What I've been up to...

 I made these, but that's old news, I also made the swimsuits they are wearing.  Nope, I haven't even cut Alana's out yet, I need a couple of days to work up the nerve again.  Sewing takes a lot out of me mentally.

I inherited a box of tomatoes so I scalded, blanched, peeled and froze them to use for laters.  I've been inheriting or otherwise acquiring lots of veggies this spring and I've been putting them in the freezer, it's nice to have chopped onions, bell peppers and eggplant on hand.  I think I need to start canning though...  That thought makes me tired.

Today I finally stopped talking about and thinking about how the house needs to be painted and I just went ahead and started painting.  I got half of the front trim painted and it no longer makes me cringe as much thinking how ugly it is out there.  I will just go ahead and paint a couple hours in the mornings and eventually it will be done.  Who woulda thought it wasn't as hard as I worked it up to be in my mind?

Also, I lost a foot, or I cut off a foot.  Of hair length.  Yep, it is gone and it feels so very nice to be able to not get it caught in doors or windows or behind me or under my arms...  Also, I'm pretty sure my vacuum beater bar will thank me.  That thing has had a rough time of it.  I have reports that it looks good and Ryan seems to still like me so I'm very happy with it.  Bring on summertime. 

But not really, school is out in three weeks and two days and I don't feel prepared.

I love to see the temple

So yesterday at church the second time Ryan had to take Peter out of Sacrament Meeting (he was a bit of a handful yesterday), they had a sweet little conversation that went sort of like this:
Pete: What's a temple?
Ryan: It is the Jesus' House here on earth.
P: Can we go there?
R: Of course!

So we definitely had to go see the temple yesterday after church.  The Mesa temple is kinda far so we thought we would go see how our new Phoenix Temple is doing, it has been a while since we went to see it.  I knew the little visitor's center probably wouldn't be open on Sunday, but they have a viewing platform (see above pic) where we could stand and see what they've been up to.  We laid about a bit after church and I finally got the feeling that we should go brave the heat and go.  As we pulled into the parking lot, another car arrived loaded up with boys.  We all walked up to the construction trailer together and there was the missionary couple waiting outside.  I was a bit confused that they would be doing tours on Sunday.  Pretty soon I found out that the group of boys was a cub scout den from Anthem and their leaders had called ahead and reserved a showing so we just slipped in with them and got to see the tour.  It was kinda a miracle.

 I am thankful for Peter and for his desire to go see the temple, and that I received a timely prompting to get out the door and that Heavenly Father cares so much about our little family to help us have such a neat experience.  We are so excited about our new temple.  It will be beautiful, all the kids decided they will be married there.  They are just smart, that's all. 

Easter Chicks

I made Easter dresses for the girls and they turned out so cute so Jessica and I dressed them up and made them pretty this morning for some pictures.

They looked really pretty. And Arnon took some lovely pictures, I can't use them quite yet because they are in raw? Hopefully Arnon will cook them for me so that I can post them and stuff. As you can tell, I am up on all that photographic jive talk lingo.

But Jujo likes her dress and I made her and Alana little hair bows. I'm excited for church tomorrow to show off my little ladies.

So between the funeral for Nadine Kellis, which I helped with and our ward Easter party in the park behind us, it was a busy day for us.

Tomorrow our wonderful family will get together for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. Should be fun. Maybe I'll get some cooked pics to show you :)

Happy Birthday

Our Pumpkin Eater is turning 4 today! What?!

We looked at pictures this morning of when he was smaller. He agrees that he is the cutest.

He has been a lot of fun to have around. He keeps getting sweeter and he is learning more and more how to be a good boy.

I just love his face.

Happy birthday darling boy. We love you a lot.

April Fools

Jessica took Leah and Tessa for a sleepover we told her to pull the same tricks on them as we did to the ones that were at home so after the kids fell asleep last night we moved them to different beds and we drew on their faces. Jeff woke up in Tessa's bed, Alana woke up in Jeff's bed, we left Pete in his own bed. Jeff and Alana were both up pretty early and Alana said, "Jeff, why are there swirlies on your face?" Jeff went to the bathroom and I heard him say, "Alana! Why did you draw on my face?!"

I quickly got up to enjoy the confusion. They couldn't figure out why their faces were all drawn on. I fessed up and they all got a good laugh. Peter was amused to see his nose colored like a bunny and pink freckles and a heart drawn on his face, and his tummy had his name on it. Alana's art didn't turn out as well, she was a bit sweaty when I drew on her and it mostly wiped off while she slept.

For breakfast I made blue pancakes and purple eggs with orange bell peppers. It was colorful.

Jess brought the girls back and they laughed about their adventures. Jessica had a hard time drawing on their faces, Tessa kept waking up, at one point she woke Leah up and said, "Leah, someone is drawing on my face." Leah said, "no they aren't, go back to sleep." Good times. They were moved to a different room while they slept and when they were in the wrong room when they woke up Jessica accused them of sleeping in the wrong room! They were confused. Good times.

The downfall is that when I just tried to take a little nap I sensed people sneaking into my room so I said with my eyes closed, "You are not allowed to draw on my face." "Aww Mom! How did you know we were here?" said Leah with a marker poised above me menacingly. "I know everything. You will never be able to sneak up on me." I thought she seemed a bit too keen on sending me for a nap, she even volunteered to wash a pot. Sneaky little kids.