Riding a Bike...Two Wheeler Style.

 Yesterday was a big day for our little Ty-guy. After bribing him with a new toy gun and a bag of Cheetos, (Tyler likes to mooch Cheetos from our neighbor, so she told him she'd give him his own bag of Cheetos if he learned to ride on 2 wheels. Food really is this kids' weakness), Tyler let me take off his training wheels. Tyler is naturally cautious about trying new things so I was pretty surprised we got him to try two wheels. He had no problems and caught on the second time he started pedaling! It helps that his bike is too small for him and not intimidating ;)

 After a few minutes of bike riding in front of the house, we went on a bike ride (4 miles!) to Maverik for some treats! Tyler did so well. I was so proud of his attitude and overall awesomeness! Way to go Tyler! Here are the bike riders. They're all so happy for Ty-guy.

So today we went and got Tyler his little gun and I'm pretty sure I'll be regretting this toy purchase for awhile, until it somehow "gets lost".

Whitney's 7th Birthday

 Birthdays are a HUGE deal to Whitney. She lives for April 14th! To start off the festivities, I decorated her room the night before her big day. She looks forward to this every year. I do something different each year but the only tricks I have up my sleeves are crepe paper and balloons- I'm running out of ideas. One of these days it's going to get lame, but for now, they like it. This year, I hung 7 balloons from her ceiling and inside each balloon was a memory of her or something that I liked about her. I forgot that she hates the sound of popping balloons though, so Tyler happily popped all of them for her. I also barricaded her in her room with crepe paper. She loved that. Who wouldn't?

 Then she played with some of her friends (OUTSIDE...Yay!)this morning. While she was bowling with me and Tyler, they made her a necklace and earrings out of some shells they found by the stream behind our house. Such sweet neighbor girls we have...

 Here are some pics of our big day out bowling. Whitney did Awesome! Look at that form;)

 Look at that score! She broke 100. Sadly, I did not She was pretty proud of that. Tyler, on the other hand,  was NOT happy about it.

Here she is after she got a strike! SO HAPPY!

 Here she is getting a birthday serenade during lunch from her cousins, the Osbornes! Aren't birthday's just the best. It's so fun to get all that attention. She loved it. 

 

 Whitney's requested hamburgers for her birthday dinner. Good choice Whit- that means Dad cooks:)

Here are some pics of the festivities.  

One of the things I got her was a pair of cowgirl boots. I don't know how it's taken me so long. I guess we're learning to embrace the cowboy state. 

 The boys got her the Barbie Mermaid Fairytale book...or something like that.  She's been wanting it for awhile so she was pleased.

  She also got an American Girl Doll from Grandma and Grandpa. She didn't stop smiling the rest of the night. Here she is admiring her doll in the box.

 

 Zach was pretty excited to.

Zach as an American Girl Doll:                       Don't you just want to eat him up!                        

Well as far as the cake goes this year, I got off easy. Whitney wanted a cheesecake. I cheated and got a no bake jello cheesecake and that sufficed for her. Yay for an easy birthday! She only wanted the "Rapunzel Sun" on it, so that was easy enough for me to do. Thank you Whit!

What a great day it was for Miss Whit. She was pretty tired and was asleep in no time. Maybe that was just because she was wearing her sweet Hello Kitty sleep blind fold, or whatever that's called. I'm sure it has a name.

 

Anyway, we sure love this little girl and are so glad she's ours. I'm so lucky to have her as my little friend.

  P.S. Here's a pic with Tyler in it. He was such a good sport while Whitney got all the attention today, only pulled Whitney's hair ONCE! Good job Ty-guy. 

 

Mother nature gives us a break...

Usually there's snow in April for us. Looks like Mother Nature was in a good mood this time around. The kids have been having so much fun- finally getting out of the house. Here are a few pics of the kids I took them about an hour before this play set was tipped over on its side and broken due to high winds. She's a fickle thing, mother nature...

 

Easter Haps...

Here's just a random snapshot of Tyler and his "nest". He loves blankets- massive amounts of blankets. He creates these nests at night on his bed using blankets, pillows and stuffed animals and is perfectly content to sleep in a hot pile of all this every night.Just needed to document this little quirk of my little Ty-guy.

 Okay now onto the Easter Festivities... 

 Dyeing Easter Eggs. 

I tried a marbling technique from Pinterest, but it didn't work like I thought it would. Note to self: just because you see a pretty picture of something on Pinterest, that doesn't mean it will work out in real life. 

 Easter egg hunt in the snow....

Girls day out watching "HOP" with my favorite girl: 

 Then this morning, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt:

Here's a picture of the cooperative people in our family (I've pretty much accepted the fact that our family pictures will most likely not include one or both of the other boys in our family...babies.)

 

Here's the dress I made for Whitney (NOW Tyler wants to be in the picture- don't think he didn't plan that out. He did. This kid is a master at pushing buttons):

 This picture is weird. I'm only documenting it for my own purposes. It really is not this color and it really isn't that disproportional. I don't know what's going on here. 

Anyway, that was the Easter "fluff" for us- the stuff that has nothing really to do with Easter:) The real celebration was at church. We had such great talks, songs and lessons. I love this quote by Elder Worthlin:

 "We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come. I testify to you that the Resurrection is not a fable."

Sunday will come.