Friday, April 23, 2010

What a life...

What a life...a term used frequently by grandparents, kids, and myself over the last week.

I've been wanting to visit my parents in Arizona and when Jeff decided to go to Boston with his Dad, I thought it would be the perfect weekend for me and the kids to come. We are having a great time. The first day that we flew in we went to the Butterfly Gardens. It's sort of like a greenhouse and there were hundreds of butterflies. Jaxon loved holding them and told us after that he made lots of new friends, meaning the butterflies.

On Wednesday, the kids wanted to go to the Children's Museum. Highlights were:

The fire engine:
the vet shop:
the store/kitchen:
building towers and knocking them down:



going down the stairs headfirst (this was the last room they played in and instead of being tired like I thought they might be, they were SO hyper and were laughing their heads off):
Thursday we went on a tram ride through Sabino Canyon. It was a chilly 50 degrees and we tried to stay warm. I loved it anyway-it was beautiful. The kids loved all the waterfalls and the cactus. It was one of my favorite things that we have done so far.



After the canyon tour, Grandma gave the kids a surprise. When we asked Claire what she thought about her sucker, she said, "ouch!"


On Friday, we went to a reptile rambile. It was another chilly day and we cuddled in blankets. They brought out a variety of snakes. We left before they brought out the creepy crawlies which got me thinking, would you rather come across a snake in the desert or a tarantula? Definitely a snake for me--tarantulas make my skin crawl just thinking about them.
I'm trying to be less scared of bugs and such for my kids (after all I need someone to kill the spiders so I don't have too). Jaxon was fine touching the snakes after he saw me doing it--success!!



The cooler weather didn't stop us from enjoying the pool every night. Jaxon is getting more and more brave. By the third night, he was going around the pool by himself with his lifejacket and noodle. His smile was priceless...


The kids sleeping soundly after a hard day of play:

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter Festivities!

I look forward to Easter weekend almost as much as the kids do. It's such a fun holiday, spring is in the air, and who doesn't love a creme filled Cadbury Egg. Even better that it was conference. My parents flew up to spend the weekend with everyone. Only wish they could've brought some of their warm weather with them. We had a wonderful time with them and love when they come visit.

At Jaxon's preschool on Monday, the eggs they've been watching over the last few weeks hatched. They were able to see two of them hatch in their class. His teacher had an open house between conference sessions on Saturday to let families come and see the chicks and the Easter Bunny. We went and checked them out-they were too little to hold, but still so cute.

We couldn't talk Claire into sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap. Maybe next year...

After the visit to Jaxon's preschool, my family came to our house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. The kids ended up with loads of candy.

Jaxon and Claire enjoying being with their Grandma and eating their candy.

After the egg hunt, we took a little break to let the sugar high wear off and met at my sister's house while the men went to the Priesthood session. We ate dinner and dyed Easter Eggs. The boys couldn't resist putting their whole hands in the dye and ended up with green fingers. I don't remember coloring eggs being so messy, but then I've never dyed eggs with eight kids before. I love how much fun the cousins have when they are together-they all get along so well!


On Sunday, the Easter Bunny came again. He brought more candy, some toys for outside, and Mario for the WII. Jeff and I have been looking forward to playing Mario with the kids. We find games like that highly entertaining.


Jaxon looking a little stunned at all the candy in his basket. Wish I could read his mind...