Traditions

So there are some things that I've realized in my life up to this point. One of those things is that traditions in a family are extremely important. I've realized that traditions are the glue that holds a family together and keeps everyone close. I am so grateful to have a mom that has created these traditions in our family. My family is so important to me. I love all of them so much and I am so grateful for each one of them.

Easter is full of tradition in my family. It starts out with the Easter Egg hunt at John's Park. We then go to my mom's house. She has an Easter Egg hunt for the kids and then a treasure hunt for them. She doesn't leave the adult kids out. We get to have an Easter Egg hunt with just us. The eggs have money in them. My parents are extremely generous. All of us are very competitive, so it's always fun to see who gets the most money. Gina may even tell you that I tackled her for an egg, all I can say is that I'm pleading the 5th, but it was so worth it.

Easter Festivities

John's Park Easter Egg Hunt. Steve helped Keaton while I ran between the three locations trying to get pictures of everyone.

The hunt was a success. Chase searched for a very long time for a prize egg. He was so excited to find one and get a kite. Unfortunately the other two weren't so lucky.

Keaton having fun on Grandma Diane's tramp after the Easter Egg Hunt at her house.

Breeley has a major sweet tooth. She enjoyed the candy from the eggs she found at Grandma's.

Chase scored big. He had money in every single egg that he found.

The yearly treasure hunt at Grandma's. Ed was reading the clue for the kids.

Breeley found a clue.

Rustyn and Chase got sent to the barn for their treasure hunt. Everyone ended up with coaster cars for the treasure. They are so much fun. Steve and I even hop on and ride them on occasion.

Easter morning-the kids all hunted for their Easter baskets. Chase's basket was the hardest to find, but he didn't give up.

Keaton, Chase, and Breeley in their new Easter clothes.

Dying Easter Eggs

Keaton loved coloring on them with crayons first. He wanted to dye the eggs all by himself. Luckily he let Steve help with putting them in the dye. He flew through his. He just liked putting them in and pulling them out.

Breeley mostly just colored hers, she didn't have the patience to draw pictures or anything like that. A few came out with drawings, mostly just color though.

Chase was worried about getting dye on his shirt, so he was sporting skin. He took the longest of anyone, he paid a lot of attention to detail. His eggs were mostly adorned with Kawasaki things.

Rustyn was hanging out with us this night, so he joined in on the festivities. This picture cracks me up, he's such a ham. He was totally posing for this picture.

The finished product. They hardly ate any of them, but they sure did have fun coloring them.

Classroom Easter Parties

I am so grateful that I can be a stay-at-home mom. I absolutely love it because it allows me to be involved with my kids at home and at school. I love going to help at school. It's so fun to get to know the different kids and their personalities. I was able to help with both of my kids Easter parties this year.

Breeley having her kindergarten snack. I made these little nests out of crumb doughnuts and Robins Egg candies. They turned out really cute if I do say so myself.

The kids got to do different stations. This one was bunny bowling. They were pretty good at knocking the bunnies down.

Chase enjoying his treat too.

The kids got to spray silly string at this station, oh my heck, what a mess!!! They sure had fun though. The clean up, not so fun.

We were short a parent in Chase's class so Taylor agreed to come and help. Thanks, Tay!

This and That...

These are just some cute pictures that I've taken.

Apparently we wore our boys out this day.

Keaton climbed up on the couch like this. Before we knew it he was fast asleep. We got a good laugh over this one. This was the same night that Chase fell asleep on the couch.

Apparently this is comfortable to him.

Breeley and Keaton love to play together. Breeley was a cowgirl and Keaton was a superhero.

This was about the last time Keaton sucked his binky. He decided to be a big boy in about a week's time. He was potty trained & gave up the binky in February. My baby is growing up. :-(

I thought this was a cute picture of Chase and Steve. This was after the last Jr. Jazz game. Steve was Chase's coach. He thinks his dad is the greatest and always tries to be like him. I have to admit, he is pretty darn great.

