It all began with a road trip. The kids were absolute angels in the car ride. Aliyah read her books and played patty cake with her baby. She is so cute with her baby doll.
Xander played with his puppy/blankie and laughed a lot at his sister. She gets pretty funny when she's stuck in a car seat for a while. But I must say I am so glad they can pretty much entertain themselves. Otherwise car rides would be extremely hard.
Like always, we stopped in Provo to stretch our legs and to go to the mall. It's just a nice stop so the kids can get out and Jace is in LOVE with Provo, so we do it.
We got to my house first. Jace and I were going to ditch the kids with the grandparents and go to a movie, but it didn't work as planned. That's ok. We spent the night with the family. We at pizza and watched Enchanted.
Xander and my sister, Amy. He was just staring. I don't know if he knew what to think.
Aliyah loves puppies. She followed Ozzie around. And then wanted him to follow her. Our poor dog is getting old so all he wanted to do was lay there. He did like all the action...I think. Natalie and Ryan brought their dog, Rocky. He is such a SPAZ! He jumped on Aliyah and knocked her down and that was the end of the puppy fascination. She was scared after that.
Aliyah procrastinated bedtime. My dad was only the second person she said goodnight to and then she just cuddled him. (I'll admit, I was a little jealous. I don't know what my kids have against me, but they will cuddle with everyone BUT me. It makes me sad sometimes.) I was fine with her snuggling as long as she went to sleep. I know my dad didn't mind. And as soon as I got my camera out to take a picture she got up...she was never fully asleep. So I put her to bed. She slept in a port-a-crib in my parents room. Xander also went to bed so we could watch our movie. He was in our room in a cradle that he was practically too big for.
So, my friend, Candice Hansen, came over and we watched the movie. It was fabulous, Jace and I went to bed...and to give you the short version, that night was pretty much the worst night ever! I think I woke up every time I needed to change positions because I was nervous Xander would wake up, which he did.
2:00 am...he cries. (This is when Jace informs me that Ozzie is snoring in the next room and he can't sleep. I hadn't heard it.) Well, Xander's still not satisfied until 3:00 am when Jace finally took him downstairs to get a bottle. I heard a loud THUD and then screaming. I ran downstairs...he hit his head on the tile. So I made him a bottle while Jace snuggled him. Jace made him a bed downstairs because I really don't think he liked the cradle. Once he drank his bottle he was out. (Finally.) Well, I went back upstairs to sleep...but I couldn't because now all I could hear was Ozzie. Jace joined me, but soon I was back downstairs sleeping on a blanket on the floor. But I was FREEZING. Jace came down too...stupid snoring dog...but he got cold and ended up back upstairs. I decided to try the couch in the living room, but to no avail. I was cold, and for some reason I was thinking about everything and yet nothing. My mind just couldn't shut down. So at 5 am I decided if I was going to be awake I might as well be productive. I went for a run. I probably ran a mile and a half...maybe 2. But I came back and it was only 6. People, and dogs, were still sleeping. Jace was back on the lazy boy. (Poor guy.) I was cold (cuz it was cold outside) so I grabbed the comforter off our bed and went back to the couch. I couldn't stop thinking...and I was more cold. (?) So I got in the shower. I gotta say, being up pretty much all night TOTALLY sucks, but it was nice to be completely ready before anybody even woke up.
So, that's that. O well, you survive, you go on, and move forward. What else can you do?
Jace wanted to get out of the house after breakfast. (yummy crepes...thanks dad!) So we ran a few errands. And when we got back my great-grandma was there. She comes up every year to dye Easter eggs with us.
Xander has only met her once before (Christmas). He was so fascinated with her. And she loved him. I feel bad she doesn't get to see the kids much, because she is so in love with them.
4 generations dying eggs. (If my grandma could've made it there would've been 5!)
