General Women's Conference

Women's Conference was extra special this past weekend because I got to take Madeline with me for the first time.  She was very excited to be old enough and could hardly wait to go with her cousin.  We drove with my mom and met Raelynn and Kate at Blue Lemon for dinner first.  And following Conference had (as usual) entirely too many treats.  We all enjoyed the conference and had fun taking pictures after it ended.

Easter Weekend

On Friday we made our Resurrection Garden:

 Then we dyed our Easter Eggs

 Cooper had fun dyeing craft eggs which the kids took turns hiding around the house for each other for days!  Our real eggs turned out pretty great:

 Saturday morning we went on a hunt for Easter baskets and then ate chocolate before breakfast!

 Later in the morning, the kids hunted for eggs in the backyard.  36 craft eggs and 48 filled with candy!  They had a blast running around gathering them.

 Once Oliver found one that made rattling sounds, he was happy walking around shaking it for the rest of the time outside.

 We put all the eggs in a big bowl and then divided them equally.

 By Saturday night, our Resurrection Garden was looking a little sad and lots of the plants had died, but Sunday morning it was alive and beautiful again.  I love Easter!  He is Risen!  Hallelujah!

 The kids enjoy this tradition, but I especially like it.  I spent the morning listening to The Messiah.  It was perfect.

 Madeline in her beautiful new Easter dress:

 My kiddos!

Easter dinner was perfect too.  Grandpa and Nana came to share it with us and it ended up being several hours of visiting and the kids being cute and eating really good food.  The leftovers the next few days were as good as Thanksgiving leftovers!  But mostly, it was perfect because of the love I felt for and from my Savior.  What a marvelous weekend.

Cooper's Eye Surgery

I don't recall ever going to Primary Children's Hospital before.  It was a lot less impressive than I had anticipated.  The remodeling project that was currently going on didn't help.  This isn't the kind of thing you want welcoming you when you're taking your three year old in for surgery:

 The waiting room was dumpy and overcrowded and there wasn't a toy in sight that wasn't completely broken.  We were stuck in there for over an hour and it was probably the worst part for me.  I felt so relieved when they finally called us back.  Cooper knew something was up when he had to change.  But he was still in good spirits.  I was proud of him for being so brave.

 Getting him to go with the doctors and nurses into the OR without us was a bit of a trick.  He wasn't freaking out or anything, but decided it was in his best interest to scoot along the floor backwards back to the waiting room.  Finally he got in a little car and off he went.  I was told later that he did great after we separated.  Then Todd and I waited...

 The surgery went very well.  We were told some pretty scary stories about kids freaking out and screaming and crying bloody tears when they are waking up from anesthesia , but Cooper wasn't like that.  And thankfully, no bloody tears!  He wasn't thrilled with life, but seriously, who would have been under such circumstances?!

 We were able to help him wake up by asking him questions about diggers.  He was awake for a very long time before he would open his eyes.  He said they felt funny.  And his sweet innocent desperate voice made my heart hurt.  Poor little guy!

 I held his hand on the way home.

 And then he was out for awhile.

 His eyes are pretty red on the insides, but not as bad as they seemed to describe.  He's really doing so good.

 My mom was so sweet too, and brought us over a pie that night to celebrate Pi Day.  So thoughtful and yummy.

 The last couple mornings have been a little hard.  His eyes are always sore in the morning.  We've had some good snuggle times.   The pain meds worked really well and kept him from wanting to rub his eyes.  They made him a bit hyper and feisty, but it was worth it.  He doesn't need them anymore.  But still, this morning he asked, "Mommy, what is wrong with my eyes?"  I hope nothing now.  I really hope they'll just be right.

Post-op appointment is this coming Monday.  I'll be glad to hear that all is well then.  So glad the surgery is over!

Laura and Dave's Wedding

On Saturday March 5th, Todd's sister Laura got married to Dave!  Before the wedding, I had the fun opportunity to take their engagement pictures.  Laura did the editing, so I can't take all the credit.  But I think they turned out really great.

 The wedding was really beautiful.  We had our whole crew there looking sharp.

 I love this picture of Madeline and Nana.  I'm glad to have this picture since this is the dress Nana made Madeline for her baptism and I wanted a picture of them together with Madeline in it!

 Beautiful cake

 Two families becoming one

Beautiful bride

 Laura and Dave

 Todd with all his siblings

xoxo
Happy Wedding!

This and That

Madeline's first sewing project with Mimi was this darling pillowcase she chose to make for Ethan!  She loved sewing it, and wants to sew more more more.   I'm excited to hopefully sew with her in the future.

 She had a wonderful time going to a Celestial Princess Dinner Party with her Dad for Activity Days.

 I love my new sunglasses.

 And Oliver is cute in the tub.

Cooper

Cooper!  Every day this kid makes me smile and makes me crazy.  And makes me tired.  And makes me laugh.  

 His obsession with diggers and construction vehicles and digging and sawing and ripping and scooping continue.  Giving him this cardboard box to shred up bought me a nice hour of free time!  His favorites are excavators and mobile cranes.

 Cooper the Burrito!

 He really isn't too impressed with eating lunch with only Oliver and me.  He always wants lunch guests and when we can't manage that, sometimes we make tents to make it more fun.

 He is definitely my funny kid.  He makes jokes and does things just to get people to laugh.  Like putting on his shirt upside down.  My favorite thing he does lately is once he's finished washing his hands he raises them high in the air and says with satisfaction, "sparkle and clean!"

This sweet kid of mine will soon be having eye surgery.  His glasses have not been able to correct his problems with going cross-eyed.  On Monday, March 14th, he will have double eye surgery to hopefully correct his eye alignment problems.  I am nervous, as any mom would be, but feel like this is a very needful thing for him.  His depth perception is weak and the doctors said he'd be blind in his left eye by age nine if we ignored it.  I'm grateful for the prayers and support of loved ones.  And I'll be excited for the surgery and the recovery days to be behind us.  Meanwhile, I'm trying hard not to think about it too much and just enjoy him.  Even if he does act very three.

16 Months Old

You are cute and loved.  Every day and every mood!