Easter

We did the typical thing for Easter except we did a hunt inside because it was raining. Here are the kids with their loot:

Bekah's chocolate face:

The egg dying kit I got on clearance last year was different. It was like paint that you apply with a little sponge. It was so messy and didn't come off of our fingers for weeks.



Matt told Alex to hold up his eggs and it looks like they replaced his eyeballs.

doc holiday

Our last set of visitors was my dad and Linda. As soon as they walked in the door, the kids had Grandpa and Grandma doing puzzles and reading books with them. They don't waste any time.
I took them on a tour of the town which took all of 10 min, in which time Bekah and Keturah fell asleep, so Grandpa indulged Alex on the swings.

They also got in their baby time.

Matt and Dad had a great time talking medicine while us girls fixed dinner. I wish I had a camera for my dad's face when Linda took all the spinach at dinner and he didn't know about the tortillas waiting for the rest of us in the kitchen. Shock and disappointment followed by an incredulous, "Honey?". Hilarious.


Alex overheard us talking about where we were going to eat for dinner the next day and was upset when he found out he wasn't coming along, so Grandma Linda consoled him by taking us all to Burger King for lunch. This is Grandpa helping Alex figure out his new toy.


While the docs (future and present) were away at school, Linda and I played paparazzi with the kids. We got some pretty good ones.

Alex and Bekah being cheesy. Since Keturah can't do cheesy, she does whiny.

Keturah getting mauled as usual.

And after thoroughly spoiling the grandkids, they spoiled us with steak, lobster, and a great time on a double date (plus Kate).

I'm a little fatter from all this, but it was definitely worth it. We hope they had as much fun as we did.

I wonder whose family this is...

When my mom and sister and Matt's parents and sister were all at church with us I got the question, "Now which one was your mom?"
Umm...there is really no guessing involved. We are very much segregated by the obvious hair/eye color, not to mention other physical traits.
So, yeah, Bekah and I stick out like sore thumbs, but at least we are cute, right? Okay, well, Bekah's cute.

Anyway, we got to hang out with these guys for a couple of days. That random snowstorm that we had cut into some of our time with the fam. They spent a lovely morning at the Denver airport instead of 6 extra hours with us. Oh well, what can you do?

The kids did have a great time though.


Nice, huh? I didn't have much to do with all the little ones occupied. After the kids went to bed, we watched Les Miserables and the next night we saw The Boy in Striped Pajamas. I guess we were feeling the drama. We also went out to some Mexican food and discovered none of us liked the cheese they used.
I also got to go to class with Matt for the first time while they took the kids.
That about sums it up--it was too short of a trip, that is for sure.
It was great to see everyone and we had fun while it lasted.

Llama and Rat Hill

When I was a kid, I was smaller than average. In this picture I (center front) am 11 and my brother to the right is 9. People thought we were twins. I am 2 1/2 years younger than Rachel (far right) and she was always at least 8 inches taller (okay, I don't know, but she was a lot taller). Rachel is not a giant by any means, I was just short.
That is how I got the nickname "shrimp". My brother concocted this elaborate story about my parents adopting me from Sizzler. Whatever. Anyway...eventually everyone in my family got an animal nickname, but really mine was the only one that stuck. So my mom's animal name was Llama.

As teenagers, Rachel didn't like it when I said her name with a short "a" sound. She said it sounded like I was calling her "rat hill". Hence, the title.

We had a slew of family come out to see us in the last month or so. So why update my blog when the people who read it are all here taking part in the action? Okay, so there were some important people who weren't here and we haven't seen in a long time, so I am not justified in taking so long. Forgive me.
When mom and Rachel were here, we had a great time catching up and hanging out.
First they had to meet Keturah:

Then, Rachel had to have a general layout of the town so she could go jogging. This was her vacation, but she was not to be deterred.
The kids perused the books that Grandma Jill brought and later we went to Institute at the school. We were able to play outside a little, but it was kinda cold for Rach. She was constantly freezing here no matter where we were--inside or out. I guess living in San Diego can be a curse for when you travel to the Midwest.
We made a trip out to Nauvoo for Rachel and I think she had a pretty good time.
This is us watching a "how to make a boot in the 1800's" demo.

