TOPS

Easter.  My girls had cute dresses, Wyatt was in a little vest suit, Dallin had a handsome sweater vest. . .AND I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE!  What the heck?  I don't know where my brain was, 10 years I have been doing this kid thing and this is the first year I forget.  I was annoyed.  Anyway really cute kids on Easter.

Easter Afternoon.  We had Rob and Mary and Marty and Brian over for dinner.  It was nice, we chilled.  We had a little Easter Egg hunt.  Overall a really nice Sunday.

Getting the Early Stuff Planted in our Garden.  Every year we plant on windy cold days.  I think I could handle the cold, I could even handle the wind if I would take out my contacts, but after about 2 or 3 minutes of stingy eyes and tears running down my face, I leave Aaron alone to finish.  Luckily he has the boys to stick it out with him.

Wyatt's T-Ball Games.  So fun.  Actually delightful.  Watching 5 and 6 years old playing this game is such fun entertainment.  Wyatt loves it.  If I would throw the ball to him all day he would be in heaven.  And to top it off he is on the Yankees.  I couldn't be happier!

Ashley's New Violin.  So exciting.  It's beautiful! She is learning fun things.  She now shifts her hand to play higher on the finger board.  I can hardly wait for some duets now!

BYU-Idaho's Symphony.  It seems they had a fancier name, but anyway, they were amazing.  I took the girls to hear them play and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It's amazing what people can do with instruments.  Very inspiring for the girls.  They couldn't believe that some of the musicians actually got paid to go to school there to play their instrument.  (scholarships)  I'm hoping the girls will get a chance to someday play in an orchestra.

The Boys and Their Singing.  Wyatt goes to bed almost every night listening to the Primary songs for the year.  He has learned them so well and it is so fun to hear him break out into primary songs in the middle of playing in the dirt.

 

Dallin loves to sing!  It seems like in the past week he is coming up to me asking me to sing 'Popcorn Popping' or 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'.  I think his favorite is 'Its a Small World'

 

Other fun things Dallin says: 

If I laugh at something on my phone he will ask, "What's so funny?" over and over.

While he's waiting for food, "I'm still waiting!" over and over.

When he wants something on my phone I will start to find it and he will quickly try to grab and say, "I find it!  I find it!" (which he of course can:{)

I love how Annie tolerates us. She does it so politely!

TOPS as of late...

Conference. I remember when conference seemed to take forever. Now it flies by and I can hardly believe its over!

Pumpkin pancakes. These are a new tradition we started a couple of years ago. They are so delicious!

Mary. She cooked us a delicious dinner on Sunday. She takes my kids. She just overall makes my life easier.

The lack of after vacation depression. I always plan a week depression following a vacation. For some reason I haven't had it. It could be spring break. It could be that I have slept in several mornings. Im not sure but I am glad that I'm able to get some things done this week!

Caught up on laundry. So nice to have this done after a trip. Although caught up for me is to not have clothes hampers overflowing in my laundry room.

The temple. So nice to be there. Much needed peace and comfort.

Hunger Games movie. So good!

Dates with Aaron. I love spending time with him!

A new haircut. I don't know why I wait so long to get this done. I think it has been almost nine months since my last haircut. I always feel so much better once it's done.

Instagramming. Again. So fun to keep in touch with people.

Stacy's engagement. The big day is in June! I couldn't be happier for her. She is marrying a great guy. We are so excited!

TOPS day 4

Big Kid Time. My parents stayed with the boys while they slept and Aaron and I took the girls to get in as many rides as we could.

Rainforest Cafe. So fun! My favorite part were the monkeys that were hanging by our table. Dallin was kind of jumping around until the monkeys started to swing and make noises and that settled him right down.

One more ride on Screamer and Tower of Terror. Loved it. Especially since I didn't have a terrified little boy next to me!

Cream Cheese filled and Mickey pretzels.

Getting souvenirs. Getting them actually was not a top at all, but having them is really nice:)

Wyatt getting his long-awaited Build a Bear. He was so excited! I videoed it and I think he jumped up and down the entire time. We now have Blacky joining our family.

Finishing off my cheesecake.

Staying till the park closed. The girls and Aaron stayed till 12:02. Their final ride was Buzz Lightyear. They also got to see Fantasmic. They said it was amazing!

Nobody got sick. I am always so grateful when we have a trip where no one ends up getting sick.

My Kids. They really were so amazing. Of course there were a few breakdowns, but on the whole they were great. We even had some disappointments and the girls handled it so well!

TOPS Day 3

Grizzly River Run. This ride is so fun! Some of us wore ponchos so we wouldn't get so wet. This made it so much better for me. Although, even with the poncho, Ashley got soaked!

