Easter!

This year we had our ward Easter Egg Hunt early because General Conference was on Easter weekend. The weather was pretty nice and the girls had a blast! They each got to find 12 eggs!

Carlie found too many and Sarah Jane found too few so everything worked out great!

Sarah Jane was so excited and loved hunting so we had quite a few more Easter egg hunts throughout the next week! She loved the basket too!

Easter morning found us early when I woke up to a mad little girl who couldn't find the treats that the Easter bunny left. Carlie was pretty funny... there is a video at the end of her.

This is what the Easter bunny left for Carlie!

And this is what the Easter Bunny left for Sarah Jane!

Grady didn't care at all but he was digging the purple paper...

... until he got bored!

This was for Gus and I to share... Yummy! I love Easter candy!

We had Gus' family... Grandma, Dad, Mom, Uncle Sam... over for Easter dinner! It was so good Gus made Ribs, potatoes, and salad! Yum! Watching Conference was perfect! It helped me remember the real reason we celebrate Easter... our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that He lived, died, and rose again!

Sarah Jane Hunting for Easter Eggs and Carlie Hunting for Easter Treats!

Carlie Elaine

Carlie is such a good little girl! She is growing up so fast. She always says funny things and makes up the most interesting songs. Carlie turned four in January and is my best helper. She is a very good big sister and loves to play with Sarah Jane and Grady!

She is so smart and loves to write her name. She loves to go to preschool and learn letters and numbers! She is crazy about writing things and wants to know how to spell everything.

Carlie loves to be outside with her Dad, especially when they go for bike rides!

She has such a fun sense of humor and loves to laugh and make her little brother laugh. She has started telling jokes... "How did the chicken get to the road? Because he walked!" Her jokes are always successful because they are followed by Sarah Jane's giggles.

Carlie is a very pretty little girl, in my opinion, I love her pale blue eyes and cute smile!

She played soccer earlier this year and loved it. She got to be on a team with all of her cousins and was coached by her Uncle Vaughn. She didn't really understand the game but had fun chasing all of the other kids around!

Carlie loves to be with her Dad and they have a lot of fun together. Gus is a good dad and always is playing with the kids! Airplane is fun but their favorite game to play is memory. Carlie doesn't "cheat" she just "peeks", according to her.

She is such a good artist... she has loved coloring since before she was two! Now she can color and stay in the lines and she draws really well... for her age. The picture below, she drew of Piglet!

I love my little Carlie Elaine! She is a sweet girl who loves me unconditionally and teaches me how to enjoy life!

Carlie has now learned all thirteen Articles of Faith and passed them off to our Bishop... a few weeks ago Bishop Adams went into Primary and presented her with a bag of airheads for finishing all of them at such a young age. She loves to pass them off for bishop because he gives her candy! He has now challenged her to learn all of the Gospel Standards! She is so excited!
13th Article of Faith

Happy Birthday Gus!

Happy 29th Birthday Gus!

We had a little birthday party for Gus. We had 14 adults and 19 children crammed into our little house! It was wild but so much fun with lots of good food! So many candles so little cake!

Greg and Christina got him is favorite drink... sold only in Brazil...and Ridley's in Middleton, ID!

Speaking of Brazil... a week after Gus' birthday we went to Tucanos and had a ton of good food and a great time! They even sang to him while he stood on a chair and played the tambourine!The girls were so excited to give Dad their presents. Sarah Jane gave him some of his favorite candy Swedish Fish! Carlie got him a Toy Story Memory game... their favorite game to play together! Grady gave his dad a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt that said Turtley Awesome! He also got a bike pump so he can go for bike rides with the kids!

For Gus' birthday I thought that I would tell everyone 29 things about him...

1. He is a great father.
2. He is a wonderful husband.
3. He loves candy.
4. He loves to ride motorcycles.
5. He loves having a son.
6. He is a good singer.
7. He is a math nerd.
8. He is a well trained restaurant server.
9. He is a gamer... he loves to play video games.
10. He is a facebook junkie.
11. He is a stone mason.
12. He loves to help people.
13. He is very easily distracted.
14. He can't stand bad customer service.
15. He loses his phone daily.
16. He loves playing sports (basketball, tennis, softball, volleyball).
17. He loves The Office.
18. He owns a BMX.
19. He loves to teach his children to say funny things.
20. He is very kind and helpful.
21. He loves to make lists and Excel spreadsheets.
22. He is a hard worker.
23. He is a very happy guy.
24. You can tell his mood by the position of his eyebrows.
25. He is quick to forgive.
26. He is very handsome.
27. He is hilarious.
28. He is a good friend.
29. He loves me!

