Vegas vacation

We headed down to Las Vegas for Archer's baby blessing.  We left early Friday morning and stayed until Sunday after church.  It's always so good to see Brent, Shelley, and boys!

 When we got there Friday night, we swam and ate pizza

 Saturday morning, we visited the outlet mall

 Later, we met up at the Ethel M. chocolate factory.  It wasn't quite as awesome as I had heard, but the kids liked walking around the cactus garden, and the tiny free chocolate they recieved.

 Isaac saw a cactus that looked like Mickey Mouse.  He was so excited.

 After the chocolate factory, my Dad took us out to eat at Excalibur.  

 My kids love the buffet.  They eat one non dessert food, then the rest of the time, they race back and forth between the table and the dessert bar.

 We went and played at the arcade downstairs 

 Abi and Hailey wanted to find a souvenier for their friends, so we walked to the hershery factory.

 We went back to Brent and Shelley's to hold baby Archie

 Saturday night, we ate leftover pizza in bed

 And on Sunday, the kids took turns holding Archie.  He is the sweetest baby!

 He's so handsome in his blessing outfit

 It was beautiful when we left Las Vegas.  The kids were all wearing shorts home.

Around Cedar City we hit the worst blizzard.  It was the worst thing we've ever driven through.  My parents were a little ahead of us, so we were constantly texting each other to make sure everyone was still alive.  We stopped to use the restroom and we looked ridiculous in our shorts and flip flops.  Ben is so sweet and carried the girls through the snow so they didn't get their feet wet.  It was a night to remember, we prayed the whole way home.  It didn't let up until we got to Layton.

Isaac is three!

This boy is just the best, he is so fun to have around!  

Some fun things about him:

He loves to talk about his friends.  He says he has big friends and little friends.  His big friends are, Lightning McQueen, Batman, and Mickey Mouse.  His little friends are, Noah, Ben, girl Sawyer, and Jacob.  He is always telling me to call his little friends to come over.

He loves baseball game.  He calls me his baseball coach, and he's always asking me to pitch the ball to him while he bats. 

He loves to ride bikes outside.  If he can ever see or hear anyone outside, he takes off.  He's a hard one to keep indoors.

He's obsessed with nursery and his nursery friends.  Which most of his little friends are his nursery friends.  During the rest hymn at church, he asks (thinking it's the closing hymn) if it's time to go to nursery yet.  The second sacrament is over, he runs to nursery.  He loves his leaders.

He loves to go to the elementary and see the kids.  He knows where all of their classrooms are, and loves to go and visit them.

 He asked for pancakes for his birthday breakfast

 The girls were dying to throw him a birthday party.  Abigail planned out some games and I bought some cupcakes and we had two friends over.  

 We had his grandparents come over that night for cake and icecream.  He picked out his planes cakes earlier in the day.  He was so excited about it!

We love our fun little boy!

the last of February

 I love to see my older kids reading to Isaac.

 Isaac came down with the worst virus.  He was so sick, the poor little guy.  He lived in my bed for a couple of days with the humidifier next to him.  He called it his 'human on fire' 

 Ben asked how he was feeling one morning, and I sent him this picture.  He had wanted to get out of bed and get dressed, but he was still feeling terrible.

 Later in the evening, Ben asked again, and I sent him this picture.  Isaac had finally started feeling better and wanted to play.  I was up on Luke's bed changing the sheets when he asked.

 My girls and I went to see Hailey's friend perform in the musical, Annie. 

 It was so fun to get dressed up and go to the theatre.

 Sharla makes the best donuts.  It's so fun for the girls to cook with their Grandma.

I babysit my sweet nephew, Jett, usually once a week.  I get to snuggle him until the girls get home from school.  Then they rush in to steal him away. 

Valentines Day

We love Valentines day around here, so much fun going on!

   

 The girls looked so cute in their red and pink hearts

 Isaac and I made cookies for our YW activity

 I chaparoned Luke's Valentine's dance.  

 I wanted a picture, and he barely let me take one quick one.

 Tuesday nights are usually terrible for us.   Carly has piano at 3:45-4:45, The girls have activty days from 5-6, Luke has scouts from 6-8, and I have YW's at 6:30.  Ben usually gets home around 7.  So, I usually burn dinner on Tuesdays.  I keep trying to not let it happen, but it always does when I'm running kids around.  I always want them to finish eating before I leave so they don't choke during the half hour before Ben gets home.  My parent's always bring the kids mini papa murphy pizzas for Valentines.  I felt especially terrible when I burnt their dinner.  Hailey and Ike were so upset, the older three put on their best faces and said they didn't care and I was the best mom anyways.  They helped me keep it together, and since I had to leave while they were still eating, I was extra grateful that no one choked.

Since YW was on Valentine's day, we offered free babysitting to the couples in our ward.  The YW made fun games and activities for the kids, and they also decorated sugar cookies.  I sent this picture to my friend, Sarah, because her little girl, Sawyer, was so sad when she dropped her off. Sawyer was my little buddy that night and followed my around.  The activity ended up being more fun than I thought it would be.