Sisters in the Cleve

Whitney had been planning for a while to come out during her break between semesters. Well, little did I know that Angie was coming out too!! I was so surprised and excited to have both of them there. It was a week of lots of laughs! I was secretly hoping that Stephanie and Kelli were surprising me as well and we would have had all the sisters together. (Hopefully soon!)

Jack was super excited to have them and still tells me that he misses them and wants them to come back. We spent some time in Kirtland since Whitney had never been there. The weather was great and Jack was even good enough that day to have Angie take a LOT of pictures of our family. It was a miracle. Not sure what came over him. I wish he acted like that everyday. :) Ha! Last time he tried to take out pictures he was yelling at her and saying "Don't you dare take a picture for me!!!!!!!" So this time around came as a pleasant surprise.

Out at the Johnson farm.

Monday we spent the day out at Chagrin Falls being silly and enjoying the sun. We went to the popcorn shop and got Italian sodas from a girl who had never made them and obviously had no idea what she was doing or what they were supposed to be. We threw them away in the garbage just outside the shop door. We were so mad.

On our last day with Angie here we went down town to see the lake and walk around. The wind was blowing so hard and it made it FREEZING!!! Needless to say we did not stay down there very long.

So we headed down to Little Italy to Presti's Bakery, hoping to get those Italian soda's we were denied in Chagrin Falls. But we were disappointed again...they didn't even have them! It was still fun to sit and chat before Angie left though.

Whitney and I headed back to Kirtland so she could take a tour of the temple. This is at an old cemetery across from the temple. Some of the people buried there and Joseph and Emma's twins, Thankful Pratt (Parley P. Pratt's wife), Jerusha Smith (Hyrum Smith's wife) and John Johnson (owner of the Johnson farm).

We were desperate for some entertainment for Jack while cooking dinner so we gave him a box to play in. He was "sleeping" in it.

Then we went to the Amish farm and cheese factory. We went on opening day and it was so perfect. 80 degrees outside and we had the wagon all to our selves. It was so fun!

Whitney had a hard time getting a hold of the baby goat.

Our driver, Paul.

Feeding the emu.

Whitney was a little nervous at first to feed them but got braver as the ride went on.

Feeding the camel Humphry. He followed us for so long!

Whitney said this is what she imagined it looking like as Noah was gathering all the animals.

I LOVE having visitors and it was so fun to have my sisters here. Thanks for coming out girlies!! I can't wait to do it again. :)

Easter in DC

We were lucky enough to spend Easter this year In Washington DC with Scott and Denisse. We also were able to spend Easter day with Shane and Holly watching conference and eating SUPER YUMMY food and we didn't take a single picture with them or their cute little guy Preston!! Oh well...next time Holly. :)

The weather was gorgeous and it just happened to fall in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival. There were so many people there but it was worth fighting the crowds. The trees were so beautiful!!

Justin and Scott

Denisse and I were making fun of this girl who was posing in front of the tulips. :) Haha!! We were laughing so hard. I love to people watch and there were plenty of people to see!

We walked through the Arlington Cemetery, which was our first time. It is a very peaceful place. It is mazing how many graves are there. I could not believe it. It just went on and on and on.

Brielle wanted to hold hands and pretend she was a statue. She is silly :)

We walked up to the Arlington House at the very top of the cemetery. It has an amazing view of the entire city.

The Jefferson behind us.

These are a little out of order and I'm too tired to fix them :)

Holding hands again. These kids are so fun together.

Cutie Pie Anderson

On Easter we had a little egg hunt for the kids to do. They LOVED finding all the eggs and especially eating the candy inside. I love Brielle's face in this picture!! Haha..

Brielle kept wanting to hug Jack and I'm sure you can see how excited Jack was about it... what a little stink! Love the double chin as well.

Braden got a little bubble gun in his Easter basket and the kids were having a blast with it! So easily entertained.

A month or so before Easter, I won tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll in an online lottery. We had a blast and it was really fun to be so close to the White House. It was SO HOT that day though!!! 90 degrees. We ended up peeling off all of Anderson's clothes except his onsie, and the rest of us melted. It was very warm, but just coming out of winter, we were glad to feel the heat.

It is crazy how many people they let in for this event. 15,000 people the first half of the day and another 15,000 the second half. It was so crowded!!! I think they let too many people in and it could have been more enjoyable with less people but we were still happy to be there.

Jack's favorite part was the little sports area they had set up. The theme was "Ready, Set, Go!" from Michelle Obama's fight to cure childhood obesity so there were lots of sports activities and lots of fruit for everyone to eat.

He LOVED the penguin from Madagascar.

The Easter Bunny!!!

And of course we also saw......

The Obama family!

It was so fun to be so close to the president. We have never had the chance to get so close and probably never will again. The girl in front of me shook President Obama's hand right after I took this picture. Darn it! So close...

President Obama read Green Eggs and Ham and Justin was able to get right in the front to see it.

Also there was the cast of Glee, J.K. Rawling, Reese Witherspoon, and Justin Bieber (had no clue who he was) all of whom we did not see, and we were so sad!! Especially Reese Witherspoon. She is my favorite!!! A girl from the cast of Glee did sing the National Anthem though and she was amazing. Overall it was a really neat experience that we were so happy to have shared together.

Thank you Scott and Denisse for hosting us once again! You guys are GREAT!!!!

Catch Up

Since we got back from Las Vegas, we have been keeping busy getting back into the swing of things. I love to go on vacation, but I also love to get back to regular life. Anderson is going to be 6 months next week and I can't believe it! His hair is starting to grow back, which I'm loving and he is finally eating solid foods. He has refused and refused for weeks, and has just decided that maybe they're not so bad. His favorite is sweet potatoes. :)

Justin and Jack have started having movie nights in the attic. They watch it in Jack's tent complete with popcorn, snacks, and candy. Jack LOVES having a "camp out" with dad.

Jack got to visit Justin at the school for his first visit to the dentist. As you can see he was a little nervous about it at first. I think this picture is hilarious!! Classic Jack whiny face. They give the kids those funny sunglasses which Jack now keeps in his car seat to wear while we are driving. He thinks they are so cool. Love it.

After Justin let Jack help with the suction, he decided maybe it wasn't so bad.

He even left with a smile.

The snow around here melted at rapid speeds which we were super happy about! We took full advantage of the big puddles and went out in our rain boots. (Notice the nice broken sidewalk in front of our house. Something I will NOT miss about Cleveland. Broken sidewalks and broken roads...grrr.)

Jack has been getting pretty bored around our house lately, or so he says, so I gave him some "homework" to see if it could occupy some time. To my surprise, he LOVED it and sat there for a good twenty minutes doing page after page of things I had made for him to trace. I told him to follow the black lines with his pencil and he kept asking me "Follow those black signs Mom?" I think he did awesome for his first time ever. He will be starting preschool in the fall and I think he is ready. Hopefully that will help cure some of the boredom.

Not bad for his first time! I'm so proud of Jack. He really is a smart little boy and he amazes me every day with the things he learns and remembers.

Working hard :)

I came across some awesome strawberries at Costco and decided it was time to replenish the homemade jam. Store bought just doesn't cut it for me anymore. YUM!

Since Easter falls on conference weekend this year, I had the boys wear their Easter ties to church today. I must say, we have some pretty cute boys. :)

For Easter weekend we are headed to DC to see Scott and Denisse and Shane and Holly. I entered into an online lottery for tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll and won! Pictures from that when we get back.

HAPPY EASTER!!