Easters

Craig was working on Easter weekend so it was just the girls and I! The girls woke up to their little Easter baskets. When I told Eden the Easter Bunny had come, she got so excited only to be let down that the Easter Bunny didn’t leave presents like Santa. She also asked where the Christmas Tree was. After we looked through our baskets, we had a delicious Easter breakfast with our friends and the kids did a little egg hunt. After naps, we went to Jeff and Kathy’s to celebrate with my Mom’s family. The girls were spoiled by my cousin Jenna who did a huge egg hunt for them in the backyard! They loved it! From there we went to Jared and Rebecca’s house to celebrate with Craig’s family and  we did another egg hunt and played outside. Fun Day!

I took a ton of pictures! Here are just a few of my favorites.

Their Easter baskets

I love their just-woke-up faces here!

Brea’s Great-Grandpa, PJ. Never seen a great grandpa so good looking!

My Mom and her 9th grandbaby, Bennett. Good genes must run in the family!

I LOVE this picture of Eden and Kena! Maybe they will be best cousins forever, just like Stephanie and I!

The kids

Brea was entranced with Annie’s iPod!

 
Hunting for eggs at the Shaver’s

 
Jared and Adam – my favorite picture of the day!

Mom of Girls

For you Moms who have all boys, this is just a little glimpse into a typical day around here…

Sisters!

“My sister is the only person I can tell on in the morning and giggle with by the afternoon. She was my first confidant and my closest companion. And she will always be my precious friend.” –Maggie Lindley

 

I hope someday my girls will realize how lucky they are that they have each other. Sisters are the best. I can’t wait until they are a little older and can enjoy having a sister as much as I did. I know from experience that there will be plenty of fighting over each other’s makeup, yelling at each other for wearing their clothes without asking, beating each other up, pulling each other’s hair, etc.

But what I really can’t wait for is to see them grow into best friends. To see them cry with each other, laugh with each other (maybe even laugh so hard they pee their pants) and call each other when they are having a bad day. Afterall, that’s what us sisters do.

And because the above picture is missing my littlest sister:

Words

Brea is almost 17 months old now so I thought I would write down the words she’s been saying. She is such a quiet girl so it’s really fun to listen to her learn new things and really start talking.

Off the top of my head, here are a few words she says:

doggy (dodo)
water (wawa)
Mommy (Mommmmmmyyyy)
Daddy
Sissy
baby
cool
Ashley (Ashey)
no, no, no!
bubbles
tickle
yummy
hubbas (don’t ask)
Tai Tai
Papa

She’s a pretty cute girl. Everywhere we go people comment on her dimples and how cute she is. I’d say we did a pretty good job on her!

 

Eden is on her way to being a teenager. She’s talking back, giving major attitude and just plain cute. She went through a phase where when we’d ask (or tell) her to do something, she’d come up with any excuse she could think of. She actually made us laugh a few times. My legs are broken, I’m too tired, I can’t breathe, my heart hurts, I’m sick, etc. She always tells me that I’m so rude to her and she even told me the other day that she wanted a new Mommy. Too bad she’s stuck with me for a while :) 

We have been trying to cut out Eden’s naps lately. When she naps during the day, it’s impossible to get her in bed before 10pm. When she doesn’t nap during the day, she goes to bed much earlier but I have to put up with some major attitude from her. Sometimes, she just can’t make it through the day without falling asleep in her tracks. This picture was from the other day. Eden takes care of her babies all day long. She has recruited Brea to be her newest baby but Brea isn’t as cooperative as those plastic ones.

And just because I think she’s adorable when she’s sleeping…

pictures

I’ll share with you a few of my all time favorite pictures of the cutest kids around since I’m starting to get grossed out by the raw hamburger picture in my last post.

Eden as a fresh baby:

Brea about as fresh as it gets:

Craig’s first time holding Brea. He loves being a Dad, can you tell?

Eden first birthday:

Brea’s first birthday:

This was only the beginning of Eden’s attitude (almost 2 years old):

BFF’s!

Brea – just before winning her Beautiful Baby award. Is there any surprise she took first place?! Don’t worry, I’ll wait until she is two until I start waxing her eyebrows and getting her veneers. She needs time to grow up!

My babies (May 2010):

Our family (December 2010):

All New Food!

I’ve really been getting tired of cooking the same meals lately. It’s tough to branch out when you have a husband that is as picky as mine (Don’t tell him I said he’s picky again, he got a little offended last time).This week I’ve decided to try different things for dinner that we don’t usually have. Maybe we just might find something that makes its way into our usual rotation! The meals I decided on for this week aren’t anything special, they are just different than what I usually make.

Let’s start with Day 1.

Meatball Subs (idea from The Pioneer Woman’s Mini Meatball Sanwiches)

Start by combining a pound of ground hamburger, 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs, minced garlic, salt, pepper and 1/2 c. milk)

Mush it up real good with your hands and form little meatballs with it.

Meanwhile, in a sauce pan saute an entire chopped onion in a little bit of olive oil.

After the onions have started to get translucent, make room for the meatballs.

Brown the meatballs on each side for a few minutes. Then, add a jar of marinara sauce (my favorite is Classico Four Cheese) and simmer for about 20 minutes on low heat.

Assemble meatballs on top of a hogi bun and top with provolone cheese!

Verdict – It was pretty good. I think I was expecting too much because the Pioneer Woman (who is pretty much my hero) swears that this is such a fabulous recipe. It was alright. I would make it again on a night when I need to whip something up real quick.

As you can see, I am a wannabe food blogger. I am also a wannabe photographer. Someday, I want to be able to combine food blogging and photography together and have my very own food blog. First on my agenda is to learn how to better photograph food so that it doesn’t look like a bloody mess topped with cheese. haha. Someday, people…someday.

A Wonderful Weekend!

I love General Conference weekend! It’s always refreshing to be able to hear the words of the leaders of our church. On Saturday, we streamed GC to our computer and tuned in that way. While the boys were at the Priesthood session later that night, I snapped a few pictures of the kids. I am still not sure how it is possible for these cute kids to grow up so fast.

On Sunday, we had our bi-annual Shaver Family tradition of having a delicious breakfast at Bob and Joyce’s house before conference starts. They went all out this year, and I just happened to leave my camera at home :( The menu consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and finally a delicious french toast bake that tasted practically like candy. It was pretty impressive!

The Sunday sessions were a bit more difficult to watch. I definitely plan on re-watching them this week while the kids are taking a nap.

On Sunday night, we joined my family for dinner. We had a couple of special lovebirds who are newly engaged:

My Grandma Boyster will be getting married to this gentleman at the end of the month! We love him and are so excited for them!