Sunday pic July 31st

I have a bunch of Sunday pictures to catch up on, but for now here is the most recent.

This is my nephew Eric. Sunday was his "farewell". He leaves on the 10th for Costa Rica for 2 years. Good luck Eric!

I know you are wondering (really you probably aren't) why we are all dressed up and Asher has an "Orem Recreation" shirt on. It all started with a delicious chocolate cupcake that was so good his dress shirt and pants wanted a lick (or several). Asher would not get down from the table because he was so embarrassed that he was covered in chocolate. Cache took him down into a cousins room and raided the dirty clothes basket until suitable outfit was found. Oh Asher we love you and how easily embarrassed you get.

Sunday#10

Mother's Day! What a fun day. Cache and the kids worked so hard to surprise me. I woke up in the morning to a tray of my favorite breakfast foods; Toast, Simply Orange Juice and Pillsbury Orange rolls. I was able to spend all morning taking my time to get ready for church without the hustle and bustle of ironing clothes, doing hair, preparing snacks. Cache took care of all that. Eden was a little upset that I wasn't allowed to do her hair, but she settled on a down 'do and she looked great. At church we had a small yucky moment when we found a tick on the back of Ainsley neck and I almost started freaking out. I haven't had to deal with ticks before, but everything I have heard is to smother them with Vaseline, which I didn't have at church (nope, I don't carry Vaseline in my purse). I went out into the foyer hoping someone would come out who knew what they were doing, and a one of my sweet friends came out and said I needed to get it out as quickly as possible before it dug in deeper and became more engorged. We found someone with tweezers 9which I thought was a big no, no) and I had an alcohol wipe in my Car emergency kit. She was able to pull it out and clean the site and all was good. After church Cache worked hard preparing my meal of choice of Sloppy Joes (don't laugh they're my favorite). It was such a relaxing day and I didn't do anything except enjoy the ones that make me a mom.

And as a treat Cache and the kids made my favorite dessert.

Chocolate Frosted Angel Food Cake.

I know you are going to want the recipe, because it is so yummy. And fairly Healthy (okay healthy might not be the right word-low in calories is better).

1 angel food cake (we like to make ours from the Betty crocker or Pillsbury mix)

1 tub cool whip (you can even use light cool whip)

Nestle Quick chocolate milk mix

Make Angel food cake according to package directions, be sure to use an angel food cake pan.

Mix cool whip and Nestle quick together and taste as you go for the desired flavor.

Either dollop on individual slices or frost onto entire cake.

YUMMM.

Sunday #9/Easter

Dressed in their Easter best for the 2nd time.

They rushed in from church and quickly changed before I could get a picture.

Being the mean mom I am, made them change back into their Easter outfits.

We had a Great Easter!

We were lucky enough to have Cache's parents here for the weekend and it was fun to be celebrating a holiday with family again.

After church we had a quick basket hunt (there were no eggs so I can't really call it an egg hunt). We were really lazy and hid each of their individual baskets and then hid two seperate baskets full of candy instead of hiding individual candy pieces. The candy baskets were for everyone, but Asher got to find one and Eden found the other.

Asher was the first to find his personal basket.

Asher had been asking for a Beyblade for awhile, ever since he saw that his buddies in Utah had one. He is OBSESSED with the show, he would watch for hours if we allowed it, some days it is so tempting to turn it on and let him stare at the TV so I can get things done. Anyway, lucky for him the Easter bunny was able to find the very LAST Beyblade at Target.

Eden actually struggled finding her basket, and there were almost tears involved, but she spotted the monkey peeking at her from behind the BBQ.

Poor little Ainsley was actually asleep while Eden and Asher were hunting for their baskets. But she got to have her very own personal hunt-lucky her. she loves her Lily the unicorn pillow.

This wasn't on Easter, it was a few days before. I wanted to have a big Easter egg hunt for some friends, I was planning on doing a huge ward BBQ, but our plans had to change. So, instead I quickly threw together al hunt for Asher's Pre-school friends and families. It was fun! Everyone brought candy to hide and it seemed all the kids came away with fully baskets and bags, which is always a good sign at a hunt.

I think the most special part of this Easter though was studying with Cache the last few hours of Christ's life with the study packet found Here. I gained a deeper understanding of the atonement and the sacrifice Christ made for me.

