Second Half of April

Latest kit of bunnies! They have been quite the celebrities around here, both with our kids and with neighbors. It's been a while since we've have bunnies, so it's been a big hit. :)


Miles and Gwen fell asleep in Miles's bed the other night. :) And here's Lindy curled up with her giraffe stuffed animal she bought at the zoo. :)


Weather is warmer! That means lots and lots of time outside. Here's Gwen with a chalk drawing of her and her soon to be new cousin Jade. :) We're also having regular picnics outside.


Davy pics :)


The kids and I (mostly Lindy) worked on making a rainbow from seed catalog pictures. It was a fun little project.



Tulip Festival! We arranged to take some graduation pictures of Taysom at Thanksgiving point, thinking it's such a great location, we'll get some really great shots. It had been warm all day, and then after I had the kids all sunscreen-ed, changed into warm weather clothes, packed in the car with water bottles...it started raining a bit. As soon as we set foot outside, an all out downpour happened. It was crazy! There was no real good spot to take shelter, so we just forged ahead, snapping the best pictures we could get. We were all completely soaked to the bone by the time we were done, just in time for it to stop raining and a beautiful rainbow to appear. Ha! My favorite part was that Gwen was shivering, (and without a coat, because I told her she wouldn't need one) and without any nudging from me, Miles pulled his coat off and wrapped it around Gwen and zipped it up for her. :) Parenting win!!



Super cool science experiment about convection heat. You should have heard the squeals of delight that elicited when this tea bag flew up in the air after being lit on fire.


Richie and I had a much needed getaway, thanks to S&I. They've just recently brought back the couples weekend getaways and I couldn't be more grateful. Lack of sleep and hard things about parenting in general had started to pile up and put me squarely in "the depths of despair" as Anne Shirley would put it. It's not a fun place to be. In hindsight, I was probably depressed for most of the time between having Lindy and till Benson was around a year or so. I'm not consistently low anymore, but every once in a while, things pile up and I have a few dark days. Such were the circumstances this weekend. All topped off with the fact that Benson broke his toe and we had to spend 2 fruitless hours in the Dr.'s office. Not even the waiting room. Just me and 5 kids in the tiny, don't-touch-anything, Dr.'s office. It was awful. A few hours into our getaway (in Midway this year), I could physically feel a burden lifting, and my mood shifted more than I thought possible in such a short amount of time. It became very clear to me that more consistent dates and getaways are becoming a necessity. Not something nice if we have time or money, but absolutely essential to our mental health individually and our relationship as a couple. 5 kids is no joke. I need to make it abundantly clear that Richie is my #1, and that our relationship is (besides relationship with God) paramount above all others. And it's a nice perk to not have to share goodies, my water bottle or my attention with the kids for 24 hours.

Easter Sunday

This Easter was pretty low key. Over the years, we have enjoyed lots of different traditions as we try and focus on the last week of Christ's life. This year we did...nothing. I'm on survival mode I tell ya! We managed to keep up with the scripture reading from "Come Follow Me" and put our pictures of Christ up on our wall. That's it. But by happy accident, we were finishing our almost 2 year memorization of "The Living Christ" that week. Of course memorization is probably not the right term. It took us so long to get through the whole thing, that I don't think any of us could recite the entire thing from memory. So I reminded myself that that wasn't the point. The point was to expose my kids to these inspired words, let them sink deeply into their souls and turn their hearts to Christ. On Easter Morning, I hung up the weekly prompts and we recited the entire thing as a family. And yes, it felt great. More and more, I'm finding I have to let go of the unnecessary stuff, and only do the most important things. That's easier said than done for me most times, but I'm trying.


I had Easter baskets for the kids and made the extra effort to find scavenger hunt clues online. Haha! Super easy, but the kids thought it was awesome since I've only ever just set the baskets out on the table. After church, Richie hid the eggs for the Easter egg hunt inside because it was raining outside. The kids dubbed it the lamest Easter egg hunt ever, all while smiling and running around the house. My favorite moment was watching Miles pull an egg or two out of his basket and putting them in the path of Benson, who was slow to catch on. He was ecstatic! And I was misty eyed, remembering a time when Miles was about 3, at a community Easter egg hunt. He didn't get any eggs, and a kind older boy dropped a few from his bucket on the ground for Miles, who gasped with joy. Time is going so quickly!



After church, we had an awesome Jerusalem/Passover dinner at the Garner's home, as per tradition the last few years. And the kids did their traditional walk with Grandpa around their property trying to find symbols of Christ.

Gwen's Baptism and Davy's Blessing Day

I wish I could say that I planned the timing of Gwen's baptism and Davy's blessing being on the same day on purpose. But I didn't, it just worked out that way. Happy accident! It made the weekend extra special and killed 2 birds with one stone. Simplified things.

