Easter.

We had a very pleasant Easter this year and feel blessed that Josh made the drive to spend the weekend with us. Church is at 9 (and I had to be there by 8:30) so we were up nice and early to see what goodies the Easter bunny brought. 

Five baskets is a lot.

 

 

 We quick got everyone ready for church and snapped a few photos and I regret that we didn't get a family photo! Poor Jefferson was behind the camera this time around. 

 

  Bentley was not amused with pictures....

 

 

 

After church we headed up to Gramzee and Grandpa Paul's house for an egg hunt and Easter dinner.

This is Pasque, a visiting dog for the weekend that my mom may or may not have saved and found a home for. Taytum was in love with this dog.

 My kids loved the egg hunt and had to find certain assigned eggs based on design... so Andi was all the sparkly eggs, Tay was the zebra print, etc... and inside was money for them to take to Disneyland. They loved it!

Mustachio straws from the Easter bunny.

 Gingham style.

 

We tried to really focus on the true meaning of Easter. Our FHE was on the resurrection the week prior and we really tried to use the Easter vocabulary a lot and familiarize our kids with what those words and Easter events truly mean.  Listening to our kids explain what the resurrection is and means in simple, yet accurate terms is wonderful and makes me hopeful that their little testimonies are planting and growing. 

I am so thankful that He is risen.

Girls' Weekend

We took a little girls trip up to Salem for just a day and a night, sans kids. My mom, Alli, Beckett, and I drove up to Salem to meet up with Sharon. We started the afternoon off with a trip to Five Guys (oh, how I miss their delicious burgers) and then we headed to the company stores for an afternoon of shopping. It was quite successful.

 

After shopping we had dinner at McGrath's and then went to the movies. It was so fun to have some grown up girl time without the kids. A mom needs a break every once in a while.

 

   

The next morning we did breakfast with Ben's family and then hit up Old Navy, Costco, and called it a day, and headed home.

I am always glad to come home to these faces....

 I had to miss the kids' soccer games and of course Andi had to score while I was gone! Stinker.

Carter's 7th Birthday Interview

How old are you? 7
What's your favorite color? Green and yellow.
Why? Because it's Oregon ducks colors
What's your favorite food? Peanut butter and jelly
What's your favorite drink? Milk
What's your favorite toy? That's a hard one....my Legos.
What's your favorite song? The Leathering Bat (we learned it in school)
What's your favorite game? Legos Star Wars (on the Wii)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A chiropractor like Dad
What's your favorite movie? Star Wars
What's your favorite thing to do? Play pass and soccer
Who are some of your best friends? Carson and James and Gideon
What's your favorite animal? Giraffe
What does Dad do? He works. He adjusts people.
What does Mom do? Takes care of kids.
What's your favorite part about school? Reading and writing and math too.
What's your favorite book? The White Giraffe
What's your favorite cartoon? Tom and Jerry

Happy 7th Birthday Carter

 I can't believe my first baby is seven years old. SEVEN!! How did that happen?! We met up for ice cream and presents with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Alli on Carter's birthday before soccer and his party that night. He LOVED all of his presents, mostly having to do with Legos or Skylanders.

 And then we had a friend birthday party. It was pretty last minute and pretty low key, but fun. We did a movie theme, with popcorn popper and all.

I was happy with how my marshmallow/popcorn cupcakes turned out.

 

The boys played some games. First they tried to shoot marshmallows into a popcorn bowl with little shooters we made out of paper cups and balloons. Boys shooting things is always a hit!

Then we took a movie quiz, which the kids got really in to!

Glow sticks turned light sabers....

 

(Carson, Beche, Carter, Gideon, Kelson, James, Andi)

I think he likes it...

Then to finish up the rest of the evening we watched "Rise of the Guardians" per Carter's request.

The boys all went home with a popcorn tub filled with microwave popcorn, candies, glowsticks, and the likes. They all had a great time and I feel so lucky that Carter has such a great group of little friends.

Carter is such a special boy. I know I say it time and time again, but he really remains so good and smart and kind. I am so lucky that he's my first born and is setting such a good example for his siblings. I love him!

Bad mommy moment.

So I have been a little bit on the down and out the past few days. Exhausted. Junk in my chest. Congested. I wanted to take an hour yesterday after the kids got home from school to get some basic things done around the house, but every other minute somebody was crying or asking for something or needing my intervention, so I was slightly frustrated. I went to my bedroom and was going to allow myself to read for ten minutes to just breathe and relax and not one minute after opening my book Carter came in and said, "Mom?" I sighed and in an exasperated voice said, "What." To which he produced a flower that he had picked outside. I felt horrible. I scooped him up in a big hug and told him 'thank you'. What a bad mom I am. He could sense I needed a flower. What a sweet, sensitive boy I have. I am lucky.

Grandma & Grandpa Great

 My Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came to town for a week. We hadn't seen them in years and it was so amazingly fun to catch up with them and have them get to know my kids better. We enjoyed lots of dinners up at my parents house with them and some taco time (one of my grandpa's all time favorite restaurants). One night was an adult only dinner at Roosters Steak House. Yum!

 

 The real reason they came was so that my grandpa could seal my sister, her husband, and her baby together in the temple for eternity. It was such an amazing day. All of my siblings were able to be to the sealing. Poor Everett was not too happy being with the matron of the temple while my grandpa spoke some words to Alli and Nic. When it was time for Everett to come into the sealing room, he still wouldn't calm down, but the second the ceremony started he just looked at the chandelier and around the room, quiet and calm as could be. It was so tender and special. We all enjoyed lunch out afterwards.

 

 

 Me and my siblings. I love them!

 

 We were all sad to see Grandma and Grandpa Jensen go, but hopefully we'll be able to make a trip down to AZ in the not too distant future to visit.

 

 

Toothless

Carter finally pulled his front tooth on March 18th. His permanent front tooth had been poking through behind his baby tooth for a few weeks and it progressively pushed the baby tooth further and further out until it was pretty much at a 90 degree angle to his gums and he couldn't close his mouth over it! I am not exaggerating. He was a total hillbilly. We are glad he finally pulled it, though it did take a little bribery from dad; Wii playing any time he asked that week (so long as his homework was done). And Carter totally took advantage of it. At one point we were at my parent's house and he asked to play and I said, "Not right now." And then Carter sweetly reminded me, "Remember you said I could play whenever I want because of..." and pointed to his gaping hole where his tooth was. I just laughed and told him to go ahead and play. Funny boy. He did pull it himself though and was very adamant that nobody else attempt to pull it.