Slurpee Time

There were no 7-11's in Milwaukee so we were so excited to discover one here because we have missed Slurpees :) Unfortunately it is in a rather sketchy part of town so I am not sure we'll be back there again anytime soon. But I love how something as simple as a Slurpee can bring so much happiness....

Bunnies, birthdays and more

Easter - Connor's birthday - Mother's Day. This sums up our last three weekends. We have been busy, but luckily it's the best kind of busy :)

Kate wanted to wear her Easter dress even though she wasn't able to go to church (she had a bit of a fever that day....)

The biggest egg in our Easter egg hunt...

Connor's birthday was a three day celebration that included a friend party, family party, and a classroom celebration (whew!) We decided to scale WAY down this year with the friend party so we had Connor pick 4 friends he'd like to take to Wonderlab and then we had cake and ice cream back at the house. It was heavenly to have such a low-key party - none of this sewing hats and making 3 pinatas and coordinating two hours worth of games for 10 five-year-olds (what were we thinking last year??)

Wonderlab is great entertainment for kids this age (and adults too!)

Cake and ice cream with Phineas and Ferb :)

Mother's Day was wonderful. How could it not be when I have kids that are this cute?!?

Owen's Mother's Day gift to me is that he has started crawling. I'm not sure if that is a good gift or not.

Kate-isms

I've got to put these on here so I don't forget. Some of my favorite Kate sayings:

"I'm not stinkin', I'm just cute!"

(when I tell her she's "so stinkin' cute")

"I love you BETTER!"

(after I say "I love you")

She's such a sweetheart. AND so stinkin' cute.

Hooray for Spring!

Yes, we are glad winter is finally behind us.....

That means baseball games in the front yard......

playing at the park.....

and Spring Break!

For Spring Break we took a little road trip to St. Louis and had a fabulous time. Part of what made it fun was meeting up with some old Bechtel friends. We went to the zoo, the City Museum and the St Louis Science museum, and checked out the Gateway Arch. I just have to put a good word in for the City Museum......it was amazing! If you have active kids who love to run around and climb (I guess that's just the definition of "kid," isn't it?) then this is somewhere you need to go. We had to drag the boys out of there at closing time :) "Museum" is a misnomer, it is a huge indoor/outdoor play area with, among other things, a ten story slide (yes you read that correctly.) Tons of fun. I didn't, however, get many pictures as we were too busy keeping track of the kids. Here's one of Connor climbing in the skate park (no skateboards there, it was just a place for the kids to run around...)

So I guess I just took a break from picture taking that entire weekend. Oops. Anyway, for the rest of spring break, we slept in, went to the park and the Wonderlab, had friends over, and just relaxed. But I'll have to admit that I enjoyed the calm of a routine once the kids went back to school....

OK so this wasn't during spring break, but last week Kate, Owen and I went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum for playgroup. This is Kate at the Dora exhibit. I think this is a byproduct of having two older brothers, but she is pretty much obsessed with Diego and wouldn't even let me get her picture next to Dora. But can you blame her? Rescuing endangered animals is just SO COOL.

March Madness

Yeah so I'm super lame with blogging lately. It seems like usually something will happen and I'll think I SHOULD BLOG ABOUT THIS, but for some reason I don't think that about anything lately. So all I've got is us messing around on the computer....

This is my favorite....

Jill

My mom would have been 61 today. It's amazing how ten years feels like an eternity and yet in some ways I can't believe I have gone so long without her here. In honor of the occasion I thought it would be fun to share a few memories....

My mom loved Coke. Not Diet Coke, but the original, full of sugar Coke. She went through several cans a day, but to say it that way is a little misleading. She would pour her can of coke into a glass that was so full of ice that I don't know how any of the drink could actually fit in there. And then she'd have a few sips, and that would be it until later in the day when she'd open a new can of Coke and start the process all over again. All I can think is that must have gotten pretty expensive over the years.

She loved to read the newspaper. It was a daily ritual. Never saw her open a book, but she really loved the paper. And People magazine.

She ate hamburgers plain. No cheese, tomatoes, or lettuce. And condiments were an abhorrence. She also ate pizza without the tomato sauce. I wonder if that sort of thing is a genetic trait, because Cameron and Connor only eat pizza without the cheese. I don't know which is weirder.....

She loved going to movies, and if she really liked the movie she would buy the soundtrack (it seems like movies always used to have soundtracks, didn't they?) and we'd have to listen to it for WEEKS.

My mom was the BEST if you ever got sick. She was so understanding and compassionate and always took such good care of us. Maybe it's because she dealt personally with a lot of sickness in her adult life and that gave her a lot of empathy??? I don't know, but I still really miss her when I'm not feeling well.

She loved sending cards to her close friends and family. Birthday cards, thank you cards, just-thinking-of-you cards, etc. She was just really thoughtful like that :)

She worked professionally as a still photographer for awhile when I was a teenager. I think that's really cool and wish I had inherited her photography skills.

My mom had a very simple faith. She wasn't the type that went around quoting scriptures or explaining complicated gospel doctrines, but she taught me right from wrong through her actions and how she lived her life. It was a very powerful way for me to learn the way I should live.

My mom was one of the most unconditionally loving people I have ever known. She was kind to everyone and fiercely loyal to those who were close to her. I knew that there were no expectations that I had to act or be a certain way, that just being her daughter was enough. That has always meant so much to me and still does.

Well, that is all for now. Happy birthday mom! I'm off to drink a coke.....

Christmas Adventures

So I'll be honest, a part of me was NOT looking forward to our Christmas trip to Utah. Traveling at Christmas can be SOOOOO stressful and I wasn't sure I had the energy to put up with it all. And things started pretty rough, with a 4am wake up and a race to get to the airport in Indy. We had a scare when we were told we could not fly with Owen without providing a copy of his birth certificate (what?!?!) So I had to stay back and wait in more lines while Keith went ahead with the other kids. Apparently I was able to convince them that Owen was under 2 - duh! - and I made it on the flight as they were finishing boarding. Whew! At that point I felt I had endured enough stress to last me the entire trip, so I prayed the rest of the trip would go more smoothly. And it did :) Really our entire vacation was close to perfect, and for that I am very grateful.

Our little Christmas nativity with Owen as baby Jesus, Kate as Mary, Connor as Joseph, and my dad and Cameron as shepherds. No wise men, since we have a biblical scholar with us who reminded us that the wise men most likely came at a later time :)

Mary and baby Jesus - so cute.

A very excited Kate on Christmas Eve.

Some of the Christmas day carnage...

Keith's brother Scott enjoying a litte mate (mah-tay).

After Christmas, we spent a couple of days in Blackfoot with some of Keith's family. Some of the adventures included a guitar lesson for Cameron....

And snowman building....

Once we arrived back in Provo, Connor kept insisting that he wanted to go hiking, so Keith braved the cold and took Connor and Kate up Provo Canyon. Cameron, Owen and I decided to stay home that day :)

Oh I love those mountains!!

Another highlight of the trip was the Johns reunion at Nate and Steph's house.....

Aunt Janelle with cousin Jada.

Grandpa with Kate and Owen.

Cousins opening gifts....

Part of our gathering was a bunch of Minute To Win It challenges (you'll understand this if you've seen the show.) We definitely had some laughs :)

Garrett getting all tangled up....

Yes we did some strange things....

The girl cousins had a great time getting makeovers and putting on a dance performance for us. They kept dancing and dancing and dancing....

Thank you to everyone who helped make our trip so perfect. We'll see you in June!