Easter 2011

Easter consisted of:

Mesa Temple Easter Pageant.

 Zina and Lily Harris looking lovely with newly applied lipstick. :)

 Waiting an hour for it to start.

Dont' let this picture deceive you.  It was a lovely evening with a warm breeze at 8pm!  

Oh how we will miss you Arizona!

Dyeing Easter eggs

the Easter bunny who came while we were at church.

Sneaky!
(p.s. I got Zina's dress at a yard sale for $4.  Seriously it might be worth visiting every 6mths just to go to the Christiansen's yard sale!)

 I'm sure our church meetings were lovely.  

I spent 3hrs in the hallway with this rascal.

 An after church, after egg hunt, full of candy family picture. :)

 ha ha.  nice try mom. 

 making 50 deviled eggs for the Easter potluck

 new goggles from the Easter bunny

And my favorite giggles and grins. 

:)

happy Easter. 

Family Pictures 2011!

We had a R.S. service auction back in February and this is what I won from Kim Allen in our R.S. Presidency. Love. Them.  She did a great job with kids who wouldn't hold still and were ALL over the place! (not to mention it was 95 degrees outside - phew!)

International MBA Rugby World Cup

A couple of weeks ago Mark took off for Durham, NC where Duke was hosting the International MBA Rugby World Cup tournament.  I know, Mark is in Medical school not Business school, but when Wells invited him to play on the Thunderbird Rugby team he couldn't resist.  Most of the tournament was actually played in Danville, Virginia along the Danville River.   At one point I was talking to him and he mentioned that Ireland was playing Stanford.  What the Ireland?  I guess they were pretty good. :)There were many times when I asked myself why we (yes we) were going to Medical School and playing on a rugby team at the same time.  But the kids enjoyed going to the games and Mark enjoyed the exercise and most (some) of the time it was not that big of a deal.

Mark missed the, "grow a mustache and dye it black memo" so he dyed his flavor savor....

Wells and Mark enjoying some southern blue grass, and BBQ. 

Wells definitely did NOT miss the "grow a mustache and dye it black memo":)

The rugby pitch.

Look'n pretty tough.  Apparently it rained quite a bit while they were there and  a lot of the games were played in a mud hole. 

And the trophy.  Thunderbird won the plunger trophy. A.k.a Consolation. :)

I let Zina and Wilson sleep on the floor in my room while Mark was gone. :)  I thought this picture was cute. 

Oh ya.  

I think we are all glad Rugby is finally OVER!! 

:)

Utah Spring Break.

We love it when spring break happens in Utah because it always means that we get visitors!  Jay & Judy made the trek down with Marilyn, Kate, Wade, & Piper.  We had some great weather and were able to visit the children's museum, the zoo and then Well's and Emily were able to get some cheap tickets and take Marilyn and co. to the local water park.  We were exhausted by the time they left but it was well worth it. :)  

 ok so this has nothing to do with their visit but I couldn't resist. :)

Emily helping Sam & Isaac hold hands at the children's museum.

 Wade, Wilson, Piper, Kate, Zina, Ellie, Kurt, Bo in front of the noodle forest. 

Wade and Wilson spent a lot of time running through the noodle forest. :)

 Have I mentioned that I'm going to miss our backyard.  The kids spent a lot of time up our favorite climbing tree.

 Isaac & Sam getting ready to see the zoo.

 Grandma and Grandpa riding the train.  I think Grandpa took this train around the zoo 4 times :)

 3 double strollers and 10 kids under 7.  We took them all to Sam's club. Ya, that was a good idea. :)

 The splash pad at the zoo.  It was a little chilly but the kids loved it.

 The boys wrestling with Grandpa.  There were a few head bonks but I think most of us were more worried for Grandpa then for the kids.

Jay & Judy treated the adults + Sam, Isaac, & Piper to P.F. Changs on friday night.  It was fun to go out to eat since that is something that we do approximately once a year... :)

It's crazy to think that we will be making the moving trek up to Utah in just under 6 weeks!

Sam - 12 mths!

I took Sam into his 12mth appointment.  He weighs 17lbs and 15 ounces.  2nd percentile.  The docter wasn't super happy about it.  She wants to do a blood draw.  I wasn't super happy about that. I told her that Mark weighed 18lbs at his 12mth appt.  The dr. back then told Judy to take him to a nutritionist at the University of Utah.  And my mom said I was probably close to that weight also.  

It's all in the genes I say!

Either way, this little squirt is FULL of mischief.  His favorite place to be is on top of something.  The table, the toy shelf, the chairs, the couch, the stools, the sandbox...you name it, he'll climb it.  I have started pulling the chairs away from the kitchen table because every time I turn around Sam is ON the kitchen table.  Why do I not remember this with my other kids?

pleased as punch

On his actual birthday we had pancakes and ice cream for breakfast.  That was about it since Mark was at the National MBA rugby tournament at Duke.  (another post entirely)

I did let him do his favorite thing... dance on top of the table. :)

But later when the Thomas clan was here we had a real party for him.

This was kind of an impromptu birthday cake.  With everyone here there was a lot going on.  I did manage to make a buttermilk white cake with whipped cream cheese topping then I just wrote his name with the blueberries and threw a candle on it.  It worked. :)

And he thought it was yummy.  He was also extremely tired.  We had spent the day at the children's museum so by the time we had dinner, cake and presents he was almost at the end of his rope.

It was fun to celebrate our little Sam.  

A few other memorable things about Sam: 

*My favorite thing ever is when he smiles and scrunches his nose up.  He gets that sparkle in his eye that is so cute.  One of these days I'll catch a picture of it. 

*He likes you to think he's going in for a nice sweet cuddle and then nabs you with his teeth.  Yep, he's a biter and it hurts!

*He loves his Momma.  Understatement of the year.  We are best buds because he can't stand to be away from me.

*He loves to be outside.  He might possibly choose outside over momma.

*He doesn't really have a favorite food.  He will love something one day and refuse it the next.

*He's been known to grab fistfuls of hair and not let go....

*He loves to laugh at Wilson and Zina and most of the time giggles when the wrestle him.

happy first year Sammy!