And here is a windy picture of us in front of the temple.

When I took this picture below the next day, it was raining. Within a hour, it was snowing pretty hard.

Rachel has not seen snow in a really long time, so she was glad that she got to play in it a little. She even let Alex throw snowballs at her. Mom just moved to where it doesn't snow and thought that she wouldn't get to see any this year. I'm glad Missouri did not disappoint them.

After church on Sunday we got some quick pictures before they had to go to the airport.



I know that one of my favorite parts was when mom, Rach and I stayed up talking on the kitchen floor while snacking on pistachios and clementines. Thanks for the good time guys.

March Madness

To start off this eventful month, Aunt Mary sojourned at our place. We pretty much just laid around all week. There was cooking involved which resulted in some yummy food. We also had a little Tony Curtis/Jack Lemmon party with The Great Race and Some Like it Hot, I found out that I could still do a headstand, and Mary was introduced to Gob, Buster, Michael, and Lindsey.



Mary also did a lot of reading (on her own and to the kids), tickling, pretending, sleeping, and staring. Hmmm....yes, that is pretty much what everyone in Missouri does, so at least the experience was real.

Here is Mary being a car driving the kids to all sorts of random places.

When Friday came and Matt was done with finals, we actually got out of the house. We got about 1/4 mile out of the house before I was pulled over for speeding. Thankfully there was no ticket involved because that would not have been a happy start to our trip to Chicago.
When I was in school, March was my least favorite month. There weren't any holidays, and therefore, days off of school, and that was enough for me to dislike it. St. Patrick's day doesn't count because there is no candy, no vacation, and all you do is get pinched. I guess if you are in Chicago for St. Patty's then it is another story. This is the day to live for in that town.
Here is the Chicago River:

They also have a huge parade that we did not watch for want of time. However, we made sure that we got some awesome Chicago pizza at Giordano's. While we were waiting I snapped some pictures.
And the pizza...

The next day we hit up the aquarium. We didn't think it was worth the money, but at least we did it once in our lives. Plus Alex really like the stingrays and sharks.
Of course a boat is way cooler than some fish and turtles.



Watching the diver feeding the fish


After we were done there, we walked a couple miles along Lake Michigan over to the Children's Museum. This place was so awesome--we could have spent at least twice as long there.

Bekah in an ambluance

Alex driving the boat

They had so many cool water things to play with.

Alex didn't want to take his eyes off what he was doing for a picture.

Fishing

More water stuff



Looking for dinosaur bones.


Playing in a treehouse.


After all of that, we had to let Mary go at the Chicago airport. We had a really fun time with her and hope that she did too. Bekah was asleep when we dropped her off. About 3 hours after she woke up she randomly asks, "Where's Aunt Mary?"

The next day we hit up the zoo, which did not disappoint. Every animal we wanted to see was out in clear view, so it was a lot of fun. After the zoo, we drove up to the Phelps' house to catch up on the 3 years since we'd seen them last. We had a really good time talking with them, they fed us delicious food, and Alex and Bekah made instant friends. After reluctantly leaving from there, we heading south toward home. Matt drove the entire trip and barely stayed awake while we were all snoozing at 4am when we came into town. The best part was that when we got home we still had a whole week of spring break to look forward to.
We didn't do anything very significant for the break, but there is something that I should share because it is just too good to keep to myself.
Matt got Alex some bread or something at dinner. As he gave it to him he said, "Here you go, nugget." (He's always calling them random names) Alex says, "Nugget? Nugget? How about Lugget? Or Bugget? Or Rugget?" Then really loudly he yells, "Fugget!!!"
Say it out loud and you'll understand why I was dying laughing.

To appease you

Keturah at 1 week old

1 1/2 weeks

K is 2 1/2 weeks

3 weeks

3 weeks

So life is good. Understandably, I'm a little busier than pre-baby, but other than that, there hasn't been much of an adjustment. I've been ignoring the computer--given some free time, I'm going to choose sleeping or something over blogging--sorry.
But, anyway, there are the pictures and I'll try to be better in the future.