Easter Weekend 2014

.this year, we didn't really have set plans. There was a few things we had to get done, but we were both on different schedules.

.andrew was asked to go on the "trek" for the day. He sat around most the day, and set up tables and chairs for everyone to eat pizza.... Real. "Trek" ish right? So I couldn't count on him all day. (He was gone 8:30-6). It just so happened we had traded someone days to clean the building and it was the same day as the trek. I just told Andrew I would go with the kids alone and get it done. So we woke up, ate breakfast, changed, and headed to the church to clean . Surprisingly the kids were good and allowed me to clean the small bathroom, clean windows, and set up chairs in the primary room.

.cleaning the church took a little longer than Planned. We had planned to meet Kailee, Ella and Treyden at a Easter egg hunt over by Andrews work, but I was afraid we would miss it. So I opted to run to the dollar store , grab stuff for 2 dozen eggs and lunch and went back to the church to participate with some ward families doing one. We brought a dozen eggs per kid , they were separated by age group, and each kid got to find 12 eggs . Afterwards they played outside in the field for a few hours . It was a beautiful day.

.i called another friend, and asked if she wanted to meet up still. (we had prior plans, but it didnt work out)....she said sure and drove over to my house. We decided to meet at a church beforehand and see what they had to offer for some Easter fun for our kids. I had received an invite on my door, so frankly it would be rude not to go.

.we walked into this tiny room with crafts for the kids, face painting for the lds, cookies and water, and a band/d.j. Station. The girls colored and decorated form purses and Easter eggs. Parker did wAter colors. B got her face painted, and my friend won a pre-made Easter basket in the ruffle drawing (free ). Score!

.the kids finished with an egg hint outside. Divided up in their age group. They had tons of fun. we came back to the house, let the kids play, and we relaxed and talked. it was so much fun. 

.that night andrew came home from his campout. he was WORN out. i finished up some primary stuff, and than set up easter baskets, and our bunny left footprints all over the house.

.in the morning, the kids came down and found their baskets, and played with their stuff all morning. we had breakfast. went to church, came home and ate leftovers (yes, you read that right...leftovers....i didnt do anything fancy over here.) we dyed easter eggs (kids first time) but my kids REFUSED to eat a hard boiled egg. lol. 

.it was a great easter. i was worn out, but it was a ton of fun, and i loved how my hubby doesnt expect anything all fancy, because i just wasnt feeling it. instead we rocked our p.j.s almost the entire day and let the kids destroy the house while we relaxed. 

 puffy apple pancakes...we added dye to ours...

 .best of brooklynn....easter 2014.

the best of parker....easter 2014

 .b took this selfie of her and parker.

 .best of these two together....easter 2014.

.easter is exhausting, 

.love and basketball.

.i love basketball.

.especially now, that im a mom.

.its my out. my MUCH needed out.

.in high school i began to develop a hate for basketball.

.part of it, was the drama between my best friend and me. part of it was my baby sister being better than me and taking my spot. part of it was just not being fun anymore.

.i was offered a scholarship to a local college. and i was too stubborn to take it. i was in my high school snobby/drama days and when senior year came around, i didnt really have a love for basketball anymore. so a scholarship wasnt even appealing to me.

.i could never pin the real reason i went from being a die heart ball player, so absolutely hating it my senior year. loosing a friendship over it for many years was definitely a factor, and my baby sister playing over me really sucked...but what made it drastically change.

.sunday night- i was beat. i was so tired, and could not wait for bedtime. when the time finally came i fell into a deep sleep. it felt so good. and my dream had me wake up in tears.

.there i was living life, when she visited me from heaven.

.my best friend, petey.

.she was still beautiful as i remembered, and still bouncing off the walls with her bubbly personality. we hung out all day long and talked and talked, just like old times. it became dark, and there we were just talking and catching up when she asked "why did you stop playing basketball? why did you not pursue the sport you loved so much?"

.i sat in silence. why, would she ask that? why would we waste our time talking about that?"

."tash. common, why do you not love basketball anymore? what made you grow to hate it?"

.i sat there for a minute, with tears running down my face.

.and than it hit me.

.some of my favorite memories of basketball, was with her.

.and now....she was gone.

