Easter Eggs

I'll keep it simple. I LOVE EASTER EGGS!!!

Sugar City

I love Sugar City. It's the place I grow up in, the place I still call home, in part. And I really love my parents' yard. We had a great Easter weekend there and I fit in a few minutes to take some pictures along the way. Here's just a few.

Haircuts

Yesterday we traveled back home and where happy to get here, sad to leave family. This morning I tried to catch up on a lot of things that needed to be done, like giving the kids haircuts. Luke was first, followed by Kimball. I was lazy this time around. Buzz cuts for the boys. Koria's been asking me to cut her hair shorter for a while now, so I thought that since I already had hair on the floor, I might as well get it all done. Here's a few shots of the kids. Luke's is a before and after, Kimball's is a mohawk in the middle of the buzz (he wasn't too happy with me for doing it, can you tell?), and Koria's after it was washed and curled. They look good. Koria's been hogging in the mirror primping all day though. Wow.

Easter Walk

Easter was beautiful in Sugar City. In the afternoon, Koria, Luke, Becky and I set out on a walk and spent some time in the yard. It was great to be outside, where there was color all around and flowers blooming, and green carpets of grass .... quite a difference in comparison to our place. I was one of my favorite things that we did this whole trip.

The Hunt

Nothing says "good Easter egg hunt" like chocolate drool running down your one-year-old chin. We started off the morning with a great hunt for loads of sugary goodness that the Easter bunny dumped on us through the night, then part of us headed to church for services. Kimball's asthma/cold had flared up a bit, and the poor kid was not feeling himself, so Jared went to the earlier ward's sacrament meeting so that he could stay home with Kimball and the babes while I took Koria to church with me and the others.

The Ester bunny had left real eggs outside too, so when we returned from church, Kimball and Koria hunted them down. Here's a few pictures from the hunts. More on Sunday to follow ...

Saturday, April 23rd

That's Koria, being herself, looking at me out of the window from the basement in Sugar City. Among other things, Saturday was filled with more fun with cousins, the Bates extended family FHE (once a month) that we were in charge of, and a trip for Jared and I to the Rexburg temple and an dinner all to ourselves. It was a great day. Thanks to all of the family who came to the FHE and participated in the post-conference quiz. Congrats Wendy on the big win! Thanks to all the cousins who came to visit and play with us during our stay. And thanks to Becky, Gpa and Gma who watched our kids that night so that we could have a great date night. Those are rare for us.

Dad kept Jared busy with a few things around the yard, like some work on the lawn mower, which maxed out at .2 miles per hour, or so it seemed. Jared was just loving the ride.

This was our bunch as we headed off for Shanell's for the FHE at 2:00 p.m.

Here's the newest member of the fam, Ashlyn. She's really growing fast and changing a lot each time we see her. Uh, Katrina? By the look on her face, she doesn't like whatever it is you were feeding her ... probably squash.

Ahhh, Mariah .... one of the world's greatest nieces. You make me laugh. Thanks for laughing at me too... hope you don't have any more episodes of "The Middle" come to life any time soon.

Dying Easter Eggs

Last Thursday we drove up to Sugar City to spend some time with the family over our Spring Break. On Friday, Shanell, Landon, Cade, and Elise came to stay over (except for Shanell) for a couple of days at Gpa and Gma and Aunt Becky's house. We had a lot of fun with various activities. We spent some time dying Easter eggs with the Ottesons also. Later one that night, Derek showed up with Tyler and Micah. Party at the Bates house! We amazingly all slept well that night too. It took some arranging, but all the cousins plus and aunt and uncle fit in the basement with no problems.

April 19-20

The kids have been having lots of Easter fun this year. On April 19, our town had an Eater Egg Hunt at the park by our elementary school. Jared took the kids down to it and said that Koria was excited to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny, but Kimball wouldn't have anything to do with it. I don't get it. Koria's great with the fake animals, and Kimball is with the live ones .... yet reverse that and it's the opposite. Who ever said twins were alike?