Apparently dying Easter eggs isn't a "manly" thing to do. So, my dad, Jace, Xander, and Ryan all watched some March Madness. Sounds fun. :P
This is Aliyah's second Easter. But this year she was old enough to participate in the dying of eggs and she was SO cute. I don't think she really understood what was happening. But she was concentrating so hard.
Here's all of us dying eggs. Around the table from left to right there's: Natalie (in pink), My mom and Aliyah, my Great-Grandma, Candice, Amy, and me.
The three girls! Candice has been my friend since sophomore year. I'm glad we've been able to stay in contact this long.
OK, so this year in the egg dying kit there was the color brown. I don't know why you would want to dye an egg brown. Anyway, I decided to make a Davis egg because Jace makes fun of our colors (brown and gold). And then I made him his North Summit egg (purple and yellow). Then, of course, I had to get a picture. I think my eggs cooler.
Amy and Xander.
Aliyah showing off her egg. She thought it was pretty cool once she got the hang of it. But she did crack one. She started hitting it on the table. And once it opened up she was scared of the inside. It was pretty funny.
All of our FABULOUS eggs.
After all the hard work we ate a wonderful lunch with everyone and then Jace and I had to leave for Coalville. All his family was going to Kamas to swim in the Rec. Center there. Aliyah hasn't been swimming since last year and Xander hasn't ever been. (Well, he did get his feet dipped in the ocean and pool in Cancun, but he was only 2 months old so he really couldn't do much else.) It was a lot of fun. The boys all did tricks off the high dive and there was a big pool for kids with toys and slides. (I would've had pics, but Jace wouldn't let me take my camera in. :( Sorry.)
We celebrated Easter on Saturday with the Vernon's because we were going to be the only one's there on Sunday. So we did the Easter egg hunt with all the kids first.
Jace and Xander trying to show Aliyah where the egg is.
Aliyah didn't know what was going on, or why she had to pick up eggs. Mostly she picked up deer poop, which was just splendid. It was a nice day, except the wind was a little cold.
Xander tried to beat Aliyah to the egg, but she was a little fast for him.
After the kids egg hunt it was time for the big kids scavenger egg hunt. I was a little out of the loop because the next thing I knew Jeanette and I were left home with 5 kids (2 of them left with the grown ups). What happened? It was okay. I was glad I wasn't out in the wind. Brrr. They were gone almost an hour. Jeff had them hunting all over Coalville practically and it all ended right in the kitchen. They did it!
Easter sunday was wonderful. We stayed in Coalville and went to church with his parents. The kids looked so cute in their Easter clothes. We had sacrament first and there were some really good talks. The music was wonderful. We went to Sunday School next and we got probably 5 minutes into the lesson when Jace nudged me. In the hall was a nursery worker with a crying Aliyah. I guess she just couldn't handle it. I spent the whole lesson in the hall. Xander slept so at least Jace got to hear it.
We ended up leaving church early. We both would've been in the hall (Xander woke up) so there was really no point in staying. At least at home we could put them to bed. So we left.
All of us in our Easter attire.
Isn't she so cute. She actually stood still long enough for me to take this picture. I was amazed.
I thought Xander's argyle vest was absolutely darling...but the shorts were my favorite. (I think you can see them in the family picture.)
This is Aliyah with one of the many Vernon pets. That cat is pretty nice though. Aliyah isn't very soft, but he just comes back for more.
Next came lunch/dinner (what do you call that...lunner? dunch? I dunno.) at his grandma LaVaun's house. It was SO good. Then she had her own Easter egg hunt. The kids were running everywhere. It was wonderful chaos.
We ended up staying that night too. We usually like to leave on Sunday and stay the night in Provo, but we decided against it. All of us in one room would've been too much. So I slept upstairs with Aliyah, and Jace slept downstairs with Xander. Yup, I guess the flame hasn't just died down in our marriage...it's pretty much out. Too bad for us. We left this morning at 5:30 in the am. Yup, it turned out ok. The kids slept til 8 and then we were home by 9:30.
The weekend was fabulous. We had a great time with both families. We'll see you again soon!
