Easter Sunday

We had a very nice Easter this past Sunday. It was really nice because the kids spent the night with Zac's parents while we went to Stake Conference Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was so nice to be able to listen to the talks without wrestling kids. Afterward, we went to Zac's parents and waited until they got out of church. The kids were excited that the Easter Bunny had come while they were at church. It was a really nice day....and that's the last time I am going to say nice. Sorry, good descriptive words are not coming to my mind at the moment!

Lydee's Baptism!

We had a great day today as we got to watch my niece Lydee (Zac's sister's daughter!) get baptized. It's crazy how fast these kids grow up! We loved being part of her special day!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Last week, Ben celebrated his 9th birthday. I talked him into just celebrating with family this year and he picked his favorite restaurant...Red Robin..to go to dinner. Zac's family came and we enjoyed a nice night out to celebrate with Ben.

Ben and his cousin Lydee

Rachel attacking Ben!

Ben loves new clothes....especially plaid shorts! He thinks he is a fashion expert....and what I get a kick out of is that he likes to make comments about what I'm wearing on occasion! Like..."Mom...I don't think that looks very good what you are wearing"...or..."Mom...that is a nice shirt....is that new?" He cracks me up!

His actual birthday was the next day, but since he had school and soccer practice..there wasn't much time to celebrate! He was excited to take some soccer cupcakes to practice to pass out to his teammates. He was also excited that I bought him Subway for dinner...he loves a good sandwich!

Ben is a great kid. He definitely has broken us in as the 1st child..trying us in every possible way, but we love to see him grow and are so glad he's part of our family! I might post some baby pictures because I've had fun looking back through the last 9 years...but we'll see if I ever get around to it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here's my luck trying to get a picture of 3 kids!

Rachel's shirt says "Dad's Lady Luck"
Hope your day was filled with lots of luck!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Last Saturday (March 7) was Rachel's birthday. I can't believe she is already 1. Time flies by so fast and she is getting bigger each day. I want her to stay a baby, so I'm a little sad to see her turn 1, but since I can't stop her from aging, we enjoyed celebrating her special day. Here's some reminiscing from that day..one year ago!



One year later.................!

Still a cutie!

We pulled out the cupcake barrettes for her big day (she got the outfit as a gift at my baby shower from my neighbor...it fit her at just the right time!).

We set a few items out to see what Rachel's future interests might be (we got the idea from some friends...thanks D family!). I tried to post a video like three times but it would never work..oh well. She chose the toothbrush....she has a heart like her Grandpa Fellars, Uncle D. Max, and Grandma Bonnie!

I wonder if she is thinking what the big fuss is all about!

She is a true girl at heart...she didn't like the mess of the cake.

We tried a few different ways to get her to eat the cake, but there would be no birthday mess for this one year old! Oh well, maybe this means she didn't inherit my sweet tooth!

Oh What Do You Do in the Wintertime? - Part 1

Winters are LONG in Utah! Cold, snowy, winters are a phenomenon for people who live in places like California. That was me my whole childhood and teen years. Some people may have fond memories of playing in the snow as a child. I, however, have fond memories of some nice cool days, lots of sunshine, and the occasional Santa Ana winds! Anyways, I've had to adjust to the long cold winters in Utah. I realized though, that I might be depriving my kids of some lasting memories, if I didn't allow them to fully enjoying what you can of the cold and snow. They've played in the yard and shoveled snow, but they had never gone sledding. On President's Day, I decided it was time they experienced that fun, and took them to a local City park where they could start out on a little hill. We went with some friends, and the boys had a great time. I liked sitting in the warm car while Rachel slept where I could watch them from the parking lot go down the little hill. Here are some highlights:

Sorry Nicole...I didn't get permission to post this picture, but it looks like you were having a lot of fun!

Our friend Sarah and her 1 1/2 year old daughter Analese!

Kristen, Sariah, and Kelsey

The kids had a great time and I had fun watching. I still don't think I missed out on too much as a kid. Next time we'll take them to a bigger hill. The only bummer of the day was the fight over the kids wearing helmets..you can tell who won...and Ben throwing his gloves and hat somewhere that were no where later to be found (Do they think the world is their living room?)

Oh What Do You Do in the Wintertime? - Part 2

Another part of having long cold winters is the necessity of spending a lot more time at home. I think it's due to that fact that there is one thing that seems to happen to me every time this year. I start noticing some of my boring white walls and get the itch to paint. This year was no different and this time we tackled the dreaded kitchen. This has been taking up most of my spare time lately, but it's kept me busy and has been fun....except for the dreaded task of picking the right color! After putting up 3 different color samples on the wall, picking a 4th new color that my poor husband and father-in-law painted the whole kitchen with, woke up the next morning and was disappointed that it just didn't turn out like I'd imagined or hoped, decided that I really needed to change it before the second coat went up or I'd be bugged forever, went back to the paint store and re-tinted my test can..not once...but twice (I stared knowing these guys by name almost..but they were fabulous to work with!), and finally decided on the RIGHT color. Zac was pretty frustrated with me, but let me pick another color anyways! (He's always saying he needs more patience...I was just trying to help him out!) This past week, I started re-painting it on my own with the help of a friend, and then re-inforcements came Friday night with Zac, his dad, and brother helping to get it all done! Painting the kitchen is such a big job once....let alone twice! ( I really felt bad they had to help again!)