I am so happy to have Gus in my life. He makes life fun!
I love you Gus!

My Messy Eater

Grady is getting so big and has started the baby food phase of his life! He is now 7 months old. At his six month appointment he weighed in at 18 pounds 10 ounces in the 75% and 28 inches long in the 95%! He is almost as big as Sarah Jane, who at 18 months weighed 22 pounds 2 ounces and was in the 20% and was 32 inches tall in the 60%.

Grady was so funny to feed because he would open up so big as soon as he saw the food!

He is such a happy baby and has such fun expressions! He for sure is his fathers son... just look at those eyebrows!

Sarah Jane was not quite ready to let Grady sit in HER highchair! Even though it has been a few months that she gave it up to sit at the bar.

I know I say this over and over but he really is a very HAPPY kid!

Here is the whole gang just hanging out and growing up so fast... we have a lot of fun together!

Catching up... of course!

Christmas

I had to post one picture of Christmas since my computer was messed up and I didn't post any pics of Christmas day! Here are the kids with their Santa gifts!

Carlie's 4th Birthday

Pretty much all that Carlie wanted for her birthday... Balloons! She was so excited when she woke up to have two balloons! She also had her first day being in the sunbeam class in primary... talk about a great birthday!

Carlie got a Sleeping Beauty Princess barbie for her Birthday! Emily and Kara (her cousins) came to play and have cake and ice cream.

Carlie and I when we went to Edwards to see "The Princess and the Frog" for her birthday!

We had a great time at the movie... we got popcorn, candy, and juice! Of course she had to go potty during the last ten minutes! Carlie had so much fun at her first movie! She still talks about it a month later!

Breakfast

I love breakfast so we went out to breakfast on Saturday! Taking three kids, two of which I classify as "Babies", out to breakfast is not so fun it turns out. The poor girl that served us dealt with a lot of spills and "can we have more napkins" and questions from Carlie. Although Carlie did tell her how pretty she was at one point! It was more WILD than "fun"!

Grady is sooooo easy to make smile all that you have to do is smile at him!

Cheese!

Sick Baby

Grady got a cold and a bad cough so I took him in and he had Bronchitis. We had to give him breathing treatments for about a week... it was so sad but he was a really good boy while he was getting them! He is so sweet and happy all of the time, even when he's sick.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Eve

We start with Thanksgiving at our house with the Drake family... we really missed having Milbry and Zach and their families!!

Drake family Thanksgiving Feast... Carlie burned her finger on the curling iron and said that she was having a terrible day. Poor girl it was pretty sad.

Sarah Jane didn't enjoy a lot of the great food but she for sure didn't miss out on the olives... yum!

Sarah Jane wanted her turn at the big table and was playing more than eating... a common theme with her.

Another picture with Gus... (Carlie had a mug of cold water to keep her finger in). We had a great time with the Drakes and love having the family at our home often!

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Thanksgiving at the Waltman's

We had a good time but as always it is pretty crazy! This is the adult/teenager table... so many people so little space!

This is where the little kids sat... including Carlie! In this picture I think she was under the table.

The littlest kids were at the bar. Sarah Jane happens to be ON the bar!
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The day after Thanksgiving the guys (Gus, His Dad, and Sam) did a great job of finding a perfect tree!

Our little family in front of our Christmas tree when it was alive and beautiful.
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Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at my parents house during the Grandkid drawn name opening.

Grady just stared at Santa in awe!

I think it's safe to say that Sarah Jane doesn't care for Jolly Ol' Saint Nick at this point in her life!

Carlie was so excited and got in line to sit with Santa several times! We could hardly get her to stop hopping to go sit with him.

The kids and all of their varying emotions as they sit with Santa on Christmas Eve.

Grady, Carlie, Kara, Sarah Jane, Emily, Kenedy, and Cami all singing Ruldolf the Red nosed Reindeer.

Sarah Jane got a baby doll!

Carlie got Snow White at our Waltman draw name gift exchange from her cousin Ethan! She was so excited!

Grady is such a cute boy... in my opinion. I just love him, he is so happy all of the time, he is such a good baby and is learning to roll over!

Carlie is so into the Santa thing! She loves Christmas... she insisted that we set out treats and milk for Santa, and some friends of ours gave us Reindeer food that we had to set out too! There are also some pictures that she made for Santa! She is a riot, she gets so excited!

This post is to be continued... (our camera is being dumb)