Spring Break 2013

I feel sad that I couldn't take my kids somewhere away and fun for spring break. But, I tried hard to make it a fun week for them anyway. Day one: Snake hunting at my little brother's house. They have a family of snakes that live under their front walkway. (Poor Lexi, I know!!) My boys wanted to catch and get rid of them. After digging, spraying with the hose, poking with long sticks and even gasoline and fire (super exciting!), we had no luck. :( It was fun though. And we did go next door and see the neigbors 6 foot pet snake...eeeew!

 snake skin...

 Since we were in Springville, we came home through Provo. We went to the small BYU Museum of Paleontology. Then to the BYU creamery...

 Day Two: The Hogle Zoo with cousins and grandma JuJu! We are lacking in pictures here, but we had fun! Camryn's favorite animal was the sand kittens (basically cats that live in the desert). She still talks about getting one for a pet.

 Day Three: Trafalga for miniature golfing and XD theater... 

 Day Four: Swimming at cousins (always a hit)...

Day Five: Play with new friends...

We had fun all week, playing a lot at home as well. Even snuck in some spring cleaning in exchange for a trip to the dollar store! Still wish we could have taken the kids away for the week, but we made the most of it!

Easter 2013

Easter was fun! We had a family bbq and Easter egg hunt at our house the day before (except I only got a few pictures). The three big boys got to hide all the eggs for the rest of the kids. Then we sent them on their bikes to find their eggs. We created a treasure hunt...clues leading them up to the creek, golf course trail, and eventually the lake where we stashed a big box of eggs. 

 Easter morning was great! The kids woke up, searched for their baskets, checked out their loot (bathing suits and a spring/summer outfit), then hunted around the house for their eggs (I've always given each child a certain color so they know which ones to get and which ones to leave)....

 Then it was off to church (which was so great!)...

Happy Easter!

Camryn turns 3

 I've never done an organized party for any of my kids, but this year playgroup was at our house on Camryn's birthday (well, the day before, but we were celebrating it that day since B and I would be gone on her day). It started out as just a small thing, but turned into a real party! We invited a few more friends and cousins and had a lot of fun! Although, I think 3 is still a little young for a structured party. Since Camryn is obsessed with dogs (and pretty much all animals), we had a dog birthday party. (btw, if you google dog birthday party you will find that a lot of people are throwing their real dogs birthday parties:)) Here are the invitations that Camryn (and I think every girl we passed them out to) loved...

We (my mom and sis and I) painted a dog face on the children as they arrived... 

 We played pin-the-tail-on-the-dog on a dog that Camryn decorated the day before with stickers...

One of Camryn's favorite thing to do is print up pictures from the internet to color, so we had several dog pictures printed up. We colored and decorated them with dog stickers...

 We had a visit from two real live dogs! This was the hilite of the party...big thanks to our great neighbors for providing the entertainment...

 We ate mini corn dogs and dog bone-shaped cookies...

 Opening presents within a swarm of girls...

An attempt to get most of the friends together for a picture...

 The thank you gifts...small stuffed dogs with a treat bag of "dog food" (cocoa puffs and scooby snacks)... 

What a great party!

And, here she is opening presents from her brothers, with gifts including legos, bath bubbles, colors, toys, a camping/beach chair, clothes and a bike!

Why does she have to grow up? And why does she have to be so darn cute? She is so super fun...I love the conversations we have. She truly is my little best friend. Hopefully that will last forever!

Playgroup

Once a week Camryn gets together with some of her friends to play. We take turns hosting between six of us...all little girls. There are at least 3 or 4 more girls in our ward/neighborhood that aren't a part of it, so we are not lacking for friends around here:) Here is a glimpse of what one day looked like at our house(sadly, we were missing one sick friend)...

The first thing Camryn did when she heard her friends were coming was grabbed a huge basket and filled it with all the toys on the main level (she was being mean and not wanting to share). She quickly changed her ways and played nicely...

First things first...princess dresses for all...

 The girls took turns at the beauty salon getting their hair done and being the hairdresser...

 They played with Minnie and little animals (I love listening to them pretend)...

 Some snuck to the basement, because even princesses like to play with pirate ships and castles...

I've said it before and I'll say it again...We love living in this area with so many great families and friends for our kiddos!