FaMiLY TiME

We survived yet another Tax Season and are happy to be back to normal working hours again. To celebrate all of their hard work Mckay's firm took them and their dates to Mistique Dining, it was a lot of fun and something new. You sit at this huge table in an elegant room, while they serve you 5 courses until you are stuffed, and then you are entertained by a real magician. It was a fun experience!!
Mckay always gets the 16th of April off and we took advantage of our much needed time with him by having an all FaMiLY DAY!! We started off by going out for Breakfast at IHOP (the kids ate so much and I am still wondering where they hid all of their food). It is a tradition for us that we all really enjoy!

The BOYS waiting for their FOOD!
The GIRLS coloring while we wait (it was Payton's idea to have the boys on one side and the girls on the other).

Then we headed off to the zoo. I told Mckay a while back that I wanted to take the kids to the zoo and he begged me to wait to do it with him. I am glad that we did because the kids had a blast and the weather was so great, it was perfect!!

Posing for a picture.

Hanging out in a little HUT.

Taylor enjoying the sun and looking at the different animals.

There is nothing like a shoulder ride from DAD!

Payton going down the big Giraffe slide.

Kenzie's turn on the slide.

Riding on the big Seal.

Having fun in the SUN!

The kids even go to take a ride on some tigers!

Then we returned home to clean our garage and start on some projects at home. It is kind of a teaser when Mckay gets a day off because we have so much fun with him that we never want him to go back to work and we are all bummed when he has to leave us again. Life is just not the same without him, but at least we are seeing more of him now, so I can't complain.

The kids have been working on a few of their talents lately, now presenting...


Taylor's talent: he can now walk, this was last week and since then he has improved tons and tries to go everywhere, he is growing up way too fast!

Payton and Kenzie love to sing Primary songs, I think they hold a future together, don't you!?

Easter ReCAP

When the kids woke up Easter Sunday, they were surprised to see that Easter Bunny had scattered candy down the stairs and around the house. He had also hidden our baskets filled with fun goodies for all of us. They were happy and thrilled with their morning sweets!! It was fun watching them try to find their personal baskets to see what was inside.

Taylor loves balls so the Easter Bunny brought him the perfect sized one among other goodies! McKenzie got the Littlest Pet Shop, with other goodies but didn't want to open it yet, she wanted to save it for later (until I finally convinced her that they were stuck and wanted help out, and she finally agreed).

Payton loves all things BOY, so he got a 4-wheeler with a stunt man on it and other treats...he was thrilled!

Then we let the kids color Easter EGGS, for some reason they could not wait. Taylor is just a little young so he took a nap but Payton and McKenzie are quite the artists, and were well pleased with the results!

Concentrating on their skills.

Hand painting them was also a ton of fun for the kids.

Then after the last session of General Conference, we took off to my Grandparents house for a family dinner and the Annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was a hit and we ended up with even more candy that I have had to monitor so the kids won't get sick/cavities and eat it all at one time.

Let the Hunt begin...



Look at all those EGGS!! (Payton was excited with his results).

Taylor enjoyed hanging out with Daddy and being outside, not ready for hunting Easter EGGS yet, but sure likes their contents!

It was a great Easter and we had a lot of fun. The kids we pretty sad when it was time to go, they loved being with all the family and having fun outside.

Now the much anticipated April 15th will be here in a couple of days and I am soooo ready to have my husband BACK!! I am grateful that this busy time for Mckay happens to be in the winter months, because there just isn't that many exciting things going on, but now that SpRinG is here I'm ready to have him back, and it has lasted long enough!! April 15th is like a Holiday in our house and he gets the 16th off so we are going to soak up all of the much needed Daddy/Spouse time!!

Does anyone else have the dinner time blues?! It seems like 5:00 hits and I tend to panic/stress, unless I have planned ahead and the CrockPot is doing its thing (love the feeling that dinner is taken care of well before hand). Don't get me wrong, I like to cook, it just seems like the moment of stress when everyone gets hungry while I am trying to prepare dinner, in the hope that I actually have all of the ingredients on hand, and that the kids will cooperate with me long enough to get things done. Sometimes it feels like they need a small snack to hold them off for a short time longer...we were making floating tacos, so a can of olives happened to be the snack of the hour and here are the results. I will admit when dinner is all said and done and the kids and hubby are well fed it feels good to know that they are taken care of, and that I accomplished something.

Any tricks up your sleeve to accomplish the dinner time prep with little ones?