Happy Easter!

We had a fun time on Saturday dying our hard boiled eggs!  There were 3 dozen this year.

Emily helping Bex

Matthew was a pro this year!  He made lots of multi-colored eggs!

Easter morning, the kids loved their yummy Easter baskets and stuffed animals!

The Easter Bunny hid our dyed eggs inside the house for a fun hunt before 9:00 church!

 Emily helping Bex find her last one!

 The kids were super surprised that the Easter Bunny also hid candy-filled plastic eggs out in the backyard!  Rebecca reaching high!

 This made for a great time after church!

Matthew found a tough one!

 Beautiful Katie having fun!

 Matthew had to climb a few trees to reach the eggs!

Emily above the swing

 Rebecca was excited with every egg she found!

 Emily climbing the fence 

 I even caught Matthew being a good big brother - giving one of his eggs to Bex

 Happy Easter to my beautiful girls!!! 

 Matthew was not quite as photogenic today, but whenever I look at this picture, I am amazed at how much these kids have grown over this past year!  Last Easter, I was a single mom trying to make the best life for my family.  Now we have a father figure in our home who honors the priesthood and puts me and our kids above all else.  It feels so good to have that security and to be able to share the lives of my children with an amazing partner!  I know that I have been extremely blessed this year and that my Heavenly Father loves me.  I am so grateful for the sacrifice that my Savior made for me and honor him this Easter Season!

Hope everyone had a very happy Easter!!!  

Matthew's Birthday Party!

With no school on Friday, we decided to celebrate Matthew's 7th birthday that afternoon!  The boys met at our house and we drove them to Monkey Bizness for some crazy fun!

John, Jalyn, Ethan, Matthew, Elliot, Raphael, and Benjamin

Matthew and Raphael side-by-side down the giant slide

Piled up at the bottom of the slide

 All the boys heading up:  John, Matt, Jalyn, Benjamin, and Raphael

And the race is on!

 The boys loved the obstacle course!

 After going forwards through the obstacle course, they had fun going backwards! 

 Benjamin and Matthew racing!

 Back to the house to open presents - Nice hair bow Jalyn!

 Matthew was so excited to get so many cool gifts!

 His awesome spiky helmet!

 And the big grand finale was...his own big bike!  He has been cruising everyday since!

 Checking out the yummy cake!

 Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday Matt-man!  He has sure grown up a ton this year!  He even likes to play with his little sister Rebecca now :)  His teachers at school love and adore Matthew!  I always get awesome reports for his smartness and great behavior!  Keep up the good work buddy!

Incredible Pizza Birthday Party!

 

Katie's birthday was on March 16th, the same day they returned from Canada.  Sam and I decided to surprise her with a trip to Incredible Pizza (which was her first pick on birthday celebrations)

We started with glow-in-the-dark bowling

Matthew helping Bex

 Emily bowling between her legs backwards!  Crazy girl!

 

 Sam, Matthew and Emily took a turn riding the go-karts!

My boys giving me a wave!

Emily was a very cautious driver

Matthew driving solo - he can barely see over the steering wheel!

Cruising Emily

Sam and Matthew racing eachother!

 And Matthew wins!

 We took a turn playing glo-golf 

 

Emily sinks it!

Katie ready to putt!

Matthew takes a good swing!

Katie through the loop-de-loop!

Emily takes aim!

 Matthew, Emily and I do bumper cars

  Ganging up on mom!

 We had fun playing all the games!  Matt vs. Sam at Connect 4

 Katie got the Jackpot!

Each of the kids got over 600 tickets to spend on prizes at the end!  We had all you can eat pizza/pasta/salad buffet for dinner.  The kids also got a round of lazer tag in - which is a favorite!  It was so fun to celebrate Katie's birthday at this huge playland!

 

We got home too late that night so we had Katie open presents and eat cake the following day!

Katie opening presents

11 candles on her birthday cake!

Blowing out her candles. 

Happy 11th Birthday Katie!  I cannot believe you are so old now!  You have grown so much this year!  I love spending each day with you and watching our grown-up movies together :)  Love ya Bug!