Gwen had been looking forward to her baptism for such a long time. She was so excited, and she was ready. There were 2 other kids from our ward getting baptized that day, as well as a bunch of other stake baptisms happening. So the stake center was hoppin that day. The other 2 children getting baptized also had lots of family support, so it was crowded. Gwen got to choose her witnesses(Grandpa Crosby and Grandpa Garner), the closing song (I feel my Savior's Love) and who gave the talk on the Holy Ghost (Grandpa Crosby). I loved meeting her in the bathroom after she was baptized and seeing her huge smile. She got dried off with her new white towel from Grandma Crosby, I helped her get changed, then Grandma Crosby helped me french braid her hair. I was nervous about getting her hair fixed quickly before the confirmation, so I enlisted help. There was something special about braiding my daughter's hair alongside my mother, after that sacred moment. She had a large circle to help confirm her, consisting of both Grandpas, Dad, Uncle Ben, Uncle Chris, Uncle Mike, Uncle Ian, and Uncle Jeffrey. She also had such support from the ward. Her old primary teachers, her piano teacher, primary presidency etc. It made us all feel very loved.


Right after the baptism, we guided everyone to the primary room down the hall to do Davy's blessing. All the same wonderful men that helped confirm Gwen gathered around little Davy. That cute little stinker cried through the whole thing. But I was able to hear more of this blessing, and Richie specifically blessed him to be able to see the truth and avoid moral relativism. Both Grandmas took notes on the blessings, so I'll get those into baby books.




Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa Garner graciously provided a luncheon for everyone. I had asked to use their home to host everyone, but said we'd provide the food. She wasn't having that :) She insisted on handling the majority of the food and boy was I grateful. One giant stressor off my shoulders for sure. And it was delicious of course!


I am so grateful for friends and family members who made sacrifices to support our family that weekend. We all felt so uplifted and loved. If people are willing to haul themselves and their children 4 hours up north, happily participate, then drive 4 hours back down south...they must love you. And if they spend the afternoon making food for everyone...they must love you. And if they take time out of their day to drop by after the baptism to drop off a gift and tell your daughter how sorry they are that they couldn't make it...they must love you. Etc, Etc, Etc. We are surrounded by good people in our families and in our neighborhood. I'm so grateful for the goodness that is innate within Gwen and Davy. I think they have a special bond, so it seemed fitting that they share this special day together.

First Half of April

April Fool's Day. I have this problem where I don't really care too much about little holidays or events, until the day comes, and then I start feeling guilty that I didn't do anything. So I throw something together really last minute. Hence my repeat "prank" of "Brown-E's". Miles and Gwen remembered, so they knew there were real brownies coming later. But both Lindy and Benson were sadly shocked. Once they ate some brownies and got the joke, they decided to play it on some neighbor friends. They thought being on the other end of the joke was hilarious. :)


Using some school time to get some seeds planted! Hopefully our garden does better than last year!


Davy Pictures :)


Lindy is constantly drawing me pictures. There are several patterns in each picture. It's usually a picture of she and I, and it usually has our names on it somewhere. I feel bad not keeping all of them, but I'll bet she has drawn me hundreds. Here's a very small sampling.


Conference weekend! So fun to have nieces and nephews come be with us!


Lindy being really excited about finishing her number play-doh mats. :)


We got rid of our dog Ginger. She was such a sweet dog, but she caused trouble for us one too many times. She nearly caused our rabbit population to go extinct and killed 2 chickens. There were other annoyances, but her relations with the "live-stock" was what solidified our decision. We were sad to see her go, but I'm relieved I don't have to deal with mud being tracked through the house, cleaning up her I'm-so-excited-to-see-you-pee, and sweeping up broken dishes from when she climbed on the table to eat scraps while we were gone. The woman that came to pick her up said she needed an affectionate dog. Bingo. Ginger took to her right away. We were happy to know she went to a good home.


Number 8 punch board FHE to help Gwen get ready for her upcoming baptism.


I chopped off my hair! I have been wanting to donate my hair for quite some time now. It felt appropriate to cut it now since both my Mom and Sister-in-law Natalie are fighting cancer. And I must say, I'm loving my short hair. It's way easier to take care of that I was expecting!


Lindy protecting Benson during a scary part in a show. :)


Zoo Day! There was a Canyon Grove field trip to the Zoo that we attended even though it was snowing that morning and cold throughout the day. It was my first big outing with all 5 kids and I was quite nervous. It was cold, Davy had his first blow out, Benson pooped his pants, I had to leave my bench where I was nursing Davy to sit with Benson on the carousel because he was scared; all while keeping Davy latched on and nursing him in front of all the parents waving and taking pictures of their kids. Ugh. Despite all that, it was actually a really fun outing. Because it was cold, it wasn't crowded at all and the animals were all active. Gwen's favorite was the leopard, Lindy's was a giraffe, and Miles liked the Lion. The older 3 helped me keep track of Benson, and at the end insisted on going into the gift shop because they had brought their own money. It's hard for me to not be controlling of their spending. Especially when Gwen spends $20 on a cheap nail kit at the Zoo gift shop. Ha! Lindy bought an awesome stuffed giraffe, and Miles bought a pen that switches colors. Benson got a sucker from mom as a consolation prize.



Benson...being a stinker. He hauled every.single.towel we own into the bath with him one night, while I was dealing with Davy. I wasn't too thrilled with that.