Easter Weekend Fun

Where to begin? First of all I apologize that this is so long, but again, you can skim and skip to read what you want, but again, this is for our family history and journal, so thanks for bearing with me!

Saturday was the first day after two weeks of being sick that I felt somewhat better, so we decided to take advantage of Josh's day off and go have some fun. We started the morning (I mean 12:00 pm hehe) off by going to IHOP for some silver dollar pancakes! We then set out for a huge day of shopping. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Earlier, I had gathered up all of the gift cards that we have received over the years. We're not very good at remembering we have them, and they sit in our wallets! So, we pulled some out that we got for our wedding 3 YEARS AGO! We had some to Walmart, Babies R Us, JC Penney, Dillards, Subway, Hobby Town, Old Navy, Express, Blockbuster, Cold Stone and more! We thought it was time to get going on them!

Well, we decided to hit Walmart first. We had no idea how much was on the cards so we went to customer service to find out. They were so old that they couldn't pull it up so we had to call their customer service line. Well, one had $10 on it, but the other card, to our surprise, had a whoppin' $100 on it! WHOO HOO!!! Seriously...we had no idea! We were dying! So, we went and got some plastic Easter eggs and a couple bags of candy eggs to hide. But our greatest blessing in all of this, is that I've been worrying about our computers gong out and me losing all of our pics and videos. I have tried to copy the videos we have onto CDs with no luck. It keeps telling me the format is wrong, so my dad suggested we buy a back up hard drive. Well, they're about $100. So, we decided that this was a sign that we were supposed to buy it! hehe :). No, really, I can't tell you the peace of mind I have now that all of my pics and videos are safe!

After Walmart, we headed to Babies R Us and we spent it on Diaper bags so we don't have to run the diapers outside after every change! yeah! Then we went to Toys R Us and we decided with the gift card we wanted to get Holden a walker. We found the walker we wanted and then we noticed they were having a sale buy one get one free on any Fisher Price Toy! So, because his walker was Fisher Price, we got to choose any Toy under $20 for FREE!!!! Man this was DEFINITELY our day! We had some money left so we went to the board game section! Guess what, another buy one get one half off! So, we got Taboo and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader DVD Game. I'll just say this, we've played it and Josh is not smarter than a fifth grader and neither am I! hehe Although, I did win one game! Fun stuff! Now we just gotta find people to Play Taboo with us!

After that we went to Subway and after a half hour wait ERRRR!- we got our lunch! Then we went to Hobby Town and found Settlers. We were sad to give up on our old Settlers game that is lost somewhere in this great wide world. We have no idea at whose house we left it. So, we finally broke down and decided to buy it again. We spent the night covering the back of every piece with rubber backing so they don't slide around. Needless to say, after doing that we did NOT feel like playing it! hehe

After Hobby Town, we (rather Holden) had had enough. I was so surprised that Holden was so good for those four hours we were shopping. We decided to head home to check out our spoils! My plan was to do an Easter Hunt, but I was honestly beat, so we just spent the night relaxing and playing 5th Grader.

Sunday morning we got up, I finished some stuff for primary music time, we got ready and man, it was a rough morning. We got to church not early, not 5 minutes late, but 15 minutes late. The whole morning I was ranting how I didn't want to be late...and what'd ya know? I'm late. UGH! But we were able to enjoy a beautiful meeting. The choir sang a descant to I Know That My Redeemer Lives while the congregation sang the chorus and it was beautiful! The spirit was amazing! It was also my first week of being back to church after 2 weeks of being sick, so I think maybe I was extra emotional. After being gone from church, you realize how beautiful and what a blessing it is to be able to go every week.

We headed home, picked up some things and had an amazing visit from our Home Teachers. We love them so much and can't wait every month until they come! They are wonderful to talk to and then they always bring the spirit into our home so strongly with their beautiful lessons. Thanks to Bro. Holdsworth and Bro. Hilton for your time especially on Easter. Sorry to Liliana for keeping your husband over a half an hour! :))

After the home teachers left, we decided to play Easter bunny and got the baskets ready and Josh put Holden's walker together. I then found the song Here Comes Peter Cottontail on the internet and played it to wake up Holden from his nap! (Thanks to Kim for calling in the morning and singing it to me bringing back many wonderful memories!) I had to pass on the memories of my mom singing it to us growing up!

We put Holden's bunny ears on and brought him out. He loved his walker and his Easter Egg basket. I hid little eggs around the house and with some help he found them all and was so smart and good to grab them and then put them right into his Easter basket and not in his mouth! hehe He did try to quickly sneak one or two when we weren't looking, and when I would catch him, he would just start to laugh. So cute! He knew he was playing a game trying to see if we could catch him!

