Alyssa's Big Day

April 18th was Alyssa's big day that she decided to be baptized into our church. It was small and simple but perfect...well almost. I had decided to make a slide show to some primary songs and pictures of Alyssa from birth up to 8 to play while she was changing out of her wet clothes. I was so proud of myself that I actually did it (with some help from my brother). The only problem was that I waited till the last minute to do it and couldn't figure out how to put it on a DVD. I thought the hard part was making it...oh no..I was wrong. Needless to say I was down to 10 minutes before the baptism crying because it wasn't on a DVD and therefore it wasn't going to get played. I did suggest a back up plan to "someone" that I wanted in place but "someone" felt it would all work out and it wasn't needed. Lets just say that wives are ALWAYS right! Despite the lack of DVD it was great. My Dad gave the opening prayer, my Mom played the piano and gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, my Grandmother (Alyssa's Great Grandmother) lead the music, Elliott's Mom gave the talked on Baptism (she has an old old book all about baptism that she had the girls take turn reading out loud, leave it to Alyssa to say funny things), a member in our bishophic told a story to Alyssa that Alyssa had to point out that she already knew the story (we need to work on being "tactful" with her) and finally Elliott's Dad gave the closing prayer. We were so happy to see that he was able to make it considering his accident. Unfortunately they left right after and I wasn't able to get a picture with them. We had some family that joined us and some friends. Following we had everyone over for an open house in our home. Later that night I finally got the video on a DVD...next time I will not wait to the last minute!

Alyssa was baptized in a dress that my mother made for Kylee. I am having each girl wear it. Then she made a special white dress for her to wear afterwards. She showed up to the baptism in her "baptism dress" and their were some ladies their to help us get ready. Twice they tried to change her into a white jumpsuit that most kids wear. They were confused by the fact that she was wearing such a pretty dress to be baptized in. I am so glad I have a talented Mother that can sew for my girls.

Right before the baptism

After

Some of the family that was their on her special day




Great Grandparents

Grandpa and Grandma

Primary teacher and leaders

Easter

Easter was pretty simple this year. The Easter bunny brought Kylee and Alyssa some money in eggs, a little candy, and some earrings. They are saving up their money for a Nintendo DSI. The are getting pretty close. Ryann got a Sleeping Beauty barbie doll, coloring book, and a little candy. Addy got a big fluffy soft puppy that she loves, a book, and a little candy. After their egg hunt they did not need much candy. We went to Church and later that evening had our two nieces that are going to college away from home over to our house for dinner. The girls enjoyed dying some eggs. It was a simple, nice, quiet Easter and I loved it. Late that night I went and picked up my mom from the airport.

Addison has a love-hate relationship with the camera. It is all smiles or crying!

I am finding that the older I get the less I want to put an effort into getting their pictures taken because it can be the most unfun thing trying to get that perfect picture when they have no interest in having one taken in the first place. I snapped these just as we were out the door to church. We go early in the morning and to get myself ready with my thick obnoxious hair and then 4 more heads of hair done and out the door is a taunting task. When I was pregnant with Ryann and found out that she was going to be a girl I cried because the thought of one more head of hair to do before church flashed into my mind. I HATE being late to church or anywhere for that matter.

Dying Easter Eggs

Just finished with Dinner and Desert

Our Niece Rachel trying Cherry Pie for the first time. One of Elliott's and his Dad's favorite and he was shocked that she had never tried it...her verdict on the pie...

Not so much. She ate the crust and around the cherries.

Bunny Cakes

This year I decided to make a bunch of mini bunny cakes for my neighbors for Easter. The single ones were for the old widows. The girls had fun decorating them. I used my jumbo muffin tin to make the mini cakes.

Egg Hunt

Our Neighborhood had an egg hunt at the elementary school. It was in the field which meant an inability to really "hide" the eggs. It was merely hundreds of eggs all over the grass. The older kids did have a section that had a bunch on the grass but then some hidden around the baseball field and trees. I was a little irritated because it was cold and windy. Living in Wyoming for 4 years made me grow a hate and intolerance for the wind. For those of you unaware...WY is WINDY! And I am not talking about windy blowing your hair in a sexy way but windy as in your hair wraps around your face and you can't see, pieces of your house will detach and blow away, heavy black rod iron patio chairs will blow away like plastic, large sheets of plywood will blow away like paper, once my garbage can blew away in the field behind our house and I couldn't find it, and so windy that it is common that Semi-truck trailers get blown over often on the Interstate. Now add a temperature of 7 degrees and that is one sweet party!! I was SOOOOOO spoiled growing up in CA!! It seriously has perfect weather and I had no idea until I have lived in other places. It has set me up for an expectation that will never get met. Easter to me means that it is warm and you can wear your Easter dress without a winter coat! So now you can see a little why I might be irritated out in the cold wind looking for Easter eggs but at least it wasn't snowing!

Miss Addison wanted no part in taking pictures. She just wanted Mom to hold her. This is what happens to a hungry child. That kid needs her food and she can EAT! They had food there so she didn't get breakfast right away (will never do that again I will just feed her before we go). Look she finally has enough hair for pigtails! My girls (minus Alyssa) are bald the first year and then LOOK OUT it comes in!

