mudders day and such...

I had a fabulous mothers day this year. I woke up to a beautiful bouquet of flowers complete with homemade cards, chocolate covered strawberries when I got home from church and a day of relaxing, reading and napping. Seriously, Ben took the kids up to my dads house right after church and I had an empty house to myself all afternoon. It was a-mazing! :)

But I do love those two little ones who have made me a mommy. And I have a wonderful husband who makes mommy hood so much easier for me! I am one lucky girl! :)

We went out to dinner for Angie's birthday and this little girl was having fun playing with her daddy. I love that little face! :)

Uncle Nathan creepin'...

Tucker got majorly sick this week. He started throwing up on Wednesday night and didn't stop until Saturday morning! I had called his Dr. on Friday afternoon to ask what signs I should be looking for for dehydration and they told me to make sure he is going pee every 12 hours. So, that night before he went to bed, around 9pm I made sure he went to the bathroom. A few minutes later I noticed that I didn't hear anything coming from the bathroom. So we went in and Tucker was just laying on the floor with his pants around his ankles. He was so weak he just couldn't move; poor boy! We decided then that it was probably a good idea to take him to get some hydration. We were in the ER for about 4 hours and he had to get two bags of fluid! They kept on saying, 'he is just as dry as a bone...'. Yea, make me feel even worse than I already do! :) I just felt so bad for him, he had it bad! You will notice in the picture below we had a lot of gatorade and ginger ale for the boy. But no worries, he is all healthy now and we are happy to have our big boy back! :) Which brings me to this next picture. Taylor had gotten into a bottle of sprite and not only sat in the puddle of it, but bent down and was licking it up off the ground. :) This little girl is just like her momma and loves food, drink and anything that is a snack or treat! :)

We went out to the new Brazilian restaurant in Coeurd'Alene to celebrate Andrews mission call to Brazil. It was fun being with family and friends to celebrate a wonderful thing.

Kathryn & her boys...

Ben, Ben & Chase...

Ben & The Orndorff's...

Me & Ben (and Chuck coppin' a feel)...

It's been an eventful past few weeks; these children (and husband) keep me busy!

one great weekend...

We just had a great weekend. Some highlights have been:

• two words, Royal wedding!

I DVR'd it on Thursday night so as to not miss a minute of it! :) I watched it with some friends on Friday afternoon while we had a play date with our boys. I may or may not have watched a few more times on my own throughout the weekend. Ben asked me last night if he could delete it and reluctantly I said yes. I had my fill. But I loved the ceremony. I loved what the Bishop had to say. My favorite part was when he said in a way all weddings are royal because when we marry we become kings and queens of creation. I loved how he truly made marriage out to be noble and an honor. I also loved her dress-she was stunning! And Prince William is so dreamy! I've had a crush on him since I was about 15. :) It was fun to get caught up in this fairy tale this weekend.

• My mom is here visiting. She is watching my nephew while my bro and sis-in-law are in Vegas looking for a house! They are moving, so it is bittersweet; but we are so excited for Nathan to start school! They will be missed! But it is fun having my mom here. We played and had Pizza on Saturday night with her and Carter;

• Right after Ben & Tucker got home from here:

Saturday afternoon Tucker & Ben went to the circus! Tucker had so much fun! His favorite part was, of course, the cotton candy! :) ha ha. He loved the animals, but when Ben asked him if he wanted to ride an elephant, he did NOT want to! :) I am actually surprised that Ben was able to take this picture of the clown, he is deathly scared of clowns! :) They had some fun boy time.

• My mom & the sister missionaries came over for dinner on Sunday so Tucker & I went into our backyard and picked our first bouquet of flowers from our garden.

