Jared's Wedding

April has been a busy month! We started off the month by hosting my best-friend, Jaime and her family of 6 at our house for 2 nights.  They were here from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon. We had a full house, but boy was it fun. Dylan was so excited that I told him he could stay home from school on Friday to play with his friend, Cameron. He was so excited that he accidentally told his teacher on Thursday, oops! It was so nice to catch up with their family! Dylan and Cameron took a 'blue-goo' bath and they had a blast! They had blue goo everywhere! The adults stayed up late playing Settlers of Catan (We got them hooked on the game when we stayed with them a couple of years ago!). It was such a great weekend!

Saturday after everyone left, I met my mother-in-law at Hobby Lobby to get the table decorations for Ricky's brother, Jared, and Lenell's wedding. I had a great time picking out the supplies (I haven't ever been in charge of wedding decorations before)! The kids were worn out by the time we were done and fell asleep in the car. Lauren even stayed asleep until morning! Here is a preview of the picture frames I made for the tables.

Sunday was General Conference, so we got to be a little lazier than normal. It was so great to hear from the Prophet of God! I always learn something new and what we should be doing in life. After conference, we headed south to my sister's house for Jazlynn's birthday dinner. I can't believe she is 9 already! She is turning into quite the little lady.

On Tuesday, all the girls got together for a lunch Bridal Shower for Lenell. We met at Abuelo's in Indy and it was so much fun. Ricky's sister, Crystalin, came to town for the whole week before Jared and Lenell's wedding, so she got to join us! My wonderful friend watched Ethan and Lauren all day, so I could go. I am so blessed! (Lenell is the one in the blue shirt.)

 

After we got home, I had to take Dylan to soccer practice. They have practice Tuesday and Thursday evenings and then games every weekend. Busy times! Luckily my friend lives in the neighborhood and her son is on the same team. We carpool, so I only drive once a week. They started 2 weeks ago and because of rain, they have cancelled 2 practices and 1 game. Hopefully they will have their first game this weekend! We are definitely getting the April showers this year! Crystalin and Ricky's parents brought dinner over on Tuesday night so we could all catch up. It was so nice to spend the evening with them!

Wednesday night, I signed Lauren up for Kindergarten. Crazy to believe that she is going to school in August and it will be all day. I don't know if I am ready for her to be gone all the time! She is still my little girl (and always will be)! It was good to get all of the information about what she should know and do before kindergarten starts. She is always asking me for homework to do! 

Saturday, April 13th, was the big wedding day! Jared, Ricky's brother, and Lenell got married at the same church where Ricky and I got married 10 years ago. It brought back a lot of good memories. I ended up being the unofficial wedding planner for the day. It was a surprise to me, but it was fun! I was glad I could help out with their special day! We got down to Indy around 1 and the wedding was at 4:30, so we had to get the church all set up. When I got to the church, there were people everywhere and they said they wouldn't be done until 2. We had to hurry up and get the gym ready for the reception. I was so busy with the planning, that I didn't get any pictures on my camera, only on my phone. I hope the photographer got some good ones! It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for them!

 Beautiful bride with her new brothers.

 Ricky's family and the cool table decorations we made!

 The happy family!

Since everyone else was staying at Ricky's parents house, we got to have Keegan for the night. It was so much fun and we even made it to church on time with 4 kids! Such a fun weekend!

Easter fun

I just can't seem to get caught up on my blog. Here is Easter, over 2 weeks late! 

 We came home from Florida the night before Easter, so we just spent the night at my parent's house. It was fun to celebrate Easter morning with my parents. We had church at 9am, so it was a good thing the kids woke up at 7:30. The loved seeing what the Easter bunny had left for them in their baskets!

 My sister and her family joined us for church. After church, we had a big brunch of eggs, biscuits and gravy, and fruit. Yum!

The kids colored the Easter eggs and we had a great time with my family.

After brunch, we headed home. We had to unpack the van and then see if the Easter bunny had hidden any eggs around our house. Lucky for us, he stopped by. The kids were excited and loved finding the eggs. 

We got to relax for about an hour before we headed over to Ricky's parent's house for dinner. Jared and Elle joined us there. We had a fun-filled, long day for Easter this year!

FLORIDA

After 10 days of sick-o's around here, we needed a vacation! Luck for us it was perfect timing! Ricky was the last person to get it on Friday (Somehow I was the only one to not get the flu. Don't know how that happened as I was the one in the middle of it all! Lucky me!) and we were leaving on Saturday. We decided to leave at 6am to get a head start on the day, plus we had to stop at my parent's house to pick them up. We left their house around 8 for the long drive to Destin, Florida. It took us about 14 hours to get there with stops. Not bad for 7 people! The kids did great in the car.

