Eggs, Snow and Jesus

Friday night we drove to Brian Head for the Easter weekend.

Josh's brother has a beautiful new, huge cabin up there and we had a blast with part of our family- The Nielson's (Jason and Melissa) and the Sedivey's (Allyse and Patrick).

James always has the greatest time running around with his cousins and playing games with them. 

It's so great, since he is the youngest of all of them that were there, they totally cater to him and always want him to play with them. So he is kind of popular between them. He loves it. 

Easter Saturday was one of the funnest days. 

Josh made french toast for everyone. Then we just hung out and talked.

We went down to the ski lodge and there were a bunch of games and face painting for the kids. 

Can you guess what my DINOSAUR got?

 My little Princess got a little bunny. She would barely even sit still for this.

Then we went back to the cabin and had a big Easter Egg hunt with everyone. Eggs where everywhere.

  

These were the Easter Egg Hunters (young enough to participate)  and they were sure to find every single one.

 We spent the rest of the day in the snow. James went sledding and loved every second. He was Mr. Independent out there, he wanted to walk up the big hill all by himself. But he did want me to ride down with him, it was a bit steep. We went down again and again. Then we went snowmobiling up and down the ski hills and around their cabin. It was a total rush. It was cold, snowing a bit and just sweet. After about 10 minutes of it we look at James and he is completely out. He had zonked out right in the front of the snowmobile. He was so tired from all the excitement that he crashed hard and was out for a while. Josh and I took the four wheelers for a ride too in the snow. That is a little scary, just cause there isn't as much traction, but it was a total blast being with all our nieces and nephews out there. We went home cause we were starting to get cold, had pizza and than roasted marshmallows and made smores out on the patio.

 We ended the night in our PJ's coloring eggs.

James was quite proud of his dinosaur eggs with Long Neck on it and his brown dino baby egg. I made Rachel a zebra print/ bright pink egg. 

Then we did one of James's favorite things when we are up there, hide and seek in the dark with flash lights.
More pictures to come of their cute Easter outfits for Easter Sunday the next day.
I do want to bear my testimony about our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.
I know without a doubt that he lives and that was resurrected after he was brutally beaten and put up on the cross. I know that he suffered every sorrow and pain on this earth and did it for each one of us. The thing that I have learned the most this year during this holiday is to be more like him.What kind of person was he? I want to be more like him. What kind of music would he have listened to? Maybe Michael Bublae. What car would he have driven if he was here today? I hope a grey Honda Civic. Who would he have associated with the most? Probably those who are positive, happy or even the ones that need friends the most. All we know is that Christ was the best example and that he had good intentions in all he ever did. I need to live my life more like the Savior would if he was here  today. Since our Father in Heaven gave his son the opportunity to be resurrected, I know he will give each and everyone of us the same opportunity if we live a good life. I am so glad that Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan for us and that I can rely on him through trials and good times. It is because of him that I want to live the best life I can and I am so glad he knows what we need to go through and learn. I am so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, which is the only true church on earth. It gives me strength and knowledge that I need to get through each day.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We Spy Easter

 Easter was a blast this year with a two year old. He knew exactly what to do this time and there was no hesitations as to what where in those colored eggs. In preparation for this important, yet fun holiday we did a few things to make it exciting.

James helped me decorate and he was able to tell me which one was the letter "A" (that was a big deal).

Then he colored eggs and had one labeled for each member in the family. He did a great job decorating the window. Each morning he would get excited to see all the eggs and "what he had done".

One particular morning I gave him his favorite cereal, which is Rice Krispies currently (I think he likes them the best, only because of the cool box it comes in with all the cartoons on the back) and then I had other little breakfast things in the eggs for him to open. He would get so excited, even though it was only apples and Cheerios.

Oh, the joys of having little ones to enjoy the little things in life.

 Along with all the hype for Easter we got together with some friends for Family Home Evening and had a great time learning about Jesus' Resurection. He got to color Christ, the Tomb and the Rock. Then he was re-taught the great story of how Jesus died and came back to life. Then we sang, played and frosted Easter cookies. 

 

Each night for the rest of the week until Easter Sunday came we retold the story again with James putting Jesus in the tomb, having him act as the angels and moving the rock  and then having Jesus come alive again. 

We used the illustrated Scriptures. James always gets so worried and sad for Jesus when he see's him nailed to the cross. So we focused a lot on him rising from the dead and being alive right now. 

I hope he will always have the love for the scriptures that he does now.

During mid-week we went over to another friends house and had a block Easter Egg Hunt. There was a good 20 kids there and so many eggs. James went running and I just stood near him taking pictures. It was so fun watching him get all frantic as kids would just come and grab eggs in front of him. He loved spying the eggs and grabbing them and putting them in his camo Easter basket. 

 It was a fun mommy and kid Easter Egg hunt , James had tons of candy and little Miss Rach was the little Easter Bunny looking oh, so cute. She loved grabbing at the eggs and putting them in her mouth.

  James just kept on opening egg after egg  and placing more and more candy in his mouth. 

He was loving it too.

 Rachel , don't you worry- next year you'll get to actually taste plenty of  candy.

This year it was good enough just for you to look at all the colors.

And as for James, maybe it would be wise to take a little longer looking at your eggs, than eating everything you see.

This was our Happy Pre- Easter!
And it was so much fun hanging with my girl friends and kiddo's.

James and Rachel spied Easter a week before the actual events.

Laugh Attack

This little guy had the biggest laugh attack I have ever seen. 

  

I mean he laughs tons for a little guy. Especially when I spin him around or come after him and tickle him. 

Almost everyday he loves rustling with daddy and gets so excited and works daddy so hard, he is out of breath. 

But this day was hilarious. 

