{Raindrops on Roses...}

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things!
**My Favorite Things**
Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers

My new Blingy Black Flower

Isn't it great? It looks pretty great in my hair for church, if I do say so myself. What a talented sissy I have, and so nice of her to make it for me!!

E.L. Fudge Cookies

MMMM, buttery cookie yummieness. I can't get enough of these lately? This is my second bag in the last week and look how I tore into it!

Little Swimmers Mango Coconut Sunscreen

Sun=Sunburns and pain for me, so when you are super fair skinned like me, it's a must have. I know it's for kiddos, but it smells yummy, is SPF 50, rubs in smooth and doesn't feel greasy, so I'm using it and loving it!
Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Lotion and Body Spray

It's my fave, mmmm yummy! Look- it's almost gone, that's how much I like it.
Covergirl Lipstain #445 and Bonnie Bell Vita Gloss O2

I love this lipstain, it's a great cinnamony color. I put a little on for a hint of color, or layer more for a darker shade. Add a little of this yummy strawberry silky smooth gloss for shine and I'm good to go!
New Kitchen Towels

I found these cute towels a few weeks ago that match my kitchen great. The dilemma, I love my towels that are crocheted at the top so I can hook them to my stove handle and I don't really excel at crocheting. Solution.....beg Grandma to do it for me. When I first asked she said she'd teach me, but I (in a whiny voice) reminded her that I really don't crochet all that well, and she gave in and did it for me. The only payment she asked, a hug! What a sweet, and talented Grandma I have!
Textureshine by Artec and Manipulator by Bed Head

These are must haves! Manipulator (or Blue Goo, to us)...a funky gunk that ROCKS! and Rock it does, I can NOT do my hair without this stuff. I use just the manipulator on the back of my hair and on my spikeys. I mix the Textureshine and Blue Goo to use on the front of my hair for a sleaker look. I also use a tiny bit of Textureshine on Carlie's hair to keep the fly aways down, she calls it pretty stuff.
Fresh Spring Flowers

Nothing says SPRING to me more than pretty tulips, and I love spring!

{Super Weekend}

Our SUPER weekend, started at Kaleb's first tumbling competition. He was the only boy his age that was able to compete at the level he did. I could tell he was nervous standing in line waiting his turn, but he did so good. His first pass was round-off, back handspring, and his second was round-off, back handspring, back handspring. He ended up taking first place for his age group, not hard when you are the only one, but he did great and I was proud of him! What a SUPER cute boy who is a a SUPER good little tumbler!

From there we headed to the SUPERcross races, to meet James, Kami and their family. The parking was horrid and we spent lots of time looking for a space, we finally just gave up and drove down and parked and rode Trax back up to the stadium, which was a first for all of us. The ride up was great, but after it was SUPER packed, and pretty miserable. We weren't sure if we would end up going because of the weather, but the rain stopped and it cleared up. It was still cold and the track was muddy, but that made it more exciting!
What SUPER adorable kiddos, who managed to have fun even in the cold!

The main event race was SUPER close between Chad Reid and James "Bubba" Stewart, which made it all the more exciting!

That picture is not of the main event race, and not of either of the above mentioned races.

Brock wanted Chad Reid to win and was SUPER bummed when he didn't....but it wasn't for lack of cheering from our little man!

We spent the night at Grandma Jeannie's and had plans to meet James and Kami at the zoo. By the time we got there it was raining/snowing and it just didn't sound fun. We (James and Kami had already gone into the zoo) decided to head to the Living Planet Aquarium. The kids love it there and it was out of the weather, which sold me!

The boys love the touch pool, and both ended up with SUPER soaked shirts. Miss Carlie like to look in the pool at the stingrays and fish, but drew the line at actually sticking her hands in.

She did, however, love the little play area and had a ball playing peek-a-boo at us through the cracks. After we had lunch with Grandma Jeannie and Grandpa Mike we took off for the SUPER long drive home, at least the kids thought it was SUPER long!

Yep, we really had a SUPER weekend!

{Flashback Friday}

Grandma & Grandpa Beckstrand, Carson, Kaleb & Brock ~ 2002
Great-Grandpa & Kaleb

I just love my Grandparents, they are such great people. Grandpa turned 83 last week and I still see him drive past my house every morning and evening to go feed the cows. They grow the most beautiful garden, and then bottle or dry almost everything from it. Grandma and Grandpa have both slowed down a bit over the last few years, but I think they could still run circles around me. I've learned so much from them over the years and I'm glad my kids can grow up right up the street from them!

