Heber Creeper Easter Train

Graham has really been loving train rides lately so the day before Easter we went on the Heber Creeper with Grandma Donna and Barry. It was a lot of fun!

 The Easter Bunny was there

 They played fun music on the ride and the Easter Bunny came around and passed out eggs to everyone.

They even had a little petting zoo of baby animals. The kids loved it!

Grandma Donna's Easter Egg Hunt

Grandma Donna has an Easter Egg hunt at her house each year (starting last year) where she invites all the great grandkids over for a party. She is the coolest Grandma ever and the kids had such a blast!

 Zoe, Mindi, and Jenny

 Makenzie, Eliza, and Amber

 The hunt is about to start. The kids can hardly wait!

 Graham finding some eggs

 Cookie was there to help Amber

 Bridger hunting for his eggs

 Digging in to their candy

 Look at all the eggs Bridger found!

 All the great-grandkids that were able to come with Grandma Hart

And here's the whole group together. What a fun time! Thanks Grandma!

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day we woke up to find a Leprachaun had used our potty! The boys thought it was hilarious.

 Daddy made a green breakfast for us.

 Then we found some leprachaun footprints and followed them on a scavenger hunt.

 They found the treasure and got rainbow candies, gold coins, and toys. Lucky boys!

 St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year so we all wore green to church and had a green dinner. It was so fun!

Madie's Mission Call

My cute cousin, Madie, got her mission call to the Alaska Anchorage mission. She is going to be the best missionary and I'm so excited for her! In fact, I'm quite jealous that I don't get to go back out and serve with her. She is lucky to be at this time of her life to dedicate a year and a half to full time missionary service. All these young missionaries are so inspiring to me. She's going to do great!

My cousin, Jessie's husband Jason guessed the right place! That's his marker on Alaska. I was hoping I would win with my guess to Australia but I was way off.

I used to babysit Madie when she was as little as Amber is in this picture. Now she is all grown up and I don't know where those 19 years went. Wow! I am getting old! I have to say of all the missionaries from our family to serve I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss Madie the most. We love you so much, Madie!

Bridger's 4th Birthday

For Bridger's birthday this year he wanted a Cars party. Since his birthday was on a Sunday this year we had his party on Feb. 2nd. It was a blast! Here are a few pictures of the fun day:

Jake and I stayed up late the night before the party making these Lightning McQueen cars for each of the guests. We had to make 10 of them in all. They turned out so cute! Jake is the best husband for helping me out with my crazy ideas.

My brother, Barry, helped me make these cute Utah license plates for the kids to decorate with their names to put on the back of their car.

 

 I loved looking out into the garage and seeing all these cars staring at me.

 Bridger helped me make his Lightning McQueen cake.

 For the party I first had the kids decorate their own license plates and then I gave them their cars to put it on. The cars were a big hit!

After that we had a drive-in movie in the family room. All the kids backed their cars in and we passed out popcorn and treats while they watched Mater Tales.

 Graham with a mouthful of treats

 All the kids watching the show

 After the movie we sang happy birthday and Bridger blew out his 4 candles.

 Then he opened all his presents. He was sure spoiled. Thanks everyone!

My cousin Zachy came to the party with my aunt, Cookie. I used to babysit him when he was little and he loved orange juice in a sippy cup so that's what I gave him. He looks a little too big for the car but he made it work!! Silly Zach.

The next morning on Bridger's actual birthday the first thing he wanted to do was take a bath with his new bubble bath and put on his new jammies he got from his friend, Ethan.

 Amber got in on the fun too!

When he was done with his bath I let him open his presents. He got a few more fun toys that he asked for. These little Cars are for the iPad and they have an app where the cars drive around on the screen. It's really cool and Bridger loves 'em!

I know I say this every year but I can't believe Bridger is another year older! How can my baby be 4 already? It's crazy. He is the most fun-loving, creative, silly, friendly, artistic, smart little 4-year-old around. We love him so much and we're SO happy he's part of our family.

Christmas

 

 I love Christmas morning before anyone is awake looking at all the presents under the tree and anxiously awaiting the fun time to come.

 Graham was the first kid up and he was ready to come downstairs with his "binks."

We had to wake Bridger up and when he started coming down the stairs and saw Grandma Donna, Cookie, Steve, Zach, and Madie come in he couldn't contain his excitement! I'll never forget how he threw his hands up in the air and shouted, "Yay!"

Amber wasn't ready to wake up either but we wanted to get started so Jake woke her up and brought her down to enjoy her very first Christmas.

 Where to begin?

 Steve hogged baby Amber all morning and helped her open all her presents. She loved it!

 Barry had my mom and dad on the big screen again this year. It was just like they were here with us! Thank goodness for modern day technology.

 Madie and Grandma

 Amber trying to grab more presents. "Hmm...I wonder what's in this one?"

 Bridger loves dinosaurs so he was excited to open his Dinosuar Encylopedia sticker book.

Graham was content to play with the very first little toy he opened, a nerf gun. I could have saved lots of money and just gotten him that! Here he is shooting Zachy.

Baby Amber got lots of girly toys so she doesn't have to play with dinosaurs and spiderman anymore.

Grandma Cookie was a big helper opening toys and giving the boys their candy whenever they wanted it.

 Graham loves Mickey Mouse right now so I got him these little plastic figurines and after he opened them he gave them all a big hug. So cute!

 Bridger got a big mechanical T-Rex. He told me this was his favorite toy! He's been playing with it non-stop ever since.

 I gave Jake and Nerf gun for Christmas. For some odd reason I thought it was a good idea. After he spent the morning terrorizing his kids I began to question my thinking.

We had so many toys to open that we had a little intermission. We let the boys play with some of their toys and put Amber down for a nap while Cookie and Steve visited Brody and Corine's family. When they came back we finished opening the rest of the gifts. Bridger and Graham got a Batman cave and Cookie and Steve gave them cars and other Batman toys to go with it. Can you say, "Spoiled?"

Brooke and Skyler gave Bridger and Graham a game called Hungry, Hungry Herd. They loved it! They gave us Nerf guns and without knowing that's what they got us we gave them the same thing. Great minds think alike, I guess. Now we can have Nerf gun wars around the house.

 Makenzie and Eliza came over and helped Amber open her clothes. Little Amber looks so excited! I think we have a future fashionista on our hands.

Our brunch with Brody and Corine's family was so much fun! We had blueberry muffins, a yummy salad, hashbrown quiche, sticky buns, bacon, orange juice, pineapple/grapefruit slush and hot chocolate. Delicious!

 BJ got a big T-Rex from Grandma and Grandpa Hart. Here they are playing away.

The rest of the day we spent Skyping with Jake's family who were out of town, had dinner at Grandma Donna's, and visited with my mom's family at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's. When we got home Bridger was so worn out he just laid down on the couch and went to sleep.

Graham stayed up and watched one of his new movies, How to Train Your Dragon, with Daddy.

We had such a fun Christmas and feel so blessed to have all these wonderful gifts! I'm especially grateful for the Savior and the Gospel in my life and to have the family that I do. I have so much to be grateful for. Merry Christmas!!