Happy Easter to everyone!

What a beautiful day it was here in Hayward, California! We all got up and watched the boys do the Easter egg hunt before we got ready for church. We opened up Jenna's bedroom door to try and wake her up to hunt the eggs with her brothers, but that did not happen. So the boys helped Jenna fill her basket with the eggs that were 'too obvious' for them while she slept. Don't feel bad for Jenna, in the afternoon at her California Grandma's house she participated in two egg hunts. And she really got into it this year, it was a lot of fun to watch her get excited and find eggs, with a little help from her mom.

This year, Brody and Dave got to pick out new ties for church. They feel like 'big' boys because you tie the ties like a man does. These are not the clip on ties or the zip up ties, these are like their dad's ties that he wears to church!

Jenna and I both got new Easter dresses, new shoes to go with our dresses, and Jenna got new hairbows to match her dress. Yesterday while the whole family was out Easter dress shopping for me, Kyle saw a manicure and pedicure place in the mall and suggested that I get my nails done for Easter...and I did! Kyle and the kids waited about an hour walking around the mall looking into different shoe stores for Kyle and getting some ice cream or shakes while waiting for me. I sure love the fact that my family will wait patiently like that for me...I really LOVE Kyle for spoiling me in many ways! Thanks Kyle, I love you!!!!

I really enjoyed church today, Easter is such a wonderful time of year and really helps me put into prospective the things the Savior did for all of us. I hope and pray that we may always remember what He did for us and that we can live our lives in a way that we may all live once again in the presence of our Father in Heaven and be clean and pure. I know that He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Easter Morning

 

Brody and Dave are having their Easter egg hunt as soon as they were up this morning. They had fun hunting for all the eggs, and then we all needed to get ready for church.

Easter Morning

 

Here are all of the kids before we head off to church. Brody and Dave are both wearing their new Easter ties, and they are NOT clip on's or the zip up ties, these are the ones that you actually have to tie on like a man does!! (They are really happy about that!) And Jenna is of course wearing her new dress, shoes and hairbows. I love this time of year when all my bulbs and flowers are starting to open up and show off their beautiful colors, just in time for a beautiful Easter Morning!!

Easter Morning

 

Jenna in her new Easter dress, new shoes, and new hairbows! I sure am glad that she LOVES the color pink! She sure looks adorable in this color!!

Easter Morning

 

Sarah showing off her new Easter dress and shoes!

Easter Morning

 

Sarah and Jenna both in their new Easter dresses. Jenna is also wearing her new hairbows. You will see them better in another picture of her by herself.

Dying Easter Eggs Saturday

 

The whole family in action...We all got really creative with our designs. Brody liked drawing Rayman's rabbits on his eggs, Dave liked the 'crazy eyeballs' look, Jenna just liked the pink colors, Kyle liked multicoloring his eggs, and Sarah used the wax crayon and brown dye to make one egg look like a football.

Dying Easter Eggs Saturday

 

The kids with the finished products! They had a fun time this year, Jenna loved, I mean LOVED the pink eggs. The boys loved using the wax crayon to draw different designs on their eggs and then putting them into the different dyes and seeing their artwork shine!

Dying Easter Eggs Saturday

Dave explaining the process of dying our Easter eggs with a non-happy ending.

Doctor visit on Tuesday...

This past Tuesday, Jenna had her 6 month check up from her Cardiologist. Things were wonderful, Kyle was with us for this appointment to kind of say his goodbye's to the office. They are all saddened by our news of moving in the summer time. But we will be in for Jenna's last visit in June to wrap things up and we will be able to get paperwork to show a new doctor once we get to Arizona. Jenna's O2 saturations read 100% when they put the pulse ox on her finger. The lowest it read was 97%. Just where she needs to be. The doctor increased her medicine levels just a little bit. Jenna is now officially 3 feet tall! Wow she really is moving up in the world! She is about half my height. I'm either short, or she may be tall. Jenna's weight is 26.4 pounds. Ok, to me sometimes when I hold her and carry her, she seems heavier than that. And she will be 3 years old in a months time. Some of you moms are probaby laughing and thinking I should be grateful for how light she is when she wants to be carried around. I am grateful, it is just funny to me when I actually see how little she weighs compared to the other girls her age, and I catch myself 'complaining' about how 'heavy' she is.