Logan Dance Competition

Breeley had a dance competition in Logan. We decided to make a little trip out of it. We stayed overnight in Logan. We took the kids to Frederico's for pizza and then took them back to the hotel for swimming, the only thing that Breeley cared about. We spent the day between the dance competition and Grandma Hobbs' house.

Chase, Steve, Keaton, and Breeley

Keaton and Steve-I volunteered to watch from the sidelines and take photos. I know, it was nice of me. Good thing Steve's such a good sport.

Breeley and her dance friend, Ruby Ann. She was so happy to have a friend there.

Chase helped Keaton swim. I don't know what's up with Keaton's face. He pulls this face all the time, he's quite the guy.

Chase had a little too much fun with the bubbles from the hot tub.

Breeley's "Shake Your Tail Feather" Dance

Breeley's "Beauty School Drop Out" Dance-She's in the middle. The hats on their heads are curlers.

APRIL FOOL'S

I decided I'd trick my kids this year for April Fool's Day. I woke up early and cooked them green pancakes and green eggs. They couldn't figure out what was going on. It was really funny. Keaton had his later, but he wouldn't touch the eggs. He didn't want to have anything to do with them. Breeley swore that the eggs tasted differently, she had a little trouble getting them down too. She just wasn't convinced that food coloring doesn't have any taste. It was worth getting up early for, good times.

4th Grade Wax Museum

This year at school Chase was able to participate in the 4th grade wax museum. The museum is basically an oral book report. The kids each pick a biography to read and then create a board about the person they have read about. They also get to dress up like the person and give a 1-minute oral report on the person. The reason they call it a wax museum is because all the parents/grandparents/siblings come during the evening and put a coin in a coin slot that the kids have made. They then push a button to make the kids come "alive" just like at a wax museum. That is when they give their oral report. They end up giving it several times. Chase chose to report on Neil Armstrong. It was really fun for him and for us to be able to watch him and all of his classmates. I was really proud of Chase because when one of his classmates was killed this past month, he suggested to his teacher that they donate all the money earned at the wax museum to this little boy's family. They agreed to do that and the 4th grade kids were able to earn lots of money for the family that night. It made the whole experience that much better.

THE ANNUAL TOURNEYS

March in our town means only one thing, Tourney Time. This is such a fun tradition. You just can't beat sloppy joes and endless candy. I have some really fun memories growing up with the tournaments, watching my dad play basketball, and hanging out with my friends in the girls bathroom where it was a "little" cooler. I'm so glad that my kids get to have this fun tradition in their lives.

Breeley doing the basketball toss at Kids Day.

Chase doing the dribble contest at Kids Day.

Steve referees for the Tournaments. He has a lot of fun doing this. Everyone asks us if he survived the Tournaments-the truth is, this is one of the milder tournaments he refs.

Blow that whistle, babe!

SHOW 'EM HOW TO WRESTLE, TWIST 'EM LIKE A PRETZEL, GO, CHASE, GO!!!

Wrestling was always one of my favorite sports to cheer for, probably partly because I could sit down and be lazy while cheering, but mostly because it was such an intense sport that I totally got into. I never thought in a million years that one of my children would come home one day and say that they wanted to wrestle. We don't exactly come from a line of wrestlers. This didn't deter Chase, he went for it anyway. I have been so proud of him as I have watched him wrestle these past three years. I am the crazy mom on the side of the mat who can't shut her mouth. I try really hard, but I really get into the matches and it is so hard to watch your child in a wrestling match. I am a big ball of nerves and I hate to see how sad he gets when he loses but it is equally fun to see how proud of himself he gets when he pulls off a win.

I seriously just love this kid-what's not to love!!!

This is where we like to see his arm after a match-WINNER.

Chase had 3 pins this year, all under 20 seconds. I love this kind of match, not as scary as the one he had that went into I don't know how many overtimes-way too intense for me.

Great stance, Chase.

Way to be in control, buddy.