Easter 2013

Easter was really great.  I got a call from my mom on Thursday and she told me that a lot of my family was going to be in the valley at my grandparents house, so we decided to go.  My aunts, uncles, and their kids from Utah and Idaho came down for the weekend.  Some of them I haven't seen since my wedding so it made for a fun weekend.  

We left early Saturday morning to get to my grandparents house because they decided to have a brunch and then do an Easter egg hunt in their backyard with my brothers and sisters.  We got there just in time  for the egg hunt.  It was the first time they have done a real hunt and they did really good.  It was so fun to have family to do it with.

Afterwards, our siblings left and we hung out and took naps and waited for all the family to get there.  Around 4 o'clock we took advantage of the pool in my grandparents neighborhood and went for the last half hour of free swim.  After we were done, everyone had arrived and we had an amazing dinner together.  We hung out and talked for the rest of the night while the kids played.  It just felt so good to be around all of them and catch up.

The next morning, we had stayed with my uncle and his family at a condo and we joined them in their tradition in making Easter cookies.  I had never seen it before, but they use the ingredients and have a guide that says how each thing symbolizes somethings with Christ and his crucifixion and Resurrection.  I thought it was one of the coolest things I had heard of for Easter.  Afterwards, we had a brunch with everyone and got ready to go to church.  The rest of the day was amazing with just hanging out and eating and then my mom and our family had to leave right after dinner.

Just the fact that I was out with family, instead of being at home not feeling good by myself.  It was also the first time Nate got to meet a lot of my family.  He finally got to meet my Uncle Curt and all of his family and my kids got to be closer to my grandparents.  It was just great and I can't wait until our next get together.  

According to my Iphone

I love having such a good camera on my phone and how easy it is for me to share them.  Here is some of my happenings since I got my phone.

We were all sick for a couple days together so we did a lot of laying on my bed together

What they look like every morning for breakfast.  Cereal at their table.  They love it. 

Playing outside together at the beginning of spring

Playing inside their little tent that's shaped like a dog

Cute Merrick

Cute Kayton snuggling on my arm

Snuggling on the couch for movie night

Crib to bed

We discovered last week that Merrick figured out how to climb out of his crib.  We thought he was in bed for his nap and then I walk in and I see him on the floor.  It took me a minute to process it, but we put him back in bed.  A few minutes later, he was out of his crib again and coming out of his room.  Kayton never climbed out of his crib so I just couldn't figure out how he got out of his crib.  So we decided to put him back in his crib and watch him to see what he did.  And here it is.  

So, now we changed his crib to a day bed and we are working on training the boys to just go to bed and not play with each other, at least not for very long.  It's not going too well, but it's only been a few days.  

White Mountain Symphony Orchestra

One of Nate's other loves in his life.  Even though we live in Winslow, Nate was asked to come back and play in the orchestra.  He has been driving to Show Low almost every Thursday night for the last month or two and then we were all able to go to Show Low on the 2nd to see his concert.  It was awesome and he was just so happy afterwards,  I was so proud of him.  They played a few of the pieces from "Planets" by Gustav Holst.  They also had two guest performers.  A high school oboe player who is already in the orchestra and an amazing guitarist who is teaching/studying at ASU.  I'm glad I got to go and I found an old friend who was there supporting her boyfriend too so it was fun to hang out with her.  I'm glad Nate has something he can go to for an escape from his day to day stuff. 

Eye Surgery

Since Merrick was born, he has had clogged tear ducts in both eyes.  Thankfully one of them went away on his own at about 6 months, but his right eye just never let up.  At 18 months our pediatrician said that he needed to go see an eye doctor, so we did.  The doctor decided to do surgery and probe his eye.  We went in the morning of the 22ndI felt so bad because they had to put him under, but it was only for a few minutes.  I was only in the waiting room for about a half hour total.  The doctor came out and said that it was a little difficult and we may have to do some more work later, but at his follow up appointment, the doctor said that if he eye isn't gooping up uncontrollably making his eye goop shut then we just need to give it more time.  It keeps coming and going so I don't know what to expect anymore.  Here are some pictures of him after his surgery. 

After they released him, we went and picked up Kayton at our friends house and the medicine didn't even phase Merrick.  He was still a little wobbly but he wouldn't let me hold him, he just got up and kept trying to run and play.  I was grateful that he didn't feel bad

Things that go

As I mentioned before, Kayton got a bike for his birthday.  Whenever I go to play group, a lot of the older kids bring their bikes and ride them around the gym and one day Kayton was the only one without a bike so we got him one.  A few days after his birthday, we took Kayton and Merrick to some old tennis courts across from our house and let Kayton try out his bike.  I couldn't let Merrick feel left out so we brought the little coupe car for him to drive.  

Kayton picked up riding his  bike really well and did a really good job his first time out.  Nate did a really good job of teaching him.  

 And then they were ready to switch. 

Nursery

Both my boys go to nursery now.  I can't believe it.  Merrick had his first real day on the 10th and he has done pretty good so far.  They had to bring him out to me once but that was because he pushed himself backwards out of his chair during snack time, but after I calmed him down then he went right back in without any problems.  The strangest part is me getting use to not having a kid to take care of for 2 hours. I like it. 

both of them after nursery

Valentine's Day

We had a low key Valentines Day.  It was on a Thursday, so we didn't do anything that night because first of all, I wasn't feeling too good because of my medicine, and Nate had symphony rehearsal in Show Low, so the kids and I had heart shaped pancakes for dinner.  

The next night, our stake had an adult dinner.  So we got a babysitter and went to that.  They had some good food and then a dance tutorial thing lasted for a while, so we ducked out early and sad to say, we went to Walmart and got a few things we needed and also just looked around a little bit.  We mostly just had fun being out of the house and together without the kids.