Easter

Caleb was on call for all of Easter weekend. So again I decide to go up to my Parents instead of be alone all weekend with the kids. It was actually really sad leaving, it was the first time Caleb and I have ever been apart for any real Holiday. But I figured if I stayed home we would still be apart and probably even more sad. Despite not being together as a family it was a really fun weekend.

On Saturday we died Easter eggs. The kids had a lot of fun and got all colored the eggs got colored too. They were all outside playing in the mud before the Easter egg dyeing so it was perfect to have them take off their muddy clothes and go right into egg dyeing.

Sunday we went to Church of coarse.

Abigail is getting so big, and she is so smart. Since Easter she has almost completely potty trained herself. I few days before we left to go up to Santa Barbara we were all out in the backyard. All of a sudden she disappears inside. I go to look for her and find her inside sitting on the potty trying to go! I was shocked I had never really talked to her much about it, I figured she was way too young. At least from my experience with Joshua who had no desire to even talk about going potty in the toilet until he was at least 2 and a half. Anyway since then she has been wearing pull ups and has only had a few wet diapers and never any poopy. I almost don't know what to do because it has been so completely different form Joshua, so I really have not done much beyond cheer her on and get her some underpants.

Joshua is really fun to talk to, he has so many questions now. It is constant stream of why. He wants to know about everything. He is so smart and getting so big.

We had a great Easter egg hunt after church. We hid 330 eggs! It was the biggest Easter egg I think we have ever done. The kids loved it.

Travis and Susan were in Europe meeting up with Kristin after her BYU Jerusalem semester so all the rest of their kids came up to be with us for dinner and the Easter egg hunt. It was funny Jared came in and said man I don't know how you guys all do it I am exhausted from taking care of these kids and driving them and feeding them it is insane. It is nice to know that we are not the only ones who get worn out from it even young college kids get worn out from it. It was great to see them all.

We stayed on for a few days after Easter and this is what Joshua and Ezra looked like for most the day everyday. They love making mud in Grandpa's backyard...I don't know how much Grandpa loves it though. They are upset in the picture because it is time to come in and wash off for dinner, not because they are covered in mud. They had a wonderful time, and it brought back many memories of my muddy childhood days. I was a lover of mud and my mom always thought kids should be able to be kids so I regularly played in mud pits and loved it. So I let my kids do the same. The clothes will wear out eventually anyway, but the memories of fun days in the mud with your cousins will not. Besides oxy clean is magic stuff.

Visitors

Caleb's family came during Joseph spring break. It was amazing. They were here for five days and did months and months worth of our home projects. First of all they tiled our two upstairs bathrooms. They were both carpet and so gross and hard to deal with. Then they insulated and drywalled our whole garage,a dn hung up shop lights. Our garage gets full sun all day and had no insulation so it would just bake all summer and heat the house. It has gotten in the 90s a couple times now and it has stayed nice an d cool out there. And Caleb and I keep going out there and turning on the light just to see out there...we had no lights out there so it was always such a pain to do anything out in the garage. It really was an amazing amount of work they got done and we are so grateful and excited.

While they were here it was also Josephs' 16th birthday so we got to celebrate with him, the kids were very excited. Joshua loved having them all here and was right there trying to help do jobs the whole time, I had to try to keep him busy and out of the way.

Right after Caleb's family left Elizabeth and her family came to visit. They were here three days and we had a great time. Joshua was so excited to have them visit him and see his house and toys. We went miniature golfing, and on a little nature hike in Oak Glen. For some reason I forgot to take any pictures except this one. I have been bad about brining my camera and using it lately...I have just been tired I think. Too bad I can't sleep like Abigail in the back pack. She has been up at nights with molars breaking in, so I have been up, but she naps I don't. The life of mothers...being so sleep deprived all the time that you don't even realize that you are sleep deprived, it's just normal.

On a whim...

I talk to my mom on Friday and she mentions that my dad is tired of working on the house and so they are going to tape the afternoon session of general conference and rent the big bikes on the beach, swim in the pool, and go out to lunch. Caleb was on call all weekend...so Saturday morning I drove up and met them. I was only there for the weekend but it was really fun and much better than trying to watch conference all by myself with the two kids.

Abigail is wondering why Levi would not want to wear his helmet, she is very happy to be wearing and accessory and did not touch it the whole time.

Joshua and Ezra are attached at the hip the whole time they are together. Most days he asks me when he is going to see Ezra again.

We took a little drive and walk up to grass mountain after the afternoon session of general conference on Sunday. It was Beautiful.

These two love eachother, but they try to kiss and hug each other so much that they end up falling over and getting hurt.

Abigail is getting so big, she is hilarious.

Joshua is full of energy and lots of questions. We are getting in to the "Why" stage.

Lately we have been spending lots of time in the backyard splashing in our baby pool. The kids will spend hours out there playing in the water.