I was chasing him around and daddy was making dinosaur noises and both of us were coming from both ends.  

We would grab him and tackle him down. 

He would try to get away and run off (secretly hoping for us to come after him again).

James would do his little dinosaur rarrr back and seek for us to keep throwing him around.

He got so worked up, he was turning bright red and kept on saying " AGAIN, again!"

He was laughing uncontrollably. Daddy and I couldn't believe just how worked up he was, so of course we started laughing our heads off.

 Then he started drooling a bit, unable to hold in his emotions of excitement.

 He was definitely a sight to see.

James is our laughing machine. 

And man is it ever fun getting him going. 

He definalty does have a sense of humor and knows when things are funny .....

or even hysterical.

Thank You

I just want to say thank you to the one I care about the most. Josh is such a solid foundation to me. It is sad that sometimes I don't always show him just how much I love him. There are times I let little things bother me and than it becomes a disagreement. He has taught me so much about letting the little things roll and being happy no matter what. One of his greatest qualities is to just be happy. As many of us stress out on things that don't really matter, it is sad that at those moments we hurt the ones we love the most. I will try my hardest to focus more on how I can change, rather that on making a big deal out of things that won't even matter tomorrow. I am so glad we have the power to forgive and to be forgiven. Josh has had to be patient with me and has thankfully forgiven me of my silly comments or acts. Thank you Josh for teaching me how to be a better person and for the time you spend with me and our little ones. As finals are arriving, I am so proud of Josh and how dedicated he has been in studying and getting through each class. I know this is not easy, but he is doing it for our family. 

I love you babe!!

Her First Word......

......MOMMA!

Today I was in Rachel's room with Daddy adjusting her crib ( because now she pulls herself up to stand and if she would have became top heavy she could have seriously fallen out) and I heard Rachel babbling her baby talk and making her way into her room on her hands and knees. I could hear her kind of moan and grown and then suddenly she turns the corner and stops. She looks at me and clearly says "Momma". I had to question Josh to see if he heard what I heard and sure enough he said it was loud and clear that she had just said her first word. And how special did I feel that it was my favorite word my own child could say...... Momma. 

It was one of those proud mommy moments.   

She is defiantly a mommy's girl. I just love seeing how excited she gets when I enter a room or when I hold her. She is my little princess and I just love how happy she makes me. She is a pure light to our family.

Well, she is only 8 months old and I would usually say that it was probably just her mumbling baby talk, but this was clearer than ever and I am going to believe that my name was her first word. We will see if she says it again I guess. 

Rachel at 8 months

You are to die for.

Just looking at you makes me want to eat you up.

Holding you I have to be careful not to squeeze you to hard, as my love for you just wants to explode.

You  have learned so much this last month. 

You are CRAWLING like a big girl. 

You learned about a week before you turned 8 months. You were doing the army crawl for a while and then one day, with no help you learned how to do it on your own. You were a champ and got around so fast. It is crazy how much you want to pull yourself up now. You love to stand when someone helps you. I can already tell that you are going to be a big time mover, because already right now you are on the move. You seem to find me anywhere. All of a sudden I'll look down and there you are tugging at my pant leg with your adorable little smile and bright eyes, as if saying- "momma pick me up". 

You are a great sleeper. You sleep anywhere from 9 to 12 hours straight most night. You are still a big time nurser- which momma loves. I love how you yearn for me when you wake up and get so excited as I get ready to nurse that you start sucking your thumb and making little noises of joy. You still play with my hair a ton when nursing and you love holding my fingers too. Momma doesn't enjoy when you grab my chest and squeeze tight or bight me where it hurts with your bottom 2 teeth that have come through over a  month ago. 

You love most food and we know it because you always sigh "Mmmmm...." When you don't like something you do the opposite and make a disgusted look and spit it out. You love your oatmeal, mixed cereal and whole wheat cereal. You are still a fan of most vegetables, besides green beans and mixed vegetables. You love love fruit and crackers. You are amazing at picking up food with your fingers and feeding yourself. When we eat in front of you and you want it you grab for it, sometimes you get it, other times you get sad when we eat it up ourselves.

You are incredible at soothing yourself. You have never been a binky baby, but a total thumb sucker. When it is time to lay you down I place you on your blankey and you place that little thumb in your mouth and try to fight that you are tired or go right to sleep. You are not a cuddle bug, you have learned how to put yourself asleep and therefore love routine. If you do cry, you don't cry over 3 minutes usually and then you are out. You love sleeping with a blanket right close to your face, next to your thumb. You go to sleep around 8 and wake up around 7 , give or take a few hours, depending when you do go to bed (because mommy and daddy still have a life and are out doing stuff with you too).

Church is a struggle once you get tired. It is hard because it is right during nap time and you want your bed.

You have nap time usually around 10:00, sleep for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, wake for another 2 hours than another nap 2:00, sleep for another 2 hours usually than up again to play with daddy when he gets home from school. Daddy always talks about how beautiful you are and he loves showing you off.

Daddy tickles you like crazy and you squeal at the top of your lungs and laugh adorably. 

You are such a happy little baby and you have made having 2 kids fun and easier than I thought- time consuming, but worth it.  

You love your big brother so much. If you see him playing in his room , you crawl right over to him and love just being near him. I have watched you guys a number of times just looking at each other and laughing.

 James continues to give you kisses and says "Love you baby" on his own. When you wake up from a nap, James often times says "Momma- Baby" and heads on into your bedroom to get you. You start kicking your legs up and down and have the biggest smile on your face. You love people, especially your momma. 

You are a total Mommy's girl, and I love it. I hope and pray that we are tight and close as you grow up and always. 

You are adored by ME.......and Daddy.

I will always love you. 

I find myself more and more in love with you as each month passes.