I can't believe how little the boys are in this picture. How does time go so fast?

{Now I'm ready to Camp}

I don't know if you remember my camping post from Labor Day this past year? Maybe you recall that fantastic camper we all packed into? No? Let me refresh your memories.

Isn't it fancy? My mom's parents ordered it from the factory in 1971! When they decided to sell it, my dad's parents bought it. It then got passed down to my parents, and finally to us! I must admit at the time we were thrilled to have it. But over the years, our family has grown and we're out of space!

Really truly out of space, and we've been thinking it's time to upgrade. Derrick has been watching the KSL listings for months and over spring break we went to Payson to look at one, and then to Grantsville. It was a long drive with all the kids to Grantsville, but it was worth it!

Look what we found! I think this is at least triple the space we had before. We decided to get a fifth wheel because most of the time we'll be taking the boat or four-wheelers and it will just double trailer better.

This is from the front looking back. The couches make a table or a bed and cabinets above fold into a bunk. Take note....a real bathroom, not a porta-potty next to the doorway of the camper!

This is from the back looking forward. That couch also folds into a bed......all the kids could have their own beds!

Fridge, Freezer, Microwave, Stove, Sink.....Yippee! It's just like home!

Now I'm just waiting for the new type of hitch we need to get here and Derrick to change it out and we'll be ready to camp! I do have to say we had some great times with the old camper and have lots of good memories. I'm also happy to announce it's staying in the family, my brother Kyle and his wife Katy are going to take it and I bet they'll love it too!

{Riding, Riding, Riding...}

Saturday Derrick, Brock, Kaleb and I went on our first ride with the Sand Rock Ridge Riders ATV club. We've been talking about joining for quite awhile, but never did it. Sheri ended up signing us up when she did their registration for this year. Thanks Sheri! We went to the San Rafel Swell area outside of Castle Dale, along with 65 other bikes and 82 other people! We ended up riding 67.4 miles and 65 of those miles were great, but the other few I could have done without. At one point we dropped 1, 800 feet in elevation in a mile and a half! Derrick didn't think it was all that steep, but it was steeper than I like. About three fourths of the way down, my hands and arms were killing me from riding the brake and I finally just pulled off and made Derrick go down the next steep part and then climb back up and take me down. What a good guy he is, he didn't even complain that I was being a baby, and in my defense, I did ride 90% of it. Ann and Suzanne, you'd have been proud of me.... I bought a new helmet just for the ride and I wore it the entire time. I have to admit, I started out wearing it too keep my ears warm, I really didn't want an earache, but there were a few moments going down the steep stuff that I wondered if that helmet may end up protecting more than my ears! I was surprised that the boys did as well as they did, it really was a lot of riding, but they were troopers and did great. I was glad that we left Carlie home, it would have been much to long of a day for her and she had a much better time having a sleepover at her cousin Addie's. I have to say looking forward to the upcoming rides! We really saw some pretty scenery that we would have never found on our own.

Dad and Brock checking out the scenery.

Chimney Rock. This is where the steep stuff was. See the ridge in the background, that's what we came down. The picture from this angle is deceiving, the back area is actually taller than Chimney rock.

Stopping for a little break. Check out the hot new helmet!

This rock says.....

John H. Averett H.A. Petty

June. th. 6th. 18.81

Holy Cow, 1881, that's crazy!

Pretty cool Indian petroglyphs.
Derrick, Oct. 25th, 1990
For some reason Derrick doesn't recall being there?
Many, many rocks to be climbed by two cute little boys!

{Flashback Friday}

Lisa & Monica ~ 1978

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lis & I. Weren't we ADORABLE in our beautiful crocheted dresses made by Grandma Ainge? My Grandma made the most beautiful dresses for all the granddaughters and great granddaughters. I was so excited when we found out Carlie was a girl, because that meant she got a dress. What an amazing and talented woman my sweet Grandma was!

Derrick & Nick ~ March 17, 1979

I thought I'd add a flashback of Derrick today too. This picture was taken when Derrick was 3 1/2 and Nicholas was 3 days old. We don't really have all that many pictures of Derrick when he was a kid, but I thought this was a cute one!

Who do you think our kids look more like?

{Funny, Funny....}

I just had to share some of our funny pictures from the last few weeks. My kids sure keep me laughing!

