Easter pictures

Easter morning was so crazy. We have church at 9:00 am. And before that we had an easter egg hunt, looked through our easter baskets had homemade cinnimon rolls, and got all prettied up in our easter outfits. There wasn't really time for picture taking. I didn't get any pictures of my kids with their baskets or looking for eggs or anything cute like that. I did take a few pictures at my moms that evening and had my dad snap a picture of my family.

We had a nice easter. My favorite part was watching a movie about Christ's life crucifiction and resurection and seeing my kids get emotional about it.

*a little funny side note: Maddox didn't know the easter bunny brought the eggs and baskets. He told my brother that his mom did it. I guess I forgot to mention that to him. I was a little happy about it. I guess it shows that we didn't only focus on the ester bunny.

My family. Its been a long time since we had a picture with all of us.

My nephew Makai

4 generations. Grandpa Grider, Rich (my brother) Makai (his son) Mike (my dad)

Tess is 1!

My little baby Tess turned one yesterday. She is so fun. She is adored by our whole family. Even when she is a sinker and has a tantrum, we all smile and laugh at her. She says a few things like Uh-oh and Hello and moma (once in a while). She weighs 19 pounds which is in the 25% but is in the 75% for height.

I love her dark eyes that sparkle and her hair that sticks up crazy. I love that she sings and dances whenever music in on. I love that she throws a tantrum when I try to make her practice walking (she totally could if she wanted to). I love to get her out of her crib in the morning. I love how happy she is to see me. I love that people stop me to tell me how beautiful she is. I love that she loves flavorfull food and doesn't really like bread.

This past year flew by. We are so glad Tess is part of our family!

We had a party to celebrate Tess and my birthday on sunday (and my brother's girlfriend Danielle). Tess kept us all entertained while eating her cake. She really got into it.

I'm 30!

I turned THIRTY yesterday! I feel like I've been looking forward ( not in a yearning for kind of way) to this day for ever. I remember when my mom turned 30. It just seemed like it was something that would happen when I was old and established. I have come to the realization that I AM old and established. Sometimes I feel like I am playing house. I live in a nice house, drive a minivan, have 4 kids and a husband. I drive many carpools, host parties at my house, am a member of the PTA, periodically pull out gray hair, tell my kids to clean up their rooms and about 100 other things 30 year olds do.

Jordan planned a great day for me. He started by putting 30 balloons in my room. Attached to each one was a laminated card with something that he loves about me on it. He also had printed up an itinerary with cleverly written things to do. We went to the temple and had lunch together. They he went back to pick up our kids from my nice friend who babysat, while I got a pedicure at a spa (not just a nails place next to a grocery store) and had some time to do whatever I wanted. He also arranged to go out with some friends this weekend, but I said it wasn't for my birthday. I am done celebrating.

A few years ago I made "to do before I'm 30" list. I am happy to say that I completed many of the goals... I'm sad to say I didn't do everything. The list was quite extensive.
Here are some things I did check off
- read Book of Mormon
-take photography class
-go to Europe ( our tickets are purchased, we leave in less than a month, it counts)
-be able to run 5 miles without stopping (not too hard, I know, but I was in a bad running place when I made this list)
-read 10 books (I was also in a bad reading place when I made this- I am proud to say I read more than ten books thanks to the twilight series and the sisterhood of the traveling pants series)
-be able to do the splits again (I half way did this one, I can do right only)

Here are some I didn't check off
-take voice lessons
-be able to do 20 regular push-ups (I am in a bad push-up place right now. I can 7 and that is an improvement)
-be caught up on scrapbooks
-do a triathlon
-read new and old testament from cover to cover
-have 18% body fat

The list, done and not done, goes on and on these are just a few highlights!

I think I am happy to be thirty.