it's that time of year again...

Yep, it's really warming up outside and we figured it was time to shave off the curls again.

Tosh before:

And then after (we gave him an ice cream cone for doing so well during the haircut--he laughed in the mirror for most of it):

We forget how handsome he is under all that hair!

A few pictures outside to show the new (have actually had for several months) trampoline pads we finally put on:

This shadow is pretty cool:

To rewind a bit and wrap up Spring Break, we met up with some friends and had a great time at the zoo last week. We went on one of the last cool days of the season:

(did you see the cute baby bobcat sleeping in the rock?)

The kids climbing around and being, well, kids:

We also went to a few different parks, the library, and (my personal favorite) rented the new Muppet movie--loved it! We certainly stayed busy with Rob out of town. I also finally got around to reading the three "Hunger Games" books.

On Saturday we biked from our house to Tumbleweed park (about 4 miles from here) and had dinner there with some friends. Tosh went about half way on his scooter until we insisted that he climb in the bike trailer to speed things up a bit. We had a great time and are enjoying the perfect outdoor weather right now.

This next thing is totally random, but I had a funny conversation with Burke this weekend when I found his "proof" photo from third grade:

This is why I don't buy school pictures. They took these after lunch when Burke was all hot and sweaty from playing soccer. I asked if he had purposely messed up his hair and he smiled and said, "Possibly." Ha! We laughed about how it totally looks like a mug shot with the number and name at the bottom. Right?

Although I must say that I totally regret not buying Burke's first grade photo:

So cute! I love it (gosh, he seems old now--and getting tall!). Thankfully we have a couple of mini pics and a Christmas ornament he made in class with this photo on it.

Well, to get back to this week again, Hewitt did our Family Home Evening lesson all on his own. He made several footprints (took one of my shoes to make an outline) to show things we can do to "Come Unto Christ" and colored pictures that he pasted on them. He did a great job.
Liv is usually exhausted and asking to go to bed by about 7pm. She was totally *done* by the end of Hewitt's lesson on Monday and went up and got her jammies for us to put on her. She stripped down and was whining for us to put on her pajamas and take her to bed "right now." I couldn't resist taking a photo of her while the rest of us were singing our closing song, in the buff, covering her ears! What a little turkey she can be. :)She has discovered salad, and I caught her coming back for seconds after dinner last night. She helped herself as you can see. How 'bout some salad with that dressing, Livvy?:

This afternoon as I was working on this blog (cough, cough), she got into my things in the bathroom and dropped some nail polish that shattered all over the floor. Just thankful it was tile. Love my busy little girl.

spring break (more like spring WORK!)

This past week mostly consisted of yard work. I laugh that I was thinking we'd get everything done this week including planting a garden--not quite. BUT, we did get a lot done including rock in the backyard and 70% of the front. We worked hard from about 7am until 3pm on Saturday moving rock (until we couldn't move anymore) and probably have just two of the 10 tons left maybe? We moved dirt back into the garden box area as well and fixed more drip lines, etc. We were a little bit sore on Sunday, but not too bad.

I felt some guilt on Saturday night that we had worked all day and didn't do anything fun with the kids or for St. Patrick's Day, so I whipped up some 'green' cupcakes while Rob took the kids to the store. My allergies have been HORRIBLE for the past two weeks. I was really quite sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I didn't get much done on those days which set us back a bit. I was struggling quite a bit emotionally as well, and maybe I'll write more about this another time, but not today. I'm doing really well right now, so I'm grateful for that.

We had a huge rain/thunder/hail storm on Sunday which was so nice. It rained for quite a bit which was great timing for our yard. I took some photos of the yard on Sunday afternoon. The first from our balcony:

This next one was during the rain storm on Sunday. We were noticing that the sun was finally peeking out a bit after it rained all day and then we stepped out to find an ENORMOUS rainbow that we could see from our back yard and also from the front:

This back corner is where a garden box will be-- picture taken from far away as it was raining hard:

This is totally random, but I forgot to post this picture that one of the primary kids gave to me during sharing time last week. He drew this during my sacrament meeting talk. It says, "repentance is a good thing." I thought is was so cute and at least someone was listening :)

The cabinet guy made it back to put on the pulls to our drawers. They make such a huge difference! Big improvement:

I pulled out the camera before church and took a few shots of the kids (seems like I haven't done that in a while). Liv was watching the rain and looked so cute:

This next one is just about my favorite photo ever right now. It's so 'Liv' isn't it?

