Easter, Friends, Family...

After the wedding on the 23rd my family went to Disneyland, Bri and Lish headed for D.C., Ryan and Lynnae went on their honeymoon,...and the boys and I had the house to ourselves! (I just want to say thanks mom and dad for all your wonderful talents and effort. You serve so much, and it really shows. Thanks for letting us stay at the house and mooch off you for the week! We were sad you were gone on vacation while we were there, but glad you got to get away and have some fun and relaxing time.) We had a wonderful Easter with the Johnsons. Grandma Johnson was the easter bunny this year-sadly I am slacking on my motherly responsibilities because I was so caught up in the wedding, traveling, and the stuff I was helping with that I did not think at all about Easter until that day! At least the easter 'bunny' stuff. We have talked with Damon about what Easter is about and it is fun to hear him understanding and asking us questions about Jesus, the Atonement, and His Resurrection.
Damon and Jonas were so happy with all the stuff from Grandma and Grandpa (aka easter bunny). They got books, boats, cars, candy...everything that two little boys would want! Thank you so much!
This was my first try at bow ties. Don't laugh-at least not to my face :)

Oh how I love my growing boy! Da my little man, you are my 'best bud'!

And Jo my little sugar bug...I can't believe my sweet baby is not so baby anymore. You are growing into such a fun little boy.

While we were hanging out at the Johnsons, great grandma Johnson came to stay for a few days. It was so fun to see her...and I think this may be the only pic we have with her. Sad it turned out kinda fuzzy, but oh well.

Da with this cousins that are all about the same age. Madisyn and Tycen.

Before we left my friend Chaleese came to hang out with her little boys! She is so great, we have written and stayed close even with my family moving all over the place. Love her. Damon is in between her cute boys (Parker and Payson) in age. They got along so well. So fun to have boys!

Love ya Leese!

Da and Char

Grandma and Da. We sure love you! Thank you for all you do.

We went on a few walks out in the yard...and beyond. Da loves being outside, and especially to be on anything that is motorized. He loves being on Grandpa's tractors. I love this view of the fields and mountains. I miss it...

We were so happy to come home back to Nebraska, and especially to see Kyle. The only thing was I hated going home without being able to see all the family or spending time with everyone we love. I hope next time things will not be as stressful or time restrained. But I guess you could always say that and never be satisfied. Just know we love you all. It was so good to see you, and those we did not get to see or have time to visit with we hope to be there again soon!

Trip to Utah, Ry's Reception, Wedding...

We got to go home to Utah for my brother Ryan's wedding. All of us except Kyle. He has been studying and taking finals and was not able to come. We sure missed him being there. We had a pretty eventful start to our trip when on our way to the airport our car broke down. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere between Lincoln and Omaha. We called our amazing friends who so willingly came to our rescue. There was also a sweet old guy who saw we had broken down and offered to let us use his insurance to have our car towed back to Lincoln. Saved us a lot of money. He was on his way to a casino, but said "I would rather help someone today". Now that is why we love Nebraska. (He also told his insurance that we were his cousins :)

So our friend Wes had to stop going to school, drive a few hours out of his way, and lose all that study time for finals this week. What a trooper-we are just SO grateful for our friends who really are our family here. Continuing on, when we get to the airport at noon our flight is scheduled to leave in the next 15 minutes. Of course we do not make it on and they schedule us for the only other flight to SLC that day. It was for 5:30. So, the boys and I had a leisurely stay for a little over 5 1/2 hours (the flight was delayed a bit) at the airport before our 2 1/2 hour flight. We did end up making it alive and sane, and the boys did really good. My friend Lara gave the boys some fun presents and activities to keep them busy and it helped SO much.

The Utah reception was on April 21st. It was so beautiful, and we were just so grateful to be able to be there. We saw so many friends and family whom we love dearly. We are so incredibly happy to have Lynnae in our family. We love her, and have since the first time we heard about her and met her. She just fits right in! And we were so happy that she let us help out with some of the wedding/reception stuff.

Damon and Jayce...best buds!

My sweet boys. (We sure missed Kyle...)


Ryan and Lynnae were married in the Mesa, Arizona Temple on April 23rd. It was a beautiful day, and the sealing was so incredibly sweet. What a blessing it was for me to be able to be there.

I love my fam!

Beautiful couple, amazing parents on both sides...we could not be happier about this!

Congrats you wonderful people! We love your guts!

Big owie

On April 15th, Jo fell face first into a cement curb.

It was a sad day for the little guy....and his mommy. Road rash on forehead, nose, and cheek. Cut under the nose. But Jo was laughing and smiling less than an hour later. Boys are tough!

Chicago

I had a chance to go on a trip with some amazing girls who I love...and it was truly perfect. We went to Chicago, of which I had never been before. And I would not mind going again :) I got to see and do things that I have never had the opportunity to before. And without the kids it was a 'no stress' few days (besides the fact of worrying if they were still alive back home...in all reality I did not worry about them much. Kyle is an amazing daddy. Just missed them SO much, all of them.) Maybe someday we will all get to go there together! The first morning there was quite a bit of fog. I thought it was beautiful.

We went to the Art Museum. Just one of the many firsts for me.

We drove around and got to see so many sides of Chicago.

And then they have this huge bean. Its awesome! I love how you can see the city in it.

We ate at yummy places...

and saw picture perfect views...

and of course shopping is always a must!

This is the Chicago Tribune Building. It was massive, had beautiful intricate designs, and the coolest part was the pieces of buildings from all over the world that they used when making the outside walls.

This one is of course from China.

We went on a boat tour of the city. It was so interesting, they talked about the architecture of many of the buildings in the city. I did not realize how different each one was.

And I had my first chicago style pizza.

On our last day we went to this sweet little shop with amazing treats almost too beautiful to eat...but just almost. So good.

And we took a little walk on the lake front...

with our wonderful hosts.

We ended our adventure at Wrigley Field.
It happened so fast I can hardly believe we did it. I am so grateful I was able to go and I seriously just love each of my wonderful friends so much. I will always have happy memories of our trip together.