It was raining when we got there and the kids were already asleep, so we just took them to bed. Mom and I headed out to get some groceries, but we had to stop by the beach just for a minute. It started pouring rain on us, so we just touched the water and ran back to the car.

Sunday morning, we went to church for the first hour and then headed to the beach. The kids could hardly wait! Ethan kept saying, "let's just go to the beach already." I guess we taught him patience. The weather was a little cooler than we like for Florida, but the kids didn't mind at all! There was a red flag, but we still put our feet in! Later on, there were 2 red flags out. We didn't notice until the Sheriff came over and told us we would get a ticket if we were in the water. Ooops! The water was so clear and beautiful!

This is how Ethan spent most of the week. He wasn't too sure of the waves and the water was a little to cold for him. He was much happier just playing with his dump truck in the sand.

We spent every day at the beach! Some days were around 60 degrees, and others a little warmer, but we were determined to spend all 6 days at the beach! We went on walks, played in the water, played in the sand, and just LOVED every minute of it! The water was about 65 degrees, so it was kinda chilly but still awesome!

  Tuesday was chilly, so we went shopping in the morning. We found this cool shark at the Bass Pro Shop. The kids thought it was cool.

Of course we had to spend the afternoon at the beach! 

 

 

 There was a company making this sand sculpture on the beach. It was really cool.

 

Tuesday night, we went to Fudpucker's restaurant for dinner. They have live alligators you can feed and watch. The kids loved it there! We got to hold an alligator for a picture and then we ate alligator tail for dinner. Dylan said it tasted like chicken, but he really liked it. It was a night that Dylan won't be forgetting for a long time!

Live alligators

After dinner on Wednesday, we went back to the beach. Of course no one stayed dry! Ethan was so cute in his little jeans rolled up!

Dylan found tons of little clams. He kept trying to open them. Boys!

Lauren being a little cutie! She was not afraid of the water this year, YEAH! She loved it and wanted to spend all her time in the water! I'm so glad she has grown up and loves the water as much as we all do!

Thursday at the beach

Thursday night we went to dinner for my mom's birthday. Luckily we went early and didn't have to wait (there was a 2 hour wait when we left!). We went to a restaurant on the beach, so we had a beautiful view for dinner. The seafood was really good, although my taco salad had chopped up jalapenos on it, yuck. It was so nice to spend the evening celebrating my mom's birthday with her.

 After dinner we headed over to The Track. They had go carts and bumper boats and rides for the kids. It was awesome and the kids didn't want to leave! We rode on the go-carts that went up 3 stories high. I wasn't sure how Ethan would do, as he was about an inch over the line to ride it. As you can tell from the picture, he LOVED it! So much fun!

 

 

 

Friday, we went to the beach to try to fly our kites. It wasn't as windy as the previous days, but it was still fun. Ethan and Lauren just played in the sand and Dylan had a blast!

Walking to the beach.

 

 Flying a kite

 

 After lunch, we spent the entire afternoon at the beach. It was 75 and sunny! The nicest weather we had all week! We made sure to soak it all up before coming home to 40 degree weather.

 

 

 Friday night, we went to the beach to watch the sun go down. It was beautiful and the kids were cooperating! Always a great time at the beach!

The kids with grandma and grandpa

The long drive home wore them out! I love this picture!

It was such a fun, relaxing week.  It was so nice to spend time with my parents and family. We had an amazing condo with 3 bedrooms, so after we put the kids to bed, we played games all night. We took turns sleeping in and just had a great time. I just hope next time we go to Florida the weather is a little warmer!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

March 22 was Ethan's 3rd birthday! I can't believe my baby is 3 already! His birthday was on Friday, so I had to carpool for Lauren's preschool. Ricky ended up getting sick that day, so he stayed home from work and Ethan got to hang out with him. He was so excited to have his birthday because he knew that we got to leave for the beach after his birthday. I babysat in the afternoon, so Ehtan had a friend over for a little while. For dinner, we let him pick what he wanted and he wanted a hot dog. I took him to Dog 'N Suds for take out and we had dinner at home.

  We had to get a cake, too! He really enjoyed blowing out the candles.

Ethan got a Lego dump truck that he loves!I can't tell you how many times I have already fixed it!

I think the day was a success as he loved his new Cars book, Nerf football, and Mater Hawk! Happy Birthday Ethan!