Good Friends!

We still miss Idaho lots, so it's so refreshing to see old faces from one of our favorite places! The Fogles were our dear friends. We shared a garden space with them, struggled through financial woes together, and had regular play dates. Their oldest boy was one of Miles' very first friends, and Lauren was one of my very first "mommy friends". It was crazy to me when I realized that when we became friends, we had 2 children between our 2 families. Now there are 7! And they are all so much bigger and more grown up, it's crazy. Whew! They live in Boise now, but were in Rexburg for work. They made the 4 hour trek down to the SLC valley just to see little old us. I sure felt special. We geeked out over gardening techniques and our food storage room, the kids ran around all day and begged for more, and Lauren and I tried to catch as much uninterrupted girl chat time as possible.


Lindy is only about 3 weeks older than their Emma, not 3 months. :) True Garner baby.


We went to Temple Square and showed them the children's museum there and enjoyed the lovely weather outside.


Happy 28th to me!

Lucky Kids

I think Miles and Gwen have been pretty lucky lately. That's my biased opinion of course. They still fight sometimes, are still whiny and discontent sometimes, and I'm still completely wiped out at the end of every day. But they seem to be pretty happy kids and I'm so grateful for that. The only sad part about doing all these fun things with the kids is that they probably won't even remember half of them! I guess that's why I'm blogging. :) And so that I can remember them too, when I forget!

Did you know the "Up" house is like, 2 minutes away from our house! I remember hearing about it years ago, and when I googled it, I was so excited that it was so close. We found it, snapped a picture in the stormy weather, and went home and watched "Up". Oh pregnancy weight, how I loathe thee.


Some more play-doh creations by Miles. They started off as Olaf, according to Miles, and then they morphed into something else that I can't seem to remember. He's getting better than me at play-doh. I still stick to making snakes and snowmen.


Our joy school field trip this last month was to visit the farm at Thanksgiving point. We learned about all sorts of animals during the month of April and the kids loved seeing them up close and personal. They fed a llama, listened to turkeys and rode horses. (The definite highlight) Gwen was so sad she had to get off and would kiss her hand and then rub the pony's nose...all of the ponies in the circle. It was kind of a scene and me trying to drag her out while feeding Lindy....sometimes 3 is hard.



Some of our wonderful friends from Idaho were down here in our neck of the woods recently. We were so happy to reconnect! We had dinner one night, and then watched the kids one day while Thomas and Kayla had some date time. Our kids played so well together is was probably the easiest babysitting gig ever. We put them right to work, helping us with the Saturday chores. Magic Erasers make cleaning fun. :)


My longtime friend Jenna works for Discovery Gateway at the Children's museum. She graciously reminded me that she can get us in for free, so we made an outing of it. She sure knows how to spoil us. The kids could have played there all day, non stop. We made them break for lunch, but had to cut it short when Queen Lindy made known her need to eat...loudly..and for a long time... in the restaurant. We headed back and Jenna watched them run around while I ate in Jenna's office and fed the little one. We were all tired out by the end of the day, but we had such a great time. Such a highlight.


Today we didn't have anything planned so we set up shop outside and spent the majority of our morning in the front yard. I weeded while the kids chalked it up, blew bubbles, read books to Lindy in the tent and rode bikes and ran around the street barefoot. They drank out of the hose bib and hunted for leaves. My hands are stained from the dirt and I got a tiny bit of sun on my skin. It was so glorious. We lunched outside and when it was time to feed Lindy, I watched Miles and Gwen from the front window and smiled as they made each other laugh and talked like the best of friends. *sigh* Now they're screaming at each other down the hallway. :)


And just so she doesn't feel left out, here's the latest Lindy portrait. Man, she is a dream baby! She eats well, is super pleasant, and started sleeping through the night weeks ago. I'm talking 8pm to 7am with a little dream feed at around 1030! As of her 2 month check-up last Friday she is in the 93% for head circumference, 92% for weight and 86% for length. Following the rich tradition of her older siblings. :) She is now 12 and a half pounds! The rolls are coming in nicely and her cheeks are so good for kisses. I think Heavenly Father is playing his cards well. If we would have gotten a difficult baby, I don't think we'd have many more. I could handle a few more Lindy June's though. She's perfection.

Easter

I think we had a successful Easter this year. I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things a little more each day. I may not do my hair every day, but the kids are fed and clothed and more and more entertained as the transition to 3 kids continues. I didn't get around to doing everything I wanted to for Easter, but we did manage to have our passover meal, our Jerusalem dinner (foods that Jesus would have eaten), and lots of "devotionals" about the last week of Christ's life. On Saturday we dyed eggs and had multiple egg hunts in the backyard. The kids thought it was the best thing ever. In fact, it's the new cool game to play, even now that Easter has passed. Then they ate all their candy while watching a movie. On Sunday, they woke up to their Easter baskets and a new church outfit. Sometime during that next week, we visited Richie at work and all of his co-workers were asking the kids if the Easter Bunny visited their house. They said "nope!" in a very matter-of-fact tone. I don't think they really know who the Easter bunny is. I think I'm ok with that. :)I'm too lazy to put the pictures in any sort of order, but they're all here!

Lately...again!

When I look through the pictures on our camera, there isn't really any theme, just a bunch of random events strung together. So here's another compilation!

Uncle Jeff left on his mission to Slovakia a bit ago. Before he left, we made it to the new aquarium! We'll try and go again when it's not spring break. Ugh! So Crowded! Richie and I aren't big on lots of people (him especially) so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that not even half-way through our super-cool outing, the kids were asking to go home. It was a good last activity with Jeff, who (whom?) we're missing.


Miles and Gwen like to have car washes and doll baths in the kitchen sink. Usually, shirts come off because they get wet quickly. Usually, Gwen's bum is hanging out of her pants. (Can't seem to fix that problem) These pictures kinda "crack" me up. Ha!


Another big hit is Play-Doh. Always lots and lots of play-doh time. They get so creative with that stuff! Pictured here are their dinosaurs.


Is there anything better in the whole entire world than a sleeping baby? (Check out that red hair!)


Maybe an awake and smiling baby!? Lindy has an incredibly expressive face that keeps us laughing all day. Must be those "Garner" eyebrows.