Here are the results...but hard to tell from the pictures:

I painted the archway a suede sage green..it's on both sides in the kitchen and family room. At first I thought it was like walking through an enchanted forest...but now I'm used to it and love it

The kitchen is a light tan...not too noticeable in these pictures, but it has the subtle look I was going for that warms up the kitchen. The other color was kind of a creamy tan with a green undertone...it wasn't bad but it didn't have that much color to it. I am definately not an interior decorater, but I'm happy how it turned out and so glad to be done. We only have a little touch up to do and then I get to put things back up on the walls and have my kitchen back!

OK.....now I am ready for the sun to come out and spend more time outside. I think I'm done with painting for now.....until next winter!

A Whole New World!

Rachel has been a little bit cautious in her desire to move around. At her 9 month check up, her doctor thought she should be doing a little bit more, but I disagreed and thought it was just fine for her to just sit in one place and not move anywhere. The boys both crawled and walked a little later than average, so for me it is totally normal. I don't see what the big rush is for babies to be on the move. We actually went to a child development specialist and they wanted me to do exercises with her, which I kind of did but not really. Like I said, I wasn't too concerned. Anyways, finally one day she got the hang of it..just about a week after she turned 11 months. For me...it is all over at that point. Long gone are my long hot showers when I know she'll happily play in one spot. Now, I get to have new little messes all over the house like this one:

Who can get mad at such a sweet little face?

This video was taken about 2 weeks ago, after she had been crawling for about a week. She thinks she is pretty cool now that she can get around!

She's gotten a lot faster since then, so we have to be more aware of where she is. It's been a long time since I've had a baby on the move, so it's like I'm having to re-learn everything! In fact, today I had one of those worst parent of the year moments when I left her on the bed while I told Zac something as he was leaving and totally forgot that she could move, until she fell right off the bed. I felt so horrible and I'm thankful she was all right. Like I said....it's a whole new world!

V-Day/B-Day

On February 14, not only do we celebrate Valentine's Day, but we also get to celebrate Zac's birthday! He is lucky to have to worry about getting me a present on his birthday...and I am lucky I get to worry about getting him 2 presents! I always feel bad because he ends up planning something special for me when it's his birthday, but it just goes to show what a great husband he is! This year was no different..he planned a suprise for me...and I threw in a little suprise for him. Here is a run down of the day!

Zac went to a church basketball game in the morning, so when he got home, Lucas dressed up like a Sherrif (you can't see that he has his hat and bandanna on) and told Zac he was being kidnapped. We allowed him to get ready, then headed out the door.

We took him to Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It's always a fascination for the boys to see them making doughnuts. Zac has fond memories from his mission of visiting Krispy Kreme's often. Now that they have franchised out West...it's not such a novelty..but fun to go every once in awhile.

The birthday boy! I love that here are hearts in the background...how fitting!
Rachel had fun eating doughnuts....she is always funny when we give her new tastes...but she enjoyed a couple of bites at least!

This was the kind of weather we had that morning....I hadn't seen the roads that bad in awhile. We saw 3 or 4 slide-offs on the freeway...the whole way I kept thinking....what in the world are we doing out in this weather! Luckily...we made it around safely!

Afterwards, I took Zac shopping with me to find my Valentine's gift...I'd wanted some wall decor for our bedroom and had seen something at Rod Works (they have a clearance store where everything is %50 off!) We did come home with something for the bedroom, but we also came home with this big thing that we used to fill up this huge empty wall in the our entry way. It's fun to find something you are not quite expecting to.

That night, Zac had gotten reservations and planned an evening with friends at my favorite restaurant, Maddox! I always love to eat there. Afterwards, we came home and had cake and ice cream.

I tried to make a 3 and 5 with the candles, but it just looks like a bunch of candles. Zac doesn't really like to make a big deal of his birthday....so that's why I think it's fun to make him blow out candles!

Happy Birthday Zac! We had a great day. I'm greatful to have such a wonderful husband. Zac is greatful to be able to be as old and wise as me for 2 months....until my next birthday when I take the advantage once again!

Draper Temple Open House

This past Thursday, I decided that since my kids were out of school, we should take them down to the Draper Temple Open House. Zac worked a half day and we met him in Salt Lake to go to lunch and then to the open house. I kind of had a rude awakening of having to get all my kids dressed in church clothes all by myself (Zac just got called into the bishopric and this will be our new routine!) It was a great day and I'm glad my kids got to see the inside of a temple. Hopefully they will remember the feeling and beauty of the temple and be able to return there someday!

I realized when we were trying to get out the door, that I didn't know how to tie Ben's tie. He just started wearing regular ties and usually Zac ties it for him. You would think with 6 brothers that I would have picked up on that ..but I guess I just never needed to know...until now! We had a good laugh with me trying to do it...and even got out Ben's cub scout manual that shows you how to do it. This was my first attempt...a little uneven...but he left it to show his dad how is mom can't tie a tie! I guess I need to work on that for Sundays...today I gave it another shot and I got it a little more even!

Do you think it was a little bit windy there by the looks of my hair?

The gang at the church next to the temple..they give out free cookies to everyone!

Lucas took this picture while we were waiting for our bus back to our car. We had to wait awhile and Rachel was plenty ready to go to sleep by the time we got back.