Easter Weekend

*This post is going to be long and have a lot of picures
I have had a hard time getting this post done! We had a fantastic Easter Weekend!! We started the weekend off by going to Baby Animal Days at the Historical Farm. The girls loved it! We took Brooklyn 2 years ago and it seemed like there were 2 baby animals, but this year there seemed to be a lot more baby animals. Brooklyn loved them all- but her favorite part was the turtles (that I didn't get a good picture of) and the Easter Bunny. Gracie seemed to enjoy herself as well she wasn't a fan of the baby duck- but LOVED the baby bunnies! It was great weather which was awesome- we had a blast! That night we also dyed Easter eggs and had a fun time doing that!

In our family the Easter Bunny comes Friday night so when the girls woke up on Saturday they looked for their Easter Baskets. (we didn't get the best pictures of this) Brooklyn got a Troy and Gabriella Barbie and Gracie got a swing for our swing set. It was a fun morning and the girls were in Heaven getting to eat candy for breakfast. :)

After Easter Baskets, we got ready and went out to Sean's grandparents in Stone, Idaho. There Brooklyn dyed more eggs, we had and easter egg hunt, and a wonderful lunch. It was super windy out there, but that didn't stop Brooklyn from being outside pretty much the whole time we were there. Grandma and Grandpa have a 4-Wheeler and a Ranger and Brooklyn spent most of her time (and Grandpa's) out on those. Grandma was running around as usual trying to keep all the kids happy and take care of all of us- that I didn't even get a picture of her. Sean's grandparents are some of the neatest people I ever met. All of my grandparents have passed away and it is really sad not having grandparents. I feel so blessed that I have Sean's grandparents to be mine. I feel like I am their own granddaughter and love them so much! Thanks grandma and grandpa for the great day!

Sunday we had a great day at church. The gals looked so cute in their Easter dresses. We went to the Maynard's for the afternoon (my parents were in St. George for the weekend). Sean's mom made us a delicious lunch and we had a great time there. Both girls fell asleep on the way- exhausted from their busy and fun weekend.

Brooklyn is quite the poser. She does those all on her own. She has also started a new thing when we take her picture. Where she scrunches up her nose and cheeks. It is funny.

I love these girls they were being so cute when we were trying to get their picture.

And finally- I love the candy and easter baskets and all that as much as everyone else- but I think that it is very important that we recognize the real reason for us celebrating Easter. On the Sunday morning session of conference, Elder Holland gave one of the most powerful talks on the Savior that I think I have ever heard. That talk went right to my heart and strengthened my testimony of the Savior. The week of Easter was a very emotional week for me. The passed several months I have been reading in the New Testament- and in reading that I have grown to love and appreciate my Savior and what he went through on my behalf. And then in the Young Women's we gave the girls a thing called "A Walk with Christ." It goes through the last week of the Savior's life and gives scriptures to read each day and some story to go along with it. On Sunday we had a special Easter lesson and my heart was full. After church our family did a Christ Centered Easter activity and as I was trying to explain to Brooklyn how much our Savior loves her, I lost it and the flood gates opened. (I think that Brooklyn thought I had lost it.) And then I saw this clip on my sister's blog and it is perfect!! Our Savior was betrayed by one of his closest friends, he suffered unimaginable pain in the Garden of Gethsemane for the sins and trials that we all go through, he was ridiculed, had a crown of thorns placed on his head, pierced in the side, and then finally he was crucified! And then after 3 days, the bands of death were broken and he was resurrected. I love my Savior and I know that he lives.

Trip to the Firestation

On Monday, Brooklyn and I went to the North Logan Fire Department for a field trip with her Preschool class. It was a lot of fun! When we got there they showed us a very informative video- it was a big reminder for me on what to do in case of a fire. After the video we went into the bay and saw the engines and a firefighter put on the full gear. He let the kids come and and touch him to let them know that in case of a fire not to be scared of the firemen. They let all the kids climb in and through 2 of the fire engines- Brooklyn LOVED it. After the tour we were sitting outside having a snack and they pulled the engine out and raised the ladder. Needless-to-say, for Family Night we went over- I say went over like we had one- more like we made our emergency escape route and practiced doing it several times. Brooklyn could have done it all night.

They gave each of the kids a little fire helmet after the tour

I have just got to say that I love my girls!! Tonight we were hanging out while Sean was at the Priesthood Session- both gals had bathed I was in the kitchen cleaning up and came in and found them like this. Brooklyn had put on a Baby Einstein DVD for her and Grace and had lifted Gracie up (kinda scary!) and got them all covered up. Surprisingly, Gracie was actually sitting there enjoying the show with Brooklyn. They are at a really fun stage right now- where they play together and have a lot of fun together. Gracie thinks that everything Brooklyn does is the best and Brooklyn is such a great big sister!

Future Cheerleader?

Gotta love Brooklyn cheering for Sean. If you look closely he is playing Tetris. And of course half-way through the cheer she goes into High School Musical.

We have a a rough week in our house this week. Both girls have been sick with nasty coughs. Brooklyn has asthma and so her cough gets really bad. She takes her inhaler about once every couple of months and this week she has been taking it multiple times a day. I hope we are just about done with this round of illness.

