Indoor Easter Egg Hunt

It's always so enchanting to go on an Easter egg hunt for little children--even if the eggs are only scattered around a gym.  Grandma and Grandpa woke up to 3 inches of snow last Saturday, so we had to move our Easter egg hunt indoors.

But it was just as fun....

Maylie's First Easter Egg Hunt!  She absolutely loved every second.

Snowy Mud

Back when it was snowy, the boys spent countless hours outside playing in the snow/mud.  It was oh so messy but I am so glad they were able to make these memories this year.  Next year there will be no hill in the back of our yard (hopefully), and no more scaling Mt. Everest.  And so I tried to look past the mud tracked in our house and coating every article of clothing they had, and simply let them enjoy being little boys.

And next year will bring its own adventures.

St. Patrick's Day Spaghetti

 For one of our St. Patrick's Day activities, we made green spaghetti to play with.

And despite my tries to prevent it, they all decided that eating the spaghetti was just as fun as playing with it.

We also did a rainbow scavenger hunt where the boys had to find each arc of the rainbow scattered throughout the house and then assemble them to read the clue to find the pot of gold.  I didn't get any pictures, but it was a fun little diversion. :)

Maylie's Latest Fashion Statement.

All she needs is a hooded towel and the modeling begins...

What I've been up to...

1. Playing with, potty training, and babysitting our new puppy Pola.

Story:  After years of wanting to find a dog similar in breed to my Gus growing up (see this post), we finally made the leap and got ourselves a little 7-week-old puppy.  We drove an hour and a half to pick her out and I studied all 9 puppies for 20 minutes trying to find just the right one for us.

I chose her because of her perfect little face and deep eyes.  My dad gave us this wisdom when we went to pick out a puppy.  "Just look at his eyes," he said.  And you will know.

Well, I did.  And I'm so glad Heavenly Father answered my silent prayers to pick the right one.  She's been perfect (and a lot of work and quite a handful all at the same time:)

She rode like this (see below) nearly the whole way home, keeping Maylie giggling.  And after awhile, I brought her up front with me on my lap and then down by my feet.

She is playful and sweet, a perfect combination of spunk and sugar.  She slept in a crate in our basement for the first 2 weeks and only whined for a few minutes when we would put her inside.  But after two weeks of taking her outside every 2 hours to use the bathroom, I began to feel a bit weary (that may be an understatement) and so yesterday, my sweet Patrick went to IFA and bought her an outside chain link kennel to use until we get a yard (which may be several months away) and a fence (which may be several years away).  He put it together perfectly and only got one battle wound from the experience.  Now he and Tate are twinners with their cuts above their left eyebrows.

So, all in all, we love her and are so glad she's here!

{Most recent picture from a couple of days ago}

2. Immersing myself in photography.

Story: Now that we're settled, I have been feeling the pull to get my photography business up and running here.  For the past several years I have been slowly building my portfolio and gaining experience.  And now I'm ready to take it to the next level.

So for the last little while I have been enrolling in a photography class, studying a photography textbook, talking to a friend who shares the same photography interests as me, reading hundreds of photography articles, honing down my own unique photography style, delving into photoshop to create my personal post-processing workflow, working with a graphic designer to redesign my website, and completely revamping my whole business.  It's going to be great.  And I'm so excited.

Oh Tate.

Sometimes they just have to learn the hard way I guess....why rules are there to protect us...and why doing dangerous things is really not a great idea.

This all happened last Sunday morning...it was a wreck.  Patrick had Stake Priesthood Meeting at 7:00 am, I was trying to feed and get ready four people (myself included), Pola had a huge mess in her crate twice (oh did I mention we just a got a puppy) and Patrick was cleaning it up when it all happened....

I had the little ones bathed, the boys dressed, and Maylie with a diaper on when Patrick called to me from the basement asking for a rag.

The boys ran up-upstairs to play, I left Maylie in her room, and ran a rag down.  Next thing I hear is screams.  I assumed the boys were having a squabble so I rushed back to the main floor to see Easton sobbing that Tate was hurt...

And then Tate came around the corner dripping blood all over and crying uncontrollably.  I rushed him to the bathroom, told Easton to get Daddy (and he just stood there and yelled, "Daddy," to which I told him to go downstairs and get him), put pressure on the wound with toilet paper, and finally Patrick came to take over my post.  I was so grateful he was there.  Blood and I don't mix well.

They came out of the bathroom and informed us they were going to the hospital for stitches.

It was quite the traumatic day, and I'm really glad it's over.