A year with out dad April 2014

Well I can officially say it has been a rough year with out my dad.  He was our rock, whenever life seemed to be overwhelming he would come up with something to make it more bearable or be their to put things into perspective.  As we went through all these firsts without him I find myself thinking about what would be different if he were here.  

I believe that Time is a healer of all wounds.  As the anniversary of his death was coming up I would find myself weepy at times.  I am not much of a cry-er but sometimes I think that one must mourn to begin the healing process.  

I was worried about how we were all going to handle this moment.  My mom asked that we wait until Sunday to do the big family thing.  (For his actual death date we went to the Blue Man group).  On Sunday my mom had a Chinese lantern which we all wrote little notes to Grandpa on.  We walked down to the park to release it up to heaven.  The weather started to get soggy but the lantern took flight.  I loved to watch the grandchildren shout their greetings to grandpa and watching with awe, certain the lantern would make it to their beloved grandpa.  At that moment I felt like we were all okay.  Yes it was sad but we have the knowledge of the Atonement, life after death and the gospel in general.  I feel at peace when I think about my dad. I know I will see him again and that he is watching over us.  Sometimes I joke when things aren't quite going the way I need them too and ask Heavenly Father if maybe he could put my dad on the task of helping me out.  We love you and miss you dad but I know that you had work to do on the other side.  I am proud of you.

Easter colors

I don't want to sound like I am bragging but, MAN I've got some good lookin'  kids.  Photographing kids is not always easy.  Especially when its right after church and all they want to do is run around and check out their Easter baskets.  When I became a mom I dreamed of how I was going to raise my children, they would be so polite, they would wear the cutest outfits, you know the drill, you've all done it.  Then life happens and it turns out kids have personalities and they just want to wear what THEY want to wear. Sometimes I intervene but most of the time I have bigger battles I need to win.  Easter however is one day where I get to choose what they wear and they can't say anything about it.  Ellie is the new exception.  She is getting pickier and I can't just buy something from the store and bring it home. I have to take her and make her try clothes on, THEN we make a compromise on what to get.  Thankfully my boys just let me do my thing. Although I did have to talk Peter into wearing his bow tie today.  He is usually okay but for some reason today he wasn't having it.  I did the motherly thing and threatened to take away his new minecraft sword if he didn't wear it.  

I can't get over how handsome he is.

This session took a little longer than most (about 20 minutes) and I kept loosing them so I called it a day hoping I had something frame worthy.  Individually I got some decent shots but as a whole. . .  well lets just say you win some you loose some, and sometimes you break even.  I am calling this one a break even, at least they look happy.

In this picture I realize how much William is growing up.

they were so happy to be done

Easter at Grandma's

Grandma and Minions

Peter

Wyatt

T.K.

Shane

 Easter at Grandma's this year was a nice affair.  The weather was decent and the minions weren't too crazy.  For the egg hunt we have each age group find certain colors.  The youngest get pink and orange because they are the easiest to see, the next group 4-6 yrs get yellow, then purple for the 7-9 and 10-16 get blue.  There are even green eggs for the adults.  the green eggs are hidden in the hardest places by the teenagers.  We actually got through the egg hunt with out any major problems.  we did change up 1 thing this year and that was to get rid of the bunny money.

Jared with Lizzy

Lizzy

The bunny money eggs were replaced with a number.  Once you got that number you could exchange it for a big candy or soft bunny for the young ones.  This seemed to work well.  There was even surprises for the adults.  I very happily won some new dish towels.
Once all the eggs were collected we got the food table set up.  However we break from the usual form and have the adults get their food first.  Our thought behind this is 1. the adults put in a lot of work to set this up, 2. the kids have already started eating their candies from their eggs, they can get real food in a little bit.  Now all you mom's out their can call me what ever you want (because this was my idea) but no matter how hard you try, your little ones WILL eat the candy as soon as they smell it especially if other kids are doing it.  I figure, its one day.

Drew and baby Daisy

Now is the time to relax and just catch up.  I love how well my family gets along.  The cousins can play well together.  This doesn't mean they always do, but they can.  The older ones help the little ones, and now that the older ones are getting bigger they even like to hang out with us grown ups.  Not all the time but there is definitely a comfortable vibe there, among all of us.  

Landon

When the "natives" start to get restless we set up the egg dying.  This is one of my favorite Easter things to do, however this year I was content to just sit and mingle.

Georgia, Peter

Sam, William, Brennen

Lucy

William, Mosiah, Sam, Jenni

Shane, Scott

Roxy

Scott

Brennen, Peter, Jackson, Paul, William, Mosiah, Sam, Jenni

Shane, Ellie, Mosiah, William, Paul

Maria

Brennen

Bike ride to Bridal Veil falls

at the start

finished

For one of our spring break days I wanted to take the kids on a bike ride up to Bridal Veil Falls.  A bike ride with this group takes a lot a preparation.  I made sure all the bikes were tuned up the day before.  I packed a picnic lunch with plenty of water and some sunscreen.  

Ellie had another offer so I told William he could invite a friend.  That took quite some time but eventually we got everyone and their bike loaded in the car.  I brought the bike trailer because I knew Peter wouldn't be able to make it the whole way.  I gave him a refresher course the day before to make sure he was comfortable on the bike.  However when it came time for him to ride on the trail he started to panic.  I don't know what it is with this kid that he panics often.  If I could change something about a personality it would be panic.  I myself don't understand it and I find my patience running thin for those who do panic.  Hopefully he can learn to outgrow this.

After about 15 yards on the trail I threw in the towel or more accurately Peter in the trailer along with his bike.  This made the trip more enjoyable for all of us.  I was a little worried because the kids were not conditioned because of winter but they did great.  We were about a half a mile from the falls when they were ready to take a break for lunch.  A informed them they only had a half a mile left so they pumped themselves up and we made it to the falls.  

The Falls were a little crowded.  It seems everyone had the same idea we did but we were determined to enjoy it.  There was a large glacier like snow pack at the base of the falls and we could see the damage it had done to the area but the fish were swimming and the sun was just right.  The boys had a great time playing around.  When it was time to head back they did awesome.  Of course its mostly downhill but they were happy and I was happy.  

We had a beautiful day and the kids felt accomplished at riding 8 miles that day.  I think that is the longest they have ridden at one time.  Good job boys. 

These sunset pictures were the beautiful ending to a beautiful day.