Kyle and Dave built a big birdhouse

 

I am sure that the birds know how to read and they follow the 'rules' that Dave and Kyle have set for them!!

Kyle and Dave built a big birdhouse

 

This is the side of the birdhouse we see looking out of our dining room window. It sure is fun to watch the many varitey of birds that come and eat from both of the birdhouses we have hanging from our plum tree.

Kyle and Dave built a big birdhouse

 

This is a birdhouse designed by Dave. He wanted to make sure that the birds would not hit their heads when they were done eating the birdfood, so he made sure that his daddy made the roof of the feeder high enough. (According to Kyle, this point was really stressed many times!!) I love Dave's designs with the pic he drew, and he sure made sure that I knew he did not do the writing, but his dad did. Here is one side of the birdhouse.

Jenna got a big 'owie'!

 
Here is a head on look at Jenna, this picture really does the fat lip no justice. For me, looking back at this picture, I thought the swelling was much more! At least she is doing better though.

Jenna got a big 'owie'!

 

Jenna ended up with a huge fat lip and a scrape on her upper mouth area this past Sunday. We all went for a walk up the hill, and Jenna ended up 'kissing' the street. Everytime I look at it, I feel soooo sad for Jenna. A couple days ago, the scrape got a thick scab built up and started cracking. Looked really uncomfortable for Jenna. Then the other night when we were saying family prayers, somehow it got scratched off her face and it looks a whole lot better. We still may see a little bit of it with this years Easter pictures. (The swelling has gone done thank goodnes!)

11 years together...

On February 28th, Kyle and I made it to our 11th anniversary! I cannot believe that another year has gone by. It seems like yesterday we were commenting on how fast the first 10 years had gone by. We celebrated our anniversary by going to a temple session on Friday night. That same night, one of my brothers and his wife drove all night and got to our house about 3:45am. After everyone got some sleep, we all got up and went to Muir Woods. After we were done 'hiking' around Muir Woods, we left and ate some lunch. Then we all headed over to Pier 39 in San Francisco. We walked around and did some window shopping on the Pier and along the streets heading up towards Fisherman's Wharf. By then we were all tired and decided to head back home for dinner. We put the kids to bed, the adults stayed up to watch a movie and visited with each other with no interuptions from the kids. Those times are really nice! Sunday we all went to church, came home and had naps. Then we headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge to take a walk out to the middle. We were running out of time to drive to the coast to watch the sunset, so we decided to spend the time enjoying our walk on the bridge and watched the sunset from the bridge, which was nice for change. Although the sounds from the passing cars on the bridge takes away from the moment, when you usually get quiet at the beach or hillside. But it was still very cool to see the sunset from a different atmosphere.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Here is a shot of the north tower on the Golden Gate Bridge. We had started our walk to the middle of the bridge from the north side.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Here is a fantastic shot of the sunset from the view at the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. That was a fun walk.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Jenna and Sarah posing in front of the sunset. What a beautiful setting for a picture.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Brody having a turn spitting off the bridge. Such a boy thing to do.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Dave spitting off the side of the bridge. What a disgusting habit, but fun to watch the spit fly with the wind. Tonight was not too windy though, so we could see where the spit landed.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Making our way back to our car, Brody and Sarah posed, Brody of course had to be a goof!!

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Uncle Stuart and Aunt Debbie skipping on the Golden Gate Bridge with Brody and Dave. In a video that we took of them skipping, you can see Jenna skipping behind them as she tries to catch up to them. It is too cute.

Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge

 
Uncle Stuart and Aunt Debbie swinging Jenna by her arms.

Trip to Muir Woods

 
Kyle with my brother Stuart and his wife Debbie posing at the entrance to Muir Woods.

Trip to Muir Woods

 
Here are the kids in a hollowed out tree. There are many of these and the kids HAD to stop and pose in each and every one of them.

Trip to Muir Woods

 
Jenna at one point was running very enthusiastically to her daddy. Notice her shirt...it speaks volumes I tell you!

Trip to Muir Woods

 
Here is a glimpse of what you would see when you look straight up into the redwood tree tops.

Trip to Muir Woods

 
Here is what it looks like when we crossed a bridge over the little stream. These pics just do not do justice to the feel of peace and serenity when you are walking through. Very relaxing to the soul.