We then dyed some Easter eggs, some glitter, and some camouflage. I'm not very good and dying eggs...I'll just admit right now. Oh well, they turned out colored and that's all that matters!

After our egg dying session, we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather outside so we wanted to to an egg hunt with the plastic eggs outside. We went outside and Wongs had already FILLED the yard with their eggs and it looked like they had a ton of company at their house. So, we decided to go to a nearby field to hide them. It was nice and quiet. We took blankets, and I sat with Holden while Josh "hid" the eggs in the grass. You can imagine they were all in plain sight! Holden had fun picking up the eggs and then later opening them all. We then walked on the path with him. He was just excited to be outside. We read some books and by that time it was getting chilly so we decided to call it a day. We came home and all crashed and took naps! It was a beautiful day. It was such a blessing to be with my husband and baby. We were sad not to see our family but I didn't want to give anyone what I've had this past 2 weeks, so we tried to make the best of it and it turned out lovely. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Update City!

Okay, so I've been a little...well..you can probably guess. Sick! Yeah, it's that time of year for me to get the horrible cold/flu that I get just about every year. This year was a little worse I have to admit. I got sick on a Friday, and on Wed. I went to the doctor and he told me I had pneumonia. Not fun. There isn't a lot of medicine I can take right now with the bun in the oven, except for some medicated cough syrup to help with the symptoms a little. Luckily, Josh was able to take the whole week off to stay home and take care of Holden. I quarantined myself in my bedroom, petrified of passing something on to Josh. It is now 13 days later and I'm just now feeling just about normal now. I still have a sore throat, but I'll take it! There were so many good friends that jumped to my rescue...once again bringing dinner and offers to take Holden!

I felt really bad because my sister and her husband and kids made a surprise trip here from Washington to spend the week. They stayed in Salt Lake and because I was sick, I didn't get to see them at all. I was so sad with all of the fun activities going on, I was sick in bed! :(( (I hope you know Amy and Marshall that I was sad! Sorry! ) Anyways, because of the illness I haven't really taken any pictures, but I wanted to post something, so I found this pic and just laughed! I'm not quite sure what Holden thinks of these! hehe :)) Holden's Aunt Maribel and Uncle Joey gave him these ears for his birthday! Josh and I figured it was to watch the show Bunny Town! I had no clue what that was until JOSH filled me in! hehe I guess when you watch that show, in the beginning, they tell all of the kids to put on their bunny ears! hehe So, these are Holden's! But in the spirit of fun- can anyone say A Christmas Story!? LOL No, we love 'em but I couldn't help but think of the movie when seeing my child in these bunny ears! Congrats to my friends Niki and Emilie on their new arrivals! I'll get out here soon enough to come and visit! I feel like I've been totally out of touch with the world!

I also had my first doctor's visit this last week. I am due the 30th of Aug! My mom's b-day! how fun is that? So, we'll see how close I come to that date! Holden was pretty much right on time, so maybe this baby will follow suit! They aren't giving me an ultra sound until my next visit- which will be at 19 weeks. So, we should get a pretty good picture of the little one. So, I'll post it when I get it! I don't know why, but I am REALLY tempted to find out what the sex of the baby is this time. Josh wants to be surprised. I think we both loved the surprise when Holden was born. So, I'll probably wait. You know...as they say...there are very few true surprises in life! So, we'll see if I can hold out! Hope everyone is well! Have a great day!

Holden's #1

Okay, not that he's #1, but he's actually turned 1 on Feb. 24th! I can't believe how fast this last year has flown by!Our little boy is growing so fast has been such a joy in our home I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will start with telling you about a little b-day party we threw him!
It all started with my little sister Amy. She decided to send pics of a cake she had made to our family. She told of the easiness of making a professional looking cake and how fun it was! So, the wheels in my head started to turn.

Well, to explain first of all how everything turned out, as I just found out the other night my Chinese zodiac sign, or animal...is a horse! I found out among other things, that I tend to be ostentatious! Can you imagine that???? I mean....seriously! Okay, maybe there is some truth to that. What started out as a small simple little party in my head, turned out to be a huge party that took quite the preparation and energy to pull off! Thank goodness for friends and family, who despite my stupid overwhelming visions, were patient, loving, giving and generous with their time, talents and energy!

