Our little bundle of trouble!

Brielle has been tough to keep track of ever since she started crawling, but this week she has learned several new tricks that have been driving me crazy! She apparently has never noticed that the kitchen cupboards open -- until this week! Can you say "time to childproof"?

I let her get stuck, hoping that it would deter her from climbing in again . . .
It did NOT work! This is round two!

I also finally gave up on convincing her that there is no need to climb the stairs. She cruises up them at top speed, now, then waits for me to find her and giggles histerically. I'm terrified she's gonna try and climb down, so up went the gate. It seriously hurt her feelings!

I bought her this cute flower headband for Easter and she hates it. You haven't seen pictures of her in it, yet, because I didn't want to torture her. This week, I decided that she owed me one!

She did not agree! These are the best I could get, so you'll have to believe me that she was the picture of spring perfection!

A wonderful family in our ward invited us over for what will probably go down in history as our favorite Family Home Evening Ever! Joy makes an exceptional spaghetti casserole, but even that was topped by two beautiful horses, saddled and ready for my excited children (OK, I think Jody was even more excited than the kids!)
Check out the huge grin on Kutter's face! It took some convincing to get him up there, but he didn't want the horse ride to end.
Trayson actually rode a horse by himself, but I love this beautiful picture of him with his dad.

I'm always complaining that it's not very pretty out here, but it's tough to beat that sunset! Breje has been riding a couple of times -- so she looked like a pro up there. No hesitation at all. I was so jealous that she looked so comfortable and confident.

Brielle didn't actually get a ride, but Jody had to at least get her up on a horse for a minute. She loved it out there, but she mostly wanted to crawl around with the horses.

And, yes, I actually got on a horse! I even rode it all by myself, for about two minutes! I finally begged Breje to hold the reins and guide the horse for me. I clearly was not meant to sit that high above the earth!

It finally got cold enough to talk them all into coming inside -- but it's a night they will talk about for a long time! Thanks Spauldings!

Our Beautiful New Fence!

The plan for the weekend was simple. Jody's brother, Jarin, would bring a big load of fence posts up from Utah on Friday night. Their sister, Treva, would tag along to kindly keep me and the kids company while the men worked all weekend to finish as much fence as possible.

According to Jarin, the universe was conspiring against us -- or, at least, him. I won't share the entire story, but it involves wiring trouble with the trailer, fence posts rolling off along the way, a missing tire, a blizzard, and Most importantly, a 3:30 am arrival for Treva and Jarin on Saturday morning!

Needless to say, they got a slightly later start that morning than they had originally planned. It took them FOREVER to mark the ground with spray paint, and even longer to come up with an auger to dig the holes. When they got to it, though, they really worked hard! Even Trayson spent a couple hours trying to help. I'm pretty sure he would've dug the holes himself if they would've asked him to! The auger wasn't sharp enough to get through the thick clay that is our back yard. It was great fun to glance outside and observe the different ways they tried to get it to work faster. They leaned on it, applied a crow bar, and I even saw them hanging from it a couple times in an effort to put their full body weight into it.

Meanwhile, Treva was a huge help with the kids. I know she was disappointed that she didn't get to work harder, but the kids still gave her a run for her money! She also made sure that I got some much needed adult conversation in this weekend!

When all was said and done, this is the lovely result of an entire weekends' hard work!

Yes, that is one perfect fencepost standing alone in our enormous backyard!
Thanks a ton Jarin and Treva! At least we had some fun!

EASTER!

We packed as much fun as we possibly could into such a tiny weekend! New church outfits, coloring eggs (twice!) egg hunts, cousins, and so much more! Enjoy!

Jody and the boys headed up to Beaver Mountain on Saturday for one last ski day with the guys before the snow melts away. Grandpa, Uncle Dave, and Kerry were all lucky enough to get in on the fun. I'm not sure who the bigger kids are -- but Kutter says Grandpa wins that contest by a mile!

Both of my boys are so proud of their skiing prowess. Trayson says that he is almost as good as his Daddy, and Kutter is thrilled to announce that he has mastered turning. This was his first season and he is still so excited that he tells everyone he meets that he is now an accomplished skier!

I have to admit that I used to get a bit grumpy about the cost of skiing, but the smiles on their faces more than make up for that! They are so thrilled to learn something with their daddy -- and it makes me happy to know that they have such a wonderful chance to bond with him. He is so patient with them and never complains that it sometimes takes away from his "powder days"! It is also helping them to form a strong relationship with Grandpa -- and whoever else Jody can drag along to help out!

Tiny Moments Day 19

There has been a definate overabundance of bickering in my home lately. I don't know if it's spring-fever or what, but it's been driving me crazy! For one sweet moment last night, my channel-surfing husband came across AFV, and this is the scene I found before me when I walked into the living room. Bliss! Thank you, America, for being silly, cheesy, clumsy, so that we could have a collective smile at our house!

A blur of tiny moments

No, I have not dropped off the face of the planet. I can't even think of a good reason that my computer has become a complete stranger, but it seems I have just not been able to find the time to sit here and type. I wish that meant I had tons of catching up to do, but there really hasn't been much going on. I had pretty much given up on tiny moments, because there's been so little to say, but a couple good friends recently told me that they enjoy them, so here's to giving it one more try!

I guess I start with this cute pic of Breje with her first entire roll. It's ridiculous how much fun it is to watch this kid eat. She's definately my kid -- her eyes just lit up when we gave her something this big, and then she tried to stuff the entire thing into her mouth at once!

One of my favorite tiny moments of the past week was finding this little sleeping beauty on our living room floor. I think this is the first time in months that I've left the room for a few minutes and didn't come back to find her crawling into some new forbidden space! She slept there in the middle of chaos for a good hour!

The highlight of the week was a surprise visit from the Burton's. I finally got to meet my newest neice, Bella. Look at that sweet face and just try not to smile!
There were countless moments as I watched how much fun our kids have together. Within seconds they start playing as if they've lived near each other their entire lives, instead of hours away. We didn't get much sleep that night, but it was wonderful to watch them giggle.

It was also a blast to watch Triff's face light up when I told her we had a Walmart. Yes, my fellow Mountain Home-ers, I have finally met someone who's town is even more boring and destitute than ours. My sister-in-law found a haven in Walmart, and I think she stocked up for the entire summer. I suppose this is the moment where I'm supposed to feel lucky for what I have .....

My final moment has to come from my "girl day" on Saturday. Two friends, Brielle, and I headed to Boise for an entire day of shopping, eating, chick flicks, and fun. We laughed, we cried (Well, Angie cried! -- who knew she was such a sap at movies?!) we ate a ton! Brielle was an angel. She seemed to know that it was special to get to hang out with the girls. She actual won moment of the day for her cute antics in Olive Garden. We grown-up girls were just gabbing away when Angie pointed out that at least half of the restaurant was hanging on Brielle's every smile! She had our entire section just grinning back at her. Definately, a good mommy moment!