to blow out the candles. I was prepared for a lot of crying and fighting BUT......

It DIDN'T HAPPEN!!! Yeah!

The kids all just let Brayden blow them out by himself as they watched. I was so impressed. They didn't have a meltdown in front of our guests. :) :) :)

It was really nice having Chris and Kellyn over. They are really great!

Brayden with my Camera.....

Brayden kept begging me to let him use my camera. He really loves to take pictures. I think he took about 30 to 40 shots. Digital cameras are awesome because you can just delete what ever you don't want. Here are some of the pictures that my buddy, Brayden took. They are pretty good!

"Daddy with my card from grams"

"My Golden Pirate Money from Grams"

"My cousin Kendra at the piano"

"My family"

"My mom and dad"

"My cousin and Aunt"

"My Grandma "T"

"My Papa Howie and Grandma "T"

"My cousin, Lyssi's head!"

"My cousin, Karah"

Time for Presents.....

Once everyone went home we opened up presents for Brayden's birthday. Aunt April spoiled him. Actually she found an amazing deal at the store that she couldn't pass up!

He got a Whiz Kid Program with lots of games to go with it.

He was so excited! I think his mom and dad liked playing with it too.

Showing brother how it works....

Big hugs to thank Aunt April!

While Jack-Jack played with his new toy the girls played with Howie.

They played with this weaving loom and it kept them entertained for a long time.....

Alyssa reading books....

Piano fun with Luke and Alyssa....

This didn't last long because it was SOOOO loud.

After Jack had some time to play with his present from April we let him open up ours. It was a Walley Computer which he has wanted for quite some time. Ashlee told us about how he reacted when he saw it for the first time in the store. He didn't want to leave the store without it. He really pitched a fit!

He was really excited when he opened it up.....

We had a great time the past two days celebrating his birthday.

EASTER EGG HUNT.....

This day was winding down and we were all exhausted but the kids wanted to search for the eggs that they colored earlier that day. I had other candy and goodies to hide besides the eggs but I decided to just hide the eggs and save the candy for later. (Months later) They had so much candy just from the pinata that I thought it was a bit much. I will have lots of treats when they come to visit, thats for sure! (Not sure why I don't have a single picture of Brayden looking for eggs. I know he was there but I didn't capture it. Bummer! Maybe Ashlee can send me a copy of one!)

It was funny as the kids found their eggs they would just plop them into the baskets and you would hear them crack. They have tons of smashed up eggs, but that doesn't matter much. As long as they had fun.

Reaching High to retrieve the egg.....

Lyss double fistin' it....

She loves to have something in each hand. It doesn't matter what it is. You can always find her hanging onto two of something.

After Karah filled her basket up with eggs she decided to go around and hide them so the the "little children" could find more. She went behind them and hid her eggs. There was a never ending supply of eggs thanks to Boo. Very thoughtful!

When we thought they were all found the kids counted up their eggs to make sure I wouldn't have any stinking eggs rotting in my front yard next week.

Lyssi with her stash.....

Eating some of the cracked ones......

It was a beautiful day and so nice to visit with our family.....

Hey, the blanket got pulled out and Lyss is laying on it!

Can you tell what time it is?

Yep! Time to go home.

She cracks me up how she drags out blankets as soon as she her mom talking about going home. She really loves her blanket rides.

A quick "whistling" lesson from Papa Howie before they leave. Karah has been practicing a lot lately. Papa Howie is a pro. You can always hear him whistling, humming, or singing a song. He is a Happy go lucky guy and you can tell just by listening to him.

This has been a great past few days. I am totally exhausted but the memories are WELL WORTH IT! I love my family and feel truly blessed to have them in my life. It has been great getting to know more of Howie's family. I think they are AWESOME! I always enjoy their company.