.as i expressed this to petey, you could see the hurt in her eyes.

"tash, thats not a reason to stop. that should give you a reason to continue with it. it should give you a reason to play harder, and love it more. because everytime you play it, you love it. and it brings back memories of some of the best times."

.and than i woke up.

.she was right.

.finally. it all made sense.

.it felt "wrong" to play without her. 

.it was on that court, where i met petey for the first time. the basketball court was where we played many many games. and had many many practices. we also stayed up too many nights working on our t-shirts to wear at the boys basketball games. to cheer on our boyfriends at the time. we spent a lot of our summers together as basketball camp, after basketball camp. basketball was a ton of fun because she was apart of it, and so were a ton of our memories.

.there was one time we were at the back of the bus (after she had passed) and my best friend was complaining that coach still had not got her a movie she asked him to put together of her highlights....he told her that he was working on putting together a video of petey playing, for her parents.

.after he walked back to the front of the bus, i wont ever forget what she said next..."

"why does he care about getting that video together? she is dead and i am alive, and i need the video now."

.the words struck and stung SO bad, and for many many years. i was pissed. and our friendship grew far apart. and with that distance, basketball was more drama than anything, and i hated it.

.i coached the freshman team for a year. i absolutely loved it. it was the first time in a LONG time, i started to start falling in love with basketball again. it almost felt like i was living through the girls, as they learned how to correctly shoot, how to dribble, how to break a press, and how correctly running a play will put points up on the scoreboard. but more than that, i LOVED seeing the friendships they created. the close knit "family" they were. i saw many "miracles" through this basketball team. and they taught me how important it is to forgive, to forget and to move forward. basketball started becoming important again in my life.

.and than we moved to rexburg. my sister talked me into playing basketball once a week for the rec teams. and guess who i invited to play on our team with us. my best friend, who i grew distant to for almost 3 years. and we had a total blast. and i continued to play with her for a years following. and every time i played i fell more and more in love with basketball. 

.basketball was more than a sport for me. it was somewhere i learned the value of hard work. where i learned about teamwork. it was a somewhere i met my best friend, and shared some of my most valued memories with her. basketball was where i saw God work many miracles for my freshman team, and when Petey passed away. basketball allowed me to teach my young freshman not only how to dribble, and shoot. but more importantly, how important it was to create a team, who would rely on each other, and create friendships that would last a lifetime. basketball taught me to forgive, and to love again.

.where did march go.

.my gosh. 

.this year is just flying by. and im not quite sure what to do about it. 

.im going to have a 3 year old in 26 days and my little man will turn 2 -two and a half months later.

.craZy.

.march has been good to us. we have been figuring out family plans for this upcoming summer, and christmas. booking flights. registering for 5k's and considering ragnars. with family plans comes booking flights...and paying off those flights. so we have been hanging at home, or doing cheap/free entertainment and having some much needed family time. 

.at the beginning of this month andrew had another campout with the scouts. i survived the night alone on 4 hours of sleep, and met up with our good friends kailee and trent and their kids at seaworld saturday morning. thank goodness they let us tag along. we stayed for about 4-5 hours and came home, cleaned the house, and than andrew got home. it helped make the day go by faster, and it totally wore the kids out/and entertained them.

.the kids had one HELL of a time, turning into one HELL of a day for me. I called andrew and told him he was getting off work early and he was taking me out to dinner. i had already set up a babysitter and had my bags packed for the rest of the month to get away....alright, not totally. but we ended up going out on a day and away. MUCH needed. here is what my little monsters did in ONE day.

It's been "one of those days" that it's safer to have both kids take a shower with you, than leave them playing in the game room. Today they have 

**decorated their bathroom with 3/4 a bottle of baby powder

**sprinkled "confetti" aka 200 mini rubber bands in with the baby powder

**made a "pool" in the bathroom sink and drew artwork all over the mirror I just cleaned with their grubby hands

**got ahold of candy and probably down 15 pieces each before finding them

**gotten ahold of play-doh and scissors and cut it in mini pieces all over the tile and tracked it up a few steps and in their blankets. 

