Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter 2010

Happy Easter! We spent the weekend at the cabin and here are the details of our weekend:



There was lots of snow when we got there thanks to a couple of big storms that week. First order of business: Build a snow cave.

Rease and Josh spent the morning digging a snow cave out of the big pile of snow gathered right by the front door.

Rease helped with her "tiny shovel."

Then everyone elsed joined in at tried to sqeeze into the small space. Hayley had this great idea to get the whole family inside the cave. This is how many people actually fit - yeah right thinking that all of us could fit!





After building the cave, Rease relaxed out back watching the river. When Grammie saw these pictures later she said, "you left her by the river all by herself? She could have fallen in!" I guess she didn't notice the fence between Rease and the river.



Rhen couldn't figure out how to go down this one stair...

So she would just stand there and yell until someone rescued her. Papa tried teaching her to just sit and then scoot down the stair but she never caught on.

This is how excited Josh was to take a picture with me. I asked him to stand by me for a picture and he pulled this face so I am posting it for all to see!

Breakfast one morning. Don't we all look like gems!

Papa has started playing the whistle game with Rease - here he is in action.

After breakfast Rease jumped into bed with Aunt Steph and Uncle Justin.

Then she found Uncle Caleb and snuggled with him.

Uncle Caleb practiced the piano while we were there and taught Rhen a few tricks too.

Rhen had a blast with the easter eggs. Grammie had these eggs that talk and Rhen loved them.


Papa gave us girls the charge of filling the easter eggs. So that's what we did.


Rease had to open and close them by herself. She had to concentrate so hard to do it but she was a good helper.





We didn't let Rhen fill the eggs but she had a fun time playing with them.



And eating them.

Spoon eyes. Trying to keep the girls entertained at the restaurant.

Grandpa Beutler taught Rhen the trick of sneaking the whipped cream.

I see the evidence on your face little girl!

Coloring eggs. Rease was amazed with the clear crayon. When she first used it she said, "Mommy this crayon is broken."


This is the end result - pretty nice looking eggs!
Easter morning. The Easter bunny came and left plenty of fun things for all of us.
Rease picked these "princess and the frog" sunglasses out at the store the other day. I snuck them into the cart before she could see them. I thought I got away with it until she saw them in her basket and said, "Hey mom thanks for getting the sunshine glasses I saw." No fooling her!
Rhen looking cute as a bunny! Showing her Lip "Snackers" as she calls it.
Josh got this new coat and Rhen a new sippy cup. We are trying to wean her from the bottle and get her into sippy cups. So far we aren't having much luck. She just loves her bottle. Showing off her new shades. Why is it that kids always put things on backward, upside or inside out. I mean it's a 50, 50 shot at getting it right. Right? Well Rease always takes the wrong 50 and constantly has shoes on the wrong feet or pants on backward - just like here upside down is the way to go!
Rhen just finding some time to relax on the couch.
Just sneaking a try at the sunglasses.
Easter weekend was awesome too because we got to watch conference right in the middle of it all. It was a perfect way to relax and celebrate the meaning of the season.
We had to get one last picture before we left. You may notice that there are no pictures of the egg hunt. That's because we were planning on doing it Sunday morning and then overnight it snowed about 6 inches so we postponed it until another time. This is the way we left the cabin - lots of snow everywhere!
Making our way to the dumpster. We were so packed in the car that Josh decided to just hang onto it until we got to the dumpster. By the time we got to the bottom though his hand was asleep from holding it this way.
Another fun weekend together with the fam!

Bear Lake

Last weekend we took a trip to Bear Lake to stay at Greg's cabin. There wasn't a lot of snow left but we did run into a storm on the way up - just enough to settle in and have a relaxing weekend doing whatever we wanted.
Hayley and Caleb cooked breakfast one morning
and Rhen waited patiently for her food.


We found time to read...
and watch movies together. I'm not sure why but Rease prefers being in just her panties - even in the wintertime.
Rhen sneaks into the bathroom when we're not watching and instead of playing in the toilet, she now likes the soap. Notice she ditched the pretzel and went straight for the bar of soap.

I found her in the same place the next day...
And now she's so mad that she can't have it anymore.
There was plenty of time to sleep
And play games
Hayley and I spent one night doing a puzzle - 500 pieces all in one night!
We did take some time to leave the cabin and grab something to eat in town. The little mexican restaurant was happy to see a party of 8 walk through the door. This is not their busy season I guess. Betsy and the kids came for part of the day and Rease had so much fun with her cousins.
The older girls did a little easter egg hunt for the young ones...

Rease was happy with her loot.
We were so tuckered out by the end of the weekend.
Thanks for a fun weekend everyone! And thanks to Greg for letting us stay and relax!

Girls night

A few weeks ago Josh went to Arizona with his mission buddies to see their mission president. We took advantage of our time alone and had a girls night with Aunt Hayley. We made dinner, watched movies, made bows and had a good old time together.

Rease modeled for us and this is the end result of our fun girls night out.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

First Prayer

Papa asked Rease to say the prayer this morning. Normally when she is asked she says, "No daddy can do it." We have been trying to have her say them by herself but she always likes someone to whisper in her ear and help her. Today when papa asked her she went through the same routine so I started whispering in her ear.
This is how the prayer went.
Mommy (whispering): Heavenly Father.
Rease: Heavenly Father.
Mommy (whispering): We're thankful for this day.
Rease: Day. (She only says the last one or two words of the line.)
Mommy (whispering): We're thankful for this food.
Rease: Mommy I can do it myself.
Mommy: Okay go ahead.
Rease: Heavenly Father. Thankful for today. Thankful for food. Mommy what's next?
Mommy (whispering): Thankful that we can work today.
Rease: No I can do it myself!
Mommy: Okay
Rease: Heavenly Father. Thankful for today. Thankful for food. Heavenly Father. Thankful for food. Thankful for day.... (long pause)
Mommy: Thankful that we ca...
Rease: Mommy I can do it myself!
Mommy: Okay
Rease: Heavenly Father. Thankful for today. Thankful for food. Heavenly Father. Amen.
Perfect prayer Rease!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Computer skills

Grammie recently got a new laptop and has been learning how to use it for emails and blogs and such. Apparantly Rease has also started learning how to use it and I caught her giving Papa a lesson the other night.
"So this is how you open it and then you set it on your lap like this to use it."

"Then when you want to write something, you push these little buttons here."

"And it's just that easy!"

"What do you think Papa? Want to give it a try?"

Bon Appetit!

Grammie and Papa got this cute kitchen set for Christmas for their house and it has become Rease's favorite thing to play with. She is always "cooking" something for us and it is of course always delicious! She comes around with a notepad of some sort and asks "what do you want?" and then makes our meals to order - anything from pancakes and eggs to spaghetti and meatballs. Her specialty is hot chocolate and she makes us a cup at least one time a night. Thanks for feeding us so well Rease! Is this why I've put on a few extra pounds this winter?

Sunday, March 14, 2010

1 year stats

One year stats:
Height: 31.1 in - 95%
Weight: 21.05 lbs - 46%
Head: 18.2 in - 81%
This girl is a string bean!