Jacob and Ephraim on Easter

Before church on Easter morning Joe helped me get some cute pictures of the boys. Jacob has gotten over his reluctance to have his picture taken, which is wonderful! Ephraim does pretty well at smiling, the hard part is getting him to hold still.

Here are some of the best photos:

Aren't they just adorable?

Easter Egg Hunt

Sunday morning before church we decided to have a little Easter egg hunt for Jacob. We were going to have another egg hunt in the afternoon after Ephraim's nap, but we didn't get around to it. Maybe we will have to hide the eggs again this week... but not today because it's raining!

Jacob had tons of fun finding all the eggs I had hidden. I would walk around with him and give him a general idea of where he might look for some more eggs.

I thought he looked so cute walking around with his red bucket.

He was very excited to find the Easter eggs! He would shake each one and exclaim, "there's candy inside!"


We didn't actually eat very much of the candy before church, and actually most of the eggs still have candy in them.

We were glad that the weather turned out sunny and warm because on Saturday (Joe's birthday!) it rained most of the day.


I couldn't decide which pictures I liked the best, so that is why there are so many. I just think my kids are so darn cute!

Don't you?

What was in Your Easter Basket?

We hope you had a fun Easter! The boys had a great time.

The Easter Bunny left some pretty fun things in the boys' Easter Buckets.



















Jacob got a Buzz Lightyear kite, four picture puzzles, and some mini construction equipment. Ephraim got a Little People School Bus. Of course they got some Easter eggs filled with candy, a chocolate bunny, and marshmallow chicks!

Jacob was so excited about the construction equipment!

He has been playing with them constantly ever since we opened them. I guess the Easter Bunny found just the right thing for playing indoors on rainy spring days.

Ephraim was so excited about the bus! He just knew that it was for him! He could hardly wait for Daddy to open it.


He even started saying "Buh! Buh!" that morning. So I guess the Easter Bunny picked the right thing for him too!


The boys have been enjoying their Easter presents... so what was in your Easter basket?

Happy Birthday Joe!

Happy Birthday Love!

Today is Joe's birthday. He is a whole 29 years old. What an old man! :o)

For some reason birthdays get a bit less exciting the older you get, so we didn't do anything too spectacular. In the morning Joe and I got to go on a 20 mile bike ride. It was fun to get to go with him, even if we got rained on!

Then Joe cleaned up our bikes while I watched the boys and cleaned up. Later in the afternoon we cut Ephraim's nap short and went shopping. We bought Joe a long sleeved undershirt for cycling in cooler weather. We have also ordered him a pair of bib shorts for cycling that should arrive next week.

We had fun shopping, and went and found some membrillo like Joe had when he was in Uruguay. It was interesting to go into the South American market stores and see what kind of products they had. Now I just need to find the right kind of cheese and crackers and we can give in a try.

When we got home I made us steaks for dinner. They turned out yummy! We also had some Guarana to drink (South American soda), and it was delicious. Then we put the boys to bed and spent some time together. It may not have been a terrifically exciting day, but I think it was pretty nice.

We love you tons and bunches Joe and hope you have a happy year!

Dying Easter Eggs

Today we finally got around to dying eggs for Easter. I boiled the eggs earlier in the day, and then just before Ephraim's nap time in the afternoon we got organized and got to work.

Jacob thought it was pretty cool that the eggs changed colors.

He helped me write on them with the crayon and drop them into the cups of dye.

I was a little nervous about letting him do this while I took pictures, but he did great! I made sure that he held the cups before he dropped the eggs in so that he didn't spill any dye. We tried using the little wand in the egg dye kit, but it was too hard. So we used our hands instead.

It was pretty fun, and Jacob had a great time!


We both ended up with a little dye on our hands, but it mostly washed off. I thought Jacob was so cute in his little apron. We will definitely have to do this again next year.


Next year Ephraim will probably want to help too! This year he mostly watched and then begged me to put him down for his nap. Poor boy!

Jacob got to put stickers on his eggs when they dried too. He thought the eggs turned out beautiful! What do you think?

Princess and Knight Party

Yesterday we were invited by Laura to go to the Randall's house to attend a Princess and Knight party. Of course all the girls got to wear princess tiaras, but Jacob and Ephraim weren't left out! Melinda had procured some awesome Knight masks for the boys. Check out Jacob in his mask.

Sir Jacob

Not only were there cool masks and tiaras for us to wear, there were also yummy cookies for us to eat!

There was also much music and dancing. Don't these ladies look splendid?

I can't think of a better way to spend a cold and cloudy afternoon! We were treated like royalty and got to have tons of fun and delicious treats.

I tried to get Jacob to wear my tiara, but he didn't think it was quite as cool as his knight's mask! Just check out the look on his face!

Get it off me!

I even got Ephraim to put on one of the knight's masks... but only for a second. I actually had to have Melinda take the photo right after I put the mask on! What a cutie.

Luckily there wasn't any jousting or swordplay, but I'm sure as Jacob gets older we may end up having a bit more of that.

Thanks Melinda and Laura for a fun party!

This morning we woke up to a cold and snowy April Fool's Day. I keep hoping the snow is really a joke, but I guess not! Hopefully April will warm up as the week goes on.

This is the Car that Mommy Built... and Daddy made "Fancy"

Here are some pictures of Jacob with his new box car. He has been having a good time with it, and it wasn't that hard to make.

