My Cute Man Ry.....

Aaron and I try to be good at reading scriptures with the kids. Of course there are some nights that we slack off and just do an article of faith. We started with one and Madi and Porter are up to ten. Ry and Brayd know bits and pieces of them and are catching on more and more every day. As Porter was reciting the 10th Article of Faith last night Ry threw in his 2 cents.......

Porter: We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American.....

Ry: EXPRESS!

We all busted up laughing! The funniest part of it all was Ry thought he was right so he was just looking around at everyone. Of course Aaron was laughing the hardest. I think that is what made it so funny for Porter and Madi. They think it is so funny when Aaron laughs really hard.

I love my babies and how they keep us laughing constantly.

Whenever the kids complain about Aaron working too hard and not being able to take days off I tell them that dad has to earn lots of monies so we can move back to St. George. They immediately are ok with him working because they all want to get back to the sun, family and friends in a very bad way.

The other day Aaron was very sick and didn't go to work. I, however, still had some shopping to do so as we were driving Ry says to me out of nowhere...

"Mom, does dad still get money when he's sick?"

I was confused at first so I asked him to tell me what he meant...

He said, "Will we still have money to move to St. George when dad doesn't go to work?"

My little Ry man is a pretty smart little guy. That brain of his is working overtime!

Can I really handle TWO of Aaron?

EASTER

This year for Easter we headed down to Grandpa and Grandma Smith's house. Grandma always makes such a big deal out of holidays so it is so fun for the kids to be there with her. Aaron was wishing we were in the warm weather but was o.k. once he realized that wasn't really feasible.

In the morning the Easter Bunny hid the baskets and some eggs for the kids to find.

One quick picture before the kids head down the stairs to find the goods.

Everyone in their Easter outfits. It was General Conference so the kids just had regular clothes, not church ones.

They all had a good time finding the eggs and an even better time finding their baskets.....

Madi's basket was in the cupboard.

The good stuff for her in her basket.

Porter's basket was in the dishwasher.

The good stuff for Porter in his basket.

Ry's basket was in the entertainment center.

The good stuff for Ry in his.

Brayden's basket was in the oven.

Brayd and his treats.

The kids all got playing cards with their picture on the back of them. They all seemed to think they are pretty cool!

Mine was on top of the entertainment center and consisted of yogurs covered pretzels and raisin, and a good book:).

Aaron got me some cute flowers too!

Aaron's basket was on top of the cupboards in the kitchen

After all the baskets had been found we had a quick breakfast and settled in to watch conference. Conference weekend is always nice and relaxing! The talks are always good and it is amazing how most of the talks seem to fit just what is going on in my life. The only problem is that the men's voices are all so soothing that most end up asleep.....

Aaron,Chase, and Tay..

During the second session Madi joined in on the fun and cuddled next to Chase for a little nappy-nap.

After Conference was over Grandma Smith played some more games then gave all the kids balls.

Easter Time is great! Pretty low key but still a good excuse to reflect on Christ and get together with family.

There is Porter!

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!

Shopping....

As Karen was shopping for Easter goodies I did some good shopping also! There were Betty Crocker Potatoes on sale at Smith's this week for .97 cents. Then, if you bought 3 packages of them you got a 3 dollar credit to the store back. Well, that obviously makes them free if you keep buying them. So I did. I ended up with 42 packets of potatoes and ended up paying .84 cents total! Tax included. It was great and while I did it Aunt Ashley hauled a train of my kids around.

Yep, my monkeys!

After all the shopping it was time to color some Easter Eggs!

Even though it was the kids second time this year they enjoyed it just as much!

Ashley and Brianne headed this up while Karen and I went to get our ham for Easter lunch.

Randomness......

I really like this picture....

I'm not sure who took it but I'm sure it was one of my boys.

Whomever it was could be a photographer!!

Easter Egg Coloring

I try to be a good mom but it doesn't always end up happening like I want it to. Aaron came home from work angry that it was snowing outside in the spring! I tried to be sympathetic but he just wanted to be mad. So, he went up to take a bath:) then came down just as we were finishing coloring the Easter Eggs and having tater tots. Don't worry, he wasn't so sad! He was in a lot better mood.
Cute Monkeys!
Earlier that day......
My boys toasting to eating their donuts..
Good Boys.

Our Secret Language!

I can't quite decide how to feel about a conversation that Porter and I had today.

Here is the story...

Ry, Brayd and I went to eat lunch with Madi and Porter today at school. When lunch was over we went out on the playground to play for a couple of minutes. As I was telling Porter good-bye I remembered a couple of weeks ago when he wouldn't give me a kiss good-bye. I was sad about that but didn't push it because I didn't want him to be made fun of-kids are cruel! So, today as I was leaving, I busted out the Danish and this is how our conversation went.....

