Easter

Happy Easter!

Because our ward meets at 3:00 and ends at 6:00 (yes, we absolutely love meeting at this time), we haven't been able to go visit my family on Sunday's very much since the beginning of the year. We decided to go up to Layton to my parents house on Saturday and stay through Easter Sunday. The kids were just as excited to see Grandma and Grandpa as they were about the Easter bunny coming. Ammon was completely cuddly and ran to Grandma and Grandpa for frequent hugs. Ella was a chatterbox as usual and talked about anything and everything. Isaac had fun playing with his cousin Mike and just doing his own thing.

Glen and my Dad had the exciting and challenging task of helping the kids decorate eggs since my Mom, my sister, Abigail, and I ran to the store for some last minute things. When we got back they were still decorating, but it seemed like they kept everything under control pretty well. Not understanding the delicacy of eggs, Ammon did throw one into the dye and cracked it, but it turned out just fine.

The biggest challenge that night was Ammon, who refused to fall asleep until midnight. For some reason, ever since we painted his room he has not been sleeping well. But the next morning we arose to the excited sounds of kids discovering their Easter baskets full of treats. Obviously the highlight of the day for them were the treats and we were only slightly successful in rationing out the candy throughout the day. The highlight for me? Getting a ride in my Dad's Christmas present, his new Ferrari (a dream that he's had for as long as I can remember). With the weather being so nice he has finally been able to drive it around and boy is it quite the ride. I think the baby was still doing somersaults after we stopped from the extreme acceleration. It's a fun little car and I was glad to get a ride before I don't fit into it anymore.

Ella was absolutely adorable with curly hair and the boys were just as handsome as ever.

The car is so low, my Dad can't pull it into the driveway, it's quite interesting getting in and out being 20 weeks pregnant.

Decorating

We have been living in wonderful Eagle Mountain for almost four years now and when we built the house we were extremely excited about picking the carpeting, the counter tops, the cabinets, the tile, and the paint. We decided to go very light and neutral which I loved until I got the decorating bug. After a while, the "Aspen" colored walls started to seem a little too stark to me and I started contemplating what would look just right in our house. I thought about red in the great room, bright colors in the kids room. Then I changed my mind and thought dark blue in the great room and light pink or lavender in Ella's room. Over and over I contemplated what I wanted to do. Finally I found some pictures from magazines that were just right and I convinced Glen to spend his much needed vacation from work, painting. (Isn't he a great husband?)

I also convinced my younger brother Doug to help out since surely he had nothing better to do and wouldn't he like to spend some more time with his completely cute niece and nephew's? Luckily he agreed and was a great help. As with most projects, this is still a work in progress and there is still a lot to be done, (curtains, wall decor, new flooring, etc.). We have finally decided what to do in the two bathrooms and Master bedroom and unfortunately that will have to be done as Glen has a few hours here and there free from work. But for now I am completely excited and pleased with how the paint in the great room and the kids room's turned out.

I'll keep you updated for when it's all done and all those interested will just have to come out for a tour, it's even better in person. But for all of you who are thinking of re-decorating, I realized a few things during this process. Here's my list of tips:

1. Pick a good paint - We went to Jone's Paint and Glass where they were extremely helpful. We went with Devoe Paint that went on smooth and it looks great. Plus, price wise, it was a great deal.

2. Look at the paint color you've chosen before you leave the paint store. Paint swatches can be deceiving. The rest of the great room and the hall is a nice tan, but only because I took it back and had it re-tinted. If I would have been paying attention, I would have realized that the first color I picked had a distinct undertone of lilac and boy did it come out on the wall! The walls looked great for Easter, but it was not the look I was going for. If you can't tell, the rest of the great room (Kitchen and Dining Room) is a luscious chocolate brown. It's a great accent color and I LOVE it! The curtains and other decor will have an aqua blue in it that will really pop out against the brown.

3. Realize you can fix things. I had wanted to do a faux sponge or "towel" effect in Ella's room, but once Glen started it, I realized it was not what I had hoped it would be. So he painted over it and we decided to add the dark pink stripe which worked great.

4. Stripes are not that hard. OK, yes, they are time consuming, but here is a great tip if you want to do stripes and it works really well. Buy clear paintable caulking. Measure carefully and put up your tape. Bead the caulking all along the tape, then with your finger push it into the tape, smoothing it out and taking off the extra as you go. It should leave only a thin film. Paint your stripe and let it dry for about 30 minutes, then while it is still a little tacky, carefully pull the tape off at an angle. You will have a straight line that will knock your socks off, just check out the boys room!

I may be a little crazy, but I am loving this decorating process and I get excited every time I see something else that will work with what we've already started. The house already feels warmer and it makes me smile every time I walk into the house.

Our Pachycephalosaurus

At 18 months Isaac started saying dinosaur names and was so incredibly fascinated with them, that it was pretty much all he ever talked about. By two years old he could name at least 20 dinosaur names and identify them. I started to think, "Wow, my son is a genius!" He was and is quite smart, but I realized that most kids who develop some kind of obsession are just that way. They are little sponges that absorb everything they hear about their favorite subject and then they love to talk about it. The obsession over dinosaurs led to a new obsession with superheroes, but we haven't left the realm of dinosaurs completely. Ammon has now become our favorite pachycephalosaurus.

Let me explain. A pachycephalosaurus is a dinosaur with a ring around it's head that looks like a wreath of rocks. In the center of this ring on the top of the dinosaur's head is what can only be described as a round bald crown. This bald area comes in handy for battle because the main defense for the pachycephalosaurus is butting it's head into those who are attacking it.

While Ammon can be a very sweet, lovable little guy, he is also extremely intense when it comes to getting some one's attention and his method of choice is running head first into his victim. The amazing thing is how little it seems to affect him. He can literally knock a grown adult off their feet by barrelling into their leg at full speed and he isn't affected by it at all. Beware if you are sitting at a chair and he comes running. I keep trying to explain to him that he's head butting his baby brother, but I think he's trying to get an early start on his big brother duties. So just beware, if this unsuspecting little toddler puts his head down and starts to rev-up, you might want to move.

My Very First Blog

This is quite exciting. Okay, so actually I'm really nervous that I'm putting my thoughts and feelings and experiences out there for others to read, but feeling a little uncomfortable makes life exciting. Plus, the bigger the family grows and the more friends I feel I need to keep in contact with, the harder it gets to actually do that so at least those who want to can check in with us on occasion and see just how crazy our lives are. Those professional and well established bloggers, please be patient with me as I am completely new to this. So please enjoy the future of our family blogs and all the cute and sometimes utterly insane things my kids do.