Our Tax Return

This year, along with paying off some bills, we were able to use our tax return to fix up the house up a little. See it all started with a couch, a very cool couch,. . .






. . .and a shelf for the boys room.





That eventually turned into this:


At this point I could be found huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth, mumbling, "What was I thinking?"

This happened because we wanted to finish painting this room before moving the bed in and decorating.




We moved a new bed into this room because we finally got our hands on a nice comfy queen mattress thanks to my aunt. All we needed was a bed frame, and we found a really cool one in the "as is" section at Ikea-- when we bought the couch.



Looking in the "as is" section also led us to this bookcase, seen off to the right, . . .



. . .and this entertainment unit:



Those, along with the couch, led to the painting of the basement. It was in desparate need by the way. The paint has improved our basement 10 fold. We got a great deal on a gallon of paint at a local hardware store and we were able to paint the stairway too-- which was also in desperate need.

Along the road of purchasing, painting and improving we also bought this wardrobe, which we turned into a linen closet for the basement,. . .



. . .and this bathroom cabinet.



Both were purchased because they were way good deals and long over do. It's so nice to not have to store my personal items under the bed. And it's even nicer to not have cleaning products within the reach of little hands.

These purchases also led to spring cleaning and reorganizing, which will probably result in another yard sale. I should also mention that since the purchase of the shelf in the boys room the twins have taken to sleeping like this:



We are grateful for the opportunity to fix up our home a little. Now that everything is cleaned and put back together, and now that we have a bed and a nice couch for guests, we encourage you to come visit and see the improvements for yourself.

What Did We do This Easter?

What did we not do?

Since Craig works on weekends we had to find a time to commence the Easter celebrations. Well Monday wouldn't work because I was subbing, so we settled on Friday. Since Friday was the tail end of "Free National Parks" week we decided to try and include that in our festivities-- I really need to write down when "Free National Parks" week is because it sneaks up on me every year. The hard part about that is that every Utah park is about 3 hours away. But we finally selected a destination. Our first plan was to make a day trip to Moab. We'd do Easter baskets in the morning. Then head out to Moab and find some where we could have an egg hunt. Well then we heard family was getting together to take in some hikes up at Zions. Well celebrating Easter, and Free National Parks Week with family sounded way more fun. So down south we headed.



We left on Thursday night and stayed with some friends. We did Easter Baskets on Friday morning before we left. Sadly the boys didn't sleep well because we weren't at home, and we woke up earlier then usual. We brought Big H in to see his basket and he just slumped over and laid on the floor in front of it. Little H was on the ball though. He started sneaking around, looking in everyone's basket and stealing their peanut butter cups.

We met up with everyone in LaVerkin and then we all headed to Zions. We hiked the Emerald Pools hike. This was my first time on this hike, the first time we hiked Zion's as a family and the first time the twins have really hiked-- all hikes previous to this the twins rode in packs and just fell asleep. Needless to say I had to stop and take a lot of pictures.



The boys sure loved the mud and the puddles at the lower pool. That red dirt makes for a nice stain!



Big H was adorable. He was just so excited and wanted to explore and take it all in. He kind of reminds me of me in that way. He knew he was somewhere neat and interesting and just wanted to see every little neat and interesting thing he could. We hiked up a short side trail to see this. It was his idea! And it was a good one.



Little H has a sad face here because he stumbled backwards a little which freaked me out and caused me to yell, "No No don't do that!" My heart jumped, and it took me a good while to calm down. If he had fallen here the only thing to catch him was a nice pointy cactus. And I probably would have been grateful if that's what did catch him!



We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on the hike. The boys had a great time, except for the fact that we couldn't stop long enough to play in the dirt.



After the hike we headed to a local park and had some lunch and an egg hunt with the cousins.



We had so much fun with everyone. Thanks for letting us tag along. It was such a fun trip, and it was so nice to get out.

Our next Easter festivity was Baby Animal Days and Heritage Park.



My visiting teacher told me about this and I wanted to make an honest effort to go since Big H has such a fondness for animals. My original plans were to go with Craig because he has a fondness for Heritage Park, but we couldn't make it work so my parents were kind enough to go with me. It was such a fun day!



The twins were skittish at first, and they really didn't like the baby chicks, but they warmed up and it was so sweet to see them petting the animals.




The best moment was when I sat Baby M next to a lamb. My plan was to just get a picture to send to my Aunt who used to raise sheep, but it ended up being the cutest moment ever! The lamb was licking Baby M, and Baby M was giving kisses back. Then the lamb started to paw him-- I think Baby M smelled like food-- so I picked him up before it got too dangerous and the lamb started to follow us. I wasn't sure if we'd get out without adopting that lamb.




