Rabbits, snakes and lizards

Here is a tid bit of info not all of you know about me. I grew up in a household of all sorts of animals! I love everything and we always had guinea pigs, rats, bunnies, lizards, snakes, birds, tarantula, fish, dog and cats. On Easter I love getting pictures of my kids with the bunny they have now "Fez". My parents have trimmed down a lot as we have grown but they still have a corn snake, a bunny, cat and dog.

The snake is kept in the kids bathroom and Kate always loves to look at him. When Sean noticed he promptly took him out for her to see. She liked him but got a little nervous when she saw his head for some reason.

He made poor Christina (his girlfriend) hold it-she is a good sport!

Ok so I have a cute story to tell about my little Sam. We had an Iguana in the family room in a mesh cage that my dad had built that was like 3 feet long. The stupid thing liked to climb to the lid and try to get out. One day I was being a bad big sister, I was supposed to be babysitting Sam and I was but I was also taking a nap on the couch when he woke me up yelling fire,fire! I sat up to see that the Iguana had knocked his heat lamp down and it had caught the newspapers on fire! (just a little one) I do not know what I was thinking but I yelled at him to go get some water (I think he was about 3) he ran to the kitchen got a tiny cereal bowl filled it with water ran back to me handed me the almost empty bowl (spilling it from running) and ran his little body right out the front door leaving me to save the house! I have to admit the Iguana went to a new home shortly after that!

All Dressed Up

I remember as a kid coming home from church on holidays and having to stay in our church clothes for just a little bit while we set up the camera on the tri pod to get a family picture. This year I decided to bring my camera to church and after sacrament (our meetings are backwards) anyone who wanted a family snapshot met me outside for one! I just deleted Mindy's family picture! I am so sorry Mindy I am at a friends house and when I get home I will add it back on!

Easter Morning

Looks like the Easter Bunny came! They each got new books and bathing suits! Dylan was very excited and we left Kate alone for a couple minutes and found she had opened an egg and shoved every piece of candy in her mouth including the egg wrapped in foil!

Lemon Curd

I have seen this on a couple blogs and got the brilliant idea to make a ton of it and package it cutely and pass some out to all the women in my ward on Easter Sunday. It was pretty easy except I always decide to do things like this last minute. It started Friday I made some to smear in between a lemon cake I made for our dinner on Sunday and thought it would be cute to share because I did not need very much! Anyway my hunt for a cute and inexpensive way to store it in was the trickiest part. I had wanted tiny glass jars with lids but could only find a few and they were .99 and i needed about 40 so walking through Michaels I saw the terra cotta pots on sale for 3 for .99 much better! I put the lemon curd in a dixie bathroom cup and then in the pot covered with a clear wrap tied with a bow and matching label on top. Here is the recipe:

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1T grated lemon zest

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter

In a saucepan combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat (if the heat is too high the eggs will curdle). Cook 6-10 min and occasionally whisk until thick enough to hold marks from the whisk (about the consistency of pudding- it will thicken more as it sits after done cooking, I found I kept cooking to get it thicker and then the eggs would curdle anyway)

It can stay in the fridge for about 3 months. Spread on your favorite cake, in between layers of a cake or on a piece of toast! Enjoy!

1st Sack lunch

On Friday Dylan was able to bring a sack lunch to school because they were going to walk to a park and have an Easter egg hunt and eat lunch with his classmates! This is probably a good indication on how I am going to be every time he enters a new stage in his life! Not good! I can not believe I am going to have a five year old soon! He is growing up to fast!

Decorating Easter Eggs

On Thursday we went to Sara's house to hang out, decorate eggs and go on a walk. We had a ton of fun watching Dylan do all the work!
Kate just ate the whole time- sometimes that girl is a never ending pit!


He was so proud of his work! Great job Dylan!
Ellinor was having fun watching!

