Mother's Day 2011

Ice Cream Fun...

 Bri Bri's Blue Tongue..

Jakey was being a good sharer with Daddy...

Cute little cousin "T's" Blue Tongue...

Anthony's sis with cute little "K"...

Our best effort at a me and the kids Mother's Day shot...

My attempt at a pic with just my Jakey Bear...

Me and my girl...

So, I believe Anthony had to work again on Mother's Day so we went to the Gateway with his sister the night before so that we could have some fun.  The kids were so fun and goofy with their ice cream that I had to post them.  My Mother's Day was much better than the year before.  My mom felt bad for me the year before and made sure that everyone took care of me too...so nice.  Mostly, it's just nice to have a few moments to reflect on the blessing of being a mother and also of having such a great one myself.  I am so grateful for my mother and all she has done for me and for my two beautiful children and all the joy they bring to my life.

Tulip Festival Round 2

 A lot more tulips than our first trip to be sure...

 The kids were super excited to put their heads in the big tulips, I couldn't believe we actually got a shot with everyone's head in the holes and looking forward...small miracle for our family :)

 The last few trips to the gardens Anthony's mom would get these golf carts to get around in...the kids love them...

 The kids played for a long time here and served us many cheeseburgers and milkshakes from their special counter...

 The kids love the water fountain, Jakey kept trying to dive in...

 So pretty...

 Bunches of tulips..

 Had to put in this picture since Jakey actually looked at the camera, he was so loving just running around and looking at the little rocks (maybe throwing a few too) on the path...

Sabrina "locked" herself in the stairway rails on our way out and could only be saved by grandma; she kept saying "Grandma, save me..." yes, she is a drama queen a little bit.

2011 was a weird year for the Tulip Festival.  Our first trip was a bust as I posted before and the second trip had tulips in bloom or expired on one half of the trail and tulips weeks away from blooming on the other half.  Not our most successful trips as far as flowers go, but I think we will always be grateful that we got to go with Anthony's mom twice this year.  Every year we go with her and eat at the Trellis Cafe before we head into the gardens.  When we would hit breathtaking bursts of tulips she would always say, "Daddy would love this!" (this year the exception).  It's one of our favorite things to do with her.  We will always cherish our memories of going to the garden with Grandma.

Easter 2011

 The night before Easter Sunday we celebrated with my family.  Bri Bri loved helping me with some Easter cupcakes this year...Big Helper :)

 Meanwhile, Jakey spent some happy time on the "Time Out" bench :)

 The kids were totally spoiled for Easter this year...nuff said

 The kids in their Easter Best!

 My cute Jakey Bear...

 Sabrina posing for her picture.  She, obviously, felt like a ballerina in her dress...

 That night we had family dinner with Anthony's family.  I thought it was so cute to look back from the table and see two cute little guys on the floor in their sweater vests :)

Bri and Daddy with their matchy yellow shirts...she is such a Daddy's Girl!

Where I Left Off...Wow, this could be interesting! Last Easter :(

 Jakey's happy place while waiting for the hunt to begin was the driver's seat of our car...loves the driver's seat!

 Sabrina was awesome at hunting for her eggs

 We finally got Jakey away from cars and balls to hunt for his eggs...

 Cute shot of my girl with her daddy, so glad he could be there in 2011 (he always has had to work)

Jakey with the beloved ball!  My grandma was nice enough to let him have it at the end of the activities.

Anthony was awesome at helping some of the teenage boys retrieve an egg...he's part monkey :)

So, here we go...I have a goal to post the memories I have put off for this long as my blog is my only journal of sorts.  I will do my best to retrieve the info...I can't believe it has been this long since my last post.  I remember that this last Easter was freezing and windy and we had to move location to a big empty field where it took a while to find hiding spots.  Overall, it was another success and the kids loved being outside with cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

Wow, I Have A Lot Of Catching Up To Do...

I am still a blog fan and new posts will be coming soon.  I had a lot of catching up to do before and then we decided we needed to think about selling our home and then Anthony's Mom passed away and hit us hard and then the holidays came....and on and on.  Things are crazy right now, life has hit us hard but we are claiming 2012 as our year, a good year - we are determined to make it one :)  We will do some catch up since this is really our only family journal and let you know what's going on with us.  See you soon...

The Treehouse...

We went to The Treehouse in Layton with my sister-in-law and it was a very fun day.  I will apologize right now for the number of pictures...there were so many activities and things the kids loved doing that it was hard to narrow down...so it's more for us, but view what you will...

Anthony and Bri made a flower together in one of the Latin American houses...

 Here is Bri smelling her flower once Anthony got it all ruffled out for her...

 Awesome hat...

 This was probably Bri's favorite spot with the kitchen and tea set...

she could have stayed there all day...

 Awww...snuggles...

 Awww....What the?...(he might kill me for this one:) )...

 Teacher...

Student...

Cowgirl...

 Cowboy...

 Jakey loved the big cow, he kept hugging its legs...

 Sabrina loved the krafts and well, everything...

 Anthony wanted to take these drums home with us...

 Jakey liked them too...

 Bri also loves playing doctor, so this was a big hit as well...

 Jakey loved the big chess set...

 Anthony built the arch...

 The kids took care of the rest...

After we had looked at everything we went to a smoked BBQ place that Anthony could smell from the museum....needless to say that put him in his happy place.  We all had a great day together and have some fun memories of our first trip to The Treehouse Museum.