Hoppy Easter

Our first Easter egg hunt was held in California. The Easter Bunny came early and left eggs for all the kiddos. It was very fun and ranged all over the ranch. First the little kids got to find their eggs up around Grandma Gay and Papa's house. It was fun to watch Paityn finding the eggs. She had no clue why she was doing it but soon she realized that there were goodies in the eggs and she was all for it.Then the bigger kids got to look for their eggs around the pond. That was fun. The Easter Bunny was very creative with some of the hiding spots. They were able to find them all though. There was some money in some of the Easter eggs this year. The Easter Bunny was very generous this year.Thanks family!! We had a blast!

The whole crew. From left to right: Grandma Gay, Morgan, Riley, Cara, Kylie, Paityn, Grandma Cindy, Jacob, Cami, Trevor, Mckay and Tanner...and Roxy made an appearance too.

Trevor checking out his goodies after the hunt

Ta-Da

Cam happy about her spoils

Riley was excited to add some money to her very empty piggy bank.

Next was our family Easter egg hunt on Easter morning. The kids were very excited about the Easter Bunny coming AGAIN. They had a good time finding all the treats and goodies. They needed help finding some of the eggs but all were found and that's not always the outcome.

Trev finding one of his eggs

Cami and her egg gumballs.

Cheese Riley!

After Paityn found her first snack she wanted to sit down and eat it. She did not want to waste time looking for anything else when she already had something good.

All done looking. Paityn is in the background in her highchair eating her snacks.

All dressed up and ready for church. These guys looked so stinking cute in their purple. I love my girls' dresses and Trev looks like a mac daddy in his purple shirt and tie.

Our third and last Easter egg hunt was at the Kings house. We had all the local cousins there. We had a good dinner and visited a little bit and then it was time to go hunting for some eggs. All the kids found their eggs and learned a very special lesson about the reason for Easter. Thanks Jim and Kathy. We had fun.

Grandpa reading stories to the kiddos

Trevor found his eggs and he was not letting them go.

Cami, Sara, Riley and Rachel

After the egg hunt I decided that I would jump on the trampoline for a little bit. I had forgotten how much fun it is to jump on a trampoline. I want one for my own.

Home Sweet Home!

I LOVE going home. Whoever made the saying "you can't go home again" didn't have a home like I do. My brother had to leave for three weeks to Ohio for training for work, leaving Jenny at home alone with a 3 year old and a 2 month old to take care of. So Andrew came up with the idea to go to Cali for a week. Well heck yeah I thought. So that's just what we did. We loaded all six kids into the van and headed off on our journey. Jenny and I were so worried about how things would go during the 11-12 hour drive with the baby. The baby was the easiest. On the drive there they all did pretty good. It was the drive back that was rough. It seemed 10 times longer. But first back to the trip there. The whole way to Sacramento it was raining. It was not fun to drive in. We made it through Nevada. We made it through the pass in the rain. We were about 45 minutes away from my parent's house when I noticed my car becoming hard to handle. Riley was getting car sick at this point because my car kept going all over the road and I was trying my best to keep control of it. I didn't think something was wrong. I just thought that I was tired and not paying very good attention to the road. Then this man pulls up along side of us on the freeway and rolls down his window as Jenny and I stare at him wondering what he is going to do. He tells us our back tire is flat. We give him a good two thumbs up and then wonder what we should do now. I pull over and get out of the car. Sure enough it was low but not flat.We decided that we would go to the next exit and see what was there. I called my dad and he told me there should be a Pilot gas station there. Sure enough there was. So I hopped out of the car trying to make myself as presentable as possible. Who would want to help a lady with unkempt hair, no make-up, who smells like McDonald's chicken nuggets anyway? So I pop in a piece of gum and walk around the car. The tire had gotten twice as flat in that short amount of time. I go inside and ask the cashier lady for help. She said that there is no place close by that she knows of. I look at her funny because there is a tire repair shop right outside the window that is part of the Pilot station but I guess it's just for semis. Does a car with two tired mothers stressed to the max with six kiddos count as a semi? I mean we had some pretty precious cargo.Well there was this trucker man, we'll call him chuck, who asked if I had a spare. I said " I think so." He said he'd help us. Chuck had the tire off and the spare put back on in minutes and we were back on our way. Chuck would only accept our thank yous and told us to have a good trip. Needless to say we said a very special prayer for Chuck that night and also thanked our Heavenly Father for protecting us and making it so we got our flat tire where we did and not in the rain and not in the pass and not in remote Nevada. We were really blessed.

Here's Chuck getting the flat off. He laughed at me after taking this. I said "Sorry Chuck but I have to record this moment for my blog."

Chuck and Pilot man getting the spare ready. Look at all of our stuff on the road.

The back of our car chuck full of kids who were at this time running around the parking lot. When Chuck came out to help us, I opened the back hatch and I could just see the surprise on his face as one by one the kids emerged from behind seats and other hidden places. Riley was the best. She was car sick so she was under a blanket and came out from under it looking like swamp thing with her hair all over her face. So funny.

Well as usual, there were lots of projects to be done on the ranch. One day Uncle Randy brought out a dump truck full of gravel. The kids were so funny. They stood still and watched Randy dump out all the gravel and then as soon as he pulled the truck away, they all sprinted to the pile. They played in those dirty rocks forever.

Paiters in the rocks. She was funny to watch. She tried to get to the top but just couldn't get up there.

Trevor made it to the top no problem. He would get up there and say "I'm king of the mountain!" Which of course he was.

Paityn again

I love going home in the Spring. Everything was so green. The flowers were in full bloom and so vivid in color. It was all so beautiful. My mom and grandma have very green thumbs and they do a great job every year.Trevor and Cami took an opportunity to play in the sprinklers when Grandma was watering the flowers.

