Springily Springing Comes Spring

 Gotta lead with my moment in the sun: we got a free tree from the city and they ended up putting us in the (local) paper.  They shoulda focused on the kids, not me...

Everyone got a gift certificate for a "frockett" bunny as the Wudge calls them.  Isn't the Easter Bunny sly to promise them big chocolate bunnies the day after Easter when they are half-price?...

 The Easter Bunny kindly brought us pillow pets, and of course, Dora's Easter Adventure on DVD.  My poor son, addicted to Dora.  His older sister was addicted to Diego, though, so I guess there's hope...  :)

 

 We enjoyed visiting grandparents on Easter Sunday.  We've had so much illness over the winter that this was the first time I'd seen my grandpa in a long time.  He has been doing really well lately.

 We always love visiting Gram J.  She doesn't care if the kids spill something or mess something up.  She's that kind of grandma...  Plus she always has soda!  :)

 

 A local pool has all these fun events where they toss stuff in the water for the kids to grab.  In the fall, it's the Pumpkin Plunge (did you know they float?).  In the spring, they throw "gold" coins for St. Paddy's day, and Easter eggs with prizes.  It's pretty fun, and the kids adore swimming of course.

 Another new awesome tradition: they have an Easter "egg" hunt at the college stadium.  Not too much of a hunt since everything was just laying out.  We got some serious swag: pompom hair-bands, hand towels, and even a shirt!  Plus all the candy laying around.  It was our third hunt of the morning, and by far the best.

 

Here we are in our Easter slash wedding clothes.  Teal and light pink ended up being really fun together.  I'm so proud of us for all facing the camera at the same time!

Can you see why I'm so in love with my two handsome men?  Look at that GQ pose!  I think he's probably the cutest little boy on the planet.

 

This weeping cherry tree in our front yard surprised us with these delicate pink blossoms.  No scent, but that's okay because there were plenty of other flowers to provide that: daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, apricot & other (as yet unknown) fruit trees, and loads of lilac bushes.  You could hardly walk through the neighborhood without being hit by some sweet odor.

 

Spring also brings a few randomly hot days when we rush to Walmart to get a plastic pool.  Until said pool is in stock, we have to make due with sprinklers, spray bottles, and apparently, my mixing bowl...

 Here the girls are, trying to look like swimsuit models.  Oh, and the Wudge who tried to copy everything they did and failed in the most humorous way possible.

 

  Spring also brings an increase in my childrens' whining to have a lemonade stand.  I'd get more frustrated with them if they didn't always donate their earnings to the local Children's Hospital.  As it is, I try to keep it to once a month, and make them do all of the set-up/clean-up themselves...  I just feel bad for the people that actually ingest said lemonade.

 

 You've seen this lovely backdrop in a couple preceding pictures.  A hundred hours plus went in to filling this dumpster (rented from the city).  And most of it was yard debris, though there was some chicken wire, cement, and wood boards.  People come see our backyard now and goggle at how big it looks without all the junk all over.  I mowed it for the first time last week and it's amazing how nice the grass is (where there is grass, that is).  It'll be nice when we get all the random patches of garden area and planter beds sodded so we can run around and play out back.  Oh, and buy the long-awaited trampoline!

A perennial favorite: the Frog Hopper.  Look at how Mini looks bored, like she's so jaded.  Probably is since she's logged at least a hundred miles on this thing.

We finally got a plastic pool to replace the easily damaged inflatables we've been using for the ballpit.    Needless to say, Wudgie was in heaven.

 Trying on Derek's graduation tam.  I really feel for him having to wear such a ridiculous (and hot) costume twice a year.  At least he doesn't have to wear it all the time like at Oxford...

 

This very bad boy tried to graduate from napping one day.  This was how we found him around 5pm.  He returned to regularly scheduled programming (aka, napping) the very next day.  What a naughty thing!

Here I am trying to take a picture of Mini's loose tooth, but you can't take a picture w/o the little man trying to weasel his way in.  And when I prompted Mini with "show me your teeth", the Wudge thought that meant, "stick out your tongue as far as possible and look like a giraffe trying to lick it's nose"...

This is the view I get to see when Shrimp plays soccer.  Isn't Rock Canyon just stunning?  Too bad she is no longer interested in soccer... 

So my brother was living in our basement for about 4 months before he left us for better housemates: his new wife and son.  While we are more than a little happy for their wedded bliss, I must admit that I'm sad not to hear his zombie killing game or Atomic Fart app when we relaxed at night.  :(  I LOOOVE living by my siblings!!!

