Easter Part 1

We started our Easter Extravaganza up at the cabin.  Grandma threw the kids a wonderful Easter egg hunt.  This is Eden's 1st official Egg Hunt...and she was ALL over it!

It took her a minute to get the hang of it, but once she did...she was off to the races!

 

After her goodie bag was FULL she sat down and examined her find.

 

After we stuffed ourselves full of candy and food.  We just relaxed and enjoyed being in the mountains.  We love it up there and are always anxious to get back!

A Proud Mamma

Today something happened that rarely does in our family.  We had a family outing, which isn't unusual, but this time dad came (which IS unusual) and it was grand!  We bundled up to face the rain and headed to Discovery at Gateway.

Today I watched my shy little girl do things that made a proud mamma's heart beam.

Like when she played at the water area and stood up for herself when other kids tried to grab the toy she was playing with out of her hand.  She yelled and held that toy tightly and showed them who's the boss.  I sat only a few feet away just glowing with pride.  Usually what happens is that a kid will steal her toy and she'll let them and then come to me crying because she is minus the toy she was playing with...well, not today my friends...not today. 

Then not two seconds later, Daddy had to tell her to stop splashing which lead to this....

She's under the impression that if she avoids eye contact long enough she won't have to face the stern face daddy is currently giving her to let her know just how serious he is...this also made my heart beam.  I can see her mind turning...she sneaks to a peak to see if dad is still looking and when she sees that he is...she quickly looks down for a few more minutes, just waiting for it to pass.  Well, it doesn't, but I can't help but laugh at how hard she tried to avoid it.

I just loved watching her play with the toys while skillfully avoiding interacting with other kids as much as possible but still having herself a right nice time.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I want my little girl to be  social and have lots of friends but usually big crowds like this make her REAL nervous and she usually won't leave my side.  To see her explore on her own and enjoy playing with toys made me so proud, but of course those burst of independence were occasionally interrupted by her coming and grabbing my hand so that I can escort her to her new location...baby steps...we are taking baby steps.

At the grocery store I watched as she carefully walked around the store trying to decide exactly what to put in her cart.  I get the impression she's seen mom do this WAY too many times...

I was proud when I saw her taking turns and sharing, which is something that is hard to come by these days, but when they do, I make sure I tell her how proud I am of her and that she's being such a good girl!

I love watching my little girl grow before my eyes.  I'm so excited to see her try new things and do things she normally wouldn't have done just a few short months ago.  She's getting so big and I must say...I am one lucky mamma to be able to have this little girl.  She's my everything and I can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend the day watching her explore and discovery and push herself to do things I wasn't quite sure she was ready to, but I'm sure glad she tries!!

Mr. Henry J

On Saturday we went to Mr. Henry J's big monster bash.  My little Eden is shy when it comes to crowds and people she doesn't know. There was a bounce house and Eden wasn't sure how she felt about it...couldn't decide if she wanted to jump or not.  It involved crawling through a small hole which meant leaving mamma behind...

 

Through out the day she would inch closer to the bounce house but then find her way back to me.  I would ask her if she wanted to jump and she'd say "Ya...NO!"  There were a few failed attempts...

but in the end she decided it was fun....REAL fun

Look at my big girl go!

Eden LOVES Henry.  She kept tabs on him all through out the day.  She wanted to make sure she could see him at all times....I don't know where she gets it (wink wink)....is it because I am always keeping tabs on her?  Maybe.  I think it's the mamma within her.

Aren't they a cute couple?  I think so. 

 We had such a great time and we LOVE to see our friends!  A birthday bounce house might be in our near future as well. 

Ready for Spring

WE...are ready for Spring...REAL ready...

we can't wait to get outside and enjoy some nice weather...watch the birds as they fly by...

 

...watch the crazy kids play ball in the street...

 

...We CAN'T wait for picnics outside....

...to kick off our shoes...

...and soak in the evening setting sun...

...the grass is almost ready for squishy feet...

...almost...

...dinner picnics are still a bit too cold, but we do it anyway...

...and we wait...

 

...we wait for spring...

Aren't YOU ready for spring?!

Spring Breakin'

I got two whole days off for spring break and we started it out with a BANG...literally.  On Friday morning I went and picked up Tracy from the train station and while we were waiting at a red light, a police car slid right into me!  At first I just thought he hydroplaned (cuz it was rainy) but come to find out, he was hit by a car trying to make a left hand turn and then hit me.  I was craziness.  Tracy and I were just talking and Tracy looked at me and said "I hear squealing..." and as I looked out my window, all I saw was...POLICE CAR...BANG!

Luckily, the policeman didn't hit me very hard and we were all fine, but it was an ordeal.  The police officer called his sheriff who came and told me that since he's employee was involved they had to call an independent agency to come investigate.  Then I was told that this independent agency couldn't file a police report and so they had to call the Unified Police Department to come and file a report.  So pretty much we sat in my car FOREVER...like almost 2 hours.  It was quite the scene though....people probably thought that it was a drug bust or something cuz the po-po had swarmed the area...

Here's the damage to my car...not bad, but such a pain!

try keeping a 1 year old entertained for over an hour while you just sat in the rain and couldn't get out of your car....

The worst part of this whole ordeal is that my car's registration is up at the end of the week and I actually had an appointment to get it inspected that day...well, I won't pass safety with a broken headlight and I can't get my car fixed until we find out who's at fault (the police officer or the woman who hit him) and so that means I will not only be driving around a broken car, but in about 3 days I'll be driving around an expired one...

Other than that, we tried to enjoy my mini vacation as much as we could, which meant we spent as much time outside as possible.  On Sunday, while Les cleaned out his car, Eden kept herself entertained.  She was just happy to be outside...

On Monday, the weather took a turn for the worse but Eden insisted on going outside and looking for bugs!  There were potato bugs calling her name and she was bound and determined to find them.

HEEERRREEE buggie, buggie, buggie... I will find you....

You won't escape the watchful eyes of this little bug catcher...

Gottcha!  Now into the box you go...

And that's when I finally protested and made her go inside because I was FAA-REEZING!  She, however, could have stayed out there all day!

After a piping cup of hot chocolate we headed over to my cute little friend's house to meet her new baby....Oh how I could love on that squishy little thing all day long.  It makes me want another, oh so bad...but for now I'll just love on him to get my fill...

Now it's back to school and back to the books...if I survive this week I'll be amazed!

Welcome to the Clan!

What happens when you mix a new brother-in-law celebrating his first birthday "Hutchison Style" with a kid who is obsessed with candy?

Why a themed party of course!  We sent our second ever "party in a box" to California to help Natalie celebrate Greg's birthday as if he were here in Utah...ya know, a proper party...

Theme: Kid in a Candy Stores
Decor: candy
Card: candy
Cake: candy
Presents: candy

 complete with detailed instructions on how to make a candy cake

It was pretty complicated....so he needed to prepare himself  for the task...better load up on some candy...

 

Apparently the ring pop didn't contain enough sugar so Greg got a little crazy and blinged it out a bit...

 we pulled out all the stops, including a singing card.  What is the song you ask?  I WANT CANDY!

Natalie went above and beyond and fulfilled his every wish and got him this...

He was only slightly excited. Can you tell? 

So, how did our Kid in a Candy Store theme party go?  I'll let this picture speak for itself...

That would be a candy crown with a candy sash and a candy cake for our candy king (spelled with a "c").

We were told that this was THE BEST day of his life (including marrying my sister) and that he could die now because his life is complete.  We heart you Greg and you fit right in!  WELCOME TO THE HUTCHISON CLAN...let the crazy begin!