Yes I did....

And I love it!

Cuz I figure, if I'm gonna have four kids and a minivan....I might as well "own" it right!

A new friend for Carter

I got SO lucky today and got to go down and see my friend Tina's new baby girl, Emberlynn. She was just born on Monday morning and she is SO tiny and SO soft and SO yummy! I kept rubbing my cheek on hers and giving her kisses. She is just so sweet! Good thing it's Tina's FIFTH baby so she was fine with me lovin' all over her cute little girl. Or at least I hope she was. Haha... Look at her and Carter next to each other. I can't believe my "baby" is SO much bigger already. I wonder if I can set up an arranged marriage for these two? They look good together right! 

Tina took these. I was trying to fix her blanket since I unwrapped her to see her cute little self better. 

Seriously! Carter looks HUGE next to her. 

Mother's Day Cards

Paul took the kids out to get me a gift for Mother's Day. They each insisted on having their OWN cards to give to me. So Paul let them pick one out on their own. These are the cards they each picked out. And I know Brandon is just barely three, but Paul really does swear Brandon picked his card out on his own. I thought it was hilarious! I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I have such a great family and a fantastic husband. I'm really so truly blessed! 

This is Brandon's. As if I needed to point that out.

Here's Leah's. Pretty huh! The funny thing about this one is that she didn't sign it.

When I asked her why, she just shrugged her shoulders and said she put her name on the outside of the envelope and that was enough.

And of course my sweet little Ashlyn. Here's her card. 

Paul's card came with a Spa Day at Glen Ivy! Yahoo for me. I'm SO excited. Now to get my baby to take a bottle so I can be gone for more than 2 or 3 hours. 

Family Photos

After years and years, we FINALLY got family photos taken. A friend of my SIL took them for us and we just LOVE them and are so happy with how they turned out. And MORE happy to finally have some family pictures.

I'd say these are some of my favorites, but I really loved all of them. So here are a few of my "more" favorite!

And if you're interested, here is a link to who took them. Jason Brenner Photography

Oh I love my Mommy

I don't know why, but blogger is not uploading my video of Ashlyn's Mother's Day school performance. She sang the cutest song called, "Oh, I love my Mommy". I will work on getting it on here, but until then, here are a couple of photos of the event. I like how the kid in front of Ashlyn "parted the way" so I could take my picture. Thanks kid! And then below that is Ashlyn and her best friend Lourdes. I finally met Lourdes' mom, who was snapping the same photo I was. I could have sworn it was her Grandma, but whatever. Glad to have finally met her, although I didn't catch her name. Oh well. At least I know what she looks like now. She told me how Lourdes talks about Ashlyn all the time. I said Ashlyn did the same about Lourdes. They just love each other and I'm so glad she has a good friend in her class. I'm crossing my fingers and praying every day that they are in the same class again next year. 

UPDATE***I guess my video is too long. That's why it won't post. Darn! Maybe I can make a clip of it and get it on here. Not that tons of people will care to watch it. But I know the grandparents will. I'll see what I can figure out. Or rather, I'll see what Paul can figure out for me. 

The Easter Bunny Came

But Mommy was tired from a long night with Carter so I slept in and missed all the fun. Lucky for me I caught a picture of the treats and goodies he left the night before. Wink wink! Unfortunately, I missed the egg hunt. Oh well! Next year I should have all FOUR kids sleeping nicely through the night.

That night, after church, we headed over to Ty and Heathers for an Easter Feast. I brought a ham, but Ty wanted to grill out and have fajitas. Paul teased me that for a family that isn't Hispanic, we sure try our hardest to incorporate Mexican food into every holiday. Ha...we can't help it. It's GOOD food!

Ashlyn's Basket.

Leah's Basket.

Brandon's...uh...where's the Basket? He must have forgotten to set it out. Lucky for him the Easter bunny left his some goodies anyway, which he mostly gave to his sister's because he's not a big candy eater.

Birthday/Easter/Earth Day all rolled into one

I didn't realize when Brandon was born that his birthday would sometimes fall very close to Easter. Well, this year it was two days before and I must say I am now kind of nervous for Carter's birthday being on Halloween every year. It's a lot to plan. Kudos to my mom for always making my birthday feel very separate from Christmas (my birthday is four days after) because it's a lot to organize. ANYWAY, the kids were off of school this year for Brandon's birthday (budget cut day), but it worked out nicely for us. Paul even took the day off and finally used one of his Christmas presents from me and went golfing with a buddy in the morning. So while the guys were gone, and since it was so close to Easter, we dyed eggs with some friends in the early afternoon and then had some more friends and family over for a little BBQ. Brandon was very excited for his "BIG party".

Ashlyn was very meticulous about dying her eggs. She knew she had 9 eggs so she carefully picked out which colors to do and took her time getting each one JUST right. Sounds like her huh!

 The rest of the kids were done and off playing with something else in no time at all. Although I must add that the girls lasted way longer than the boys.

Two of my cute pregnant friends Becky and Tina. I'm very lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life. Can't wait to meet your little baby girls! One next week and the other this August. Yay for beautiful girls.

The kids were all so good and had a good time playing in the backyard.

Daddy and Hyrum got home just in time for dinner.

Didn't realize this picture was fussy. Wish I would have taken another one. We were SO glad our kids cousins could come over. They even missed another birthday party to be here for Brandon's. Those are some GOOD cousins!

Brandon tore through his gifts SO fast. Quite the change from his Christmas unwrapping just four months ago. I have to apologize if I messed up anyone's thank you cards. I was trying really hard to see what gift came from what friend, but I might have gotten some wrong.

Tyler even managed to get off of work and come be with us too! I think he's trying to make up for the fact that he forgot to come to Brandon's Baby Blessing. Ha....He'll never live it down. Poor Tyler. He's a great Uncle and we LOVE him and Heather TONS!

Blowing out the candles, take two. Because I forgot to take a picture the first time. And I only put one candle on. I don't know what I was thinking.

Here's take one. I got it on video. 

As a side note, Brandon refused to wear a shirt all day long! I tried over and over, but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Then I decided it just wasn't worth the fight. It was his birthday after all.

I guess we didn't do much by way of celebrating Earth Day except for the fact that I went through and recycled all the soda cans and water bottles we drank from. Does that count? I think one year I'm gonna do a total Earth Day birthday party for him. Digging in the dirt, making mud pies, eating Earth Worm pudding. That kind of Earth Day stuff. Sounds perfect for a boy huh! Maybe next year.