Happy Easter

We got home just in time to unpack, clean the house and get ready for Easter. Traveling is a delight, but it is always nice coming home.

Her favorite decorated egg...

And His.

She found her Easter Basket and the Peeps.

Sunday Morning

Sunday Afternoon.  

Spring Break

We headed south to find some warm weather over the kid's Spring Break. We spent a few relaxing days with my brother Andrew and his wife Autumn down in Moab, Utah and then we headed further south to Sedona, Arizona. There was so much to do and see. The weather was a perfectly sunny 75 with few clouds in the sky.

In Moab, we hiked to the Cowboy Hot Tubs near my brother's home. The water pours through and across the sandstone, smoothing as it goes. We could have stayed there all day and played in the water. The Cottonwood trees had started to get their leaves, one of the first signs of a desert Spring and yet the La Sal Mountains were still covered and capped in snow.

Maggie found a frog in the river and Sadie was amused

The Cowboy Hot Tubs

Maggie is quite the hiker

 We hiked half-way to Corona Arch the next day...Sadie was tired and sick of the baby backpack and Sam had to use the bathroom...with kids and vacation, you just learn to roll with it. Andrew and Autumn are always great hosts and good sports to entertain all weekend. Thanks A and A...we love you!

After Corona Arch

Andrew and Autumn

In Sedona, we took the kids on their first horseback ride...Brian was a good sport to let me go while he stayed with Sadie. Sam was suppose to be 7...he did great pretending...along the trail we heard a rattlesnack. After the ride, we had a cowboy breakfast, biscuits and gravy and the kids practiced their roping skills.

At the ranch.

We saw the ruins after horseback riding, Montezuma's Castle, a 600 year old ruin that had 20 rooms and would have housed a small village. We also saw Montezuma's Well.

Montezuma's Castle, 600 year old ruins

We took the kids to a zoo called Out of Africa. We went on Safari riding a Unamog. We got to feed Keebo and get a few kisses in return. We also saw zebra, and camels, ostriches, antelope etc...as well as the predators, lions, tigers, bears and hyenas. 

Keebo the Giraffe, giving Maggie a wet kiss as he takes the biscuit from her mouth

On Safari riding the Unamog

Sedona, AZ  The Bell Tower

Slide Rock State Park, Sedona, AZ

Maggie, braving the cold water

At the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kanab, UT

Counting...

He is counting down the days until his birthday...and he is just so excited.

The birthday party theme he chose this year: Legos!

Stay Tuned. It should be fun.

(Created by Sam, one of the many lego creations floating around our house

Spring

The first day of Spring snuck up on me this year, usually I celebrate with bringing out the fresh and the green, the little birds and nests...how can I celebrate Spring when it is still winter and snowing outside. I've been looking back at some of our photos of the Spring and Summer and I am always amazed to see our yard green and alive, the flowers blooming, the trees leafed in splendor...I look outside now and everything looks dry and dead to the point that it will never come back...Spring, when it comes, is really a miracle and oh, how I look forward to its coming!

Reading in the backyard.

Playing Ninja with leftover crete paper from the 4th of July

Sadie, 4 months 2 weeks        Maggie 7 years, 6 months

The Diagnosis

I took Sadie to the doctor this week, Diagnosis: ear infection in both ears, lungs clear. After two weeks of sleepless nights, an off-an-on-again fever and a runny nose that developed into a croupy cough I decided to take her in...she is tough as nails, this little one, and really hadn't been pulling on her ears or complaining. I left the doctor feeling like a horrible mom and wondering why I didn't take her in a week ago. Looking back, I guess it's always easier to see the symptoms, but she is also getting a mouthful of teeth, so it is always hard to tell.

Modeling the Bedhead!

I haven't seen many morning smiles from her lately.

Coming Home

I came home last night from cub scouts to find Brian cuddling a feverish Sadie in his arms. She was asleep, her tummy on his chest, looking peaceful and content. Maggie was reading the 2nd Harry Potter Book to Sam. Dinner was made and waiting to be eaten. If I were to say that Brian was extremely capable, that would be an understatement. He makes our world revolve...he is my constant calm amid the storms of life... he is always there for us.

St. Patrick's Day

We had a fun St. Patricks Day celebration last night to celebrate my Irish heritage. My maiden name is Fitzgerald and somehow long ago, my ancestors came from Ireland, grew potatoes and all claimed a green thumb,... for dinner, my Mom and Dad came over and we shared corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, carrots, Irish Soda bread (it was a lot tastier then I expected and somehow the stinky leprechauns managed to turn it green) and our own pots of gold (a hit with the kids). For dessert we had pudding pie, also turned green by those naughty little leprechauns.

Our very own pots of gold

Our St. Patrick's Day celebration

My Dad and Sam doing some legos

I've been told that I have always had the Luck of the Irish. It may be true. I do feel very lucky and very blessed to have Brian, Maggie, Samuel, Caleb and Sadie as my very own.

In Sam's kindergarten class, those naughty leprechauns got in somehow and made a mess of the room...he was pretty excited about it all. Sam wrote a note about his day.

The note and his artwork

After school Maggie swam and finished the first Harry Potter book. She was so excited and told me
all the details that were different from the movie. She made me laugh. I love seeing her develop a love for reading and books.

