Easter

Easter was a lot of fun at our house. The boys got cute Easter outfits from Grandma and went hunting for eggs right before our 8am church =).

Here they are in action =)

I even made them pose in the backyard for pictures =) LOL

They are so silly!

Right after church was over we went to my sister in law, Stepanie's, parents house for easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Stephanie's parents only have 2 grandkids and loved having all of my parent's grandkids over last year, so they offered to have Easter at their house again this year. Even though it was fun, there was also a somber mood because they had recently discovered that Stephanie's brother has cancer. Her Mom was having a really hard time, and we all had our thoughts and prayers on him throughout the day. That is not news that any Mom wants to hear about her child, and my heart aches for her and all of their family at this time.

My Mom holding Lila, who is the newest of the Whitfield grandchildren born on Feb 27th.

Tyler showing off his loot =)


Nathan finding the high ones with Daddy's help.

If you are wondering why Nathan has his shirt off in these pictures, it is because of a joke my punk brother decided to play. He decided to place a plastic egg on a pile of dog poop. Of course that is the first egg Nathan discovers, and of course nobody is near at the moment to stop him. He ended up getting his hand and sleeve in it. I turned the video camera to him and saw him crying so I put the camera down to go see what was wrong. He was really upset and acted like he thought it was his fault =(. We ended up missing half the hunt because we were getting him cleaned off. I was pretty annoyed and told my brothers they better hope it didn’t ruin his whole experience. They must have seen a mother’s wrath in my eyes (and hopefully felt remorse), because when we came back out Jared and Wesley had found a bunch of eggs and re-hid them near the porch so Nathan could find them quickly. I was surprised that Nathan was even okay with going shirtless, and even more surprised that he was willing to get back to egg hunting. Usually when he’s been embarrassed he gives up, and it’s the end of it for him. He ended up having fun and getting as many eggs as everyone else. I still think it was a dirty trick to play on a kid, but I should not have expected anything less from my punk of a brother Wesley. I love him to death, but he has always been a big pain in the rear sometimes =).

Wesley with his son Lincoln. Isn't he a chub?

I LOVE his cheeks!

Bruce and Brookelyn

Navie =) I love her expression!

After a few hours we then went straight to Josh's parents house to enjoy Easter Dinner and a relaxing evening. We didn't have another egg hunt (thank goodness, I was egg hunted out), but we spent plenty of time outside and enjoying family.

Kent (Dad), Tyler, Nathan, Josh, and Barron watching the hummingbirds that were all over the place. They sat doing that for a long time, I can not believe how long my boys sat still =).

Tyler's Creations

Tyler is my imaginative boy that loves to figure things out, build, and create. I woke up one morning to see this "city" he had created out of random things he collected around the house.

Then another morning I found this "drawing" of a train on the carpet of the living room made up of Candy Land cards =) Very creative huh?

A couple weeks later, from the other room I hear tape being dispensed over and over. I wasn't too concerned because I figured he was creating something and thought "what's loosing a roll of tape anyway?" Well, after hearing it continue over and over I decided to investigate and found him half way through the third roll of tape, proudly pointing at the pictures he hung all by himself. =) He was SO happy!

Needless to say, I could not get mad at him for using up all my tape. =) I was just proud of him for taking the initiative to hang up his Temple picture =). This still hangs above his bed just like it is, masses of tape and all. =)

The Dentist

At the end of February (before our benefits ran out) we took the kids to their dentist for their check ups. Tyler is wonderful at the Dentist and really enjoys going (especially when Rose is his Hygienist, he love Rose!). Tyler has been going there every six months since he was three (I used to work there, so he knows the office well). Plus it is Train themed and of course he LOVES that because he is a train fanatic! =)

This was going to be Nathan's first teeth cleaning. He has had his teeth "counted" before (that's what they tell them when it's a quick check that also helps them get used to it before they turn 3)

We had Nathan watch Tyler in hopes that he would not get upset when it was his turn. I think it helped a lot.I did not get a picture of him upset or crying because Josh and Tyler had to leave the room so Nathan would cooperate. He was crying for Daddy (because he's a Daddy's boy), but was not good for Daddy so I made him leave until he calmed down. Nathan knows I mean business, so it didn't take him long to settle down. After that, it was great!

Nathan let them do everything, even polish (which he did not want at first). I was so glad it went well and Nathan actually liked the whole experience afterwards =)

Rose always tells me how impressed she is about how good Tyler behaves while getting his teeth cleaned. He will ask questions when he is able too and sits really still the rest of the time. As I was posting this, Tyler said "I want to go get my teeth cleaned everyday. Can we go today?" I started laughing and said "no, only every 6 months" and he started pouting and said "Why? I like it!" =) LOL what a crack up! He should be on a commercial =) LOL I guess we succeeded in teaching them that the dentist office is nothing to fear =) LOL

Sports Class

Back in February we signed Nathan up for a sports class through the City Parks and Rec. Even though he was really excited about it, Nathan would not leave Josh's side the first day and cried a lot. The next class he was better but still got upset sometimes and wanted to be held.

Tyler did not want to play sports, so we didn't sign him up for a class, but he had a blast just running around the soccer field entertaining himself.

