Women's Conference 2011

My dear friend Hilary and I went down to Women's Conference at BYU for the last day of the conference! It was wonderful as usual and such a lift! Sister Beck spoke in the morning session and was so wonderful! She talked about the history of Relief Society and knowing WHO we are-- She said, "Until you really know who you are and where you come from, you cannot be as powerful as you can be" She also said she has a friend who has the plaque in her home that reads: I CAN DO HARD THINGS -- she changed it a bit and it now says: I DO HARD THINGS! :) So true so true! I think that is such a valuable lesson in life to know that indeed we not only CAN do hard things, we DO hard things and we can become stronger and better by doing them!

Elder and Sister Bednar also spoke and had so many wonderful things to say-- I took a million notes and if time permitted I would love to add them all -- but more than anything -0- it was just so great to be with a great sister/friend and be lifted up and rejuvenated! As I looked out among those thousands of sisters and thought of the strength and power of the sisterhood we hold -- I was really moved and grateful! grateful to be a Daughter of God and know who I am, grateful to have dear friends and family who help me, support me and love me, grateful for the chance that I have to serve and love them, and grateful to be a member of a wonderful organization in the church-- The Relief Society!

Easter Day!

Easter Morning was a fun morning! Early- but fun! The kids woke up at 6:15! But with 9:00 church-- we needed to get up and going! They had fun looking at their baskets and new Easter outfits!

We had one of our family favs for breakfast-- pull aparts! :)

After church we had time for a few pics in our new clothes! Grace's new thing is saying "CHEEEEEZE!" and not looking at the camera! :)

Got her to look in this one for a min! A pic with Big brother!

Running with sis!

Carter has not taken these ears off lately -- He sleeps with them almost every night for the past week and even had them on for his Sunday nap!

Our Smith cousins came over for Easter dinner and Grandma and Grandpa set up a little hunt too! It was actually warm and a perfect night!

A few traditions too of course-- Easter jigglers!

And of course--- EASTER CAKE! I am (and have been for over a year now) in the process of making a cookbook with pictures, of all of my Mom's favorite family recipes-- this is one of them so every time I make something that will be in the book, I try to take a nice picture of it! It'll probably take me another year + to finish it, but it will hopefully be something we can all keep to remember our Mom by!

Neighborhood Easter

we had a fun little neighborhood hunt with great friends and neighbors! We each hid eggs in our own yards and then let the kids go nuts! And they did!

Pre-Easter Sunday

The week before Easter, we got together with Ry's side of the fam for a fun Easter dinner-- The kids had so much fun outside with cousins and we loved being together!

A little egg hunt from G&G-

One cute little bunny!

Cute little Jaxson is one month old!

The Patterson men!

While the kids played outside, they made a "tinkerbell" house out of grass, leaves, and sticks!

Sunday nap

Worn out after a busy day of church!

Bea"U"tiful lawn!

Back in November our dear, sweet, neighbors bea"U"tified our yard for the BYU-UTAH game!

Well, I guess you could say it has been the gift that keeps on giving-- This is what sprouted up this Spring!

Spring Break - Flagstaff!

So Ry had to drive back to home on Tuesday to get back to work-- So the kids and I went to Flagstaff! My dear friends -Misti and Shane had us come stay with them! All 5 of us "bless their hearts!" We had so much fun and felt right at home! Misti is more like a sister than a friend and I have missed her so much! The boys were inseparable and the little girls were so cute together! Aubs and Kel LOVE Shane and Misti and Jesse the dog too! They were lots of help and had fun too-Misti had cute crafts for the kids and they loved it!

Elise and Gracie loved this little game they mad up at the outside table -- They'd drop things through the hole and then climb under and get them!

All ready for bed and watching movies!

Shane - the "KID MAGNET"

I took the kids back to the candle store in downtown Flagstaff where they can dip their own candles -- We did it a few years ago when my Dad came to visit and they loved it!

The color dipping process!

We met Nikki and the kids for lunch at our fav Pizza place!

I was able to do 5 photo shoots while I was there and it was so fun to see some old friends and clients again!

Good old Flag-town!

I hadn't done Kel's 10 year pics --She wanted to hold out and get some graffiti ones in downtown Flag!

Aubs wanted in too!

And truthfully, I didn't even plan his outfit to match perfectly with this cool wall!

We also had to get the babies dressed in the tutus again and do this pic-- Cute Elise wasn't as interested in it this time, but Gracie has gotten used to posing and cheesing it! Can't believe how much she has changed in 9 months! Our baby is growing up!!! Misti- thanks again for EVERYTHING! We'll be back! :)

Spring Break- St. George!

Saturday morning we headed down to St. George to stay with Ry's parents. They have a great place down there near Snow canyon. We were all just so grateful to be in the warm weather and the kids couldn't get enough of the GRASS! They were in heaven! Especially Gracie! She loved running all over the yard!

There is always fun to be had at the pool! The kids (except Grace) loved swimming. Carter has become quite the swimmer and is catching up to his sisters now!

Sunning is always nice when ya can't swim :)

Walking back home with Grandpa!

Daddy and Grandpa went on a hike the last day we were there and then called us on the phone to tell us to come see if we could spot them on the ledge -- We could and the kids loved waving and yelling to them!

Daddy and Grandpa!

A fun day!

So April Fools Day started out great! I made large batches of my "sponge brownies" and cotton ball chocolates-- The kids took a few to school and I shared some with a couple friends :) I was busy most of the day though getting ready for our Spring Break trip to St. George and Flagstaff and also trying to make sure all was packed and clean before Ry flew in that night-- He was gone all week in Boston. I also had a visit from our fence guy Matt who came to spray the cement for our core cuts -- We are getting a fence installed this coming week! :) Later in the afternoon, I received a call from a 303 area code. I almost didn't answer, thinking it was telemarketing, but decided to answer anyway. It was a guy stating that he was calling with Vinyl Industries (the company we are using) and that he needed to go through a couple things with me. He was very professional sounding and the fact that I already had talked to Matt earlier, it made sense that they would be calling about the install. He then went on to say they had found a few issues. I immediately was onto the fact that this could perhaps be a joke, but it was a 303 area code, he sounded legit, and he was talking about property lines. He then told me that they have done some research with the city and discovered that our property on the side of our house, was over by three feet. It is a cement RV pad and that made me sick! Then he went on to ask if we had lived in AZ. I answered that we had, he then asked if I was familiar with Liberty Title Bail Bonds? What in the world????? He asked if Ryan and I had any unfinished legal business there... Of course we didn't! I was getting majorly stressed and sick! I went back to my old collector and management days and asked him to repeat EVERYTHING so I could write it down! He then asked if I wanted to chat with is supervisor--OF COURSE I DO! I was on hold and then ......."This is Mr. Atkinson" is what I heard and that was it!!! I was GOT! Major got! My dear friend Hilary and her DEAR husband had inlisted the help of my husband, neighbors, friends, and Neil's co-workers, to GET ME!!! And they did! It was indeed pretty funny and I had a good laugh! It just makes me love Hil all the more~! And I admit--I deserved it! Good work friends and I still love ya!!!

April Fools!

Those that know me, know that this is one of my FAVORITE days of the year! We had a fun morning at our house and the kids were READY!

Even Gracie got into it! She put these on and kept laughing to herself!

Carter wore these glasses to school and had fun telling them that they were his new glasses!

She was not too sure about these chattering teeth!