Me: "Jeg Elsker Dig, Skat"

Porter: Gets this embarrassed look on his face.

Me: "He doesn't know what it means." Referring to his friend/kid that makes fun.

Kid That Makes Fun: "It means goodbye, I know Spanish!"

Me: It's not Spanish, and it doesn't mean goodbye"

Kid That Makes Fun: "Yes, it does!"

Me: "See Porter?" I know, I'm a little childish, but BACK-OFF kid!

Porter: "Jeg Elsker Dig, Skat!"

With a BIG smile on his face:)

I'm sad that my kids are growing up but I know it has to happen, so I am happy that they can still talk to me in our "secret language". AND they don't get embarrassed or teased!

Jeg Elsker Dig, Skat=I Love You, Baby

SICK AGAIN!!!

I CANNOT believe how sick my kids have gotten this year. They are sick at LEAST once a month!

Sometimes it is throwing up, sometimes a cold sore, sometimes a fever, sometimes chills, earaches, sore throat! EVERY bug has made it's way to my house and I really cannot believe it. Aaron has been sick twice since we moved up, but I have seemed to dodge it everytime. THANKFULLY!

My boys generally don't mind a picture, but they do today while sick!!

I hope it will be gone before Porter's BIG party at the bowling alley tonight:)

I am pretty anti-medicine so when I do give it to my monkeys it kicks in pretty quickly.

It's now been about 45 minutes and they are singing along to Diego! I'm thinking it's going to work out for us.

Now we just need to get back home before their little bodies get use to medicine.

Porter is 7!

This is always a funny time of year for me. For the next week in a half we will have 2 seven year olds, a 4 and 3 year old.

Porter was VERY excited for his birthday this year and I think he had a good day! He woke up and wanted a "flat" egg for breakfast with a candle in it.

So, that is what he got!

I hope he wished BIG.

Porter was proud of all his presents and was excited to lay them all out and get a picture......

For the last 3 years Porter has gotten the same scuba-diving set from Costco. He wears it out every year and was just as excited to receive it the 3rd time as he was the 1st.

He told me he is going to use his big towel EVERYTIME he gets out of the shower EVERY morning. Yes, Porter loves to shower and if he's naughty he gets his shower privelage taken away for the next day.

Porter will only wear t-shirts at this point in his life. He also begged me to wear his holy pants today because it was his birthday. I told him no! He still ended up wearing some with holes in them, just not as big of holes. Seriously!! "We have become white trash!"

Side note-Aaron informed me last night that gift cards to Old Navy would be showing up in the next couple of days. I asked him why and he replied, "I just want our kids to look cute!" Whoops, I guess I have been doing the wrong kind of shopping?

Porter is the only one in our family that can hula hoop. This was the first thing he played with this morning.

Porter's favorite candy bar is butterfinger and he loves wafers and BBQ chips.

We failed to get this gift before yesterday. However, it showed up UPS style today. Only after Aaron paid for overnight shipping-which was an accident and the shipping ended up costing more than the boots.

Whoops!!

He quite likes them and turns out he said he can run so much faster in these boots than his old ones. I'm not sure why that matters. Probably because the faster the better huh?

For our family party tonight we went Bowling. That is what Porter wanted to do so that is what we did! Russ and Nicole joined in on the party and we had a good time.

The Cute Birthday Boy!!

Check out that wrist!!

Porter with his Birthday dinner! Yep, mini corndogs from the Bowling Alley. That's what he wanted! Porter thinks The Upper Crust is too slow.

Here I took THREE pictures. There are THREE boys that I couldn't get looking at the same time......

Brayden.

Ryan.

Not Porter, but.....

Russ!

I know it wasn't Brayden's birthday but how can I resist?

Trying to hide...

Still Trying.....

I got him!

What can I say???

Ry modeling.

SOOOOOO CUTE!

My baby Madi and I.

I'm thinkin' Madi got "the bug" now.

Sucky!

"Peace Out Dude"

Ry was photographing Russ and Nicole.

Porter lighting his own candle.

I remember when it was SO fun to do that!

The good 'ol family portrait on the birthday.

Poor Madi!

Porter's last present of the day was a new helmet. He wears an adult size small!

It fit Nicole:)

Porter was being VERY silly!

Yes, we had donuts instead of cake. Porter's request of course.

Pretty Russ!!

The boys cheering with their chocolate milk.

I really, Really, REALLY LOVE MY BOYS!!

Porter's Birthday was a good one and I believe he had an excellent day!

He told me he loved it and I believe him!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORTER!

I LOVE YOU!!!