Easter

This is not an Easter picture, but it is an awesome Star Wars castle Dan built with the boys.

  Fewer kids went to the assisted living egg hunt this year, which made for a better experience for us.  The boys got to hang with their cousins, see Grandma, and the Easter Bunny who they were scared of.

  Whenever I think that I'm in Sandy area all the time and should just move, I have to remember things like this and what awesome neighbors I have.  Tami stuffed 600 eggs and had the kids on our street over for a hunt in her yard.  Awesome! 

 Hunting with their friend Carter and Alicia who I think might have a crush on them.

 This picture is to dispel any rumors that Dan needs friends. :)  This is his buddy Chris who has an equal appreciation for Bear Grylls pants.

 Our neighbors brought over these cute Easter Bunny cupcakes.  Thank goodness for great people who do cute things like this so that I don't have to.

 Our egg dying kit had accessories to make faces, which the boys turned into an entire soap opera story.

Pop Quiz - Do you know which boy I am??

 Looking sharp for Easter Sunday

 Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Ogilvie's house.  You may have to enlarge this picture to appreciate it, but Seth is airborne.   My brother Jimmy was able to get off work and fly home for the weekend, which made for an extra special Easter. 

We also brought back the adult egg hunt for dollars.  We couldn't find five of the eggs, but Jim did find one from last year.

March

 We got a new camera, so some of these pictures are from us trying to figure it out.  This is Brad with his Blue Doggie and Angry Bird.  They both sleep with these each night.

 The boys thought it was cool that they were wearing the same pajamas, just mixed up and wanted a picture taken.

 This is to document that we are good parents. :)  The boys have to do "reading time" with their preschool and are so excited that they have moved onto the yellow books.

 We went to a bounce house for our "Family Fun Day".  Adults were able to get on a lot of the gear as well.  Afterwards we ate at Spaghetti Factory, went to REI and a few other errands that took us all over the valley.

The boys love to dance, especially Seth.  We've been watching Michael Jackson videos on You Tube to help give them ideas.

Coming and Goings this Winter

 I took the boys to the dentist for the first time.  They did great, until the dentist freaked Brad out and he cried huge tears.  He kept his mouth open, though, and no cavities.

 I got the boys "Cars" card games for Christmas and it was seriously their favorite gift.  They have elaborate races and adventures with them.

 They got invited to a cool Ninja party.  This is blurry because they were showing me their ninja moves. They are super excited about their own upcoming birthday and tell everyone they meet when their birthday is, including complete strangers at the store.

 Our project as of late was to make our pantry door magnetic.  The goal was to completely clear off my fridge.  It was a lofty goal, but it did help with some of the clutter.

 The boys helped me shred old documents and got to have fun in the process.  This is obviously an activity we did when Dan was at work. :)

 Seth kept complaining that he didn't have a hood to keep him warm like Brad when we were running errands.  His solution was to pull his vest over his head.  It was pretty clever and on the verge of embarrassing at Costco.  He also wouldn't leave for church this morning without a winter hat, because it would keep him nice and warm on the way into the building.

 We went to the Children's Museum and had an extra ticket for the boy's friend Derek.  These are some very cool boys.

 This is a horrible picture, but for those of you familiar with "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" you'll appreciate it.  They came to Salt Lake and we went to the show.  It was awesome.  It was a great night for the boys as well because they had their first friend sleepover at Derek's house.

 They build big weapons and then shoot down the dinosaurs.  Their latest interest is in the Solar System and we had to go to the library because I couldn't tell them why Pluto wasn't a planet anymore (now classified as a Dwarf Planet we found out).

St. George Trip

 Dan's brother Scott and family stayed with us for a few days and then we all went down to St. George for a weekend trip.  The first day we went to Snow Canyon.

 We spent a long time at the sand dunes building and destroying castles, rolling, and jumping.

 Cousin Aaron looking cute.

 This picture makes me want to go back, just hanging with our family.

 Brad takes building things very seriously.  With the help of adults a pretty impressive canyon was built.

 The secret to any good hike is good snacks.

 Day two was spent at Zions National Park

On Sunday we went through the St. George Temple Visitor's Center.  It made me think of my Grandpa Adams who was married there and a temple worker for at least 20 years.  It was great to spend time with Scott, Katie, Timmy, and Aaron.  The boys finally figured out how to play with each other,  Katie and I got to spend time together on the ride down, and Dan got some brotherly bonding.  We'll miss you guys!

Cousins Weekend at the Cabin

Dan's co-worker has a cabin at Strawberry Reservoir and generously loaned it to us this weekend.  The cousins joined us in the fun.

 Decked out to go snowmobiling

 The snow wasn't good for snow man making.  So we took chunks of it and build structures.

 May, Brad, Seth, Aaron, Ellie, Timmy (Sophie had a birthday party and couldn't come and Liam stayed home as well)

 This would've been a better picture if I'd zoomed in, but notice how Dan is sitting in a lawn chair.

 Timmy liked snow ball fights the best.

 Uncle Kyle was the best at giving pushes down the hill.

Mom and Seth on the snowmobile.

Christmas Eve

We had the whole family, both sides, over for Christmas Eve again this year.  Part of my Christmas was that Dan did almost all of the cooking, including three batches of home made rolls.  This year was especially nice because Scott and his family were here before they move to Germany.

 Pre dinner festivities, including appetizers.  Janet's brothers Jimmy and Mark

 Kyle and Robby

 Allie with baby Liam

 The kids table is always more fun than the adult

 Ogilvie Clan

Stapleton clan

 The junior version of BINGO was actually a quick roll of the dice

BINGO is definitely intense.  Kudos to Allie's boyfriend for daring to meet all of us.

December

 We had a mini Christmas when my manager's son cleaned out his closet and we inherited these awesome remote control cars.  Seth was jumping up at down for about an hour, he was so excited.

 We ate dinner at Gateway, had a short TRAX ride and looked at the lights.

 This is a very typical picture, I just never post them- the boys not cooperating and Dan looking annoyed that I am making him have this photo op.

 The boys had their preschool Christmas Program today.  They did really well on their speaking parts as well as doing the actions for the songs.  Thanks to both Grandma's for coming to support them.  I recorded most of the program and we watched it with Dan tonight (he had his knee scoped and couldn't make it).  They were so proud to watch themselves and tell their daddy how well they'd done.

The boys said they weren't supposed to wear jeans, so here are my handsome boys with untucked shirts.