Kirsten and Mark

creative title, I know. But, we were pretty low-key this year and didn’t do much. There was a city egg hunt last week that we went to. It was pretty crazy with hundreds of people and about that many kids converging on a field all at the same time! Brit liked getting his eggs though.

I tried to help Britton learn the meaning of the holiday, but I’m not quite sure how well that went. Easter morning:

He liked his basket.

and finding his eggs and putting them in his basket.

Kaia liked her basket too.

Kaia before church. So stinkin’ cute!

He likes her now. I love this picture!

We had dinner with our friends. The food was great and the kids loved playing together. I am so thankful for Easter and the Resurrection and the promise that we have to live again after we die.

so, like a month ago we drove back from California and stayed with my sister in Utah for a few days. As the slacker that I am, I’m just getting to it…

We stopped at my good friend Angie’s house. She used to live in Cedar City, so we’d stop on our drive. She’s now in Sandy, so it was fun to see her new place (though, they’re moving back now, so yay!)

Lexie and Britton are about 5 months apart.

This one is a bit blurry, but I had to include one of Angie and me, so here ya go. Thanks Chez for taking the picture.

The kids with their GiGi, my grandma. They love playing at her house. She still has lots of toys that I played with when I was little. And visiting is always fun.

At cousin Kaylee’s house. She had lots of fun holding Kaia. She’s a good little helper. It was good to see my cousin Cassie and her husband too.

Yes, all this was in one day. Needless to say, as soon as we got in the car Britton and Kaia were completely out. It was fun though. I love seeing friends, but even with jam-packed days, I still didn’t see many people. I need a longer trip.

I saw my good friend Charlene too, and her new baby Andrea who is so sweet, and we had a great visit. I can’t find pictures from it though, so if I didn’t get one, sorry Char! I love you too!

We celebrated Britton’s birthday with my sister and Dad, so he became Cowboy Brit.

In the gear

Ride ‘em cowboy!

He’s like a pro!

Kai Kai and Aunt Shaela.

We had a really good time. Thanks for taking the day off to spend with us Shae. Hope to see you soon!

The day before Britton’s birthday he took cupcakes to his class at school. They looked pretty cool, and the kids liked them, even though I don’t think a lot of them knew what they were.

Right afterward we headed up to Steamboat Springs, a cute ski/outdoor town a few hours away. We rented an SUV because my car was in Cali, and to hold our stuff (Mark’s snowboard) and in case there was snow. It turned out to be a good idea. There was snow on our way in and would’ve been a little scary in either of our cars.

The next day was the birthday. He was excited to open his presents.

He kept asking for/talking about a magnifying glass (he saw them on Sid the Science Kid) so he was thrilled to get one of his own.

He’s LOVING this present. It’s a PBS Kids game that teaches skills in a fun way with characters from the shows. I’m pretty picky about video games and this one is really good. It explains it’s curriculum areas, what the kids learn from each game and how it expands their knowledge. He’s doing really well with it too.

Then it was off to “Ski”

All bundled up and ready to go.

On his little skis…had trouble with balance, so  it was pretty slow going. He just went on big snow drifts and little hills, not the chair lift. There was no way Mark could do it being on a snowboard. And, he was too young for anything other than all day childcare with a 1 hour lesson for $229! No happening. Maybe next year. Though, I was getting a little sad and wished I could ski, but Kaia wouldn’t do so well with that.

Anyway, he had lots of fun “skiing”  and told us it was his favorite part of the day.

After lunch he was EXHAUSTED! We went back to the condo and he took a nice, long nap. Later, he showed off his other favorite present:

His backpack! He’s been talking about one forever. He picked this one out and loves to roll it around.

The rest of our trip was fun. We went to the mineral hot springs in town (AKA, the local pool) and it was great. Kaia just lay there kicking and smiling. I thought she fell asleep on my shoulder for a minute. I think she’ll be my swimmer.

It was great to get away and spend time with just our family with nothing else to do but focus on each other. We haven’t had that in a while. The town was really cute, and we’d love to go back and explore more. I look forward to next year when I can ski. It’s been way too long.

My little girl loves to see everything that’s going on. So, today when I had to go shopping I knew I couldn’t keep her in her infant carrier without a lot of crying.
I decided we would see if she was big enough for the shopping cart…covered by her Sprout Shell of course.
It was a success!

what age did your kids start siting in the shopping cart? She’s almost 6 1/2 months.
We’d love to see any pics of tour little ones using their Sprout Shells too!

Wow, I can’t believe he’s 3 already! Where has the time gone?

A week or so before his birthday we were watching a video of an Angry Birds cake online that a dad made for his kid. Britton saw it and that’s what he wanted. He was sure. For the next week, whenever we mentioned his birthday he said “yeah, and I’m going to have a birthday cake. An Angry Birds cake.” So

We weren’t quite sure how we were going to do it, or when (things have been a little crazy around our place) but we knew we had to do it. I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant online and we set to work.

Mark is a sculpting genius. I made the shapes, he did all the details. Like, seriously?! He could get paid for it. And he’d probably charge less than the $100 than someone charges on Etsy.

Isn’t it cute! We were really happy with how it turned out. Not quite to scale, but had all the pieces  we wanted. Britton loved it!

We had a few friends over for cake. They were pretty impressed.

Happy Birthday to you!

He’s angry.

More from his actual birthday later…and what he’s up to these days.

Mark’s grandpa Floyd Schwab passed away a few weeks ago. I only met him once, at our wedding reception, but he was a very nice man. We loved getting the birthday and Christmas cards he sent.

Mark was able to go out to the funeral in Michigan and spend time with his family. All 10 of his cousins were there–a first since I’ve known him. They had a good time, despite the sad circumstances.

The cousins…

The sisters…Jackie, Kay, Denise, Lin, Karen

Mark, his mom, Sister Sara, and baby boy (yay!)

We’re sad to have you go Grandpa. We love you!

Kaia met her “friend” Sophia last month. They’re born a few weeks apart. Sophia’s mom was my roommate when I first moved to LA.

Cute little girls!

Best buddy Mav’s birthday. The balloons were a hit!

B and his buddy Max outside the aquarium

AMC friends. So cute, huh?!

We love our friends, and are happy that we can come visit them often!

My Nana passed away in 2001. Every year on her  birthday, my mom and her sisters get together to celebrate. This year I happened to be in town and we went to Duke’s in Huntington Beach because she liked to go there.

Mom, Tracy, Auntie Pat

Chezney, Mom, Britton

Mom, Kaia, Tracy

We had a fun night with some great food, and a really great waiter. That’s always nice to have!

Happy Birthday Nana. I miss you and love you!

One Saturday we went to the Butterfly Pavillion…but it is so much more. There were spiders, bees, bugs and fish!

He climbed up all by himself!

It was a lot of fun for Britton, and we liked it too. Definitely some place we can go again.

Somehow, this got saved as a draft…

Well, not exactly, because she’s had some in a bottle, but her first spoon feeding.

Getting ready!

Hum...

I think it's good.