Easter Dresses and Ties

For Valentine's Day,
Nana sent Ellory this adorable outfit:




 Don't you love her little
Wesley pony tail?

And then one time,
she put on Tyler's hat:

So a while back

we did a little 

FHE activity about Nephi

building the boat.

And we built a 

tongue depresser

boat.

Kale loved it.

It was pretty fun:

Floating in the bathtub:

Our family has grown!

We now have a second vehicle.

We love it.

It's a Dodge Journey.

It's white.

It's spacious.

YES.

Recently, the Indoor World Championships

for track were in Portland,

and Tyler was able to work it.

The Sunday before it started

he had to go up to Portland to pick

up his credentials,

so we made a trip of it together

in our new ride.

The kids have a lot more room now:

And whoever is driving 

feels amazing

Ellory enjoyed reading

her ABC book:

And Kale was writing 

words that he saw

along the way:

On the way back,

we stopped at the Portland Temple

and let the kids run around.

It was BEAUTIFUL.

Might be my new favorite.

I mean, these doors alone:

So there was this pool of 

water with stairs leading down to it.

It was really pretty,

and Tyler showed Kale 

at what stair he needed to stop

so that he wouldn't step in the water.

IMMEDIATELY after Tyler 

told him that,

Kale stepped on the next step

down and got his foot sopping wet.

And he cried.

And I had to take a picture:

After this point,

Tyler went with Kale

and I followed Ellory around.

She really loved this 

water fountain thing:

We love to see the temple!

On the way home we

plugged the ipad into the car

and the kids watched Insideout

with the sound coming out the 

car speakers.

AWESOME.

Grandma Pam sent the kids

and Easter package,

which always an exciting event.

One of the presents for Kale

was marbles.

Perfect!

She also sent little Easter baskets

for us to put together.

Kale's was a chick and 

Ellory's was a bunny.

We put them together 

for FHE one night.

And we skyped with Grandma

to tell her how much we

loved the package!

We got a great treat this month...

Uncle Dain came to visit!!

He had a mission buddy getting married

in Portland,

so he and another mission buddy

drove up early so that Dain could spend some 

time with us.

They got here Thursday afternoon

and left for Portland on 

Friday around noon.

It was awesome!

Dain was THRILLED.

He started playing with him

right away.

Ellory was apprehensive at first,

but then followed Kale's lead.

Kale loved having his
Uncle pal around.

Friday morning we went to 

a park.

It was really cold,

so we didn't stay long.

But they drew with some chalk

and blew some bubbles.

Nana sent an Easter package, too.

In it was 3D chalk.

Kale was checking it out:

Dain got fancy with the

Elsa bubbles:

Look at that technique:

Ellory loves bubbles!

I took a picture of Dain

taking a selfie...

On the day before Easter,

the kids woke up to a surprise from

the Easter bunny.

He (or she) had left them

clues that led to

their presents.

Kale ate it up!

Ellory was annoyed that we were

doing something right after

she woke up.

Not exactly a morning person,

this girl.

She warmed up to the idea when 

she saw the M&M's though.

Dad helped Kale read the clues:

Each clue was inside an egg

hidden around the house.

This was my favorite one:

Ellory just wanted more chocolate

The presents ended up being inside

the dryer.

I tried to get a picture,

but they were a little too excited.

Kale got a clock and KungFu Panda 2.

Ellory got a Frozen book and The Croods.

Nana sent the kids ADORABLE

Easter outfits that we were all

excited to put on.
Look how cute these kids are:



I have no idea
what I'm doing when
it comes to Ellory's hair.

She sent Tyler a sharp looking tie

and she sent me beautiful jewelry.

(Talk about spoiled!)

Of course,

looking so dapper,

we had to get a picture.

We tried 3 times,

you decide which one is best

Easter was good.

We had our traditional ribs,

and this year I made the baked beans

Tyler's mom always makes.

They are dreamy.

I also did loaded mashed potatoes

and then Kale and I started a new tradition.

My mom sent a book for me

in the Easter package 

full of ideas for celebrating Easter 

with your family.

On idea was to make "Empty Tomb Rolls."

You put a marshmallow inside

roll dough along with

some cinnamon sugar.

Then, when you bake it the marshmallow

disappears and leaves an empty hole.

It was cool!

And Kale helped me make them.

Definitely doing that again.

Kale is really into space right now.

Over that last few months

we have been checking out books

from the library about

the planets and slowly making a 

solar system.

This is the finished result:

Kale loves to learn.

It's wonderful.

Ellory loves cheerios.

It's cute:

One afternoon I was trying

to get some stuff done 

in the kitchen

and these two rugrats

just really wanted to hang

with me and not play

with their toys.

So, hang with me they did:

The weather has taken a turn for

the beautiful here.

I'm talking sunny and 70.

So we have done a lot of

outside things.

Kale and I ate our lunch on

the deck:

And we went to the park.

A lot.

Kale did the monkey bars

for the first time!

Ellory and I went down the slide

about 53 times

Kale fell twice in about 5 minutes.

The first fall I was prepared

with a band-aid.

But that was my last one.

The second fall was worse.

We had to go to the store 

and get a little travel first-aid kit.

I felt so bad for Kale

that we went and got

Frozen Yogurt.

He loved being able to pick

out the toppings.

We took it to a park to eat

and then he felt much better and

continued to play.

We enjoyed General Conference!

Kale and I made a Bingo game

of words for him to listen for.

He did a great job!

Ellory was like,

what's happening?

Tyler went to San Francisco
with Track this past weekend.
This was his view at dinner:



I wasn't jealous at all.....
Last night was the Championship game,
and it was a big deal.
Our family bracket pool was now
down to just me and mom.
If UNC won, mom won.
If Villanova won, I won.
Tyler asked me to make
chicken wings for the occasion,
so I did.
They turned out pretty great!



And to top it all off,
Villanova won!!
Buzzer beater 3,
can't ask for any better than that.
Let the record show that,
for once,
the team I picked to win it all
actually did.
Tyler told me only 2.6% people
who filled out brackets
picked Villanova to win.
Just saying.

All in all,

it's been a great couple of weeks.

And it's only going to get better

because Nana is here!
We picked her up from the airport
this morning and Kale
is already in heaven.
Ellory is still warming up to her,
but we were expecting that.
She's here for a whole week
and we plan to make the most of it!