Kimball's basket was weighted down on one side by Tigger, so all of his eggs fell out of his basket as soon as he put them in, and because he was going to fast, Jared said that Kimball didn't even notice. Luckily, some other friends from the ward and preschool were there to share, especially Koria. I went into town that night and found him a better basket, as he was required to have one the next day for an Easter party at school. It was --- duh, duh, duh --- a Star Wars Yoda bucket. Awesome, right?

Here's Kimball, Kylee, Koria, Cassidy, and Libby with her big sister Kesley, after the hunt. NOTICE THAT ALL OF THOSE OTHER GIRLS NAMES END WITH AN "EEEE" SOUND AT THE END. That's because that's the way that they are spelled. That's the way that they are pronounced, just as their parents named them. On the other hand, Koria ends with an "A," and Layne ends with a silent, unpronounced "E," meaning no elongated "EEEE" sound on the end of her name. No, "Hi, I'm the next Emery County rodeo queen and I'd like my lasso now Layney. Why don't you just shove a shard of glass through my ears while you are at it?" We named her Layne. That was on purpose. I wonder what people are thinking when they call me up on the phone from some info about her or to schedule an appointment, or even others that know us, and HER, in particular. It's spelled how it's written. Simple as that.

Obviously one of our family's pet peeves. Just venting.

Kimball and Koria came home as bunnies after their preschool party. Kimball came running out of school yelling, "GET THIS STUFF OFF OF ME! I DON'T LIKE IT!" I couldn't figure out what he meant until I noticed him violently rubbing his nose to get the makeup off. "I DO NOT WANT TO BE A BUNNY, MOM!" I took it off as soon as we got home. He was pacified.

Apri 14-18

I know that this is cheating, but there are a lot of days for me to catch up on and not much time to do it in. These pictures are just a sampling of what's happened since the last time I posted.

Layne crawls around so much that she's wearing holes in her pants. I thought that that was just a boy thing.

Jared had meeting for work in SLC on the 14-15, so it was just the kids and I. I decided to give Luke and Layne their own ice cream cones, mostly because I had too much to do to spoon feed them the ice cream. They caught on fast.

We have been spending a lot of time working outside in preparations for the spring and summer to come. Here's a shot of our good neighbor, Pres. Cowley (he was the stake president before we moved here, and our bishop when we did move to the area). He has been helping us prepare our garden area for the year, along with some other yard projects that I will have to take pictures of later. What good neighbors we have.

To thanks them, we took over some of the cream puffs that we had made for our FHE treat that night.

Beads and Boring

By the time that Koria and Kimball headed for preschool, Becky and Derek were headed home to Idaho. We really enjoyed having you here with us this last weekend. Thanks for making the drive down to stay with us and for all of your help and entertainment. I found myself back to the normal routine, doing five loads of laundry, picking kids up, running errands, making dinner, bathing kids. Koria's beads are still a hit. This they are all over the cupboards as are her creations. you really could not have picked a better gift for her, Wendy and fam! Thanks.

Canyonlands

Balanced Rock, Arches. Derek and I joked that if it ever falls off they'll have to be a bit more creative with it's name.

Landscape Arch.

Mesa Arch, in Canyonlands

By the time we entered Canyonlands, Koria, Kimball, Luke, Becky, and Jared had all taken a nap .. at least a short one. Koria, Kimball, and Luke were all sound asleep when we pulled into the Mesa Arch parking lot, so I volunteered this time to stay behind while Becky, Derek, and Jared hiked to the awesome view point. By Jared and Derek's description, Becky was her crazy and daring self and they refused to take pictures of her atop the arch, while is backed by a shear drop off on the opposing side. Sounds like my sis. Love her.

We grabbed some food from the Arby's in Green River on the ride home, them topped it off with a bag of jelly beans that we'd brought along with us. Becky and Derek did an amazing job keeping all four kids awake until we arrived back home that night. Great day!

More Arches

Layne fell asleep right before we arrived at the main hiking trail in Arches, so Becky volunteered to stay back with her so that she could get in a good nap. We hiked up to Landscape Arch and enjoyed keeping up to Kimball and Koria in the meantime.