I love this kid. He is so happy at Grandma and Grandpa's

Sweet girl

Riley didn't want to get too wet but she did venture into the sprinkler too. Love this girl.

Trevor and Tanner. Two boys, the same age, wanting to do the same things, both knowing just what buttons to push. These two had a constant power struggle going on the whole trip.

So sweet looking.

Paityn up on top of the newly refurbished hill

Cami in the golf cart. Cami and Riley were helping Grandma a lot this trip. Cam got a couple of bumps and bruises along the way but she was a trooper.

The top of the hill is where Jeff and Jenna are going to get married. They had a tractor come out and flatten the tip top and now they are planting trees and flowers and grass all over it. This is the very first tree planted that day.

Trevor on the BIG tractor. His favorite thing.

I love going home. I love seeing my family and playing with them and laughing with them and eating with them. I love seeing my kids so excited to play with their cousins. I love how quiet and peaceful it is out on the ranch. I love the smell of my mom and dad's house. I love seeing my grandma and grandpa zoom around on their golf cart still hard at work. I love waking up in the morning and having an array of things laid out for breakfast. I love how Paityn LOVES her grandpa. I love smelling the flowers and grass. Here are some of my favorite shots that I got of the beauty of the ranch...

It's no secret that I love this place. But nobody knows just how much I crave going home. Nobody knows that I wish we lived closer so that my kids could learn how to work like I did. So that my kids could see their cousins and grandparents more often then two or three times a year. Nobody knows that I secretly don't wash my p.j.s for a few days after getting back home to Utah because is smells like home. While I miss my California home, and the things that I love there, I LOVE my Utah home and the fun things that we have here as well. Thank you Honey for letting me go and taking care of everything while we were gone. We missed you. You are the best.

Look Mom!! I Closed My Eyes!!

Trevor has recently discovered that he too can close his eyes for the prayer. So every prayer now I watch him to see if he closes his eyes and he does. Not the whole time but most of it. Then afterwards he'll say, "I closed my eyes!" And we'll say, "good job! How'd you do it?" Then he shows us. "Like this!"....

Paintin' Paityn

I was out running and Chad was working out in the garage on one of the many projects I have for him to do. The kids were downstairs in the basement playing. Riley called me while on my run and asked if she could paint Paityn's toenails. I said sure but make sure to do it in the basement on the cement floor. Well they were finished painting nails but forgot to clean up. So Paityn, being the curious little toddler that she is, grabbed the bottles of fingernail polish and was trying to get them open. She ended up dropping one of them and it shattered leaving glass and paint flying across the room and of course on herself. Chad went down and cleaned up the glass and attempted to clean up the paint while I attempted to clean up Paityn. I couldn't help but laugh. I have a love/hate relationship with moments like these. I love to see the reactions of the kids when they get themselves in predicaments like these, but I hate the clean up. At least I remembered to grab the camera before it was all cleaned up.

Uh-Oh!!

At least it was a pretty color

She really did do a number to the cement. Crazy how paint flies.

Signs of Spring

I LOVE Spring. I love the smells of grass and rain and new flowers and the warm breezes. I just love Spring. I was looking around the other day and I noticed all these things around me that were signs that Spring had sprung. All of these things just make me so happy.Yeah Spring!!

Spring decor is out and looking darling...

including some new homemade hand crafted pieces.

Tan lined kids from sunburns because parents forgot or didn't even think about putting on sunblock.

Buds popping out on our pear tree

Sand toys laying around in abundance

Blossoms popping out all over the neighborhood.

Tulips...I LOVE tulips and they are a sure sign that spring has sprung.

Another One Bites The Dust

Yet another blog post about Riley's TINY mouth and large teeth. Riley woke up one morning and told me that she had a sore on her gums. So I looked and to my surprise there was indeed and large infected bump on her gums. "Great" I thought. Yet another trip to the dentist followed by another dentist bill. So I got her an appointment and we made our way to the dentist. Dr. Hadley took one look and said, "well there is an infection. Now we just need to find out where it is coming from." So I was asked to stand behind the wall while they worked on Riley and prepped her for an X-ray. Little did I know that they were sticking a wire into the NOT NUMB sore on her gum and pushing it all the way into the infected tooth's root. Can you say OUCH? Poor girl. I came back into the room and asked Riley if it hurt...not knowing that they stuck this wire into her gum. She said "yeah, but only when they stuck this thing in my gum." She lifted up her lip and I saw the little pain causing wire sticking out of her gum. I was in shock. I said "are you numb. Could you feel it?" She said that she was not numb and she could feel it. I looked over at the screen showing the x-ray picture and saw the wire's route to the infection source. The dentist came back in and pulled out the wire, not gently I might add, and then said, "well let's get her numb, we're gonna have to pull it." Uh yeah!! Shouldn't you have gotten her numb prior to stabbing her infected mouth with a wire? Riley is a tough girl and she was so strong throughout it all. She has such a high pain threshold. Way to go Riley. Keep those teeth coming out. But can you try and have at least one more come out naturally? PLEASE!!

This is the sore. The picture does NOT do it justice.

Here is the evil wire X-ray picture. Look at how far that goes in.

All done!! Good work tough girl.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission!!

Chad's sister Kiley, decided to serve a mission. She turned in her papers and we waited and waited. FINALLY the day came and she received her call. We all went over to Chad's parents' house to have a party and watch Kiley open her mission call. I made a poster and had people write their guesses of where they thought she was going to go on the poster. My camera dies after this picture so I wasn't able to get a picture of the poster. The big moment arrived and Kiley was ready to open her call. We all listened on pins and needles as she read...Sister Kiley King, you are hereby called to serve in the Tai-Chung Taiwan mission. We all cheered. She will be great. We are so excited for Kiley and we can't wait to hear about her success and growth.