The day before the party, we had a little girls get together at my friend Rachel's house to make the Winnie the Pooh cake that I found online. How hard could that be...right? Hmmm Well, Rachel provided some treats to help us last through what would soon be a 13 hour long journey. Rachel decided to mix the cakes...and just ask her...NEVER try to mix more than 3 cake mixes in a Kitchenaid mixer! LOL She ended up making 8 cake mixes to fill all of the cake pans we had- if that even gives you an idea of how HUMONGOUS (is that really a word?) the cake was! My other friend Nikki heard what we were doing and decided to lend her cake decorating expertise...which she now regrets! hehe I can't believe how amazing she is and how many things I learned while watching her work. It truly was a work of art when she was finished! She worked tirelessly-not to mention on her feet all day at 8 1/2 months prego! What an awesome girl! Emily was there to keep up moral and also to make THE most perfect apple slices I have ever seen in my life! Liliana kept popping in and out and making trips to the store for more frosting! When we finished the cake and last bits of decorating, it was almost 11:00 pm. What a day! But they were all troopers!

Rachel was a gem for offering her house as the party spot! She has so much going that weekend, yet was kind enough to allow about 20 kids and about 15 adults overtake her home. We started the party with some pizza, and salad that my sister Tiffany brought and drinks that my sister Jennifer brought! I couldn't believe that as people RSVP'd...the first thing they asked was if they could do anything to help! My sisters jsut announced to me that they were bringing food to help out! I thought it was so kind and thoughtful! We then opened some gifts, then it was off for some Pin the Tail on Eeyore and Bean Bag Throw Through Pooh's Tummy! After game time we had cake and ice cream that my sister Kim brought! There were oohs and aahs as the cake was brought out! It was soooo HUGE! It weighed in at 21 LBS! Needless to say, I was giving out VERY LARGE chunks of cake for people to take home with them at the end!

There was one little surprise on the cake that made my mom start to cry! It was funny because when she started to cry, my sisters just thought she was emotional because it was a beautiful cake. It was only after a couple of minute that one by one they started to get it.

That's right, we are expecting baby #2 at the end of Aug! We are so excited and nervous! It will be interesting to see how we fare with two kids! But I am feeling better ever since Holden started walking because it has made him seem so much older! :)) Josh keeps teasing Holden that he's the 2007 Model and we're trading him in for the 2008 Model!

Anyway, the party was a complete success and again, all thanks to my friends and family! IT was so nice of them to drive all of the way from SLC to be there with us! My long lost roommate April was also able to come from SLC! It was awesome to see her and her cute little boy! It was so sweet of neighbors to bring their little kids as well! What a day! I didn't even imagine that it would turn out so well. But in the end, it was a HUGE party that I think I will never attempt again...lol...that is probably until my next child! hehe jk!

The next day, Josh's dad came into town from Boise! What a guy! It was so fun having him here for a couple of days to spend time with him. It was also fun for Holden to spend time with Grandpa! They got along great! On Holden's birthday, we stripped him down and placed a huge chunk of chocolate cake in front of him and let him go at it! He was timid at first dipping his finger into the frosting and tasting it. It didn't take much time before he was using both hands to shovel the cake into his mouth...and nose! :) He loves chocolate! I just KNEW he was my boy! It was a fun day though!
I just thought of my little sis's blog Amy and her little tributes to her kids and I thought I would do a quick recap of Holden's first year!

He is such a sweet boy and is always so happy. We love to go into his room in the morning and he can't stop smiling and when we pick him up, he just hugs us soooo tight! He loves Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins! He absolutely loves bathtime and looks forward to it! It's all I can do to keep him from jumping in the bath fully clothed while I am filling it up! He splashes like crazy! Holden loves mommy, but the second daddy rattles the lock coming home from work, Holden is running to the door with his little squeels so excited to see dad! He runs and wraps his arms around Josh's legs and won't let go until dad picks him up! He also loves the game "chase" with dad! They run from room to room playing, but the best spot is our bedroom. Holden will sit on the bed, and dad will hide around the edges fo the bed and pop up somewhere unbeknownst to Holden! Holden will squeel in a high pitched tone! That's when we laugh and call him our little "Holdina!" He also loves going outside for any reason! Even if I'm taking out the trash, I can't leave the door open for one second without him already halfway up the stairs outside when I turn around!! One last thing about our little Holden is that he is a very determined kid! Whatever he wants he will try over, and over and over until he gets what he's going for! Even if it means crawling over the love sac, under the table, on top of boxes, over pillows etc! Nothing can stop this kid. He will be in tears after probably 10 minutes of trying to reach something, but he will not give up. I know, I sound like a mean parent..and why don't I just get it for him? Because it is so awesome to watch not only this determination but the joy and happiness when he finally gets what he's worked so hard to get! We love him so much and can't imagine our lives without this little boy that has made such a huge impact on us and our lives!