Before the egg hunt. This picture does no justice but eggs were all over the field. They had areas for 0-3, 4-6, and 7-11. Tons of eggs!

Ryann gathering the eggs

Addison wanted no part when it came to holding her basket, collecting eggs, taking pictures, or even picking up candy that was on the ground next to the eggs that were to big for the eggs...CREEPY, CREEPY, CREEPY! (this picture is not a mistake on my part but for some reason flips up when uploaded I tried twice and it is what it is) The 0-3 age group kids were done and there were still lots of eggs. The older kids came in and finished it up after.

Addison eating my favorite kind of muffin...Chocolate Chocolate Chip.

Kylee getting some eggs

Alyssa and her basket FULL of eggs!

Despite my dislike for the wind and cold and a creepy one year-old they had a blast and got tons of candy!

Crash

March 29th we got a phone call from Elliott's Mom that his father has got into an accident and was in the ICU. The day before he went to pick up his Harley that had been in storage for the winter. He decided to take the long way home. He did in some sense take a long way home because he didn't make it home for over a week. He was on a highway around here that periodically has stop lights. As he was coming up to one he didn't have enough time to stop and ran into the back of a SUV. Rear-ending a SUV is not highly recommended when one is on a motorcycle. It left him with a broken pelvis. It took the Doctors until 10 pm that night to stabilize him. He was at the same hospital that Elliott had his surgery. I guess you can say our car has an auto-pilot to the hospital. Because of complications they had to wait a few days until they were able to do surgery. 4 or 5 days later after the surgery they sent him home. It is a LOOOONNNNGGG recovery. His doctor said that by the end of August he was going to have him golfing but for now it is a wheelchair and walker for him. Luckily for him his house has an elevator which was needed for Elliott's Mom because of her car accident that almost killed her 10 years ago. And as for the bike he has chosen to no longer keep it which is a little sad because he loved going on long rides.

This is the end result of the bike with over $12,000 in damage. Cars definitely look worse from a crash but when you think that a person was on this and now it is in pieces...we are sooo lucky that he is not only still with us but that he is going to be okay.

After the Priesthood Session of conference Elliott went by to see his Dad. Normally they go to the session together so it was only fitting that he went by after to visit him. It was really hard for him to see his Father like that. On a side note...one night his Dad had a nightmare that he was in hell. Note...NIGHTMARE...hell was a place with a bunch of women that were all non-stop talking! We thought this was funny. He is still in a lot of pain but is looking much better.

The Puppy Puddles Show!

Starring Kylee and Ryann....

Our highlight Sunday evening was attending a show that starred Kylee and Ryann in their playroom. We often find ourselves invited to dance shows, puppet shows, restaurants, schools, beauty parlors etc as parents of creative girls. They set up or come up with something that we are then invited to take a part of. They are always....."entertaining" in some way. Usually we are given some warning because posters will appear all around the house inviting us to one of these events. Sunday it was the Puppy Puddles! It was a dance show with three different songs and different outfits. So off to the play room we went for our show. They had a curtain (blanket), used blankets for "the stage", and had chairs set up for us to sit.

The first Dance was to "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow

Next Dance was to "Just a Girl" by No Doubt

The Final Dance was to "Wild Child" by Enya
This show they used cotton balls to throw up in the air for an added effect.

This picture with Kylee in that pose cracks me up.

At the very end Kylee played "Who Let the Dogs Out" and invited us all to join in and dance. She can be such a great big sisters to Ryann. Who wouldn't want their big sister to play with you. I did video about 17 seconds of this dance on my camera. So you can get just a little glimpse of Puppy Puddles!

Grandpa Turns 93!

On April 1st I spent the afternoon at with my Mom's Parents and two of her sisters. We were celebrating my Grandpa's 93rd birthday. Me turning into my mother I may tend to be a little forgetful and forgot to take my camera (sorry Mom, Mayna and Rebecca both took pictures if you need copies). Unfortunately, Addison had been fighting a nasty cold and so Elliott stayed home with her. It was just Ryann and I since the big girls were in school. I am so lucky to still have two grandma's and one grandpa still alive. We ate food, sang Happy Birthday, had cake and ice cream, and then my grandmother told me some stories of the past. It was a wonderful afternoon away from a sick clingy baby spending time with my grandparents and aunts and uncle.

Memories of my Grandpa:

Growing up in CA we would only see my Grandparent about once a year. Whenever they would come out to see us they would always bring their pennies, nickels, and dimes and divide them up amongst my siblings. I remember thinking they must be rich having so much money. As I got a little older every time I would see my grandpa he would remind me of when I was a little girl and asked him why he had so much hair on his chest but no hair on his head. His response to me was that one day while he was bending over all of the hair on his head fell onto his chest...

Elliott and I have fond memories of playing games with them when we were engaged and I was living with them for a semester. I will never forget one time my grandmother was bent over picking something up and my grandpa walked by and gave her a little spank on the behind. He is such a cute old man.

Happy 93rd Grandpa!