San Diego

I love to go on ridiculously long adventure walks so when we woke up and were trying to plan our day I said lets go on an adventure walk. Caleb was not thrilled and bored of all our adventure walks near by...so I said lets go to San Diego for our adventure walk today. It is under a two hour drive so we packed up a picnic and the double jogger and left on our adventure.

We started at Balboa park, ate lunch and let the kids run around.

Then we walked to the marina and downtown areas, Joshua loved the big Navy boats, Abigail likes posing and smiling for pictures, Joshua doesn't. Therefore you get a picture of her in front of the boats instead.

This boat just returned from filming Pirates four. It was pretty cool.

We ended the day at the Old Town and Mormon Battalion monument. It was so neat to see, I learned so much about what all those brave saints did for California and Utah. They taught the Californians how to fire bricks and build with them. When they all left and went to Utah they taught the Saints about desert irrigation and farming which made it possible for them to survive in the Salt Lake Valley. It is a must see if you ever go to San Diego.

It ended up being a wonderful fun day together, and a very long adventure walk. According to the gps we walked just over 11 miles! It was a blast, and we were tired.

Mickey mouse and Donald Duck

While is was in Santa Barbara my sister and I were talking about chickens and how we loved our pet chickens growing up. Then she started telling me about backyard chickening. There is a woman in her ward who has a few in her yard in a more urbanized neighborhood. I started researching it and got really excited. There is a whole society of backyard chickening, or urban chickening. I loved it. Got totally excited about the prospect of chickens and started researching breeds. I found that the best mix of egg production and docile temperament were buff orpington chickens. They look and act a lot like Cochin, but are better layers and less prone to disease because of the bare legs instead of the fuzzy.

They are supposed to make the best pet chickens. Growing up we had a dozen chickens, 6 Road Island reds and 6 Black and white Barred rock. They were great layers and we would go around the neighborhood selling eggs. They were our pets...we would watch movies with them, walk around the yard with them on our shoulder, when ever we went outside they would come running up to us. We loved our chickens and have the best memories with them. I actually could not picture childhood without chickens.

Anyway, I got this backyard chickening in my mind and started thinking...we easily have enough room for two chickens to roam in our yard. I have a slug and ant problem which they would eliminate, along with poor soil quality. Win win situation. So I sat down and looked for feed shops. I found one...

...and came home with Mickey and Donald. They are five day old Orpintons and the kids LOVE them. I can't keep them away. I have to admit I am as excited or even more excited than they are. Joshua named them, I tried to explain that they were girls and Minnie and Daisy would be better but oh well. The chicks have six weeks under the lamp and then we will let them roam our whole yard. I have already drawn up plans for a chicken hut. It is basically a little box with two lay boxes a roosting stick and door that I can close at night once they have gone into roost. At 18 weeks the chicks should start laying (point of lay) and should produce about an egg a day each. Well that is if they survive all the petting, hugging, and snuggling they have been getting. So far they are doing great and will hopefully end up being the friendliest chickens in the world probably the chubbiest too. The kids love to feed them...several times an hour.

My Birthday

My birthday was a few weeks ago. It was wonderful. Caleb was off the day before my Birthday so we celebrated then. We went out to eat and Joshua and him made me a delicious cake.

Caleb was on call on my Birthday so I drove up to Santa Barbara to be with my family, and to take Joshua to Ezra's Birthday party. We had a great time and got to see the whole family. Joshua even got to have a sleep over at grandma's house with Braddock. They all had a great time. We went to the zoo and beach the last day we were there and unfortunately those were the only pictures I took on my camera. I will have to get others from my mom :).

Joshua and Abigail

I thought it was time to give an update on the kids.

Joshua has grown so big. His favorite pajamas are his fire truck ones that say "my dad is my hero" but he calls them my dad is a superhero jammies. He has had a cold lately and in a very melancholy voice kept saying "mommy I have ouie bless yous". At least once a day he says "mom you have got to be kidding me" as he frustratingly throws his arms in the arm. He spends most his day playing race cars, and loves to play games. Although he always cheats especially at candy land...some how he always wins. He says all sorts of funny things now. He loves sunbeams and preschool.

These two are inseparable and are my little shadows. Basically the three of us are always together. If i leave them playing they show up with their toys playing right next me. What can I say they both love their mommy.

Abigail is 17 months now and is a little stinker. You never have to guess what she is thinking, she is very good at expressing herself. She regularly empties all my cupboards, and basically tries to do everything that Joshua does. She smiles and laughs all the time. My favorite is this little wrinkled up nose smile.

She is spunky and full of personality.

Her favorite thing is reading books. She also loves playing race cars with Joshua, but also loves playing with baby dolls, and especially animals.

Abigail is all about the accessories. She spends most days with 7-10 necklaces and anklets and bracelets on. She loves putting them all on and off all day.

Today I was playing around and tried to finally put a pony tail in Abigail's hair. It finally worked, I was so excited! She looked so cute. Of coarse Joshua wanted to try one on too.

Then Joshua wanted to put all the hair clips in my hair, I love having people play with my hair so I loved it.