cousins, cabins, and cake...

2 weekends ago we got to have our sweet little niece stay with us all weekend! And in total Sant fashion we of course had to take them out to eat. (anywhere with fry sauce please:-)

 And make treats... This is what happens when you let your kids turn the mixer on.

 This is the mess that happens after they play in all the flour!

 This past weekend we spent up at Brian Head skiing. Don't ask me why we went to see snow on our spring break! But it turned out to be a blast (not that you can tell from the look on Carter's face) Carter and Kai took ski lessons. And by day 3 they were rippin it up on the slopes... or at least they learned to slow down... (that was Carter's big accomplishment)

 SO, it turns out that my kids are terrified of the Easter Bunny! who knew? I guess I haven't done a good job explaining it to them, because before bed on "Easter Eve" Carter kept insisting that we leave the easter baskets outside and lock the door. He just kept saying "and lock the door Mom". He wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny sneaking in our bedroom and waking him up. Which in turn made Brady start freaking out about going to bed. He just started crying- "I wanna wake up... I wanna wake up!" followed by "The easter bunny's not going to come in here huh?... " and "It's just a costume huh?..." when we convinced them that doors were locked and no Easter bunny would be coming inside- they finally settled down. And look at the joy when they realized the jelly bean rabbit poop and hidden Easter Eggs that the Easter bunny left behind. Crazy kids!

 We celebrated Brady's 3rd birthday. Man- I love that kid! He brings more laughter to our lives than the rest of the 3 of us combined. (also more frustration- but hey- I guess we'll keep him!)

 The kids had a great time sledding on the ski slopes. Our cabin was a ski in/ski out cabin right on Brian Head which made for great sledding and serious competition!

 These 2 little monkeys just hung out inside the cabin with us all weekend. 

 I think I must have 10 pictures that look just like this- same ski gear, same pose, same smiles... but I have to get in at least 1 picture of the trip!

 The kids loved playing games with E-ma. She's the best!

 I can't tell if this is a crazy sugar high face from all the easter candy? or a constipated face.

On the other hand... maybe Brady just has crazy morning eyes. Both of these pictures he looks a little psycho to me, but it was right after he woke up. On the other hand- he is a little crazy. This was on his real birthday. We had pancakes for breakfast and Chuck E. Cheese for lunch! If that's not a fantastic birthday I don't know what is!

Both boys were excited about his new Wiggle Racer! Looks like we may be needing another.

Next Post: Potty Training...

Mosquitos!

We had a fantastic week and THIS is the ONLY picture I took! I guess with warm weather comes mosquito bites and I was feeling So bad for this little guy on Saturday morning when he woke up after being eaten alive by a sneaky little mosquito! He had 20 new bug bites. Needless to say- I tore apart his room that afternoon. changed sheets, vaccumed under the crib, vacummed corners and baseboards, and found 2 sneaky little bugs hiding in remote corners just waiting for poor Brady to go to sleep so they could feast. Ewwww! Anyway- they are dead now- so hopefully he can sleep in peace.

 Before bug bites we had warm sunny weather and loved every second of it! We...

• Went for walks
• Fed the horses
• visited the sheep and fed the ducks/seagulls
• Played at the park
• had picnic lunches
• Played outside with friends
• enjoyed sand all over my house (benefits of a sandbox:)
• made strawberry jam
• started planting our garden
• pulled weeds and cleaned up the yard
• stopped taking naps! (what?!... definitely not a continuing trend I hope.)

All in all it was a great week. I decided to pull out the boys new Easter shirts since we won't be here on Easter. Aren't they handsome?!

* I just realized that list made me sound totally domestic- planting a garden and making strawberry jam all in 1 week?!  Not normal around here- but hey... Something about the sunshine makes me actually want to be productive- and the gardening thing was only because Jason made me:-)

For Lori

Where do I begin?! I stopped his whole blog business a while ago, because for some reason I can't understand why anyone would be interested in what we're doing every day of our life- and yet, I get on other blogs almost daily to see what everyone else is up to. Backwards- I know. Anyway, I would never call myself a blog stalker. There's really only 3 or 4 that I even check anymore because they are close friends and family and I love seeing what they are up to. SO- one of my good friends from Vegas (can I call you that?) is one that I check often- mostly because her girls are darling and her sense of humor is hillarious. We text (which I LOVE) and she mentioned posting something to my long lost blog. And while I am not funny- and don't have anything out of the norm going on around here, I guess it's only fair that I share a few pics once in a while. So- for now, I'm back. Maybe I'll do a weekly update like some. Or maybe this will be the last one. We'll have to just see how I feel about that.

Also- I guess this means carrying my camera around more often. I see why people only post pictures of vacations and the good parts of their lives- because some of us only get our camera out when we go on vacation! Not something I'm proud of. I need to do better. So if it ever appears that I'm only documenting our exotic vacations and luxurious lifestyle;) Just remember that the months in between are filled with sick kids, poopy diapers, constant cleaning and laundry, and a bunch of other uninteresting (yet fulfilling) things that make up the majority of my life. I just don't take pictures of all of it:0

This is Today! Carter was spinning around while he counted to 100. talk about 1 dizzy boy.

This past week we got to have my brother and his daughter Mike and Kate, and my mom here to visit. Most of their time was spent at Primary childrens with a joint infection-but once she got out we decided to have a little fun. We went to the zoo, flew kites, fed the horses, and ate lots of icecream (thanks to Grandma!) We were all so glad to have them visit- just not so glad about the circumstance.

This is Carter Tubing in January. We went with Katie, Jake and Sadie (my sisters family). Carter and Sadie thought they owned the hill. They waited for no one- and luckily the nice workers at the top pushed them down every time. This pic is out of order because I don't know how to blog.

Kate, Carter and Brady settling down for a movie after a long day at the zoo. Isn't she gorgeous?!

Brady wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with tubing. Except the 2 minutes when Carter ran into him with his tube and Brady got stuck head down- feet flying in the air and screaming for me! So- we sat at the bottom and he took pictures with my sunglasses, pulled a tube around and watched all the other kids havingfun.

This is Brady's normal face. Mouth wide open- and always loud! It was such a gorgeous day that the boys wouldn't even keep their coats on. I love the Sun!