Watch Out Here He Comes!

So I have been very remiss on posting this momentous occasion in Rayden's life. It has been almost 2 months now since Rayden decided to take off and ride his bike without training wheels. Last fall he made his Dad take the training wheels off his bike but he didn't get the riding part down before the snow started to fly. He was a little wary this spring to try again. We took him to the neighbors house and let him practice on their 12inch bicycle to build his confidence back up. 15 minutes later he was all over the neighborhood on his own bike. As a reward we took him down to Layton and bought him a new bike! He was so excited to pick it out and bring it home.

This kid has been all over the neighborhood since. It has become his favorite pass time and he does not enjoy when it gets cold outside and he can't ride. Life is so rough when you are 5!

Easter Weekend

We look forward to Easter weekend every year. We just have so much fun getting together with family to have egg hunts, dinners, and to roll eggs. This year we weren't going to let a little bit of cold rain stop us! On Saturday we got together with our family on the Dixon side. We did an indoor egg hunt with all the cousins and had a wonderful luncheon! Whenever you get the cousins together it is a riot. They are so funny together! Simon fell in love with my brother-in-law's pool table. He thought he should be allowed to play with the guys. They gave him a half a cue stick and gave him a few shots. He was in heaven!
Easter Sunday we woke up nice and early despite the fact that we didn't have 9am church. Lexi was dying to find her basket and was so upset that she coudn't. She found Rayden's and Simon's but not hers. With a few hints from her dad she was abe to look high enough up to see where it was sitting. That Easter bunny sure can be tricky! Unfortunately for me, I woke up with a migraine and I didn't get to really join in on any of the fun. Dirk was sweet enough to take a lot of pictures for me so I could go back to bed.
During the first session of General Conference the kids dyed their eggs. Simon thought it was so cool that he could use crayons to color his eggs. I'm so glad that he preferred that method to the egg dye. Inbetween sessions we went to Gma and Gpa Sorensen's house for Easter dinner. Most of the cousins were there and they were thrilled to eat together. They were even more thrilled to get to play while us adults sat down to watch the second session of Conference.
Afterwards, we all went and had an egg hunt! They all came out with quite a stash! Towards the end the Easter Bunny stopped by to say hello. The older kids loved it while the toddlers, like Simon, didn't want to get too close.
Finally we went to finish off our Easter festivities with our all time favorite Easter pastime, rolling eggs down Old Main Hill. Even though it was cold the kids were not going to be deterred. They rolled all their eggs then ran down the hill to find the survivors. Even us adults get into the fun and start throwing these mini missiles. It was another great Easter and we can't wait until next year to do it all over again!

New Do's

Rayden has his buddy Jett over today. They have come up with all sorts of creative things to do to keep themselves happy and busy since it snowing outside. I walked into the bathroom to find them occupied coming up with a whole new look.

You gotta love it! I guess that boys and girls just aren't that much different! They all love to play with hair!

The New Bag

I have this amazingly crafty friend who got me back into embroidery lately. (Thanks Melissa!) For my first project in like 8 years I decided to tackle this wonderful picture I found online and fell in love with. When I started I wasn't quite sure what I was going to make it into but inspiration finally hit and I made it into a Primary bag for Sundays! What fits better than the Singing Time Specialist carrying around a musical heart? I found the bag pattern online and wha la! Don't look too closely because it is full of flaws but I love it and it holds all my stuff. It even has pockets on the inside for certain items I like to carry at all times on Sundays. Now I need to get started on my next project.....

A Budding Artist

Simon is a budding artist! I always new there were some wonderful creative genes running in the family! This last week Simon decided to share his talent with the family. Here he is with his beautiful artwork.

The look says it all! He was so proud of himself. Unfortunately the marker was a permanent sharpie! Oh well I was looking for an excuse to repaint anyway!

Friends

Last week Lexi had her friend, London, over to play. These girls are so cute together! They had a little photo shoot with my camera. Here are some of my favs!

No Longer Private

Ok, since I haven't been updating as much I've decided to unprivatize (is that a word?) the blog. So everyone can update their links for the blog so they can see when I post! Just some FYI.

Trying to Keep Busy

I have been such a horrible blogger lately. We are just not very interesting I guess. We haven't been doing much around here. Last week, Dirk was gone all week, to Reno, for a business trip. In our almost 10 years of marriage Dirk and I have hardly ever been apart for more than a day except for when I went to Girl's Camp a few years. This was my first experience with him gone from home. I have to admit, I didn't like it.
I wasn't overwhelmed by extra work and the kids were as good as they always are but I just didn't like having cold feet all night!!!! All of us are really glad to have him home now! While he was gone I got together with my MIL and did some crafts. Here are some pics of what kept me occupied without Dirk.

It was quite fun getting together for the day and I think the blocks turned out rather good. I had a lot of fun designing the music one. It looks perfect on the piano. I have another project that I am working on that isn't quite finished. It is a sewing project and I haven't sewed for a few years so I am hoping it will turn out alright.

The Newest Addition

Here he is! Lexi's pride and joy! Almost 2 weeks ago we acquired a new pet, a rat named Jojo. Lexi is in love with him. She had asked her dad if she could get a guinea pig and he struck a deal with her. He would take her to the pet store to price out a guinea pig and all it's trappings and then she would do chores to earn the money to buy one. Well we all went to the store and 2 1/2 hours later we came out with Jojo. Lexi couldn't be happier and I have to admit that he is a great pet. He's almost like a miniature dog with a really long tail. Lexi is really good about taking him out of his cage everyday and playing with him. She has almost gotten him potty trained (yes, this is possible) and he comes out of hiding whenever he hears her voice. It is really kind of sweet. Lexi has all sorts of plans for training him tricks and such. I guess we will just have to see how it goes.

January Song

Here is a video of the song that I am going to start teaching to the Primary kids this month. I really love it. I only have one problem, I cry every time I listen to it. I haven't even been able to even try and sing it yet. What am I going to do?