Sadie celebrated St. Patrick's Day by getting into everything, including my green dish soap. She crawls from room to room and up the stairs, opening and discovering everything and anything in sight. She is pretty good at getting behind things as well. I do have her to thank that my laundry gets done a little faster these days, as I am always chasing her up the stairs and then rememebering to put the laundry in or take it out.

The naughtiest little leprechaun

Someone Turned 1!

She had a grand birthday and we had a ball watching her enjoy her day. 

Happy 1st Birthday Sadie Jane. We love you to pieces.

Sadie came to us on an early, cold February morning. She brought the warmth and sweetness of heaven with her.

Her birthday dinner and yes, she was thrilled with the balloons.

She was fascinated with her flashing rubber duck

She loved the Winnie The Pooh train and danced to the music.

Her First Birthday Cake!

She dug right in.

Took a few bites and made us laugh

and laugh...

Valentine's Day, a little early

The kids have school off on Monday, so they had their Valentines school parties today. Maggie was responsible for making her own box and she knew exactly what she wanted to make after a few minutes of playing around with the tissue paper...a Valentine's squid. She was mighty excited to show Brian when he got home.

Maggie and the squid

Currently, Sam has emptied out his bag on the floor and is sifting through the pieces, deciding what he will eat next. That kid definitely has a sweet tooth. Maybe he got that from me, but I am cured of it, unless it comes to homemade sugar cookies or Brian's chocolate chip cookies.

The cookie jar was full earlier in the week...

I have always enjoyed Valentines Day. As I kid, the Valentine Heart would visit us leaving a simple gift for each of us on the front porch...and surprisingly, she still comes to my kids :). February is also a busy birthday month for us as grandparents and our little Sadie will be celebrating birthdays in the next few days...I can't believe she will be turning 1!!

I decorated a few places with hearts and Sadie has just loved seeing them around. She eats them if she gets ahold of them, but of course, it seems she eats everything these days.

These jars had more candy in them until the kids filled their Valentines.

Busy

She's busy, therefore I am busy. How do you like that simple theory?

Sadie started crawling right around Christmas. She started out rather slow and tackled climbing our stairs sometime in mid-January. Since then, our lives as we know them have changed...all because of this little baby who wants so much to be big. She isn't walking yet, but she has figured out how to stand and balance on her own, two-little feet and she is mighty proud of herself for that accomplishment. One of us is always on either stairs patrol or small-items-on-the-floor patrol and when it's just me and Sadie at home during the day, the patrolling becomes a full-time job. I am really enjoying her and I've again been reminded that there will always be another load of laundry to fold and another counter to wipe off and another bathroom to clean, but not always a little one to love and to hold. 

The balancing act

Everything in her mouth

The Stairs!

The nightlight in the hall, fascinating.

I have loved watching Sadie explore her world.

Watching the rain

The Kitchen Table

This is what Christmas, kids, Cubscouts (I am a den mother), and having a crawling baby will do to the kitchen table. 2011 is definitely in full swing...the kitchen table is a good indicator of our busy lives (or my lack of order and cleanliness)...and what we've been up to in January.

Homework, Legos, Cubscouts and keeping everything up and away from Sadie. She is not only crawling, but she puts everything in her mouth including Legos. She has tackled going up the stairs, but definitely not down...she laughs as she dives head first down a few of them, laughing all the while as I catch her before she falls. Sadie is a tease. She has the cutest little toothless, (although a few are poking through), eyes-closed grin. She makes us laugh and keeps us busy, very busy.

I was called to be a Den Leader for the Bear Scouts in our ward/church...what a challenge, trying to teach and entertain 9, 9-year old boys. I get anxiety before every meeting...and there is a great sense of relief when the night is over. We all enjoy the last 15 minutes of gym time where we play indoor soccer or basketball or running games, they enjoy any time where they can run wild and beat each other up. Last week we made bird feeders out of 2-liter soda bottles and bagels covered in peanut butter and dipped in bird seed. Last night, they chose an animal and made posters about the animal along with three interesting facts. Although Cubscouts is a challenge for me, I have to appreciate the fact, that some Den mother will be doing this for Samuel in a couple of years and that some other mother does this for Maggie right now, as Activity Days, for her.

Sickness and Health

We had a lot of sickness in our family during the month of December and because of that, we missed out on seeing family during the holidays and taking part in a lot of the holiday festivities we normally enjoy. We didn't get up to see the lights at Temple Square, we didn't go skiing after all that snow, and we didn't have our traditional New Years finger food and celebrations. We did, however, manage to throw a few boxes of snaps with the kids and light a few sparklers to celebrate the coming of 2011, but that didn't last long with the freezing, below-zero temperatures. The fireworks were short-lived when we started to feel the tips of our fingers freeze. My point in relating all of this is not to bah-hum-bug the holidays, but to express an appreciation for the better health we have been blessed with in 2011. 

Being unhealthy, makes me more grateful and more appreciative of the times when we are healthy. We really take forgranted our health until we don't have it. So as much as I hate sickness, I am also grateful for it as it helps us step back and see our blessings more clearly. I look back at our time with Caleb in the hospital and can't help but see the miracles we experienced of healing while he was there, I also can't help but remember how we were lifted and supported and strengthened throughout the trials and how although there was a heavy burden weighted down with worry and waiting, we were able to carry on. I know that it is through the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we were carried through the trials and that because of Him, we have received healing in our hearts and in our minds and I know that it is through Him that we continue to receive healing in our lives.