Jaden is Four (Last Month)

Jaden had his birthday April 3rd (I know, I'm really behind!). It was really fun because Jeff's parents were able to come out that weekend. It was General Conference weekend, and Jaden's uncle Zach's birthday also, so it was a busy weekend, but a very fun one! Saturday after General Conference we picked up Jaden's friend Solomon and we all went to Chucky Cheese's.


I made a cake for Jaden and Zach and put four candles for Jaden on his side, and ten candles on Zach's side because he was turning fourteen, and let them blow them out at the same time.


We all got in on the games!

Jaden and Solomon love to play together!


Jaden absolutely adores his uncle Zach! Zach couldn't be sweeter to Jaden, I've never seen a 14-year-old play so much with a 4-year-old!

Grandpa Rhett and Grandma Susan loved spending time with the kids!

I made a beautiful strawberry cake, per Jaden's specific request. Unfortunately, it turned out terrible. :(

Virgin Islands Paradise

I spent a week in April with my sister and her new baby, Scottie. I left the kids behind and flew out with my mom so we could help Juli out with the baby. He was older than we had planned when we arrived because he decided to come early, so he was two months old by our visit. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with him, but we did get out a few times to enjoy the beauty of where they live. We spend four days in Tortola, which is a British Virgin Island. We stayed at a friends house that had amazing views and was a short, though incredibly steep, walk down to the beach. This is the view from the house!

We had some amazing sunsets!

Isn't that about the most idyllic picture of the beach?

This picture was taken at the bottom of the hundred stairs you have to climb to get up to the house.

This was taken on our first day in St. John, where Juli lives. We went on an awesome hike, which eventually took us to the beach where we gratefully cooled off and rinsed off our sweat! It was Scottie's first time in the ocean!
Scottie prefers to sleep being held so Juli usually carries him everywhere in a sling (he was still only about 7 lbs at two months), but he did take one nice long nap by himself while we were there. He even smiled! Isn't he cute!!
All in all I think it was the most relaxing vacation I've ever taken! I got to sleep in, lay on the beach a few times, go for a run along the ocean, and all in the most beautiful place! It was such a nice break. And I didn't have to worry about my kids because we paid to fly Jeff's mom in to be with them. So everyone had fun, except maybe poor Jeff, who had to work. What a hero!

These are some CRAZY spring storms!!

Isn't it supposed to be Spring? We didn't see these kinds of blizzards in the winter!


Jeff and I were thinking about going for a run on the Santa Fe trail this morning. Um, maybe not.

Half-naked exchange

Jaden (standing at the top of the stairs naked from the waist down holding his pants, which were inside out): Mom can you fix my pants?

Me: Why don't you go find your underwear first?

Jaden (two seconds later): I can't find it.

(Repeat two or three times)
When Jaden comes downstairs still half naked, Mom: What are you gonna give me if I find your underwear right where I told you to look?

Jaden: I don't know.

Mom: Are you gonna buy me a pizza?

Jaden: Ok, lets get pizza!

Mom: Are you gonna buy it?

Jaden (looking confused): Kids don't buy things for moms.

How true, how true.

Favorite Pictures of the Boys

Just a random shot I captured as we were walking to the park on one of those warm days

I don't know where he got this from but he does it all the time and it always makes me laugh, especially if he's in the nude. I call it his yoga baby pose:
Just the bros, hanging out

Carter's Two!

In pretty much opposite order (oh, I wish I had a brain), here are pictures of Carter's birthday:


Trying to blow out his candles:


Among other things he got his own pair of sunglasses (so he doesn't have to steal Jaden's), and gummy LifeSavers, one of his favorites. This was just the cutest picture of the presents:

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I've been stuck at home with various illnesses in the family for a week now. At first I was my normal self, trying to make the best of it. After I recovered from a nasty bout of food poisoning I straightened up the whole house, did four hours of much needed spring cleaning and then made myself presentable again. I continued like this for a couple days, thinking the next day Carter would be better. Now on day seven here I am still in the pajamas I've been wearing since yesterday (which are now pretty much covered in hair after Jeff's hair-cut last night), still not showered or dressed by 1pm, despite needing to drop Jaden off at a ward Primary activity.

Yes, I showed up in all my glory, not noticing until I got there that I hadn't even bothered to brush my teeth or put on a bra! The only thing I did to improve my appearance was throw on a pair of sunglasses, feeling very much like someone trying to cover up a hang-over. You would think that by the time I had to pick Jaden up an hour and a half later that I would have regreted my previous slothfulness and taken a shower, at least out of pure shame. But no, I showed up the exact same way AGAIN (still without a bra), toting Carter with no pants on because he'd already gone through two pairs of pants that morning almost immediately after I put them on, and he only had one pair left. I wrapped a blanket around Carter and hoped I could just grab Jaden and slink away as soon as possible, hopefully before I was even seen. But, again, no.

Right when it was time for the activity to be done they herded in the kids to a buffet table full of all kinds of snacks. Jaden was so excited so I had to lead him through the line and let him eat his full, all the while slouching in the corner wishing I would blend in more to the wall. I tried to keep Carter covered up but of course he wandered off at one point dragging his blanket, while someone stared and probably wondered why he was half naked with almost a foot on snow on the ground outside.

Yeah, it was a day to be proud of....

Maybe its time to take and shower, put on a little make-up, and stop feeling sorry for myself for being cooped up. What do you think?