Easter Kids!

So I finally am posting the kids Easter pictures that I took late.

Better late than never though right? Love that toothy grin!

My boys are getting so bad about having their pictures taken

they complain endlessly. It was almost impossible to get

pictures on the sunday after Easter when we were finally all

together again.

Just seeing those smiling faces makes my day!

loved this of the girls!

brown-eyed boy!

My boys!

Who said he could get so big?

Come on Noah!

Honestly, I never did get a good one
of him.

Cheeser !

love that crinkle nose

Sweet little lady

Garden's In!

We spent the weekend planting our garden! I am so happy that it is at our house this year! I love looking out the window and seeing it! It makes me feel like I have accomplished something. We planted our "cold" weather stuff, now we just have to wait and hope that it doesn't go below zero. Last year it did get below zero at the end of April, so here's hoping it stays warm enough to let our garden grow. Carrots, potatoes, Kohlrabi, cabbage, onions, peas, lettuce, swiss chard, beets and what I am most excited about...Asparagus! Can't wait to feast. Noah was a great help with the onions and the girls. Noah and I love the feel of soft dirt! There's nothing better.

Mara planted many of the onions...they just happened to be in the wrong row or in the walking path, but they "transplanted" into their correct spot when she wasn't looking. She is definately a determined little girl who thinks that she can do everything anyone else can.

Yes, that is dirt in my little baby's mouth. She loved it. She kept putting it in her mouth and hair and throwing it all over. She loves to be outside. She makes a bee-line for the door whenever it is left open even for a second. She spent the entire day outside and was in heaven!

Mara is a great big sister, and even if Emma didn't want help, Mara was quick to give it. She was constantly doating over her and "helping" her walk even though she would have prefered to do it herself.

That 's my man! The love of my life. I must just say that I am so grateful that he indulges me and helps me do all the things that I think are fun (i.e. gardening, goating, chickening, fencing) And I think that he is loving it even though he always says these things are my idea. I couldn't have been more blessed with a perfect match! Oh how I love that may of mine! (I especially love his lamb chops!)

*Spring Break: April 2009*

We had Thursday and Friday and Monday and Tuesday off of school this year, so on Monday we met my parents in Idaho Falls to pick up Max and stayed at my cousin Melissa's house. The kids had a great time. Swimming in the pool at her hotel and playing with her little puppies! Thanks Melissa for a great time.( I am so sad that I didn't get pictures of her and swimming) On the way home we stopped in Rexburg to see my dad's high school friend and ride his horses. It was really cold and snowy, so we just rode for a little bit, but it was fun all the same.My dad with Mara

Waiting to saddle up! Can you see the eternal grin on Max's face?

This horse is a team roping horse that has won in many rodeos. Max was in heaven.

Here's us all! :) minus Emma who was thankfully asleep in the house. The boys were quite impressed with Gary's land and spent almost the entire time saying..."If I lived here we could..." They loved the river and woods and all the cool places that they could play "wild men" They really wished it was warmer so that they could stay out all day!

Max's turn!

Mara and Gary

Sam solo

Me and Mara I made the horse run and she said "just walk mom, just walk"

Later the boys found the bear skin rug and had a great time with it. Noah got under it and started moving so that it looked like the bear was alive-Creepy! He was scaring all of Gary's granddaughters with it (not really, they were all just playing really well together) Sam and Noah got a hold of my camera and when I was looking at the pictures later I found this...

CRAZY BEAR ATTACK!!!!!

Like your going to punch an attacking bear :)

My leg, my leg....

Another one who thinks they can punch an attacking bear!

He's being eaten BY a bear...or is HE eating the bear?

Easter Morning

Easter Morning was a bright and sunny one! The Easter bunny hid eggs outside and in the front room. (thanks to great parenting about three years ago, my boys don't really believe in the easter bunny anymore.) They are really good to get the little girls involved though, and leave eggs for them to find. Noah and Sam really wanted to hide the eggs this year, so on Saturday night we had some friends over and we had a hunt in the front yard and Sam and Noah hid the eggs.
Just before church, the kids were looking really sharp, but the picture is missing something...or someone...MAX!
We were really hoping the easter bunny found him in Utah. He had an egg hunt at Ryan's parents. He got to find eggs all by himself. How odd for him to be all alone...Wierd! He said he loved it though, he didn't have to share anything with his brothers, and he didn't have to fight for the most eggs, they were just all his. It is so amazing how much diffrence just one kid makes. Each one really play a huge role in our family, I can't imagine not having each one of them.

