Saturday, April 27, 2013

Dreams Come True

This all started last Thursday when Brook had Dance Pictures.


She got to get all dolled up and wear make-up.  She couldn't stop staring at herself in the mirror that day.  She kept talking about her makeup and how pretty she looked.  When we got up the next morning she asked if she could wear makeup, I said no, there were big tears.  She continued to ask all day and I kept saying no.  


Later on that day I noticed her lips looked a little clown like.  Sure enough, she had snuck into my bathroom and got my lipstick and put it on. When I questioned her about it she lied, and told me she didn't do it.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of it.  She finally fessed up.  I was sure we were going to fight about this every day for the rest of our lives.

Saturday morning I had to run to the Mall to get a few things for our upcoming trip and as I walked past Claires, I noticed there was nobody in there, and realized that I could make this a really fun day. And maybe do away with the make-up obsession for a little while. 
"Brooke, do you want to get your ear's pierced today?"

The answer was YES!!!!!

She didn't cry at all.  I think she was still in shock about the whole thing, it happened so fast. 

Jack was in charge of entertaining Ivy in the stroller while all this took place. 

I didn't call to ask Daddy's permission.....I just did it.  I was so worried he would be mad when we got home. 

She was more nervous about the second one, but she still handled it like a big girl. 

Ta Da!!!!!


The happiest little girl that ever was!

Jack was having a hard time with Brooke getting all this special treatment, so I told him we could eat lunch at his favorite place....Subway. 



Daddy wasn't mad.  In fact, he was in shock about how big his little girl looked. 
Phew.  I asked him if he would have been upset if I had pierced Ivy's, and he told me he would have killed me. 
Good thing we just did Brooke. 

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Weekend in West Yellowstone



Conference weekend we decided to head up to West Yellowstone for a relaxing weekend.  
Little did I know it would not be relaxing. 
Jack was so excited to go!

 We got there Friday night and of course had to swim right away. 

I pretty much thought this was the cutest thing I had ever seen. 

Apparently Ivy is quite the little fishy.

 I started to wonder if she really belongs to this family. 

And don't worry, I made sure that Vince had plenty to do. 

Jack is so proud that he can swim without holding onto something.
 And Brooke....she is just a cute little fart. 

 Ivy was shivering and shaking because she was cold, but she had the most fun!

 One wet little munchkin. 

We were FROZEN by the time we got back to the room, so we all gathered around the heater. 
And we couldn't go to West Yellowstone without our Bear Jammies. 

 DAY 2
Conference


Conference wasn't on TV, so we had to watch it from the computer, which was a DISASTER! 
It kept skipping and stopping and drove us all nuts!

As did Ivy.  She was insane.


I brought up some treats for the Conference Word Game we do every year.
And Jack ate so much of them that he almost threw up. Nice. 


 Back to the pool.  Brooke is a hoot.

We snuck the kids into the Hot Tub, shhhhhhh.

And this is what we did the whole time, drag Ivy back onto the steps when she would leap off the steps.

Jack had such a good time. Daddy even paid him $10 if he would go all the way under the water. He did. Big boy stuff now. 

Brooke's hair...what an epic mess. 

We ate little food. Even though EVERY place in West Yellowstone was closed up for the season still.
Even the McDonalds, where we have eaten every year at this time.
We were shocked, good thing I packed extra food!


Vince left to go to the Priesthood session and we all stayed in the room. I got a knock on the door from the lady below us telling us to stop running around. It was 6pm.  And apparently we were being too noisy for her.  I didn't even think we had been noisy at all. In fact I had made it a point to keep everyone as quiet as I could the whole trip.  She ruined my night. I even had a little sob fest. 

But I got over it.

Cut to 2am
This little pooper decided to start throwing up in her bed. 
Awesome.
The one trip I didn't pack a bucket and Clorox Wipes. 
(I seriously take those everywhere)

She was screaming. I'm sure the lady below us was livid. 
Nobody slept the rest of the night. 

 I was beyond ready to hit the road first thing Sunday morning. 

So we hit it with some snow and ice too. 

Ivy and I both got a little nap on the way home.
 Oh blessed 30 minutes.

Needless to say, we missed quite a bit of conference.
Which made me really sad.

It will be a trip to remember for sure though.
Ivy's first trip to a hotel, and most likely her last!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Easters


We spent Easter at home this year.
I know, it was a major shock for us as well!

Saturday we colored eggs. Which I totally hate by the way. The mess, the stink...ewe. 

 We hit up Red Robin for an early dinner


Brooke talked all through dinner about how she wanted to get one of those red balloons at the front of the restaurant. When we left, they gave her one.  I took this picture outside and then two seconds later she fell down, and her balloon popped on the pokey grass.  She was HYSTERICAL!  Vince saved the day and took her back inside for another one!

 We took the kids to the car wash (one of their favorite places) and took an impromptu family photo. 
Oh yeah, I am a vampire and don't photograph well. 

Easter morning!  
Jack was up at the crack of dawn, and while Vince and I finished getting ready for church, he looked through Vince's mission photos on the bed. 
Vince taught Sharing Time all about his mission. Every 5th Sunday we have a guest Missionary Dad come in.  Vince knew his turn was inevitable.  He did great!

I got all the kids dressed before we started our morning festivities. I knew if I didn't we would never make it to 9am church!

Jack was so exicted to see that I hid eggs all over the front room!
They ran around finding eggs and LOVED IT!  I will totally do that next year. 

Then they found their baskets!

 Ivy and her basket.  It was almost too cute for me to handle!

 They found theirs too!


I love this picture of Brooke talking in baby talk to Ivy about how exciting all this is!
Maybe you had to be there, it was adorable!


We even had a few minutes to throw the camera on the tripod and snap a family photo. 


 And we weren't late for church....An Easter Miracle!
I got new Easter Shoes, thanks Vince!

After church we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Byram's for a super fun Easter party!

 Ready for the hunt!

 GO!!!!

Once again, Ivy had a bucket, and I took 400 pictures of her toting it around. So cute!



 It was such a beautiful day.  Do we still live in Idaho? 


I even caught Vince playing the Easter Bunny a few times!

 Grandpa George has a new baby horse on the farm, so of course we had to check it out. 

Such a fun and relaxing Easter. 




 I had to include a picture of the cute little paper plate tombs that Vince had his primary class make. 
 He teaches Brooke's class and she loves it. 


Happy Easters!