Easter Pictures

Just some quick Easter Pictures. I can't wait till it's warmer and we can take some nice spring shots with the boys and their Easter clothes. Maybe we'll fake some at Crown Center this Saturday....with the waterfall hotel.

The boys in their favorite colors - Ashton, blue; Ethan, green; (by the way Ashton's other favorite color is pink! Sorry Dad!)

Knock on wood, but we're happy to announce that Ashton is officially potty trained. He's been wearing big boy underwear since January, but since March, he's been realitively accident-free. The boys spent all day Saturday with my parents so we could go to the temple, and he didn't have an accident with Grandma or Papa, so I'm calling it official! Ethan was potty-trained by 2 1/2, so 2 and 2 months isn't bad for babe #2.



These outdoor shots are from the playgroup Easter Egg Hunt. It was so cold and we didn't have jackets. When the hunt got moved outside at the last minute, Ash wore one of Ethan's coats that was accidently left in the Honda.







Some of these got mixed up. This is from Easter Morning and Grandma and Papa Tubbs' House. They just got new carpet in the living room, and with the missionaries living downstairs, we were left with the kitchen and dining room for our Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Morning :o)

The Easter Bunny - Not so cute and cuddly?!

My friend Jenny (from the South side of the city :o) and I got together this week since school was out and the kids were anxious for playmates. We decided to go to the mall to visit the Easter bunny and ride the Merry-go-Round. We let the boys play around in the old playground area (minus the playground equipt because it's under construction, but the kids didn't mind) and waited until the line was short. As we stood in line, Jenny and I wondered if we could take pictures ourselves instead of buying theirs at $20 for a wallet. We noticed the other parents were taking pictures, so we felt safe to do so as well.

Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny (of which I have on good authority is a girl) and who is not as soft and cuddly on the inside as first believed, came over to me and curtly declared I would only get one shot (we're guessing this is because I had a professional camera.) Since the Bunny wasn't feeling the Easter love, we did our best. (See the two pictures below with the infamous bunny!)

The boys. I'm glad they are all close in age and love to play together!

Her cheerful vest, with its school-bus-yellow flower buttons, and her warm and fuzzy exterior are only a ploy, as her inside is icy....

I Love to Build the Temple

Ethan and Ashton love blocks, like any kid (these are from China, note the Asian looking faces on Moroni) Ethan probably loves blocks more than most, and can usually be found building anything, anywhere. The other day he brought this large regular of blocks. Here's how the conversation went...

Ethan - "Look Mom, I made it really tight."

Mom - "Is it hollow? Are their men in there?" (I inferred this from buildings he had constructed in the past)

Ethan - "No, Mom, it's solid. Look" He takes off the top layer and shows me that this time there are no men, or weapons, hiding inside.

Mom - "Ethan, this looks like a foundation, like of a building."

Ethan - "Yeah, I built it nice and tight so the building wouln't fall down."

Like any good mom, I took this opportunity to talk to him about firm, sturdy foundations and how they are important in buildings and in life. I concluded with the antedote about how the Salt Lake City Temple had a crack in its original foundation and they had to rebuild it.

He then look at me with bright eyes and said, "Well, hold on a minute, Mom"

He returned in two seconds flat to have added a steple and Angel Moroni. Then announced it was a temple. He then, told me to hold on and raced back to the bucket of blocks, only to return with four more people, saying, "Mom, that's our family. We're going to the temple."

It's hard to keep dry eyes when you realize how lessons actually do sometimes sink in.




They boys are so used to being the subject of my photography (and test projects) that they immediately posed for this picture all on their own. I had to take it, of course :o)

Kaleidoscope Fun

I can't believe we had never been to Kaleidoscope before, but it was great fun (and craziness!) The kids enjoyed the craft projects and the cave, but I think their favs was the black lit room. Sadly, I don't have many pictures from that day because it was so hectic. Here's the closing shot, though. We love our friends the Staggs and were really glad they invited us along!

Ethan's Valentines Party at PreK

Thanks to my good friend Stacy, I was able to go to Ethan's Valentine's party at PreK. They made cute picture frames, exchanged valentines, and ate cookies. I will look for one of Ethan's valentines and post it that he gave out. We wanted to do a star wars theme, of course, so it was interesting writing valentines like Yoda would talk. Ethan misses his best friend Parker who moved away to Utah who was also in his class. He tells me he likes Will, Cole and Owen the best now.

Making the frames.




The lady in the very appropriate valentines heart sweater is his teacher. She's retiring after this year...Hmmmmm...I wonder if this is a coincidence.

What's valentines without treats?

In this candid, Ethan, Will and Owen are discussing transformers. Look how excited he is.

Old Pals Playdate

It's strange how one minute you're a junior in high school and spelling your friends names out of pretzels in the journalism room, and next minute you're past 30 and have kids spilling pretzels all over your journals.

It was so fun to have my friends from Leavenworth High School over back in January (I know, I know, it takes me forever to post pictures!) We get together once or twice a year and have so much fun reminising about old times and old boyfriends and old teachers and sharing the difficulty of potty training, teething, and being pregnant (with a toddler). My only regret this time, was that Julie and her little Trevor couldn't make it. We missed you, Julie!




Lauren holding Tania's little Otto...what a charmer (and the baby's cute too!)

Natalie and her little Charlie. I think Emma and Ethan were running around too much to get them still enough for a picture :o)

Ethan, Emma, Claire are swallowed by the ball pit. Charlie....do you dare?

Tania with her two adorable little ones, Otto and the newly potty training champ, Gretchen. Tania, thanks for the tip about Steve and Barry's. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!

Charlie and Hayden ejoyed the slide. Trust me, Hayden did love the slide, he was just annoyed with Aunt Lori and the camera in his face. What little heartbreakers!

Shhhhh.....Don't tell Claire and Ashton that they're cords aren't connected... Ashton was potty training, that's why he's sans pants.

Making Mr. Naismith Proud

In January Ethan played a session of community basketball. This was his first experience in basketball and he liked it a lot. There were some better dribblers and shooters out there, but when it came to the game, Ethan was the most engergetic and stole the ball the most times. He had more than 10 steals.