Cory's in town

Dan's brother Cory moved up to Oregon last fall so it has been a few months since we have seen him. Well this week he has been in town and apparently we all feel the need to make up for lost time. (we were up until 2:00 am on Wednesday night!) It has been so much fun to have him around and see the boys again. The boys live here in the valley with their mom so Cory asked me to take some pictures of them together for him to have. Of course I told him I would, but I had a disclaimer. I know not of what I am doing. My mom just happens to have a nice camera and it takes great pictures.

For the  most part I thought they turned out great. I think Cory wanted a little more direction from me because he kept asking me what I wanted him to do... but I didn't know! Just be yourself! I think themselves turned out pretty cute! 

Easter Hunt

The hunters

Dan's older sister Nicole is always so good about coordinating family activities. This year she tried her hardest to get the family together for a little Easter BBQ and egg hunt. We were all able to get together but unfortunately it was quick. Garrett had a game that he had to get too and we were late because we had to drop Spencer off at practice and in the middle of it I took Cory and the boys down to take some pictures of them. The kids had so much fun though and I am always appreciative to Nicole for trying so hard to keep us all connected. 

Addy was being hysterical. She was giving me the funnies face, until she licked that chocolate... then she was all smiles... until the chocolate wore off - then she was CRAZY!!!

Most pictures were a blur of kids running! Thankfully this one seemed to capture the ginger pretty well! She was having a blast this year!

Kingsley 

 Kings was hilarious because some of the eggs had $1 bills in them, ya he thought those eggs were crap! He kept throwing the money and was all annoyed! haha!

Garrett

Jayda 

 The bigger kids (Jayda, Ryleigh & Ammon) played a little badminton

Garrett & Daniella

Ethan & Joel

 Next year Liam will get to hunt!! 

Ammon's Game

Today I was fortunate enough to not have a single little league game or practice so we packed it up and went to Ammon's game! Apparently we don't know how to handle a day without baseball, so we just add it in. 

Ammon is playing for Highland High School now, and he is on the JV team. He plays 2nd base and bats lead off. He is a really good player and we always enjoy watching him. It is amazing to see how big he has gotten. 

Ammon, up to bat

Is it over yet!?

Can Spring Break please be over??? I just want my house to stay clean for longer than 20 minutes and I really really (More than anything) would like to go more than 15 minutes without hearing tattling....

...24 more hours....

enjoy these days.................

Jett LOVES Livy

I 

I watch Jett everyday for Kristi while she works. Most days he is a pleasure. He is a fantastic baby. I was originally a little worried with how it was going to work with Olivia, since she is my baby. I didn't want her to feel threatened by him at all. The good news is: she doesn't! 

She absolutely LOVES him! They have so much fun together. She is such a fantastic helper to me. 

And the really really good news: He LOVES her!! 

There are times when I come sprinting into the room thinking that he is hysterically sobbing but instead he is hysterically laughing - at OLIVIA! She doesn't even have to do anything, he just laughs at her!

Little League Opening Day

This year our boys are playing for Chandler National Little League. It is a little different from our last little league. Lets just says it's a big deal around this place! We went from a Little League with 250 kids to a league with over 1,000 kids! It is huge! In the past opening day has been an introduction of teams and some balloons tied to the bleachers. This year it consisted of a fly over, a MLB player talking to the boys, free activity booths, bouncy houses and raffles! 

 They were raffling a bunch of stuff. The grand prize was $1500.00. They also had a $600.00 & $400.00 prize and some Diamondbacks gear. A signed baseball (I don't remember which player), a signed Gerardo Parra batting helmet and a Jason Kubel jersey that he wore in a game last season. I won the Kubel jersey! I was totally shocked! And super excited. 

Happy Birthday to me!

Alright, first I must start with a hilarious story:

My grandma called me today to tell me happy birthday and then she told me that she had read an article saying the women feel their best, look their best and are at their peak at the age of 31! I then said to her "Great! So what you are telling me is the best year of my life is behind me since I am turning 32 today!!??" She, of course, apologized because she thought that I was turning 31! hahaahahah! I have been laughing about this all day! Thankfully, I am in disagreement. I feel better today than I have in years! I am ready for 32! I hope it is a wonderful year.

This year, I asked Dan to take me to the shooting range so that I could learn how to use our gun that we have in our house. Dan works nights, and we own a Springfield XD subcompact .40 cal.  for home protection but the irony is, I have never known how to use it. Lately, that is something that I have been feeling like needs to be a priority for me. So he was more than happy to spend my birthday at the shooting range.

I was really surprised how much fun I had! It was such a rush and a thrill. But it did make me jump a few times.

I didn't think this was too bad for my first time. I would say that I feel pretty confident that I could protect my family if the need ever arises!

Girls Lunch at the Park

We are on Spring Break around here... and thankfully my mom decided to have girls lunch at the park for everyone this month! My kids needed to get out of the house - BAD! I always love girls lunch so much! It is such a fun break in the month. Plus I love these ladies!! I love the bond that this has created in the past couple of years. PLUS next month Aunt Cori will be here to stay for all future girls lunches! YAY!

Miss Olivia

Suey & Amalie

Yes, please! Go climb a tree! 

Nikaela! Ready for baby Hyrum to make an appearance! (Due April 15th)

A Month of Birthdays!

March has always been THAT month in my family. In my own immediate family we have Kristi, Chad, my mom & myself all in March. Then we have lots of relatives sprinkled in around us, so we party a lot in March... and usually we indulge a lot in March.

For Kristi's Birthday back on the 2nd we had a little girls trip to the mall. It was fun to be with just the ladies.

I was there too... I was just taking the pictures!

For Chad's birthday we had his special birthday dinner! (Red Hot Fried Chicken - it's AHH. MAY. ZING!)  then he had the task of blowing out all twenty candles on his cake! 

he couldn't do it. 

Champions

The Raptors win a lot of tournaments. I am running out of creative titles for all this championship photos.. but I want to post them all because someday, when these days are long behind us, I want them to be able to look back and say "Dang! We were good!" Because they are good! They are really good. 

This weekend was another win for the boys! They were in the silver bracket which was kind of a bummer but we had a rain out yesterday, so they were pre-selected for the brackets. Regardless they rolled through the tournament and played phenomenally. I just love these kids! 

Hacked

Oh the joys of having a teenager! The infamous phone hacking! hahaha! Who's laughing now??