The cupcakes were little hamburgers with Bisquick mix as the bread/bun. The cookies are mashed potatoes with black beans for the chocolate chips. They were actually pretty tasty!
My sushi rolls were made with fruit roll ups and rice crispy treats. Poor Variah is gonna get quite a shock when she eats real sushi cuz she thinks these tasty treats are sushi.
This year Young Womens was on April Fools. I made these treats to take to the activity. I should have put them in a pan cuz the girls picked up the empty plate and were't even fooled! I'll have to improve that trick for the next time!
My cute little dinosaur
So I am a Survivor fan. I have been watching since the 2nd season. I watched for many years, then stopped for a couple of years, then started back up when Daniel and I got married. Out of 30 seasons, I'd say I seen at least half or more of them. I even own season 2 on DVD. I got a Survivor contestant's autograph back in 2001 and bought a "buff" for a fellow survivor fan. So when they announced they were coming out with a commemorative "buff" for the 30th season, I wanted to own one for myself. So I bought one and tried out some of the many ways I've seen actual contestants were it on the show. I was shocked to see it as a shirt and skirt on me compared to the contestants. They are skin and bones out there I guess-either that or their buffs are super stretched out!
There was a week or two when I just couldn't find Variah's shoes. I decided to pray about their location and then asked Daniel to help me look for them. He found them chilling in Variah's fridge and her oven! That silly girl. I of course asked her frequently where her shoes were-she didn't know, we checked the logical places and some illogical places in her room. But didn't think about those places!
Dyeing Easter Eggs
This year we dyed the eggs using Kool-Aid
To keep the eggs from cracking I had Variah use whisks, no egg balancing on those thin wire hoops
Ignore my crazy face and look at Variah's cute and excited face. She had a blast this year with the eggs
Haha! This girl makes the best faces
our 2 easter egg shells that we'll add to our annual stash to keep for the years to come
Our decorated easter eggs
Easter Egg Hunt at Larlie and Pop's House
These kiddos were pretty excited to get outside and look for eggs
These two love giving each other hugs
Variah was off and running as soon as she got outside
Easter gifts from Pop and Larlie
Variah got bubbles that won't spill, play dough, crackers and cheese, popsicles, frozen puzzle, Disney Princess light up wand and some capsules that grow in water
Everett got a teething ring, puffs and yogurt bites. Much needed in the months to come!
Easter Bunny Baskets
Variah got some books, an alphabet puzzle, Disney Princess pajamas, stickers, fruit snacks and treats.
Everett got some rice cereal, a book, puffs and a rattle
My easter basket hidden in the washing machine
The rattle was a hit with Everett...or the cardboard packaging was!
She loved looking for the eggs around the house
Daniel found his easter basket hiding behind the couch
This year General Conference weekend and Easter weekend were the same. It made for an awesome and spiritual weekend. I'm always sad Sunday afternoon when the last session ends.
These two had a picnic one morning in the basement
This little girl picks her nose or lips while falling asleep and this is the result...I HATE IT!!!
I love sleeping kids...but not so much their flailing arms.
We got this horse from our friend Julia Robertson. Variah had to ride it with her cowgirl hat on
Easter outfits...because we didn't have church on Easter Sunday due to Conference, we wore the church clothes the next Sunday. And aren't these kids just the cutest?! Daniel did a good job capturing them smiling
Another mother's lounge selfie
Every month on the second Sunday the Taylors host a family dinner. This one was after Debbie had been to Nashville, Tennessee. She had a story to tell the kids before she gave them bubbles and candy sticks. They did such a great job at listening to her!
Some bibs I made for Everett
Cute Ariel pajamas
This boy is now eating breakfast and dinner of solids. He still LOVES his food!!
This little girl got her first ice cream cone. We were getting lunch and I asked for a free kiddie cone and then once she got it I realized it was her very first one. Look at that face-she was kinda excited
This is how I get dinner and other things done some days
I have had to remove the pads on the sides of the crib cuz everett pulled the ribbon off of them and then somehow pulled them off the railing of the crib. Such a silly boy!
Convention
This year Salt Lake City was the host of Convention. The last time it was here was in 2010 when Daniel and I were engaged. I love seeing all the 4Life stuff all over downtown Salt Lake! Daniel is so extremely busy with all the distributors and general managers in town, that he gets a hotel for the week. It is just like he is out of town...which is true, he isn't in Riverton! He checked into his hotel Monday afternoon so we decided for FHE to go swimming at his hotel and get dinner.
Variah got to wear her new "puddle jumper". It is like a life jacket and water wings, all connected. Genius!!
We watched Daniel and Variah swim
She loved being independent in the water
This boy enjoyed watching the swimmers
And who can complain about eating dinner in bed? As you can see Variah really enjoyed it to the fullest
Who needs toys when you have a mirror like this?!
Manoj is a General Manager from India that is a good friend of ours and occasionally gives me gifts. Daniel thinks this came from the Paris airport during Manoj's layover.
One of the projects I worked on that week were these fabric covered diaper boxes. I LOVE them, it makes things looks so much cleaner with the toys hidden. And I used diaper boxes we already had and fabric left over from when I made the curtains in our family room and kitchen!
