visitors from illinois

last week kevin's parents made a quick stop in idaho falls during their trip out west. they live in moline, il and had and had planned the trip so they could help move their daughter, laura, back out to utah. they packed most of her belongings in a uhaul and headed to colorado for the remainder (that is where laura has been living for the past several months). then it was off to utah to help her move into a cute little house with her sister, rosanne.

they arrived at our house on wednesday afternoon. to say that they were exhausted would be an understatement. it had been nearly one year since we had seen them and owen was so excited. wesley took some coaxing but eventually warmed up.

that afternoon we made a drive to rexburg to see kyle and staci. they baked us pizza and we had a nice time visiting them. we got back to the house around 7:30 just in time for kevin to be back from work. it was fun to spend the rest of the evening chatting and relaxing.

kevin took most of thursday off so he was able to wake up and make us a yummy breakfast. then we took his parents to the titatanic exhibition. it's hard to really enjoy when you have two little kids, but i think we pulled it off alright. that afternoon kevin and his dad installed kevin's old punch bag that they had brought with them from illinois. they boys had fun showing off on that all day. i will post a video later.

thursday night kevin bbq'd chicken and we enjoyed a nice dinner with his parents and staci & kyle, ending the night with the movie bedtime stories.


owen and grandpa watching the movie

friday morning we said good-bye. wesley was much to sad to see them go and refused to cooperate for a photo shoot.


wesley and grandma

owen, on the other hand...

grandma and owen

it's always sad to see them go. but, we did enjoy a nice visit!

happy birthday lisa!

sorry lisa, i had to steal this picture of you from your blog. hope you don't mind! i think you look so beautiful in it.

happy birthday to my sister-in-law, lisa. she turns 27 today!


lisa holding tyler

lisa is creative, talented, and full of energy! and she just moved into her first home for her birthday. sounds like this will be one her best birthdays yet.

happy birthday lisa! we love you!

book three

i finally finished book three of my blog posts (july -december 2008)! i am so thankful that blurb.com got it together and became compatible with blogger again. i always give a HUGE sigh of relief when i finally get the printed version of my scrapbook/journal.



sorry about the glare in these pictures. here is the cover of the book.



one of my favorite pages. they do such a great job with the print quality! LOVE IT!

happy birthday justin!

happy birthday to my brother justin!



my older brother, justin, turns 32 today! justin is the kind of guy that EVERY ONE loves to talk to. he seems to know a little something about everything so you can have some very interesting conversations with him. i remember when we used to work for the same company people were always stopping by his desk to strike up a conversation! people just love him.

justin also is the kind of guy that will do just about anything for anyone. don't believe me...try him! (; he is always so willing to help.

we hope you have a fabulous day celebrating your 32 years! we love you!

easter sunday

the easter bunny came and left the boys bikes. owen LOVES his bike diego bike and wesley could care less about his little trike. he would much rather ride owen's old trike. oh well.



we all had something new to wear to church sunday but the day came and left without a single picture. i'm pretty sad about that. but, all my boys looked SO HANDSOME!

sunday night we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and even better dessert at my mom and dad's. it was a nice evening!

egg art

we had a great easter weekend. but, didn't take as many pictures as i would have liked. oh well!

we have been having little egg hunts all month long to entertain the boys. so when i heard iona (my little town) holds an easter egg hunt i thought it would be great to take the boys. we have never been to a "real" egg hunt before so i thought we should try it at least once. kevin had to work saturday so i was on my own.

we arrived at the egg hunt just as they were getting started so i ran the boys in as fast as a could. owen was beside himself at all the egg and all the kids frantically grabbing that he didn't even manage to pick a single egg up. i was helping wesley and we did get one egg picked up which held a coupon. and then...it was over.

i was sick, owen was UPSET, and wesley was bored! i think we do much better just doing family egg hunts. no offense to anyone! we just don't have it in us.

we went straight to my mom's house and she made it all better by hiding eggs for the boys. and they really enjoyed their hunt.

that afternoon, once kevin was home, we painted our eggs. last year we dyed them and owen did not enjoy that process at all so when i found a paint kit i thought we could try that. we all enjoyed painting our eggs.


owen always favoring blue

wesley painting his egg purple

kevin getting all creative.

owen and wesley. we only had one paint brush so we had to take turns. the boys were so cute as they waited. they kept telling each other "good job! good job!"

new hat

we got wesley a new hat for this spring/summer and he LOVES it! he actually slept with it on his little head the first night. what a cutie!

he is risen!

after His resurrection, the Lord ministered unto mnay in the holy land and in the americas. many in ancient times bore testimony of the living Christ as did the prophet joseph smith in modern times: "and now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: that HE lives!" (doctrine and covenants 76:22)



i love this painting by del parson. i love that we were able to hear from our prophet and apostles just a week before celebrating Christ's atonement and resurrection.

happy easter everyone!

happy birthday payson!

happy birthday to my nephew, payson! he turns 9 today!

payson is so outgoing and wants nothing more to make friends with everyone he meets. he likes to stay busy and is quite the entertainer. we love when we get to see payson!

we hope you have a fabulous birthday payson! we love you!

idol chat

i have four words for you...ADAM is a superstar! this guy has creativity and talent just OOZING from him. meet american idols newest money making machine. can't you just see him putting on unbelievable over-the-top concerts...like michael jackson style?! i loved his performance tonight...and, so did kevin. in fact, i believe kevin is trying to buy adam's song on itunes as we speak (oh bummer...i guess it's not available yet).

so glad that allison and matt showed up tonight. i enjoyed both of their performances as well.

because anoop stepped it up tonight my guess is that scott is on his way out the door. we shall see!

ward out!

happy birthday izzie!

my little niece, izzie, celebrates the BIG #1 today!



izzie is so beautiful, and such a good little baby! wish we could see her more often.

happy birthday sweetie! we love you!

happy birthday sarah!

i really don't have ANY pictures of my sister-in-law, sarah. but, i still wanted to wish her a happy birthday!

happy birthday to our oldest and wisest sister-in-law! (; we hope you have a wonderful day celebrating, sarah! we love you!

happy birthday jamis!

my nephew, jamis, turns 6 today!



happy birthday to our handsome, bug-collecting, thoughtful nephew jamis! we love you and hope you have a fabulous day today!

$10 facial

do you want to know what a 45-minute facial for $10 looks like?


me, katie, and natalie

last weekend my sisters and i popped into a beauty school in pocatello for a $10 facial and almost died laughing (secretly)when we were shown the set-up. i guess this looks about right. oh well! now we know better.