Good-bye Katie Bear!

My beautiful cousin Katie just graduated from BYU and moved back to SC. It was bitter-sweet for me. I'm so proud of her and happy for her, but I was so sad to see her leave. It was nice having some of my SC family so close. When she started school out here she was a dear cousin.... now I also consider her a dear friend. 

Visit from Mom and Dad

My mom and dad came out for a visit a few weeks ago, and we had a great time with them. When Cory first saw his grandpa Whitesell, he threw his arms around his neck and said, "I missed you Papa!" It was so precious. Cory and I drove up to Ogden and spent a night at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy's house with my parents. Uncle Steve fed us 5 star meals and I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds from his gourmet creme brulee french toast alone. We did a lot of shopping and made a couple stops at the BYU creamery for ice-cream. Cory loved all of the attention. It was a bit weird saying good-bye knowing that the next time I see them I'll have a new baby, and my life will be drastically different.

One of our BYU creamery outings

G-ma, Cory and Papa at Chuckie Cheese's

Worn out at BYU's Life Science museum

Tender moments with G-ma

Easter Sunday

It's been a wonderful Easter. Church was so uplifting today and the Spirit was so strong. My testimony of my Savior and his Atonement were strengthened. Cory enjoyed the Easter Bunny tradition, nursery and playing in the hose after church. We have homemade rolls and a honey glazed ham in the oven, and cousin Katie will join the three of us for dinner.  It is a beautiful sunny day and it's impossible not to be happy and full of gratitude. 

Making a "Hulk face"

I love having a little boy.

Easter Eve

We had an amazing day today! It was so fun being together as a family all day long and doing so many fun activities together. We woke up and had breakfast and then headed over to the Springville City "Easter egg hunt". They basically throw candy (with no eggs) all over the high school football field and then let the kids go pick it all up. It's kind of silly but the kids love it and I enjoy seeing all of the fun folks who live in our town.

A little help from Kevin

Checking out his loot

Our Family

Saane and Trisha

Next we headed to Home Depot, where the first Saturday of each month they have a free project for kids to do. Cory and Kevin built and painted a bird feeder for our window. It was a lot of fun and did I mention....free! 

Building a bird feeder

His accuracy was surprisingly very good. 

Painting with Daddy

So Proud!

We then headed over to Sams Club to enjoy all of the Saturday samples and buy a recliner. I'm so excited to have a recliner for this baby. With Cory we didn't have anything that rocked or reclined, so I spent endless hours holding him upright in our old faithful green chair. I can't wait to be able to rock this baby and on those endless nights actually be able to recline and sleep. 

Kevin brought it in the house and put it together and I jumped in it to see how I liked it. Well.... 2 hours later Kevin came and woke me up because it was time for our extended family festivities. I guess I approve of the chair. ; ) 

Kevin's siblings and their kiddos met us up at Mom and Dad Bird's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. The kids had so much fun and Cory ate more candy and junk than he ever has before. It was such a fun and busy day that by 7pm Cory was begging me to let him go to bed. 

Poor kids ~ The sun was right in their eyes.

Kevin and Colton

Saane

Nicolas and Holly

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and an opportunity to really think about my Savior and the significance of his life and atonement. I know he lives and that because of him I can be saved. I know that through Him I can overcome my weaknesses and that my heart can be comforted when the challenges of life seem too hard to bare.

Bye Bye Yamaha TW200

Kevin decided to sell his trail bike to get some extra cash. We want to do a few things around the house, buy a recliner and of course the impending hospital bills. He didn’t complain at all, but I know what it feels like to see something you love go. We’ve both made our fair share of sacrifices over the past four years, but we’ve always been blessed to have what we need. As soon as we found out we were expecting baby #2, Kevin had the opportunity to work a lot of Saturdays. It has been hard because our time together is already so limited, but we both recognize the blessing. It is hard to always have faith that things will work out, but we keep doing our best to sacrifice and work hard, and the Lord continues to pour out blessings.