Back to her favorite pose of late:

I see you...

A more serious side of Tosh...

...then his dad walked in the room and got Tosh laughing about something or other.

Not lacking in personality I would say:

Hewitt is never very shy with the camera. He was looking and feeling dapper in his church coat:

Love those cute freckles on his nose:

Fast forward several hours... I made sure to grab a couple shots of Burke after church.

(He collided with a buddy while shooting hoops this week which broke his favorite frames and left a small cut/bruise over his left eye. Probably not the first set of broken glasses we'll encounter...)

Rob left very early for California this morning. The kids and I had a good day today (chores, shopping, reading, etc.), and are off to the zoo tomorrow. I want to make the most of the final week of spring break and the cooler weather. Have a great week!

out in the dirt

We've spent much of the week out in the yard; lots of planting, dirt moving, garden box building, drip line fixing, etc. We actually had 10 tons of granite delivered to our house this afternoon and so we'll be covering up all of the dirt and finishing things up this week. I like this shot of the boys that I caught as they both jumped on their shovels at the same time:
My Dad was just here for a visit (arrived on Thursday, left this morning). He helped us with some projects and was able to enjoy reading and sitting outside in the sun (and played catch with Liv one morning, as captured below):
I got a few fun mid-air shots of Hewitt doing flips:
And a short video:



Rob and I both spoke in church this week. The topic was "Repentance and Forgiveness." Rob told me to take all the time I wanted and that he only needed five minutes, and that is seriously about what I left him...woops. It was nice a nice thing to focus my thoughts on, and I thought it went fine. We have moved around so much that this was the first time I've ever spoken a second time in any ward we've lived in.

My friend Char sent me some beautiful spring flowers on Saturday. I almost didn't answer the door (delivery lady) because I was just getting off of the treadmill, but was so glad I did. Char lost her dad several years ago (he had liver disease similar to my mom). I've really been missing my mom a lot and have cried a lot over the past several days. I'm sure this will continue to be an up and down thing for me emotionally, but it really stinks that she is gone. I think the reality of it all is setting in... So, I'm posting a few photos that I don't think I have posted. Two from this summer when she was here, and one from several years back of her reading to the boys in Riverton:

(Doesn't Hewitt look so little! I think Tosh was barely walking.)

It is spring break for the kids (two weeks off). Our 'big' plans are to do more yard work, get a garden planted, and then hopefully I can do some fun things with the kids while Rob is out of town for work next week.

Gotta run--the younger kids think it is warm enough to swim (ha!) and just took off outside in their suits.

photos from franklin

As I mentioned in a previous post, my mom was buried in the Franklin, Idaho Cemetery on February 18th. I didn't even think to grab my camera that day, so I just "stole" these photos from my brother(s) and niece, I believe.

My parents, in their planning ahead, bought their headstone this last fall. I actually went to look at it with my mom when I was in Utah last October. The death date will be added soon:

This is the headstone for Ty, a full-term stillborn, that my mom is now by (he would have been two years younger than I am):

My mother's parents:

The kids walked around the cold cemetery as they waited for everyone to arrive:

(This photo of Burke was clearly taken by a cousin and not his mom or dad--that smile!)

My dad arriving with his sister, Sandie, my mother's sister Pat, and
my cousins, Bob and Jackie:

(Mark, Adler, Todd, Alex, Kevin, David, Rob and Jamie)

Graveside service (I am sitting between my two aunts, Pat on left, Sandra on the right):

My brother Mark dedicated the grave:

Tyra placing flowers after the prayer:
I LOVE this one of my Dad and niece McKaylynn. So sweet:

Mark and me (in my mom's hat):

Pat, Jackie and Hewitt looking at my Uncle Al's headstone (Pat's husband):
Liv found these silk flowers in some drawer at my mom's house.
We decided to leave them at Ty's grave:

Grandpa and my niece Taylor:
My sister's cute (and growing!) family; Jamie, Amanda, Mindy, Alex, David, Samantha, Kevin, and Melanie. They had found out the night before that Alex got in to BYU. Way to go, Alex! All of the "Linton" kids will be in Utah this fall:
Liv and Bunny:Dinner at Maddox: