Easter Festivities

The Saturday before Easter Sunday is the day we typically reserve for the secular celebration of Easter. It was a bit of a cold and rainy day but we had fun anyways! In the morning we colored eggs and worked on our bunny baskets. In the afternoon we hopped on over to the church for the Pinewood Derby. Daniel did great! Then in the evening we enjoyed a nice little BBQ and egg hunt with a few friends. We're grateful everyone was such good sports about playing and hunting in the rain. Good times!

Our cute little egg decorators.

We saw this craft for bunny baskets in a magazine and thought we'd give it a whirl. The kids had a pretty good time making them. Definitely, something we'll do again.

The finished "bunny" baskets. Cute and fun to make.

And the hunt begins, regardless of the rain!

Sara thought it would be more fun to stop and eat the candy in her eggs everytime she found another egg. Silly girl! Notice the soaking wet pants, the rain didn't stop her from having a fun.

Funeral Potatoes with Funeral Ham

I don't mean this disrespectfully and sincerely hope not to offend anyone with the telling of this story....

On Saturday, Bryan was asked to preside over and conduct a funeral service. In conjunction with the funeral was a luncheon for the family. Well, there was quite a bit of ham leftover after the meal. After a generous portion was packed up for the family, the remaining meat was divided up among those who were involved in the "behind the scenes" portion of the service. Long story short, we got some of the ham. So for dinner tonight I used it in a casserole. We commonly refer to this dish as "funeral potatoes". Upon learning what we were having for dinner and the origin of the ham, the kids thought it was the funniest thing ever!!

Visiting Teaching

So how do you make up for being a lame duck visiting teacher and going on the last day of the month?

By taking goodies??

Yes, it's another attempt at craftiness. I "borrowed" the idea from Irene's blog.

If you're ever feeling crafty, check out Irene's blog for some great ideas!

He's a wolf!

Way to go Daniel!!

When friends come to town

It's always fun when friends come to town.

Too bad I didn't get any pictures with the kids and our friends.

Oops!

Daniel, Jared, and Sara riding the elephant sculpture at the zoo.

Oh no! Sara's out of bread for the ducks.

Grandparent visit

Grandpa and Granny Flores stopped in the weekend. It was so nice to see them. The kids had a blast!! Of course, Bryan and I were able to slip up to Mesa and attend a temple sealing of a family in our ward. Another one of the "perks" of Bryan's calling, gotta love it!!

Thanks Grandpa & Granny Flores for watching the kiddos!!

Stumped

I'm sad to report that our beloved ash trees have passed away. One of the things that first caught our eye about this house were the trees. Well, ash trees have rather hard wood, commonly used to make tool handles, bows, baseball bats, etc. Thus said the removal of stump #1 was no easy task. Bryan and Zach really went to work on it. Darryl and his chain saw came over to lend a hand but it wasn't until our home teacher and his father stopped by that the stump decided to budge. That was one tough stump!! In a couple of weeks, the process will begin again with stump #2.

Spring Carnival

Once again the carnival committee did an amazing job with this year's event!! Everyone had a wonderful time. Of course, our favorite performance of the night was the 3rd grade show.

Daniel we're so proud of you!!

Sara loved clapping for all the performers!

Cake Walk

We saw some really great cakes at the cub scout blue and gold banquet. They were inspiring! So, I decided once again to attempt craftiness and mimic one of the cakes we saw at the banquet. What do think? We certainly had fun putting it all together. So much fun that we made two!

Check out Family Fun for the recipe.

Auction Items

Okay, so this year for the school carnival's silent auction I thought I'd attempt to be crafty. Scary, I know but what can I say, we like livin' on the edge!

a few supplies & a couple of hours later....

...the finished products!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet

We had a great time at this year's

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet.

Daniel earned another bead towards his rank of wolf.

The scouts singing a fun rendition of "Do your ears hang low?"

Daniel chose to display his quarter collection and marble collection.

Daniel made a batman out of black beans and lentils.

Part way through dinner, Sara decided to "adopt" herself into another family. She picked up her plate and relocated into Carrie's lap. Sara simply adores Carrie and Tarin.

The leaders did an amazing job with the decorations. Wow!! It really felt like we were transported back in time and stepped into an old fashion fair. If you have a minute stop by Camille's blog for better pictures of the decorations. They really were amazing!

New Background

Daniel picked out our new blog background.

What do you think?

The Princess is 2!

Sara spent most of the day in her favorite pink princess dress, pink crown, click-clack shoes, and toting her pink blanket. Was she a sight to behold! Bryan came home early from work so we could sing "Happy Birthday" and enjoy Sara's cupcake tree before heading out to the church social.

Happy Birthday Princess!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Disclaimer: Don't look to close at the cupcake tree or you'll see the disfigured cupcakes she sampled before I was done frosting!

Check out our pretty princess!!

She did a fantastic job of blowing out her candles

without any help!

Hmmm.....Yummy!

Daniel checks out Sara's new Dora DVD

More Valentine Fun

There's something about chocolate

that always brings a smile to Sara's face.

Daniel with his valentines from Dad & Mom.

Jared showing off his valentines from Dad & Mom.

Bryan meet with a lovely surprise when

he reached his office at the church.

The activity day girls had decorated his door.

Each girl wrote a little message to Bryan.

This is definitely one of the perks of his calling!

Happy Valentine's Day

We love playing with food so I thought it might be fun

to surprise the kiddos with heart shaped pizza.

They loved it!

Bryan got tickets for us to see The Broadway Tenors
perform with the city symphony orchestra.

Ooohhh! What a fun night!
I loved every minute of the performance.

Thanks sweetheart! You're the best!!!

Don't they look yummy?

Cutting peperoni into heart shapes was no easy task.

...VERY MESSY...

But the look on the boys face made it all worth it!

I have the best hubby!!

Thanks Marcie & Dale for taking our kiddos TOTALLY at the last minute!

You're lifesavers!!

Homemade Valentines

Last year for Valentine's Day we made crayon hearts so this year we thought we'd try something different. The boys and I made little chocolate candies in the shapes of hearts, roses, fish, and coins. We enjoyed a fun couple of days with dipping chocolate and decorating Valentine cards. The Valentine packages were so cute, too bad I forgot to take a picture of the finished packages. Oops! Sara, of course, discovered the chocolates and put her 'Swiper' skills to work, snitching the chocolate every chance she got!

Jared hard at work decorating his valentine cards.

Daniel checking his list while

Mom fills little bags with chocolates.

Chocolates for Daniel's classsmates.

Our little chocolate taster!

Snow?

This morning we woke up to quite a sight....

Snow!!

Before heading off to school the boys and
Collin (a friend) had some fun in the backyard.

Jared, Daniel & Collin in front of our citrus tree.

Daniel on a snow-laden trampoline.

Poor Jared, he's SO cold. Brrrr!

Haircut

Sara had a her first haircut!!

Of course, she had a wonderful time

and confirmed our suspicion...

Sara is a girlie girl.

Sara was laughing and having a grand 'ol time with C.C.

Aren't kids suppose to be nightmares during their first haircut? I guess Sara didn't get the memo.

Sara loved the yummy candy C.C. rewarded her with for sitting so well.

Thanks C.C. for making Sara's first haircut so much fun!

A Playdate

Sara had a little friend over for a playdate

and they played so well together.

Don't these two little gals look just so cute?

They had a lot of fun checking out our neighbor's navitity.