Nephew K loved the chicks. He kept asking if I'd buy him one. At 50 cents a piece I was about too.




The twins loved the goats and throwing wood chips into the little stream.



The twins even got to go on their first pony ride. They were fine until the horse started moving. But even after all that crying they were still willing to tell the horse, "Thank you!"





They had tractors on display too. The boys had to watch this one as it drove up onto the trailer.



We had a busy and exhausting weekend, but I still pulled it together and got up for church on Sunday. After all it was Easter Sunday. I set the boys baskets up again just for fun, and this time the Easter Bunny left some stuff for Craig-- he had already given me my Easter present.



On Monday we dyed eggs. I wasn't going to bother with egg dyeing this year, but our Easter just didn't feel complete.






Then when the twins woke up from their nap we had another little egg hunt. After the hunt we enjoyed our traditional "Eggs All-a-Golden Rod" for dinner.

What a wonderful time of year! It's always uplifting and peaceful at Easter time. And no mater what the forecast is the Sun always seems to shine on that Sunday. We our grateful for our savior and his sacrifice. And we are grateful for our yearly reminder that life can be restored and renewed.

Did You Think You'd Get Away Without Helping?

Craig and I have been crazy busy this last week working on the house. We've been rearranging, cleaning, painting, hanging things up and all of the above. We even moved Baby M into the twins room downstairs.




All the improvements we've put off, for the last year, were shoved into last week-- and we're not even done yet.

Tonight we started hanging up frames, etc., around the house.






Well now I have to fill these frames and that is where I need your help. I need some pictures of Craig and his family. Old pictures of grandparents. Favorite family photos. Pictures of his parents-- preferably as a young couple if that is at all possible. I'm also looking for a formal type picture of Craig from Highschool or pre-mission. If anyone has anything you can send it to my email: queen_bee_223@yahoo.com

Or you can email me for my house address.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks! I'll post pics of all our changes as soon as my house looks semi decent again.

On a funner note. The card board boxes from our recent projects went to good use. I built a fort with the boys on Sunday. It was kind of an exhausting ordeal, but I think they enjoyed it. The project kind of sapped my patience so I hope I didn't ruin it for them.

Here's our fort!




The tunnel eventually collapsed, and my nephew requested a chimney, so I took it and turned it into a fireplace with a chimney.



I cut a window too, but I accidentally cut it out of the sticker wall, so we turned the piece I cut out into a masterpiece to be displayed on the mantel.

Sadly a gust of wind took the fort out, and with the latest renovations-- the chimney and fireplace-- I couldn't lift it back up with out it ripping apart. I tried to remake it in the living room, but it never was the same. Off to the recycling bin with this fort!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

The boys got a couple kites each for their birthday, and we couldn't wait to give them a try. With the unexpected nice weather we had this week we thought now was as good a time as ever. Our first attempt was at a Park in Provo. I met a friend there and we let the kids play then afterwards we sat down for a little family picnic.



After the picnic came the kite flying. My nephew kept asking why it wouldn't fly. We told him he needed to let the string out, but that never happened.




This is Baby M's version of Kite Flying.



Nothing like some puppy kisses.



He just can't help but be cute these days.



Thirsty Little H?



Then today Big H got a hold of the kites, so outside we went to see if we could fly them. The trees around our house make it a little hard but out street is pretty clear, and not too busy, so I thought we could just run down it to get the kites up. We used different kites this time. These one's are easier to let the string out. But still the string was never let out on my nephew's kite. He probably could have gotten it up today too.

I'd get one of the kites air born and I'd try to snap a quick shot of Big H holding it, but it always fell to the ground before I could get the picture.



After a while my mom came along and suggested we all go to a park to try flying kites there. But instead of kite flying we just enjoyed the playground.

Look how well he holds his bottle. It's taken some work, but I'm so proud of him!



Big H and Baby M love the swings! In fact Big H wouldn't get out without a fight.






Poor Little H isn't a fan though, and I think he's even less of one after he got hit by a fellow swinger today. The kid was bigger so he was swinging pretty high, and Little H took a good hit. I felt bad for the kid that hit him. He got off the swings and went to play somewhere else. Little H recovered though. He's such a tough boy. Hardly cried. Though that was the longest I've seen him go without taking a breath when the crying first commenced.

Trying to cover up Baby M's head. He is so fair skinned.



So much fun, and yet we still haven't done any kite flying.