Can you see the shiny headlights that Daddy added? He also put on turn signals. Silly mommy, I just put tires, windows and headlights on the car!

The day we made this Jacob carried it all over the place. He even drove it up the stairs and "parked" it in the kitchen. It was pretty funny. The car has also had a couple of intentional "roll-over" accidents. Luckily it was not occupied at the time.

Here is a picture of the tail lights and custom license plate that Joe added on Sunday morning. The next plan is to give the car some fancy hub caps! Who knew you could have this much fun with a box?!

It's a Blustery Day in the Neighborhood

Here are some photos of what our neighborhood looked like this morning. I can't believe that it is March 30th and we got 3-4 inches of snow last night! Isn't that disgusting?

I looked out the window and almost went back to bed! Windy, cold, yucky!

Has anyone seen my flowers?

How about the bushes?

Today the Smiths were kind enough to invite us over to play at their house. Jacob had a great time! By the time we were heading home, most of the snow on the streets had melted away and the lawn was started to melt a bit! Too bad the forecast calls for more snow on Wednesday.

I keep hoping the forecasters will change their minds and that the snow will turn out to be an "April Fools!".

Boys in the tub

Here are some of the cute pictures I got of the boys in the tub this past week (as I mentioned in the post below). Aren't they cute?

Jacob and Ephraim don't end up in the tub together too much right now. Ephraim tends to be a bit too rowdy and active for Jacob.

Do you think Jacob will be upset with me later for putting a photo of his naked tush on my blog?!

Ephraim LOVES being in the tub. He loves to splash and play in the water. Right now we are working on getting him to remember that he cannot stand up in the tub! Silly boy.

March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion!

Is it just me, or is the weather this March just wacky? We get a few nice days up in the sixties, and then we get pounded with wind, rain and snow. The temperatures plummet to the low 30s and we get to spend our days inside. What is up with this?!

This past week we haven't done anything incredibly exciting. Mostly because it has been a bit too cold to play outside. I was looking at the pictures I have taken on my camera and they were mostly of the boys in the bath tub. Exciting, huh?

Mostly we stuck to our regularly scheduled events. Here is a rundown if you are interested... if not, you can just skip it and wait for another post with cute little boy pictures in it.

On Tuesday we went to Music Makers at the church. Jacob and Ephraim both have a good time singing, marching and playing their instruments. Then on Wednesday Jacob got to go to playgroup. He spends an hour and a half at one of his friends houses and he LOVES it. He has so much fun playing with the other kids (and their toys, of course!). I get to put Ephraim down for his nap and have the entire time to myself, which is lovely. Then on Thursdays we go to the library for Wee Read. Jacob really enjoys listening to stories, and it's nice to get new books to read for the next week.

This week after Wee Read we went over to the Randall's house to play for a while. Jacob and I were both getting a little stir crazy from being stuck inside our house most of the week. Jacob is a really social little boy and enjoys playing with other kids. Plus I like hanging out with Melinda. :o) We had fun at their house and finally left when Ephraim informed us that he needed a nap asap.

Then on Friday we managed to visit the Smiths for a little while. Jacob had a fun time playing with Alyssa, and it is nice to have friends to visit with when the weather is making you feel blue. Then in the afternoon Jacob and I made a car out of a cardboard box. It turned out pretty well, and I will definitely have to take a picture of it. He has had a great time playing with it! I also made a small house out of a large box we had. Jacob has been driving his car around and going to his "house" to play. It has been pretty fun.

Friday evening the weather actually warmed up enough for Joe and I to go on bike rides. Joe let me go first, and I got in almost 7 miles. It was a bit windy, but not too bad. Then Joe put on his cold weather gear and got a ride in. Then we spend the rest of the evening together. It was nice because we hadn't really seen each other the rest of the evenings of the week. Monday night I worked, Tuesday Joe went to the temple, Wednesday night Joe had Elder's Quorum meeting and I went to a Rhodes Demo in SLC with the Relief Society. Then on Thursday night I worked again. Sheesh! Maybe it won't be such a bad thing when I don't work at the library anymore at the end of April.

Saturday was the nicest day we had this week. Joe and I both worked hard a got a lot done. Joe changed the oil in our cars, leveled up the water meter in front of the house, put grass seed down, changed the lawnmower's oil, sharpened the lawnmower blade, took apart our old wheelbarrow to fix it up, and put up a bike hook in the garage for my bike to hang on. There were probably some other things I missed too! As for me, I cleaned inside the house, made lasagna and ironed all the shirts in my HUGE pile. Then later in the afternoon Joe let me go on another bike ride. I got in 11 miles, and it felt really great!

We are gearing up for the cycling season this summer. We are already planning on a bike tour for May 2nd and look forward to others later in the summer. Now if only the weather would warm up so we could actually go riding! Joe hasn't been able to ride to work much because the weather has been so nasty this month! Hopefully next month will be better!

Next month will definitely be different at our house. Today Joe got released from the Elder's Quorum Presidency, so I guess we will be seeing him a bit more often, which will be nice! So instead of only seeing each other two nights a week, we will see each other three nights a week and more of the day on Sunday. Then after I no longer work at the library after April we will both be home each night of the week! How strange and wonderful will that be?! We can actually have FHE on Mondays, and it will be easier for us to take turns going to the temple. So nice!