And wouldn't you know it, Mother Nature threw us a curve ball with a really good snowstorm. Variah was stoked and had to play outside in all the new snow.
Having Daniel gone March 23-31 and then 13-19th made me a bit crazy. My thoughtful friend Brooke dropped off a bag of my favorite Jelly Belly-Juicy Pear. It helped me through some of those hard moments for sure!
Variah came to me one day with all of my rings on her finger. I asked her where they came from...more or less to see exactly how she got them and this is what she showed me
This girl is getting pretty tricky now that she is getting taller. New worlds are opening up and then closing if I catch her :)
We decided to meet up with Chels and Carsten to go swimming at Daniel's hotel. While I was loading things into the car I had Everett in the house in his carseat. I heard him crying really hard-which is NOT normal for him. When I got inside Variah had a guilty look on her face. I asked her what happened and she told me she bit him. Sure enough his poor big toe had Variah's teeth marks! I was soo mad! I admit I spanked her and sent her to her room. Why she would do that I have no idea. Which made me even more mad!!
All dressed in their swimsuits and ready to head to the pool
Even Everett was going to swim
In their puddle jumpers ready to swim
This boy didn't love the water. Thankfully Daniel was able to stop by the pool for a bit and see us. He held Everett while I swam with V.
We got dinner again in the hotel room with Chels and Carsten. Variah knew just what to do.
Everett was asleep in minutes after we left the hotel. He LOVES sucking his thumb!
The Sunday Daniel came home from Salt Lake, I had a Young Womens meeting at my house. During the meeting Variah decided to throw a fit in the kitchen. I tried to get her to stop, but wasn't very successful. After she was on her feet I grabber her by her hand and pulled her by her hand in the direction of her room and told her to go cry in her room. She went running off. After some time she came out and sat on my lap. She was still whimpering and babying her left arm. She said it hurt. I couldn't figure out why she was saying that unless she had fell in her room. The mtg got over with and Daniel came home. Variah didn't even get off of my lap to run to him. NOT normal at all! I started to worry a bit. She continued to act like it hurt her and wouldn't move it. If we moved it or her she would cry. I decided to look up any symptoms I could on the internet. I found something called Nursemaids Elbow. It is when the elbow has slipped out of its normal place at the joint. Nursemaid's elbow can happen if you tug or pull on a child's lower arm or hand, especially if the arm is twisted. It doesn't take much force for the injury to happen. The most common cause of nursemaid's elbow is a pulling-type injury. So I figured when I pulled Variah's hand to get her to go to her room I hurt her elbow. I felt horrible!! I decided to wrap it in a sling to keep it immobilized and cause her less pain.
After Church we had our friend Tony come over. Tony is a Physicians Assistant and after looking at and moving Variah's arm he confirmed my hunch that it was Nursemaid's Elbow. He said that he could pop it back into place pretty easily. It would hurt her temporarily but fix the problem. We gave him the go ahead. He popped it back into place and boy him and Daniel heard it. Poor V! She cried and then was all better. Literally. She started acting just like herself and started talking to Daniel like he had just walked in the door!
You can see her tears, but she was happy to have that sucker
These two LOVE each other!
About a week after Daniel got back from Convention Variah got sick and was throwing up at night. This Princess wand from Larlie and Pop's Easter bag was the only thing that would get Variah to go back to sleep in her bed. Thank heavens for that wand!
This little guy decided while Daniel was at Convention, that he didn't want to nurse anymore! He decided to do a bottle instead, something he wasn't very good at up until then! So no more nursing or breast milk for him. We switched over to formula and he transitioned great. It was bittersweet for me. I was sad to give up those morning feedings when it was just the two of us in his room. But it freed me up so much! I was able to plan a girls trip with my sisters and mom without having to figure in Everett and his schedule. It meant I wouldn't have to take him to Girls camp in July. I could go to activities that started before 7:30. I could be gone anytime and have someone give him a bottle. I still have my snuggles with him when I feed him a bottle. And I didn't make him stop nursing, he chose that which makes it easier too.
We had a FHE on Priesthood blessings. Variah loves to put her hands on our heads and say a prayer, just like Dad and other Priesthood holders do.
Helping Dad mow the lawn
Everett is quite the roller and rolls all over the family room floor.
We gave Everett some watermelon and he was in heaven-messy heaven that is!
Larlie came to visit and volunteered to paint Variah's "toenailies"
Variah loved every minute, especially that Larlie painted them pink, her favorite color
While my mom was there Everett decided to show us his new trick! Army crawling..towards food. This boy loves to eat
We had a family home evening lesson on David and Goliath. Variah made her own sling one day and was so excited to come show me!
This is what Everett does if he is happy or eating food he really likes. It makes my heart happy for sure!
My visiting teacher gave me these foam masks for the kids to wear. We got a good kick out of them
Everett loves the jumperoo and gets some pretty good vertical
To finish out the month we made some sidewalk chalk with baking soda. After painting with it Variah sprayed it with vinegar and watched it fizz and bubble. It was pretty fun to do. Variah liked the vinegar part the best.
These clouds were too pretty to pass up on a picture
Everett was 7 months on April 11
Oh my goodness! The toe biting and nurse's elbow (such an odd name for it!)!! They sure are cute, though.
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