California Screamer. Kailyn hates that this is so short! For me, this is the best ride ever.

Kailyn's hands up on the crazy rides.

Little kids hands. We probably won't make it to Disneyland again with this young of kids, so I want to remember my kids walking next to me and voluntarily reaching up to hold my hand as we walk.

A squeaky stroller. I don't know if our stroller is going to last another day, but while it does it's great! We can pile 2 kids on and go. If I can't find Aaron, I just listen for the squeak.

Chocolate. Churros. Caramel popcorn.

Sleeping in a little bit. We were so tired.

Driving to dinner. So nice after walking all day!

Thai lettuce wraps from Cheesecake Factory. And raspberry chocolate cheesecake. Yummy!

Soaking in the hot tub. So great after a tiring day.

Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know if I can say this enough, but it's so nice to have them! They make our trip so fun!

We are loving the chocolate treats!

TOPS Day 2

Toy Story Mania. Twice in a row.

Ashley and Kailyn getting to ride together on Space Mountain.

Triple Winnie the Pooh without even having to get off.

Wyatt riding Tower of Terror. Actually not a top at all. More like a nightmare!

Goofy's Kitchen. We loved meeting the characters. Except Dallin. He would cry before they even got to our table! The food was delicious.

Grandma and Grandpa starting us out on Pin Trading. So fun to look for pins we want!

The Bus Ride Home. Again, so grateful to have a bus to ride home on!

Swimming at Lunch.

Grandma and Grandpa being with us. They make this trip so fun!

When life gives you lemons make lemonade!

Disneyland Tops #1

On the bus ride home last night we all shared our TOPS for the day...

The fast rides.  This was Wyatt's contribution. He was so great! I was worried he was going to be scared, but he loved it!

The treats. Churros and caramel and chocolate covered marshmallow. Delicious. 

World of Color. It was amazing. The music, the water, the pictures. 

Grandma talking so fast she spit her gum out. 

Holding hands with grandma and grandpa!

California Screamer.  The girls loved it!  I loved it!  I figured I haven't been on a crazy ride like that since before I started having kids. Those rides are my favorite. 

Buzz Light Year and Dallin. Our first ride was Buzz Light Year. Dallin loved it. He started shooting everything.  When we were on It's A Small World, I noticed that Dallin was shooting all the dolls. 

Anaheim Resort Transit. Part of our package included bus tickets. At the end of the night I was so grateful to be able to sit on a bus to get the hotel!

When life gives you lemons make lemonade!

On our way!

We are officially headed to Disneyland!

This Weeks TOPS

• Instagramming.  I feel like I am hanging out with my sister-in-laws!  So fun to see what they are up to.
• Warm Weather.  We've had some beauties this week!  Fun to just be outside.

• Mckenna joined our household.  Ashley's long awaited American Girl Doll finally came.  She has been saving and dreaming for a long time.  She is beautiful!

• St. Patrick's Day 5k.  To celebrate Lori's 50th birthday we ran a 5K.  It was fun. . .I need to get busy for the next one!

• March Madness.  Some of us are loving the madness. . .Some of us are tolerating it.  Just kidding its fun to check brackets and just be apart of the excitement.  Wyatt always asks if its a BYU game.  I think for awhile he thought all basketball games involved BYU.

• Snow Fun. Saturday night it started to snow.  Wyatt has been patiently waiting for snow so he can build a snowman.  It was kind of slushy snow and I told him he wouldn't be able to make a snowman with it.  It took maybe 10 minutes and Aaron looks out the window to find Wyatt rolling up a snowball.  He has some talent when it comes to snowball making!

• This year's one and only snowman.  Wyatt did it, Kailyn and Ashley helped him lift them up and then together they made their baseball snowman.
• Cadbury Eggs.  I love these things too much.  I haven't even attempted the mini because I know I won't be able to stop. . .
• Matched.  I started reading this book.  I think Jamie told me about a long time ago and I finally got my hands on it.  I can tell I am going to love it so I am displaying some discipline and I won't pick it up again until we are on the rode to California.  It will make the drive fly by.

• Wyatt learned to ride without training wheels. He figured it out!  So fun!

• Ashley and Kailyn playing violin in Brad's classroom.  Even though Kailyn's hard practiced songs were left on the piano, they both had fun and did a good job playing for the kindergarteners.

TOPS

Sadly my TOPS from yesterday somewhere disappeared.  I will just say yesterday was a good day!