**came to me with RED hands saying "it won't come off" to find she thought it would be awesome to play with food dye

**drew on the back of their new chairs (luckily with washable markers)

Needless to say they are now playing in the tub behind me while I get ready for a DEMANDED date with the hubs. 

Amanda- my the force be with you as you watch my two monsters. 

.of course with it being march, it meant MARCH madness. i stayed up WAY too many nights watching the basketball games. b stayed up WAY too many of those nights right along with me. there was one weekend andrew and i were just grumpy with one another. i said i was leaving to run errands. i ran a couple, picked up lunch and milkshakes and came home and watched some basketball games. parker has already learned. he was GLUED to the tv watching basketball, and would NOT share any of the milkshake. just like his mommy.

.we had the carpet i scored for cheap installed in our family room, and guest bedroom. our living arrangements were changed up a bit, and everything was squeezed in the kitchen. 

.it was our turn to watch our friends kids for 4-5 hours (since they did it for us the month before) and she texted me the night before saying she didnt think she could do it. she was stressed about her little man not taking a bottle or eating any rice cereal and him starving. i reassured her he would be fine, and really all was going to be swell. HE WAS GREAT. no crying. he was happy. he played and played. we took all 4 kids to chick fli a for lunch and ice cream. you should of seen the looks we got when we walked in with (2) almost 3 year olds (1) almost 2 year old and (1) 5 month old. Hil.ar.ious. we also fell in love more with our van as we loaded all of us up. it was such a breeze. i could totally have 2 more...but still need another year...or two...or possibly 3 years.

.andrew got recognized at work again. we are SO proud of him. he works 50 hour weeks as a normal now-a-days and still spends time with his family. he barely works weekends too. he is usually out the door by 6:45am and home by 6:30. we enjoy sleeping in together on the weekends. anyways....when we came home and told me he got recognized at work, i told him we were going out to celebrate for FHE and use the rest of our cold stone gift card. 

.this last week, my friend kailee and i went a little crazy. we had TWO big days in a row. one day we met up at the zoo and took the kids from 4 hours. the kids had a lot of fun, and she could get us in for FREE. they had a little petting zoo and the kids got to brush the goats.

.the following day we met up at seaworld and survived that. poor kailee lost ella at one point while i was in taking b to the bathroom. i saw the worry on her face and KNEW that she was panicking trying to find ella. been there. awful. your gut drops down to the pit of your stomach and you just want to vomit with how sick you are that you cant find them. we did find her. poor ella was scared and cried, as kailee did too as she hugged her tight. but, we did survive and called it a day soon after that. we still had a really fun time, and alway love hanging out with them.

.while we were at seaworld, my other friend, mandy, called to ask if i wanted march madness tickets. of course!!! i called andrew to tell him i would be picking him up for a date night. i found a babysitter last minute, and off we went. we spent WAY too much money that night. but it was something i have ALWAYS wanted to do. i LOVED the experience of being there and being with good friends, and watching some march madness basketball. i was in HEAVEN. besides paying for parking (puke). seriously, if andrew every needed an idea for my birthday...hello march madness the next month. i LOVE watching college basketball.

.i threw a favorites party at my house last weekend. it.was.a.blast. we had 20 other ladies over and ate cafe rio and shared our "favorites things". so much fun. of course. i worked on a few easter crafts to have up for it, as well, as got my curtains up. (thanks to my very good friend denise for doing them for me and saving my buns.) i LOVE them and they just make the room so much more inviting. i think the family room is finally how i want it, now to move onto other rooms of the house....slowly. 

.saturday andrew helped a guy move for almost all day. so i took the kids to a carnival fundraiser for a local school. b got her face painted (and than my phone died). they played games, they ate pizza, they ate snocones, they had cotton candy, played more games, won cupcakes, jumped in the bounce house. it was fun. we met up with andrew, helped them for a bit, and than took off. than i left the kids with andrew and went with 2 of my favorite people ever and ran a 5k. (i barely had a voice beginning with the race...and sunday i had NO voice. it was pathetic.) we had SO much fun though. im seriously thinking about running a ragnar with my friend stephanie.