Also an update on Gracie and her teething. This whole time I thought she was getting her 2nd and 3rd bottom teeth- well the other day I had to dig something out of her mouth and discovered that she has 2 molars on the top. Which explains how hard of a time she was having. She is still drooling quite a bit so I think she is still working on some more teeth.

Teething woes...HELP!

Poor Gracie is working on getting some new teeth and it is not going over too well. This past week, she has been up about at least 3 times per night. Let me remind you that she started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks old- we have been super spoiled. So her being up at night is really throwing me. You can tell by looking at these pictures that she is not feeling well at all. In the bottom one she is just sitting on my lap and she hardly ever just sits there. We have teething tablets, Motrin, and Tylenol. Does anyone else have any other miracle cure that has helped their kids through teething? Why does is have to be so hard on them?

Fun in the Snow! & Happy Birthday to our Buddy!

As of yesterday we had no snow left on our lawn. In fact Sean even got Brooklyn's "Princess car" out this week and she was able to drive it. (scroll down past these photos)

This is how our day was today. Complete with over 2 feet of snow. Just when we thought Spring was almost here. We dressed the girls up in their snow gear and played outside. Brooklyn always loves it outside. Gracie wasn't sure. She was loving it until she fell and did a complete face plant in the snow. I took her in the house and got her warmed up and changed her hat and went back outside. I had the great idea that it would be fun for Sean to pull the gals in the sleigh. However the snow was too deep- add our dog Sandy into the mix and that equals Sandy pushing Brooklyn (who was holding Gracie) and Gracie going face first into the snow. Sean went running to her and her face was ALL white. She was not happy about it at all. Sad to say I didn't get a picture of that. And that ended our day of fun in the snow.

Today is also my nephew Garrett's birthday. Last year on the 9th- was a Sunday. We were blessing Gracie that day. My sister called me at about 6:45 in the morning and told me that her water had broke and that my mom was taking her to the hospital. Her husband was VERY sick with the influenza and couldn't get out of bed. So we blessed Grace- my mom came to the blessing then went back to the hospital and after the dinner was over- I headed to over to be with my sister. Greg's parents brought him over when it was gettting closer and poor Derk laid on the couch in the delivery room and I had the privledge to be Nat's coach. To make a long story short she pushed for a good 2 hours and I remember when she was almost there she looked at me with the most agonizing look on her face. I looked back at her with tears in my eyes and said, "You can do this Nat!" And then out little buddy was born soon after. It was really neat to be on that side of the Labor and Delivery process. We love our little Gare Bear. He thinks that everything Brooklyn does is HILARIOUS!! We will be trying all but standing on our heads to make him laugh and Brooklyn will walk in and he will burst out laughing. He loves her and she loves him. And little Gracie ADORES her buddy. She has been sick this week and at times when I couldn't console her I would get out my cell phone and show her a picture of Garrett and she would perk right up. They are so funny to watch together. Happy Birthday Buddy- we love you!

Blog-to-book

So like many of you, I am using my blog as my family journal. In the past couple of weeks I have been researching different programs that can print out myblog. I have come across 3 that I have played with (spent many hours with- actually)

blog2print.com
blurb.com
scrapbookblogger.com

On all 3 of them you enter in your blog url and it is uploaded. So Scrapbookblogger is the most user friendly- mine ended up being 68 pages and $38.00. Blog2print includes all the comments that were left so mine was 125 pages with comments and $62 for a hard cover $52 for soft. I decided if I used this program I wouldn't print the comments so deleting them took it down to 70 pages making it $42.45. You can also print an electronic ebook for $3. My favorite program and the one that I think I am going to use it Blurb. I am still playing with it and don't know the page # or cost. (None of these programs include the pictures from slide shows or SmileBoxes which kinda stinks.)

I hope this helps anyone that has been thinking about doing this. If anyone knows of any other program they have used will you please let me know. Doing this is very time consuming- but I think definately worth it.

I love my girls!

Poor Gracie had a rough day on Friday. We recently started getting the Rosehill Dairy milk (they deliver it to your house), Friday it came and Brooklyn was so excited to get it and went running into the kitchen to put it in the fridge. Of course Gracie went running right behind her and somehow managed to trip and smack the corner of our lamp/magazine rack. It made the loudest sound and I knew she was going to be bad. Sure enough when I got to her there was blood coming out of her top lip and there was the gash just below her bottom lip. Needless-to-say I have never heard her cry as hard as she did. But after about 5 minutes she was back to herself. Than a couple hours later I was doing Brooklyn's hair and she was sitting on a stool and Gracie tripped and hit her head on it. Poor thing! Then to top it off- I had to get gas and got a carwash because our car was disgustingly dirty and the carwash totally traumatized her. She screamed through the whole thing. I am curious if it will scare her everytime or if everything just added up and she had had it. (As a side note- aren't babies so cute in their jammies? I love it!)

Still smiling- I might add that this smile melts my heart!

Brooklyn is OBSESSED with gum. She is crazy. Sean had some in his pocket and she walked by him and then came back and smelled his pocket and said. "I smell gum!" We looked at each other like what the heck. So along with chewing it she is quite proud of herself when she blows a bubble!

(At one point of this day she did have a shirt on under this shirt- but of course she had to take it off.)

I love this picture with her looking cross-eyed at the bubble