Nathan finally warmed up and started enjoying his sports class so much that we singed him up for the following season. He started his second season this past week and looks forward to it more than anything else. He LOVES it!

I love this Picture! He was about to kick the soccer ball into the cone so enthusiastically =) What a cutie!

I love this picture too!

Josh and I always marvel at how into sports he is. I have never known a child to be so in love with sports. We never even drilled it into him, he just naturally picked up on it and it became his passion. Josh LOVES it =) as you can imagine. He is definately his Father's son =)

Birthday Cakes and Fun

I am WAY behind on this. Tyler turned 5 at the end of January and Nathan turned 3 at the begining of March. Though I mentioned their birthdays in previous posts, I never actually posted any pictures of their party or their Birthday cakes. =(

Everyone says I go crazy on the cakes, but I enjoy that part of the birthday planning the best.
I always try to make their cakes themed, just because it's fun. It's easy because I always know Tyler wants a train (because he is a train fanatic) and Nathan is a sports fanatic so he's happy with anything resembling a ball of some sort =). I'm so glad they know what they want =).


Because Tyler likes Trains best...

This is what's called a puzzle cake which is made up of cupcakes in all different shapes,

it was really fun to make (except the frosting which took forever to dye).

I made this cake twice, one for his "friend party" and one for his "family party" that we had at Family Dinner.

Nathan got two different cakes for his parties. For his "Friend Party" he had cupcakes made to look like basketballs and baseballs and for his "family party" or family dinner, he had a basketball icecream cake.

The ice cream cake was so yummy! A lot of work, but well worth it I think. I made three round cakes, then put two layers of ice cream in between them having to re-freeze it between each layer. at one point one complete layer slid to one side an froze half way off so I had to cut it off, reposition it and freeze it again =) Fun! =) It's a good thing it tasted good =) and that Nathan REALLY loved it!

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The Parties..... as I said before, each of them had a very small friend party, and then when we had our family dinner (which we have every other week) we celebrated their birthdays with aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.

Tyler had a travel themed "friend party"

We set up his Geo Trax set....

Each "traveler" had a train or a plane to control on the track...

Then we took a picture of them in their travel "disquises."

They were cracking us up!

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For Nathan's "friend party" we had a few friends over to play sports (of course). We had basketball, T Ball, and soccer going on in the backyard.

Then for the family party/family dinner,

We had both sides of the family over for hot dogs.

"Sports food" of course! =)

Tyler opened one of his favorite gifts which was a complete soccer outfit, socks and all!

Here is Nathan and his new soccer clothes and kleats.

He is in this stage right now where he only wants to wear "sports clothes." he wouldn't wear anything else if we let him get away with it. If we can convince him that an article of clothing is worn by "sports people" he will willingly wear it, if not, then we have a bit of a tantrum. =) He's funny =)

Our Craziness

Wow, life has been crazy! I feel like I can finally breathe a bit, but this weekend is not going to be any slower =). Between working from home (about 10hrs a week), reading & writing for my literature class (which takes forever!), babysitting in trade for Tyler's Pre-school 3 days a week(for an adorable 18month old boy), interviews (for another side job for me, 3 this week alone!), church calling (activity days leader), and home life (which never stops, of course).... I'm exhausted! Luckily my Mom takes the boys for me when I need some quiet time to get work or school done. They got to spend two nights over there this week which helped me a ton! I don't know what I'd do without her!

This week I have been at two different hospitals visiting friends and family. Monday I had the opportunity to sit with a friend for a few hours while her husband underwent heart surgery. We played games in the waiting room and tried to keep her mind off things. I was so happy to be able to be there when the surgeon came out to give her the good news that everything went well but was amazed at how serious the situation was at such a young age. It was a miracle and really reminds you how fragile life is. Those kinds of experiences, to be with people when they need someone the most, are what make me SO happy. I was glad I was given that chance.

On Wednesday my family and I visited with my Grandma at a different hospital. She had undergone stomach surgery after being rushed to the Emergency Room Saturday with stomach pain. They did the surgery that evening but didn't tell anyone just how serious everything was until afterwards. The doctor told my grandma that after they had gotten the MRI results, they realized if they waited another hour or two she would have died. None of the family realized the severity of it until long after the surgery. Thankfully everything went well and she can now recover at home. I love her so much, I had panicked when I got the call last week, but quickly felt peace that she would be okay. The Lord definitely answers prayers, there were a ton being said for her.

Josh is still job hunting and has had a couple phone interviews, but nothing too promising yet. He goes and studies with a friend three days a week for about 5 hours a day for his upcoming PE Test (Professional Engineering). It's at the end of April, so he and his friend are studying their hearts out trying to prepare for this insanely difficult, ALL day, test. I am proud of him for working so hard on it and really hope he passes (say some prayers for him) =).

Tomorrow we get to enjoy General Conference (which I am excited about), My Nephew's State soccer game (Go Dallin!), grocery shopping (blah!), house cleaning (double blah! If I have time), I get to shadow someone for a couple hours at my possible new job, then I'm off to a night out with the girls to say goodbye to a friend who's moving out of state. Sound busy? Yeah, I'm crazy!

I need a vacation =) from life =) lol

Oh yeah! An exciting piece of news from last week is that I got a 97% on my midterm! Yay me! =) lol