.ragnar- different types...this one is a trail ragnar. basically you and 7 other people on your team run a total of 120 miles in 24 hours. you camp and take turns running. you end up running a total of 15 miles....3 miles, than 5, than 7 all throughout the 24 hour period and taking turns with others on your team. we will see if i end of doing it. im mixed about it. 

.our new drive.

.the last week of february we had planned to "swap" with our friends kids for a day so we could each have a date. andrew had planned the date and i had NO idea what he had planned. i just know we were going to be gone for 4-5 hours.

.off we left. driving to our friends house. we pulled up and andrew noticed our hood was smoking....awesome....not. we dropped off the kids and barely made our way 2 miles to the closest auto store to get coolant. hoping that would solve the problem. . . than we saw an express lube shop literally IN THE PARKING LOT. so off we drove across the parking lot.

.guy at the express lube said the EXACT thing happened to his car and it was a blown head gasket and would cost over 1,000 to fix. fabulous.

.we missed our lunch reservation, and after hearing that, andrew said, "so....taco bell?" lol. we went to carls jr instead of this nice fancy italian resturant he had reservations for. he also had planned to go look at cars, so we would know what we wanted, and how much it was going to be, and how much we would have to save. HA! lucky us, we were car shopping for real.

.we looked at dodge carvans, toyota siennas, Chrysler town and country, but my gosh....i fell in LOVE with the honda odysessy. We looked at 2008's, 2010's, and 2012. I told andrew i would NEVER buy a mini van, and he told me living in texas he was NEVER going to buy an SUV. We drove the 2012 honda odysessy and i absolutely LOVED it. it was smooth, the turn radius was fabulous, low low miles, SO much room, and SO many awesome little "knicks" about it. the pricetag was not my friend. we went home to sleep on it for 2 nights, and just let everything process. the dealership put it on "hold" over the weekend to let us think about it.

.monday came around, after much talking, debating, finances looking, thinking, we found ourselves monday evening buying the van. although it was MUCH more than what we expected. we both feel blessed that i have a safe and reliable car, room to GROW, low miles, and we just LOVE it. with the push of a button, i have doors sliding open, the back popping open, no cars next to us getting hit, the kids happy, my seats flatten into the floor. all the options....we just love. we celebrated spending a TON of money with dinner to chick fli a so the kids could play, and ice cream at cold stone! 

.so we are proud owners of the 2012 toyota sienna. and we LOVE it. road trips are definitely happening next year, and the kids and i already have planned to drive to arizona in december. 

 ...and what is this you might ask....just keep looking....

 .my cute mom sent the kids valentines with a dollar in it. the kids were SO excited to go pick out their very own candy. 

 .without hesitation b picked out sour patch when we went to pay she gave me the candy and the dollar, i paid and handed her the candy, she quickly said "HEY! i want my money back!" i said, b you used the money to pay for your candy.....she whined and said with a frown, under her breath, "but i really want my money back" and walked away. it was HIL-AR-I-OUS.

 .thanks to my friend i have gained a ton of weight. she told me about v-day candy being .95 cents bag. i HAD to get some. this is candy i DO NOT share with anyone.

 morning cuddles. 

 .this boy LOVES to throw his blanket down on my chest and lay there. he is ADORABLE.

 .oh the smiles these kids whip out when they have ice cream.

 .the same friend who told me about the candy, knew i bought it and hid it from andrew for a day or two. (because, hello i spend $15 on candy!) and than she got me this. 

 .ta-da! my st patrick banner. i have another on my fireplace and have clovers hanging down from the hooks shown.

 .the day we went car shopping our friends took the kids. trent took ella and b out to ride horses, get their faces painted, a bounce house, etc. they are FABULOUS. b LOVED her face painted and STILL talks about it to this day.

 .our new ride.

 .riding a horse.

 .oh yea, they got balloon monkeys too.

 .b girl.

 .celebrating at cold stone.

 .we LOVE it. 

.and guess what?!? it had ALREADY hauled carpet. i scored 825 square feet of BRAND NEW carpet and padding (couple bought a BRAND NEW house, and wanted hardwood so they pulled up this carpet and padding and sold it for dirt cheap)....anyways. i scored 825 square feet of carpet and padding for $100 and it all fit in the van. when b had to ride in her dad's car she cried and cried. 

.next up-march- and what we have been up to.