Easter Gift from Gigi and Papa

We received a package the other day from The Popcorn Factory and Gigi and Papa! Inside there were twelve popcorn ball eggs and frosting and lots of candies to decorate them. On the first day of spring Brett had us over for a bbq and egg hunt, so we brought them as an activity for all the kids to do. They had a ton of fun! Thanks Gigi and Papa! We love you lots!

Weekend Getaway

Marc and I have not been on any type of vacation together since before Dylan was born. I know pretty sad and I have to admit it is mainly my fault- I always want to bring my babies with me! So we decided once Kate was done breast feeding (which was in January, so it still took me a little to plan) we would leave them with Grandma and Pops and go to Glenwood Springs for a long weekend. We left on a Friday and came home on Sunday. We had a wonderful time visiting the hot springs pools, eating out, shopping, and sleeping in. I have always wanted to try the Hanging Lake hike so we had decided to go on Saturday as our activity. Marc had done research on the internet and said it was suppose to be an easy hike, so when we got there and I saw this sign I was a little freaked out! I am incredibly out of shape! We decided to give it a try. It was straight up and so snow packed it was a sheet of ice! Right before you get to the top it is a big incline right up against the mountain and there are guard rails to hold on to but the snow was as high as the rails. I look up and see an elderly couple on their bums cursing with an English accent trying to slide down the mountain! We had to climb over to the side to let them by and all I kept thinking was, I am going to break my first bone at age 30! I have a very active imagination! Anyway it was well worth it, and I want to go back this summer! In case you are wondering I only slid twice on the way down but caught myself both times!

Difficult?!?! I kept saying to Marc, he kept asking me do you want to go back?



This was at the top. The water was so blue and crystal clear, very pretty!

There was a little hike to this spot, a hole in the rock with water spilling out.
This is how incredibly clear the water was! Fish everywhere! Thank you dad for my macro lens! I love getting so close to the wildlife!

These sheep were on the side of the highway on our way back to the hotel! So cool to see all the wildlife outside the Zoo.

Dylan and Kate had fun with Aunt Wendy on Friday and Grandma and Pops the rest of the weekend. Dylan got to go to the Museum of Nature and Science with Grandma and Pops and no Kate! Thank you very much!

Happy (late) St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! We hope Leprechaun's did not do too much damage at your homes! We had the Schafer's all over on Sunday for the traditional dinner of red potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and corned beef. It was yummy! Wendy made rolls and dessert kind of like oreos with green frosting. Monday Marc and I got to attend a grown up party with a friend of mine from the Gap and meet all the boys for a little afterwards! Thanks Audrey it was a night much needed!


Goofy Ben and Hannah!
They are Shamrocks- can you tell?
The proud fort that I was instructed to leave up until the next time they came over, so far so good but I do not know for how long Marc can go without his chair!

Who wouldn't want to live here?

So yesterday (Saturday) it reached 73 and so we went to the zoo with Sara Josh and Elinor. Apparently everyone in Denver was outside! Wash Park was the busiest I have ever seen it and the Zoo was extremely crowded. Once we parked and got inside it was fine but finding the parking space now that was tricky! We had a great time and afterwards went to Lil Ollie's for dinner. Thanks Sara and Josh it was great spending time with you guys!



And then this morning this is what my back yard looked like! Can you believe it?! All of the snow had finally melted and now everything is covered again! It is also a very wet sloppy snow not the good kind to go play in. The temp is 25 and it is still snowing! Huge change from yesterday!

Beautiful Friday Afternoon

Friday afternoon Marc took the kids down to the park. I cleaned up around the house a little bit and realized that this was Kate's first trip to the park not being an infant so I grabbed my camera and met them just as the sun was starting to set. She loved the rocks and the swings, and all the dogs that she could watch play. So I have found out how to upload more than 5 pictures which is fun for me but now you have a lot more to scroll through-sorry!

I love in this one that you have mine and Marc's shadows in the background

What a handsome husband and Daddy!