april in pictures

So it's no secret that our blog has been a bit stale lately. April has been a crazy month with so much going on, I just didn't take the time to make blogging a priority. That makes me sad because our blog is a big part of our family record keeping and I want to do better in the coming months, so I am going to try to a version of Project365. My goal is to take at least one picture a day and post about at least one thing we did that day. I've seen variations of this done on friends' blogs and think I can handle it so here goes.

After Sunday dinner with my parents we stepped outside to take a quick family picture before our temple prep class began. For 7 Sunday evenings in March and April we taught a temple preparation class in our home and my parents and Laura graciously watched Will for us each week. I wanted to take a picture in our yard since we spent several hours Saturday working on it. It is probably a little sad to feel so proud about basic yard maintenance (mowing, wedding, etc.) but I was pretty excited about what we accomplished. We no longer have the worst lawn on the street!

We bought Will a sand table in the hopes that it would curtail the amount of time he spends digging in the dirt around our flowerbeds. So far it's been......moderately successful. He does spend less time in the dirt, but now we are dealing with all the issues that come with sand. I think I am fighting an uphill battle with Will and messes. You should see the way he says the word mess, with clear disdain in his voice and delight in his eyes.

Our friend from Springfield, Katie, and her two girls stayed with us for a few days this week while they visited the temple. It was fun catching up. After the kids went to bed we watched the movie Courageous, at Katie's recommendation. Even though the movie was about fathers, it got me thinking about the type of mother I would like to be and what steps I need to start making now to be the mother I envision myself being. Kids grow up so fast!

We munched on m&ms that TJ picked up for us while we watched the movie. This is worth mentioning because about a week earlier I had asked him to pick up a bag for me and he wasn't able to find them, so the next time he did the grocery shopping he bought me some. Better late than never. :)
 

We spent a morning at Deanna Rose with Katie and her girls. This is Will's 3rd year of going to the farmstead and the first time that he didn't freak out when we went into the baby goat pin. He was even willing to hold the bottle until the goats got aggressive. He was not willing to take it back. It's fun to see him come out of his shell and be (slightly) more adventurous.

APRIL 19 -- NO PICTURE

We spent the day getting ready for our Utah trip and I forgot to take a picture this day, so just envision a giant pile of laundry. I washed and folded several loads of laundry as well as packed and made other preparations for the trip.

Waiting for our shuttle bus at KCI. We randomly were at the same bus stop in the economy parking lot with someone who not only lives in Overland Park, but went to SMS. Small world. Both of our kids were great on the plane, hardly crying at all.

Will and Sadie really hit it off at Darren's wedding reception. They both enjoyed hanging out at the waterfall and dipping a cup into the pool. Will preferred the hint of chlorine in that water to the hint of lemon in the water that was served.

Will has been really into bugs lately. Here he is looking for ants on the sidewalk with his Aunts Emily and Jill. Lauren (seated on Aunt Jill's lap) is sporting a Hawaiian dress Jill picked up for us when she was in Hawaii and found out I was pregnant with Will (we didn't know if we were going to have a boy or girl at that point).

Because we went to Utah for two weddings that were 5 days apart, it made sense to not come home in between. Therefore, it made sense for Tony to telework a few of those days. Since things were pretty busy (or, distracting for work) where we were staying, Tony opted to work from BYU campus in the area formerly known as the No Shhhh! Zone. I brought the kids over after Tony was done working and we walked around campus a bit. We had to take a picture of Lauren on the sign for the building named after her great-great grandfather. Will refused to be photographed because we had told him about the duck pond too early and nothing would satisfy him until he saw the ducks.

We got to go through the temple with Melanie on her first time through and it was pretty neat. Thanks to Carly for watching Lauren and Laura for watching Will so we could participate.

We enjoyed a delicious Italian feast with the Starita family the night before Melanie and Andrew's wedding. You know you are getting a lot of food when you get so much pasta and meat they are considered separate courses. In this picture, Will is feeding me some delicious lemon gelato. Also worth noting, Anthony met Al Jefferson in the parking lot while I was feeding Lauren.

Congratulations, Staritas! Melanie and Andrew tied the knot and we celebrated. There will obviously be a separate post about this day.

The John women were having a girl's weekend that overlapped some of the time we were in Utah, so we crashed their party for a few hours and got to meet Weston. Here are the 3 babies born in 2011 and their moms. Weston (Meredith) was born in November, Lauren in October, and Elise (Carly) in May.

I think a more appropriate picture for this day would have been the floor of the Denver Airport. On our way back we had a scheduled layover, but then our flight was delayed so we had several hours  to kill. After a crazy busy 8 days we were all spent. We trudged up to the second level and passed out on the ground. Lauren slept in her car seat, but TJ, Will and I sprawled out on the ground. That night when I got into my own bed it felt like heaven. There's no place like home. :)

After church Will decided he wanted to "get cozy" on the couch. It was a rainy, gray Sunday and we all enjoyed taking naps that afternoon.

Lauren had her 6 month check up and hadn't gained much weight so it was decided it was time to introduce solid foods into her diet. She has had some negative reactions to milk-based formulas and has such sensitive skin, so our pediatrician and dermatologist advised us to wait as long as possible with the solids. She didn't actually get much of the rice cereal down, but she seemed to enjoy the process so there's a step in the right direction. Here's to sleeping more than 4 hours straight at night!