Easter 2012

We had a great Easter again this year! 

It of course started out with coloring eggs for FHE. Landon was really fascinated by the whole thing. He kept stirring his eggs and smelling the dye. I guess he likes the smell of vinegar.

The boys all had fun coloring their eggs and seeing how dark they could get them. They turned out pretty great!

We were excited to wake up early on Easter morning to see what was in our Easter baskets....

 ...and the egg hunting began pretty quickly! They searched high and low and found lots and lots of eggs.

Landon was pretty excited about hunting eggs and putting them in his basket. About half way through their egg hunt, Landon realized that there was candy inside the eggs. So he was done hunting eggs, and he was now ready to eat as many jelly beans and M&M's as he could shove in his mouth. He so kindly sat there while his brothers gathered the rest of the eggs, even giving him some more that they found.

The Easter bunny brought the older boys some Pokemon cards. I really don't get what is so great about these things, but the boys were so excited to see that them in their baskets and immediately started trading them amongst each other.

We hurried and got ready for church, and I somehow had enough time to get a few pics of my boys in their Easter clothes. I let Brayden and Conner pick out their own shirts this year because a certain 9 year old that lives in this house is becoming very picky about what he wears, and if I just pick something out and he doesn't approve, he will never wear it. So I figured it just wasn't worth a fight, so they picked their shirts out. I think they did a pretty good job. They looked so handsome and grown up!  (tear!)

Then there is this little boy.... how do you not just love that little face! He at first resisted the tie, but a little convincing that he looked just like daddy since daddy wears a tie to church did the trick. 

Hope everyone had a great Easter!!!!

A Trip to Touch-A-Truck

Every year there is an event here called Touch-A-Truck where kids can go and see all kinds of different trucks like fire trucks, ambulances, cranes, tractors, police cars, etc. and they can sit in the trucks and turn on the sirens or honk the horns. I have heard about it every year.... AFTER it has happened. So this year I was so excited that I heard about it a few days before. I told the boys about it, and they seems really excited for it too. So we found a friend to go with us, and we headed over to see what kind of trucks we could see. And we saw a LOT of trucks and other big vehicles. I don't even think we got around to seeing everything they had there. But the boys had lots of fun, even though it was SUPER loud with all that honking and sirens wailing.

And we got to see Robosaurus.

Never heard of Robosaurus?? Well it's a GIANT robot T-Rex. They boys thought it was so cool!

He even ate a car. Like totally destroyed and ripped the car in half.

Don't mess with Robosaurus!

That tangled mess above Brayden's head is what was left of the car when Robosaurus was done with it.

We saw fun things like the Oscer Meyer Weinermobile.

And got to sit on Harley's and in Hummer Limos....

And we saw some different Police vehicles...

This had better be the only time they are ever in a Police car!

We saw several different fire trucks...

and even got to get wet at some of them.

Landon currently LOVES a movie we have called "Elmo Visits the Fire House" so he was so happy and excited to see the fire trucks and firefighters. As we were walking away, he said "Thank you Firefighters!" just like Elmo does in the movie. It was pretty cute!

We had to take a picture at the U.S. Forest Service booth with Smokey for Grandpa Shumate!

And get in this fire truck like Uncle Russ used to ride in. They boys thought it was pretty cool that their uncle used to ride in that big green fire engine. 

We also got to go inside a Hot Air Balloon. Like actually INSIDE the balloon part. It was pretty cool!

We had a great day! We even were lucky enough to run into a several friends that we haven't seen in a long time! So fun!
We headed home with lots of fun free stickers, pencils, toys, and candy.
I was exhausted when we got home, but it was pretty fun to finally get to take the boys to Touch-A-Truck! 

Sleepy Time...

Every night I go in and check on Landon before I go to bed. I have done this with all my boys when they were little. I just love going in and making sure they are ok, and covered with their blanket before I go to sleep. The other night, I found Landon like this and it just cracked me up.  Looks like he's trying to do a sit up in his sleep or something.

The funny thing is that both his brothers used to sleep like that too. So cute!!!

11 Years...

Last month Patrick and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. 

We had an awesome 2 day celebration. The day before our anniversary, Patrick send me a beautiful bouquet of roses and cala lilies. They looked and smelled amazing! Then we were able to go out to one of our most favorite places to eat dinner down on the Strip called Mon Ami Gabi's. It is the best!!! We got to eat our yummy dinner while watching the Bellagio fountains across the street go off. Those fountains are some of my favorite things to see around here. They never get old! Our dinner was super delicious as always, and then we dedcided to take a trip up the Eiffel Tower. We had never been up there before, but the view was amazing! It was a little freaky being up that high (it's 50 stories up I think they said) since I don't really like heights, but it was pretty cool anyway.  

An added perk.... since Patrick is "handicapped" at the present time and still walks with a cane, we got to go right to the front of the line to go up the Tower. It was a 30 minutes wait, and we didn't have to wait for anything. They had him go right to the front of the lines for the elevators. Sometimes his "handicapped-ness" comes in handy!

We got a few pictures with Patrick's phone...

Then then day of our anniversary was the day the boys went to the Nascar race, and we only had Landon. So we went out to lunch and then came home and watched a movie and ate cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory while Landon took a nap.  It was a perfect afternoon!!

