Thursday, April 30, 2009

My nature girl



For Ruby's party she wanted a nature theme. We had so much fun coming up with ideas. We made bird nests out of play dough and sticks, pine cone bird feeders, fruit flower shishkebobs and rose cupcakes. I was pretty excited about the cupcakes.

We had pony rides in Brown County State Park with the Kelley Kids Club (children of the MBA students). Rubes loved it and as you can see from Coops face, he is NOT a fan of horses.

We are loving the spring here in Bloomington. I had no idea a place could be so green. All the trees have beautiful blossoms and flowers are coming up everywhere. It is good to have all the wild life back. We were looking into the woods behind our house and saw a doe and a fawn, this place is amazing. I love spring!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

My Favorite Gal!

Birthday cupcakes for classmates.

Happy Birthday to Rubes!
My 7 favorite things about my favorite 7 year old!
  • Her growing testimony. She KNOWS she is a child of God.
  • Her contagious smile.
  • Her sense of humor.
  • Her desire to do the right thing.
  • The way she treats others.
  • Her compassion.
  • Having a twin!
I love you Rubes! Happy Birthday Babe!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Easter


We celebrated Easter early this year. Funny thing I am posting so late! The Rich family has great easter traditions! We went to Grandmas for our anual egg and basket hunt. Everyone (including grown ups) has to find their basket and their own personalized egg. The yard is huge so this is no small task. My kids LOVED being with their Rich cousins. We are so thankful that they celebrated early so we could be a part of it!

We had 3 other egg hunts in B-Town. I didn't do baskets because the Easter Bunny does them at Grandmas. Cooper found this VERY disturbing. He will mostlikely need counseling as an adult!

My favorite part of Easter is another Rich family tradition. Since her kids were young, Matt's mom would go into the kids rooms, pop her head in the door and say, "He is Risen!" This year she called all the way from Berlin with the great news. The greatest news in history!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Springtime in the Rockies!!!!

My 3rd nephew got married last week in Salt Lake and we were able to go! We started our journey by getting up at 4:30 am EST. The Indianapolis airport is brand new and REALLY cool. My kids did great on the plane, they loved looking out of the window. It was shocking to go from 70 in Bloomington to 28 in Salt Lake!

I was totally in shock when I saw how GINORMOUS the mountains are! My cute dad picked us up at the airport and took us to Shivers! Lets just say, I wish I had an IV of FRYSAUCE! We had the wedding dinner at the Lion House. It was so good to be with family. It felt like we never left! My kids got to hang out with Grandma Retta and were in HEAVEN!
The wedding was in the Salt Lake temple. It felt so good to be there. I sat there and cried for the first part of the ceremony. One of the things I love about the temple is the mirrors in the rooms where marriages are performed. We believe that our families can be together FOREVER. As I sat there with my family looking in the mirror, I realized how amazing that really is!

After the ceremony we went to The Paradise Cafe. Yum! I have the greatest family ever! I love this picture of my brother Eric, never fail, he has his eyes closed!
We stayed with my twin brother Gary aka Guncle and his wife Lisa. OK, he is 4.5 years older, but we always try to trick people. He made Cooper this sweet HotWheels track out of scaffolding and a vacuum tube. The car would drop 2 stories and then had a pulley system to pull the car back up. Hours of entertainment!

The reception was so much fun. Cooper especially enjoyed the chocolate fountain. He had chocolate up his nose by the end! My cousin asked me when I was due. I told her not until October. She said, "WOW that's going to be a BIG BABY! Are you having TWINS?" What tact!

We got to visit lots of great friends. I feel blessed to have so many great friends! It was fun for the kids to play with all of their cousins and pals.
One of the highlights of our trip was watching General Conference. 2 times a year we have the opportunity to hear from our Prophet and the leaders of our church. It is always so inspiring. It recharges my batteries. We sat in my brother Robs bedroom and watched conference as a family.
We did so many fun things!
  • Childrens museum with Rich Cousins and Poppa and Sharon
  • Swimming with Poppa, Sharon, Rich Cousins, Katya and her new baby sister
  • Natural History Museum with Guncle and Lisa
  • Games at Rob's
  • Kite flying with Virgina Petersons
  • Hair cut with Erin (my favorite hair dresser :))
  • Easter Egg hunt with the Riches
  • LOTS of YUMMY FOOD: Shivers, Einsteins, Riches Bagels with Springer, The Pub, Stella, Cafe Rio, Training Table, The Lion House, conference waffles at Rob's, and my own lemon merange pie from Lisa!
  • Breakfast Bunch at Kenningtons

I got to hang with my girls at Cafe Rio! It felt so good to laugh with with girl friends.
The bad part about visiting is saying good bye. I did much better this time than last. I only shed a couple of tears. It is so nice to know we have a great place to return to. Thanks to everyone who made our trip so much fun!
Having fun on the plane.
Goodbye mountains!

All tuckered out. Home again, home again jiggety jig!