• Dallin put himself to bed.  I went to put him in bed early because he didn't nap and was so tired.  He wanted me to lay by him and I told him I would after the rest of us read scriptures.  He got right up and wanted to read scrips with us, so I made him leave his binky and bear.  We read scriptures and then amidst the nightmare of getting the rest of the kids to bed I realized that Dallin had climbed in his own bed and fell asleep!
• Dallin went pee all by himself.  This morning I went in to find Dallin in the bathroom ready to pee all by himself.  There still might be a glimmer of hope!

TOPS

• Quilting Time. I was successful in getting some quilting time in. I borrowed Mary's machine and it worked splendidly.  
• Ashley's Writing. Ashley came home from school and found a website called storybird.com. She wrote six little stories. Its fun to see her write and write and write! 
  
• A is for Astronaut
• Can I Touch the Sky?  
• Puppy Paws Elementary
• Cuddling with Dallin. Dallin ends up in our bed often. While I sleep horribly with him in there, he is an amazing cuddler. In the morning he turns his body toward me and he just folds up in my arms. I want to hang on to these cuddle moments as long as I can. 
•  Crafting in Great Company. So fun to craft and talk with such fun people!  
• Kailyn's All-Star Student Week. This week Kailyn was her class's all star student. She took in pictures, I wrote a letter to the class about how special she is and why and she takes in her favorite book to read to the class. I was grateful for an opportunity to share about Kailyn and how fabulous she is!  
• A Sick Wyatt. While this isn't a good thing, the way Wyatt handles being sick makes me smile. At first he is angry. He knows very well that he can't eat anything and he won't feel good. This morning he was so mad.  He came running in my room yelling  that he didn't even get to eat breakfast yet.  As I was trying to figure out why he was so mad he ran into the bathroom to throw up.  He was mad he couldn't go to taco bell (we weren't going anyway) and that he couldn't have his vitamins. My heart breaks for him but then he goes into his brave mode. He says the randomest things and he is so sweet as he silently finishes being sick. This morning it took him about 3 hours to quit throwing up.

TOPS

Since I have started this whole TOPS thing, I have discovered I can be pretty negative.  I have had this post ready forever, but by the time I get around to writing about it at night after the kids are in bed, I'm so exhausted that I don't feel like I have anything nice to say!  Anyway, we will try tonight.

• Celebrating 'A ditch birthday'.  We had to do this without the girls this year.  Hopefully we will get back out there one more time with them. 

Wyatt is such a hard worker!

Between the chain saw and the chance of a dog showing up - Dallin opted to hang out in the truck.

• West End Carnival.  I stressed about this one.  I wasn't sure if I had found enough help for all the booths, but it turned out so great!  I was on cotton candy duty.  I was covered in it by the time the night was over but it was worth it!  So many families came and it was fun for all!

• Cookies by the Girls.  While I was napping on Sunday, the girls made sugar cookies.  I was so tired I didn't care what kind of mess was made.  They did so good!  The cookies were delicious.

• Roller Skating.  Tuesday night is cheap night at the roller skating rink.  We did our FHE activity then and we had a blast.  I was amazed at how well Wyatt caught on.  This will definitely be a repeat event.  So hard to get good pics in the dark with my phone!

• Subbing at West End.  This afternoon I got to substitute teach at the girl's school!  It was great!  I ate lunch with them and then they were able to hang out in my room after school.  Everything about it was perfect.
• Rice Bags.  At relief society the other night we had this auction.  I bid on two little rice bags that you heat up.  The girls have been begging me to make some for awhile and I just haven't.  My last experience with rice bags was finding mice had gotten into them.  Anyway, that was in the other house and I have been meaning to make them for the girls.  When I came home they were so excited,  but it wasn't enough for Kailyn.  She whipped out 2 rice bags for herself and Wyatt.  Then Ashley wanted one and I realized how great they were at the foot of my cold bed that I made another one for me.  We have the bags coming out our ears now, but we have warm feet!
• Stacy.  I love that I have a sister I can call and cry to and she can be so sympathetic.  I also love that sometimes I call her and so very sweetly she lets me know that I just need to get over it.  I love her!
• Devin's Video Skills.  For my mom and dad's 40th anniversary my brother put together a video of some photos and interviews of us kids.  I love watching it and it just reminds me of how great my parents are.  It makes me laugh and cry and I love it.  The other day we were watching it and there were pictures of my parents wedding.  Wyatt thought that one picture of my dad kind of looked like Devin and Ashley thought the next picture of my mom kind of looked like Stacy.  The next picture was of them kissing and one of the kids yelled out - 'That looks like Devin kissing Stacy!'  They all started laughing and thought they were so silly.