Sunday#8

There is a pear orchard not to far from our house. I drove past it the other day and noticed the blossom were just about gone. I needed pictures before they were completely gone!! Here is one of the finished products. Why does Ainsley have to hate the camera so much?!

Sunday #7

We are having the most gorgeous weather right now, and I am loving it. Everything is so green and lush from all the rain we received last month. I mentally take note of every field and apple orchard I pass, promising myself to return with kids in tow for a photo shoot.

Home from church.

Asher is the first to start stripping off his Sunday best. Ainsley is in his footsteps, as always, and insists on putting on his tie and vest.

Asher takes revenge by trying on her "jackee" (Jacket/sweater).

Such a ham. I have noticed so many pictures lately of her with her feet crossed and I love it. I wish I wouldn't have cut them off in this picture.

I was clicking through my blog the other day and noticed that there isn't one picture of me. I swallowed my pride and decided to use the remote and be in the family shot. I am part of the family....right?

Sunday #6/sick baby

The other 2 kids didn't make it in this weeks Sunday picture, I think they were in their rooms because Cache and I had had enough of them. Unfortunately I was really mature and told them I was sick of them and needed them to go away for a little bit, igh I felt like mud afterwards. How awful to hear that from your mom. Live and learn. I blame it on the excessive amounts of rain we have had lately, so much that after a few steps outside you are drenched. I was worried our house would slide off the hill. It didn't, and today the sun is shining and it's a brand new day.

Ainsley woke up from her nap with a high fever and she was very lethargic. So sad, but REALLY?? We haven't been sick all winter and then 3 days before we are supposed to go on a vacation Ainsley gets sick. Double igh. Lots of vitamins, fluid, sleep and anti-bacterial wash for us.

Sunday #5

I finally got a picture of the kids before we left for church!

I snapped it quick because Cache was yelling that we were going to be late, which resulted in weird exposures and out of focus.

Oh well.

YEAH! for Sunday Pictures.

Sunday #4

Tonight we played the game of "Life". Asher won with 1.5 million dollars, I came in second with 1.4 million, next was Cache with 1.2 million, Eden brought in the end with 600,000.

I now feel like I need to take a rest. Sometimes games at our house get a little crazy between wrestling Ainsley, trying to convince the loser that it is just a game, keeping the winner from dancing on the table, and any other little (or big) obstacle that comes in our way before we can finish the game. The memories are worth it........right?

sunday #3

Baker Beach San Francisco, CA.

ahhh, You win some, you lose some.

Sunday pic #2

This definitely isn't the best picture we took today, but it just truly shows the personality's of my kids.

Meadow with her "grumpy lips" face

Finley with his "I have to make a face and be silly at all times for every photo" face

Peanut with her "I aim to please and do whatever you ask" face

Notice the shorts and bare legs(Finley insists on over dressing lately), whoohooo, it is February 6!! It may be the only year Peanut has warm weather for her birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEANUT!

-Yes, those are still Christmas wreaths on our fronts doors. They just add so much to the front of the house I hate to take them down. I hear the SF flower market has beautiful wreaths for reasonable prices, I think I will head there soon.

Sunday pics

Another project........................I am joining the ranks of a few fellow bloggers and am going to TRY (key word being TRY) to take a picture of my kids every Sunday. I am already seeing how quickly they change. It's making me sad. I hope they just stop growing.

I attended a "mothering mentoring panel" this week at our relief society activity night (or whatever it's called now). I got a few great ideas on raising kids' bucket, like filling my own bucket before filling my kids. Just like the airplane, you have to put your own air mask on before you put your kids' on. Now I just need to decide what will go in my bucket. So, along with this great advice I also got really scared, 3 out of the 5 moms talked about how their kids have gotten involved with drugs and alcohol, sending kids to wilderness treatment camps, getting calls from the police in the middle of the night, Marijuana at an LDS scout camp, SCARY! It is great to hear that every family isn't perfect and everyone has trials, but these stories were so hard for me to swallow. I feel extremely bad for these families, and now I know were to go for help and advice if such things happen in our family, but I am also SCARED. All I could think of all week was how I was going to protect my kids. My friend and I joked about creating bubbles and not letting our children out of those bubbles. We know that isn't possible, but I sure wish it was. The only conclusion I can come to is a lot of faith and a lot of prayer, which my not protect us from these tragedies but I know it will help us get through them.

So after saying all that (I usually try to stay away from too many words on my blog) here are my sweet, pure little children. I love them.