The Beach

Thursday we hit the beach. The weather was PERFECT. It was hot and sunny. So sunny Sophie managed to get a big old sunburn on her face (due to my poor sunscreen ability). The kids had a blast. Todd, Amy, Jan and I were all there to chase down kids, take them potty, take pictures, feed them lunch and play with them. It was such a great day.

Claire spent most of the day digging in the sand.

Sophie spent the day running wild and throwing sand.

Tayson got on the boogie board and rode a few waves
(with help from Uncle Todd)

The girls played in the sand

The boys played by the water

Luke loved the water

My boys are getting sooooo big!

Sophie was so scared of the water

Sand on her right foot

Sand on her left foot

Me with the 4 kids....oh how we miss daddy!!!

Amy with baby Owen (he was a champ at the beach)

It was a perfect spring break kind of day!!!

Driving with the kids

Spring Break 2010 started with me and 4 kids alone in the car heading to Vegas. Todd is working in Washington DC for a while but we didn't let it spoil taking the kids on a trip during their week off school. I taught spin Tuesday morning, then ended up having to take mini in to get new tires then we packed up and hit the road.

I had a book on my iPod (The Book Thief), Tayson moved up to the front to help out and did a great job taking care of the kids. We had snacks, water bottles, toys and lots of movies in the car. We made 4 stops for gas and the kids to go potty during a 6 hour drive. It was great when we made it to Danny's house the kids loved getting out of the car and playing with their cousins.

Hanging with the girls

Stephanie L., Gretchen, Leigh Anne, Traci
Me, Jill, Stephanie H.

I went to lunch with half the Wasatch Back team today. Good food. Good friends. Good fun. And the best part is that we were planning our weekend trip to St. George.

Easter Morning

We woke up Sunday morning to lots of good snow. Ryan came over and said they were having a snowball fight so my kids hurried and put on their snow clothes. They had so much fun!

No teams at the start - it was a free for all fight. The only rule was be nice and no hitting Claire. Steve of course joined in the fun. I left Sophie inside and came out in my PJ bottoms, boots and coat to take pictures.

I love this shot of Luke hitting Tayson and Claire trying to get Allen in the background.


Allen got a great shot on Steve and the snow went right down the back of his coat.


Claire had so much fun!
And EVERY time she made a snowball she showed serious crack. Hilarious!


After I went in for a few minutes Sophie wanted to come out to get the kids with me so I carried her outside to get them in her PJ top and diaper. She was having nothing of me holding her and I thought if I put her down she wouldn't like it and would let me carry her back from Steve's house (where the snow ball fight ended up for more fresh snow). She could have cared less than she didn't have shoes or pants on. Tayson was hot so he took off his hat and gloves so she grabbed those and I helped her put them on. She was grabbing the snow and throwing it and eating it and cracking up. She didn't fuss or cry once in the whole 5 minutes she was outside. It was so cute. I feel like a slacker mom but it really wasn't my intention for her to play in her diaper.


Then we came inside for Conference and drank hot chocolate and ate pancakes. What a great day!


Speaking of Conference. It was amazing! Pretty much all I heard in every talk was "parenting is key" and I need to do a better job. I loved the talks and I loved the focus on family but it sure did add extra pressure to me to step it up as a mom and do more to teach my kids the gospel. It's time for me to ensure my kids know how special they are and how much I love them and that they are children of God. I'm going to try a little harder to do a little more. I can't wait until I get the Ensign so I can read all the talks again.

Arm Wrestling

On Saturday after the egg hunt we were just hanging out and Steve, Christine and Eric came over. Christine had told Eric I could beat him in an arm wrestle (why oh why did I stop lifting weights???)

Here's how it went down:
Me vs. Eric - Eric
Ryan vs. Tayson - Ryan
Tayson vs. Luke - Tayson (barely)
Luke vs. Ryan - Ryan
Claire vs. Sophie - Claire
Claire vs. Me - Me






We Schultz's love arm wrestling. I think I should kick it up a notch though so I don't keep losing!

Easter Egg Hunt

We got invited to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt this morning at 9:00 am. Fun. The morning run took a bit longer than I had anticipated (ended up being 8.8 miles and lots of it uphill) so we were running late and didn't get there in time to hide eggs. It was still fun to go eat breakfast and hang with friends but the kids didn't do eggs. It was freezing outside too.


Then after we got home Tayson invited Ryan over and Todd and I hid lots and lots of eggs for the kids to find. The kids had so much fun finding eggs and eating candy.


Sophie found one egg, opened it and found a candy necklace and sat on my lap the rest of the time chewing on it.




Tayson found the hardest egg we hid.

Happy Happy Easter to all!

Funny Conversation

Claire: Mom do you have a big butt?
Me: What do you think?
Claire: hmmmmm

(long pause while checking out my rear)

Claire: No I don't think so.
Me: Thanks