I'm so glad to have been able to spend the past 11 years with Patrick. I'm so grateful for him in my life and that he is a worthy priesthood holder to lead our home and is such a great father to our boys. He is one amazing man, and I'm so so lucky he is mine! I love you tons Patrick, and I can't wait for another 11+ years with you!!!

NASCAR With the Grandparents!

Every year Patrick's parents come down to go to the Nascar races. This year they decided to take the 2 older boys with them. Brayden and Patrick had gone a few years ago, and Conner has wanted to go ever since. So when he heard that Grandpa Patton and Grandma Ann were going to take them, he was super excited!!!

The boys had so much fun at the race! They got to go in the Neon Garage, into the pits, and get in the cars. They had a very full day of fun, and were exhausted by the time they got home that night. Their grandparents bought them t-shirts, hats, toy cars, lanyards for their tickets, and lots of yummy food! They had so much fun at the race with their grandparents, they talked about it for days! I'm so glad that they got to go do this. They loved every minute of it! Thanks Grandpa Patton and Grandma Ann!!!!

My Grandpa

I have only ever known one Grandpa in my life. My Grandpa Shumate. He was pretty much everything you think of in a Grandpa. Loving. Funny. Nice. Caring. Always letting you sit on his lap. He was the greatest. 

Some of my most favorite memories of my Grandpa are of things like how he always, and I do mean ALWAYS had a fridge in his garage fully stocked with Root Beer and Welches Grape Soda just for his grandkids. Or when I was younger, I remember going on walks around the block with him and he always had LifeSaver mints in his pocket that he would share with me as we walked. Or how he always would help us fill up a bucket of birdseed and we got to go help him throw the birdseed all around his yard, and we would see all kinds of birds, like road runners, or jack rabbits coming to eat. We would often go and help him pick lemons, oranges, and tangerines from his trees in his backyard. And how sometimes, as we were getting packed up and ready to leave his house, he would pull me aside in his garage or somewhere out of sight, and slip me some money for things he had heard me talk about wanting... like games, CD's, movies, or books. He would always slip me the money very slyly and whisper "Don't tell Grandma!" and then smile and give me a hug. 

He was constantly helping anyone and every one he could see weather be family, friends, or neighbors. He was never ever mad. He was always happy. He loved to tell cheesy little jokes. And no matter what time of day you arrived at his house, he was there waiting to feed you, or give you anything else you may need upon arrival. He was such a generous man. And he genuinely loved his family.

(Photo of Grandpa when he came home from World War II in June of 1946)

He was born in Oklahoma on August 4, 1920. He served in World War II, and was overseas when my Dad was born. He didn't even see my dad until he was about 18 months old.  He worked for 30+ years for the U.S. Forest Service. Recently, my Grandma told us that while they were married they moved 42 times! He met my Grandma when she was just 14 years old and he was 17 while they were learning Archery. They married 20 days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. As I was recently looking at old picture of my grandparents, I saw several of them together and in every one, he had his arm around my Grandma. When I told my Grandma that I thought that it was so cute how he put his arm around her in every picture, she just smiled and said, "Oh yes, always".

He died on December 17, 2011... 10 days shy of his 70th wedding anniversary.

He is survived by his wife, 2 sons and their wives, 7 grandkids, and 20 (almost 21) great grand kids.

His sweet smiling face will be missed at all our future family events, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to have him as my Grandpa.

Mardi Gras!

A few weeks ago, Brayden's class had a Mardi Gras party and parade. They spent the whole week learning about Mardi Gras and making a float for their parade. So on the day of his parade, I went over to the school to watch. All the kids in his class put on masks, had noise makers, and had beads and gold candy coins to throw to other kids when their parade came through their class. 

Here was their float. Each kid in his class got to work on a section of it and decorate it however they wanted. They had music playing and all the kids lined up behind it and danced through the halls making LOTS of noise with their noisemakers. They had a blast!

Brayden really loved being able to dance around and be loud and obnoxious through the halls.

His whole class! They all had fun doing the parade.

Brayden had fun learning about Mardi Gras. I must admit, he knew more then I did about it. It was a fun unit to learn about. Gotta love teachers that help their kids learn things in such fun ways!

Blue & Gold Fiesta!

A few weeks ago was Brayden's Blue and Gold banquet once again. The theme this year was "Mexican Fiesta with a Positive Attitude." He really wanted to make his cake look like a taco for the "fiesta", but I thought that would be a bit too much work, and not really sure if it would turn out so well. So we compromised on a cake to look like a tostada. And thanks to Google, I found some ideas to make his cake possible.

First thing we did was make a yellow cake and put some chocolate sprinkles in the batter so it would look more "corn tortilla" like.  We used colored frosting for the refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole. The "meat" was Cocoa Krispies. The "Cheese" were orange and yellow Starbursts that we rolled flat and cut into "shreds" of cheese.

We cut up licorice for "tomatoes" and green Fruit Roll ups made the "lettuce". 

Brayden was really happy with the final product. 

He still loves everything he gets to do for Cub Scouts. He has so much fun with it!