Baseball Pics

How cute is this kid?!

Photo of a photo, but here's the whole team. Great group of boys, and we lucked out with pretty much the best coaches ever. Go Yankees!

Snack

New favorite snack. Cottage cheese + wheat germ + honey (or agave, maple syrup). Saw it on pinterest and it is good, and good for you. Add an apple and it was today's lunch. Yum.

Easter Sunday

Kids woke to baskets filled with goodies, and an egg hunt. The Easter Bunny left a ton of eggs in our yard.

Cole caught on quick. Opened an egg and exclaimed "Candy!" He was happy to let Audrey and Tyler find all the eggs, while he stuffed his mouth with jelly beans.

Can't believe I got a good shot of these three before church. Smiling and looking at the camera when we were about five minutes from rushing out the door! Cole wore the same Easter Sunday outfit Tyler did when he was two.

Enjoyed the rest of the day at Grandma and Grandpa Taits. Gorgeous weather for playing in their yard, and delicious steaks on the grill for dinner. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Truly was a lovely, relaxing Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter

Hope it's a wonderful one for all. Have you seen this video? So great!

Almost Easter

Kicked off Easter weekend tonight with egg dying. Went pretty smoothly for having a two year-old at the table. Love his little tongue sticking out:

Audrey was very precise in her designs:

Our pretty two dozen:

We are back to normal after spring break. School, homework, music class, baseball games. Adam is writing, teaching, planning workshops. We even got to sneak in a date because I won tickets to Captain America! Also scored this train table free from Claire. Didn't think too much of it at the time, but it has made the trains come alive for Cole. So cute to watch him play here. And a new obsession with Thomas and Chuggington.

Rest of Spring Break

Adam's sister Kim and her daughter Lexi were in town Friday and Saturday. So nice to see them. Kim is just the best - I wish she and her whole family lived next door!

Danny was baptized yesterday, and lucky us got to be there. Veronica, Danny, and Mike:

Good-looking cousins at the park afterward.

We ran poor Cole ragged, finally conked out in my lap. Woke up today with a fever.

Gorgeous, laid-back Sunday. We inherited Amber's old trampoline since they got a new one! It's been keeping the kids busy. Popsicles in the yard:

It's been a wonderful week, now time to gear up for back-to-life. School and Ladybug start tomorrow.

Grandpa's Last Day

Sad to say goodbye to Grandpa - he's missed already. Had a great last day with him. Got the hotel pool all to ourselves:

 Cole was not happy about it, but we got him in the water.

Nice afternoon at baseball practice. Tyler in green heading to third.

Brought home yummy Chipotle dinner and ate outside. Caught the ice-cream man!

We had a wonderful few days with Grandpa Faust. I think grandparents visiting during spring break needs to become a tradition.

Grandpa's Here

Grandpa Faust is here and we've been having all sorts of fun. Like mini-golf:

Two-year olds and mini-golf don't mix! More proof with Audrey here.

Tyler showed off his skills at the batting cage:

Audrey's #1 thing she wanted to do with Grandpa - take him to Menchie's. It's been 90 here, so frozen yogurt was perfect.

He treated the kids to McDonald's Happy Meals, they played at the play place, then a trip to Toys R Us. These kids are lucky to have such a generous Grandpa - they were super grateful. Audrey's newest addition to the Calico Critters:

Lego Man!

Superheroes and trains!

An evening swim at Grandpa's hotel:

This kid was not a fan of the water. He better warm up a bit, or it's gonna be a looong summer.

We've had a bunch of yummy meals, and tonight had dinner with my cousin Hannah. Lucky Grandpa even got introduced to Frozen. He's here for one more day, so we'll make the most of it! Love family visits.

First Day, Spring Break

Such a nice morning for a hike. Went out before it got hot! Nice to spend time the five of us, plenty of talk time.

 After hike slurpees. Feels like we're kickin' off spring and summer.

Now kids are running in sprinklers while we wait for Grandpa Faust. He made it to LA - hooray!

Weekend

It's been a good weekend. Love General Conference and the spirit and inspiration it brings to our home. So many wonderful talks, necessary reminders. A big one I came away with is kindness, and how important it is to be kind above all else.

While some Saturdays off feel perfect, God must've given me yesterday as a reminder that many Saturdays, when I'm working a couple hours at Ladybug, I'm not missing much. Tyler threw a big ol' fit about Adam taking them out for DONUTS! Huh?! Weird kids. A family grocery trip reminded us its been a loooong time since we all shopped together. Luckily it ended happily with friends at the park.

One bag of marshmallows and a ton of toothpicks kept these two busy for quite some time yesterday. Thanks for the idea Tina.

Here's a quote that got us laughing at our house. Adam was sharing a spiritual thought, "Audrey who are you?" and she says, "A child of God." Tyler answers the same. When he gets to Cole, "Cole, you're a child of God." Cole answers, "No, I Yoda!" Yes, we are into Star Wars these days.

Audrey wrote her first story. It was awesome, she sat at the kitchen table super focused. Didn't ask me to spell a single word. She read her story to me when she was done and it was a love story! Hahaha! About Sven who's in love with Audrey. Audrey doesn't love Sven, she loves Dane (who says "Duh" when she finally declares her love to him, and Sven says "Oh no" with a sad face). It's pretty cute, but a love triangle?! Already?! Oh the differences between girls and boys.

My poor dad's flight was overbooked so he's getting here tomorrow instead. Kids are even more anxious for his arrival. Looking forward to the week. Enjoying a quiet Sunday evening - gorgeous weather outside, and yummy dinner.

Spring Break Kick-Off

Oh this has been a week! Adam's show surprised us all and called it quits (for now). We were expecting four more episodes to finish the season. He is on "extended hiatus" until July, when he starts a brand new series (grateful for new series!) You know when you're excited to get your tax refund back, only to learn you now need to scrimp and save every penny for rent - just in case? That's where we're at this week. However, we've been in this spot before and made it through. We have countless numbers of blessings, one of which is Adam working in this crazy business. For me, times like this are big lessons in what really matters and what are extras. Needs and wants. Saving not wasting. I'm ready to learn some more, while hopefully managing stress well. So here we go, taking a few deep breaths and carrying on.

Spring break is here! Silver lining is we get to enjoy it with Adam. Made rice krispy treats after school to celebrate. Grilled hot dogs, now Frozen (again!) with lots of popcorn. My dad is coming Sunday. Kids are excited, and I'm sure there's a trip to Toys R Us and Chuck E. Cheese in their future. Here's to a great week off, for all! Happy to spend it with these three crazies: