The Vertical Garden I Built

I saw in a magazine an idea for a really cute vertical garden.  I thought to myself, "I can totally make that!"

And so I did.

Rafting the Cedar River

Last time we took Trevor rafting on the Cedar River he was 7 months old and he slept the entire way.  It was a lazy float on the 4th of July.

The day before his second trip, he and Austin helped Darren get the boat all ready for the trip.  Trevor even took a moment to practice his paddling commands.

This time down the river was not a nice easy float, there was whitewater and Trevor loved it.  He had all the right gear to keep warm and safe, a wetsuit, river shoes, splash jacket, a helmet, croakies for his sunglasses, and a PFD (aka, life jacket).

Here is a short video from Darren's helmet cam of us running the biggest rapid on this section of the river, Double D rapid.

Niamh's Princess Party Cake

What is more perfect for a 5 year old's princess party than a pink and purple cake with a gold crown on top?

Easter Celebrations

Darren and I decided to do Easter differently this year.  Trevor is getting to an age where he will start to remember our holiday traditions and the holiday won't feel the same without them.  This year we wanted to make sure that our Easter celebrations and traditions were in line with what Easter is all about, the Savior, Jesus Christ.

•  The Eggs

We dyed eggs with the boys cousin, Devin and had a lot of fun.  It wasn't part of our Easter celebration, in fact, it's something we do a few times during the year because the boys really like eating hard-boiled eggs.  (Even the yolks.)  Dyeing them helps us tell which ones are hard-boiled and which aren't.

• The Bunny

The Easter bunny did visit our house, but instead of bringing candy he brought strawberries, blueberries, baby carrots, and pistachios.  For this reason more than any other our home was more peaceful than it has ever been before on Easter Sunday.  I never once had to raise my voice and threaten to take away their Easter baskets.  As far as I was concerned they could eat all the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that they wanted.

•    Resurrection Eggs

On Easter morning, the Easter Bunny hid 12 plastic eggs.  Each one was filled with a scripture and item recounting a different part of the story of Christ's ministry, betrayal, crucifixion and  his subsequent resurrection.  Trevor and I (Austin had no tolerance for the sitting and listening part after the eggs had all been found) sat and for 20 minutes or so read from the New Testament.  We talked about the Sacrament.  We talked about Judas.  We talked about Gethsemane.  Trevor was confused about why people would want to spit on and hurt Jesus.  We talked about the nails and him dying on the cross.

But then, we talked about the best part of all.  We talked about Jesus' resurrection.  We talked about how after three days Jesus came back to life and because of that we will too.

(Now lest you think that my boys were totally deprived, I should add that they had their fill of fun and candy after church with my family.  In fact, Austin's bag was so heavy he couldn't even lift it off the ground.)

 And Trevor didn't make out too badly either.

BIll's 60th: BMW Z4 Cake

Last year Bill was jealous that I made his wife a birthday cake, but not him.  He mentioned that he would love to have a cake that looking like his beloved BMW Z4.  Unfortunately for him, I was in Hawaii on his birthday last year and instead of a cake, he got chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.

Fast forward to this year when I was invited to his surprise 60th birthday party.  I knew exactly what I had to do. 

He loved it and I loved making it for him.  He definitely deserved it.

He loved it so much he didn't want to cut it.  We made him do it anyway.

 

Easter Egg Wreath

Remember when I blogged about the cool calendar Trevor got in the mail back in January?  This month we got the supplies to make an Easter Egg Wreath. Ours turned out so cute.

Instead of writing out the instructions here, just click in this link to find the directions someone else has already typed up.  http://www.creativehomemaking.com/holidays/egg-wreath.shtml

Chuck E. Cheese

Tonight my children experienced the over-stimulated sugar-high that is Chuck E. Cheese.  I have postponed this day as long as I could, but Trevor was so excited to be invited to Theo's party I simply couldn't say no.  (Besides, I was excited to sit down and talk with Theo's mom who is in school to become a midwife.)

Each boy got a cup of tokens to spend at will.  Trevor played some shooting games and some games that gave tickets.  Austin mostly rode little kiddie rides.  In the end we had enough tickets to get each boy a fun-dip candy.  The pictures speak for themselves.