Loved this picture of Mara. She has started to have so many facial expressions that really crack me up!

After church we went over to the Becker's for an egg hunt and dinner, here are all the kids waiting to find lots of eggs.

The dog "Trixie" wondering just what Mara was looking for!

He is about the size of three of her.

Rushing to the next one!

Emma with her bucket and her daddy! Life is good for a one year old.

Dad helping open her candy!

How sweet that picture is!

Counting all the eggs to make sure that all were found.

Diggin' in to the loot!

I had to post this crazy picture of me that Noah took, just for proof that I lived through this Easter! I actually was there, and it was a great one! Hope yours was just as great.

(On a side note, I lead the choir in our ward and the week before Easter, I found out that I was only going to have one Soprano there. So I frantically called a bunch of people and became that choir director that nags everyone to come to choir-I swore I'd never be that, desperate times call for desperate measures- we had a practice on Saturday, and I thought well, it will do. But when we actually performed, It was so good! Better than we had ever practiced, and you could totally tell we had divine help! It was so great...just goes to show that you do the best you can, and the Lord will make up the rest. I wonder how many times I've had to learn that lesson now...you'd think I would get it sooner or later.)

~Eggs and Such~

I have been waiting for Easter since we got the chickens last June! We have a few Arachana hens that lay "Easter Eggs". The eggs are light green, pink, and sometimes a blueish color, and the kids insist that they taste better than ordinary white or brown eggs.

It was really strange this year to color easter eggs without Max (He was in Utah) We got this tye dye kit that I thought would be fun and ended up just making the eggs ugly. Never again! We also got sand art. What idiot thought that up? And why was I such an idiot to buy the kit. Again, I was just thinking it would be fun to do...didn't think about peeling the eggs and getting sand all over what your supposed to eat. I vow next year to be smarter!

Here's all the crew getting ready to color...minus Max.

I gave the neighbors "Easter Eggs" this year. I had to, what good would it be to have easter egg chickens if you couldn't give them to your neighbors for easter. It was great fun, and they looked so cute!

So our colored eggs looked so ugly I wouldn't even take a picture of them, and the real eggs were so cute I had to take a picture of them...Moral of the story...mother nature's the best decorator this year.

Soaking up the Vitamin D! and F!

Finally the sun is peaking it's head out in our part of the country! We were so excited to be out in it all day today. We all got "kissed by the sun" and I am loving the touch of pink I see on me, Ryan and the kids! Love that vitaminD! we set to work this morning to put a fence up around our garden so the goats and chickens can't get in. Ryan went to Big "R" and three hundred dollars later came home with all the stuff he needed for the fence. Okay...that garden better produce a lot more than three hundred dollars worth of food, or it is all for not! No pressure this season, No Pressure. (In all truthfulness he bought a lot more than just what was needed for the fence, but he only went to get fence stuff)

The boys spent all day out there with us. Sometimes helping sometimes playing, but just having them around all day was great.

Mara had a great time just following the boys around and I have to say she is by far the most dedicated worker. When the boys have long since lost interest she will still just follow Ryan around to wherever he goes. It is the sweetest thing.

We just happened to have a spare gate in a field by the chicken coup that went to nothing so we dug it out of the ground(It was only in there three full feet) and put it up for the fence around our garden.

Tell me you don't love the feel of soft garden dirt between your toes.

Here is the fence. It is hard to see, but it goes all around our garden.

Soaking up some rays and having so much fun. A garden is definately Fun work!

Caleb and Noah with their "hobbit" feet.

Love this lady!

One day he will do that and muscles will actually pop through, but for now...skin and bones is his lot in life.

Taking a break from all the work(play). Notice that Max is not in any of these pictures. He was in Utah for Easter this year. He went home with the Bouck's to have his teeth worked on my Uncle Wade, and we sure missed him. All day long everyone kept saying..."someone is missing.." or "it's so wierd without Max here." it really was wierd.