Speaking of that wedding, my family all came into town the end of April, and we decided to also hold my new nephew's blessing.  He's the sweetest little boy, and just as handsome as his daddy.

It was a full house, and the Spirit was special when the men packed around in a large circle to hold little L.  (Hint, you can see my other new nephew in this picture too.  How we love J, who calls my daughters "his girls".)

The next day brought the wedding festivities.  The temple must've known we were coming because they had a nice little enclosed waiting room with a TV and most importantly, a door, that we stuffed all of the kids and Amelia into.  A couple iPhones & iPads didn't hurt either...

I'll never forget how I felt when Josh & Emilee were sealed together.  Knowing that their marriage will continue after death, and seeing the love they have for each other and sweet little J brings tears to my eyes even now.  I'm SOOO happy for him--we all love this brother so much, and are loving Em's sass & wit.  I honestly couldn't ask for better siblings-in-law!!

 While waiting for the bride & groom to come out, we had fun taking pictures of the kids and each other.  Here are all my parents' current nieces & nephews (except J who was too shy) and my sister who is simply a baby-stand for the picture.  Look at how ADORABLE my new niece is!

 Speaking of adorable, I think this picture speaks for itself.  The world has never known such cuteness...

Pookie & me: we are a year and a half apart in age, and have been close our whole lives.  I gave her her first haircut (unauthorized, age 3), she comforted me when I was down (which was all the time when I was a moody teen), and we both have continued to love being together, despite living so far apart for so many years.

My little Mini-Me and her cousin (Pookie's youngest).  They are both pure princess--dressing up for the wedding was a dream come true...

It seemed like we waited for the bride & groom forever.  No really, FOREVER!

Now here's a better picture of the older of my two new nephews.  Isn't he handsome?  He's going to be a handful when he gets older--he's already charming the ladies...  I'm dying seeing him in his cute tux.

 Like father, like son.  It's impossible to get these two to smile in pictures.  I guess I should at least be grateful that my brother isn't picking his nose like in most other pics I have of him.

Finally!  They came out and the picture taking really began.  Isn't she rocking the red heels and wedding dress??  And my studly brother in his tux.  A match made in heaven!

Josh being attacked by his little admirers.

Next up, we went to the lunch at Mimi's Cafe (yum!), and as a group, pulled out our iPhones.  After all, the family that surfs/texts/emails together, stays together.  Seriously, this photo was posed, but some of my siblings had trouble putting their electronic devices away and visiting...  You know who you are!

There's a better shot of my new niece.  Oh, she's the spitting image of my brother, and darned cute.  She even fell asleep in my arms that night.  I miss holding little babies...  No, that's not an announcement.

The day of the wedding also happened to be my dad's 60th birthday.  Couldn't let that go unannounced!  So I made a cake with a dude just falling over the hill, face down (see detail below), and then lit 60 candles on it.  We ran past the restaurant staff as they opened their mouths (to shut us down no doubt), and sang super fast.  The top two candles went out, but the flames of the other 58 candles were still melting them from several inches away!  Needless to say, there was a lot of burned cake.  Good thing we had our rep from the fire department with us.

 Doesn't he look like he's given up and is just sliding down the hill?  :)

 Finally we got to the reception that evening: all the girls had jobs.  Domba made friends with another little boy who had been assigned to collect gifts and they played pretty much the entire evening.  The other girls helped clear tables, and youngest ones fulfilled their duties of being adorable.  (See example below.)

 

 

 So as part of the wedding decor, they put up the mothers' & grandmothers' wedding dresses, wedding photos, and other wedding paraphernalia.  It was SO COOL.  It was the most meaningful display I've ever seen, and just so touching.  They also had engagement pictures, and other tasteful decorations.  It was very elegant and lovely.  (My mom's dress is the one on the left in above pic.)

 And this is my grandma's dress.  She was saying she felt bad that it was so "plain" because the world was still recovering from the war, but I think it's simplicity is it's great beauty.  I may be prejudiced since I chose an extremely simple gown myself...  :)

 Ya, it gets boring in the wedding line.  I well remember the blur of faces for 3 hours.  At least Emilee broke it up with a Zumba flashmob.  You heard me, a Zumba flashmob!  Try not to vomit when you see me dancing on the right.

And one closing picture of the groom, found trying to catch some shut-eye the morning of the wedding....