This was great for two reasons: first, it means that the weather is finally getting warm enough for the flowers to come out. Summer is on it's way, finally! And second, sister missionaries! I love it! There are Spanish speaking Hermanas out here in the Valley right now and I've had so much fun going out with them as much as I can these past few months. It's great to brush up on my Spanish and help out the Hermanas, I remember those days! It was a perfect Sunday afternoon having the missionaries in our home. Tuckers been wanting me to speak spanish all day today! :)

Other exciting events this weekend consisted of a hot date on Friday night with Ben that turned into an impromptu double date with our good friends, the Nelsons when we saw them driving by us. :) Dinner, Bowling and FroYo. :) Doesn't get better than that! :) I am so blessed!

A few that I've found...

Here are a few photos that I found on my computer that I had to share. :)

I just love this girl. I mean really, look at that face! :)

I don't exist when grandma is around. Seriously, both of my kids love their grandma!

Taylor always has to do whatever I'm doing. She is seriously like a little mini-me! :) Most of the time, I love it.

Here are the two group shots from Easter. Keyton wasn't into picture taking at all, and eventually just went inside! :)

This is after Keyton left...

And I love Taylors face in this one. So cute, with Papa! :)

Tuckers pre school had a little Easter egg hunt at the park this week. It was so much fun, a little chilly, but fun. On the way home Tucker shared one of his Bit-O-Honey's with Taylor. She then fell asleep. I had to get a picture of her with it hanging out of her mouth! :) Another reason why I love this girl! :)

Easter 2011...

We had a fabulous Easter this year. I love Easter and spring time. I love what Easter means and represents. I always think of the empty tomb and that makes me think of Jerusalem, and I have nothing but great memories and feelings about the Holy Land and the spirit I felt there. Anyway, even though Easter is a little more commercialized than I would like it to be, we still enjoy ourselves with our family and those we love. And I always feel the spirit.

I try and keep the Easter baskets low key and simple. I got the kids their swimsuits, a book or two and some candy.

Of course, Taylor dug right into the candy and enjoyed every second of it! :)

After church we headed up to my dads house for an afternoon with family and delicious food! Allen & Kelli and their *growing* family came up for the weekend and of course, the kids had so much fun with their cousins.

These next few shots are for grandma, who got the kids all matching outfits. They looked so cute all matching at church! :)

Here is a very typical Taylor face. :)

Cute Cassidy and her 80's side ponytail! :) Love it!

Tucker totally posed on this rock all on his own.

And Keyton, who wanted nothing to do with pictures, joined him. :)

Cute Carter! A little mini-man.

Our family picture... (sorry, our Easter church clothes came off right after church!) :)

Me and my baby girl!

Taylor and daddy.

Then some Easter egg hunts. It was fierce. But we had a few and the kids got their fill.

Dying eggs...

Then my favorite part of the day, dinner! I swear, my dad is going to be the chef up in Heaven! This is my Heaven on Earth! :) Ham, ribs, and salmon. To. die. for. We are never disappointed when my dad cooks for us, which luckily for us, is quite often!

I made personalized cupcakes for everyone for dessert.

We then just kicked back and relaxed all afternoon. It was a perfect day!

The next night before Allen & Kelli left to go home, just us adults went out to the new Brazilian restaurant in Coeur d'Alene. We love the Brazilian restaurants and this one did not disappoint! :) It was more fun just being out with my siblings and dad without kids. We had a great time together! Thanks Dad!

And thanks Jani & Nathan for watching all FOUR of our kids! :)

Happy Easter!

Here's a more meaningful Easter thought. I loved this! We are so blessed!

Happy Easter everyone!

How Great Thou Art...

I love this hymn and obviously and I thought that this rendition was so beautiful and meaningful with Easter coming up. I love the way Carrie Underwood sings it with so much feeling. I thought that this was the perfect time to share. :)

Happy Easter everyone! Enjoy!

tucker pyper photography...

I love looking at my camera and finding tuckers pictures. Mostly because they show some great shots of what our days are truly like, and moments between my kids that I wasn't a part of.

And, of course, the shots of the things that are truly important to Tucker.