Last week it was crazy hair day at school. I'm not all that creative when it comes to boy hair, but I don't think I did all that bad! We came up with four stripes for Brock, every other one was painted black too. Kaleb got 9 spiky ponytails all over his head. What handsome little punks I have!
The boys came running in last Friday and said Carlie had fallen off the trampoline...yup, right on her head! That's the first time I'd ever seen grass stained HAIR! Try explaining that one to the neighbors, oh wait, Lisa had to! Hehe
I guess the bath toy bag is the hottest new hair accessory! Maybe I need to get me one of those. What a silly girl!
For the most part, my Dad is a pretty well dressed and I'd have to say handsome guy. I guess the fashion sense all went out the window right in time for the family Easter egg hunt....Yep, cowboy boots and slicker pants, a winning combination, if I do say so myself!
**I do have to add in my dads defense, he would NEVER leave the house like that (ok, the yard), the boots were just the closest shoes he grabbed to go out and watch the kids!**

Kaleb has always been my best sleeper. When he's tired he either goes into bed or just lays down where he is and goes to sleep. Yes, his head is hanging off the side of the couch almost to the floor......and he slept like that for over an hour! I sure wish I slept that good!

Ok, this one may not be quite as "funny", but it's crazy all the same. My mom called me yesterday afternoon, and said in a very panicky voice "Mo, send Derrick fast!" Yea, instead of being the good daughter and just sending him and then asking questions, I immediately said "Why? What's wrong?" "There's a snake in my living room!!!" Yea, I sent him quick! My poor mom is terrified of snakes, and to have one in her living room, not good. Derrick saved the day, and then promptly BROUGHT IT HOME TO MY HOUSE! My kids loved it, especially Kaleb who thought it would make a spectacular pet.....ummm, nope, not in my house!

{Easter Weekend Fun}

Did all of you have a good Easter weekend? I hope so, because I know we did! It was spring break for the kids and Mr. Hubby, they've been out of school since Wednesday, and I think it's going to be hard to get up for school in the morning for all of us. Our little town always holds an Easter Egg hunt which the Primary is in charge of, but our poor little primary took a hit when we lost half our teachers to the new Relief Society Presidency and the Easter Egg hunt kind-of got left till the last minute. Lisa and I picked up the candy and eggs last week and we managed to pull it off. I truly enjoyed visiting with Tanya and Lynda as we stuffed the eggs. I feel blessed to be able to work with such great women in Primary.

This was my family room floor on Tuesday night....500 eggs and lots of candy. The kids, ok Carlie, couldn't understand why she couldn't eat all the candy.Unfortunately Wednesday afternoon was cold and windy and we were almost frozen after throwing out the candy and eggs, but the kids were happy and I think it turned out pretty well! Actually, I'm really just glad it's over with, I stress too much!
I think Kaleb got plenty of candy....don't you?

And a few eggs too! On Thursday afternoon, our GREAT neighbors, the Mundy's called and invited my kids to another egg hunt at their house with their granddaughter. Derrick and I were going on a hot date, so Aunt Lis took them along with her kids. We are lucky to have such fun neighbors who are always inviting us to things like that.

We decided this year to ask the Easter Bunny to come on Saturday. It just seemed like it would work better with Church and hopefully help us remember what Easter is really about.

Brock and Carlie were pretty excited with their new sunglasses. Brock even snuck his to church and put them on during Primary with his suit.....he looked very "Men in Black" until his mean Mama took them away! They also got books, flip flops, some more candy, swimsuits, and a few barbies for our girlie girl.

After Easter basket fun, we went to another egg hunt in Fillmore, which was also cold. From there we went to Dearden Equipment and had lunch. Later in the day it was time for the annual hunt at Gram and Papa's. As soon as we all got there, it started to rain, and it rained hard! We ate, and waited. Gram played Bingo with the kids, and we waited. Finally it stopped long enough to go and find the eggs. There was a $10 money egg for the girls in the side yard and one for the boys in the front yard, but somehow Carlie ended up with both of them, LUCKY GIRL! To be fair we did let the boys draw to see who got the money that was meant for them.

The boys were pretty serious this year and were racing all over the yard.

Papa even got tricky and hid some up in the tree!

We did get some new chicks this year again. Five of them, that will be white when they get bigger. Carlie has been loving them and is constantly asking to go see the "kickens".

Easter Sunday turned out to be a nice day and we hurried and snapped a picture before we ran out the door to Church. Grandma Jeannie made Carlie a new dress this year which looked cute on her. And the boys looked pretty spiffy in their birthday suits, ummm, I mean the suits they got for their birthdays, they would have felt pretty silly at church in their birthday suits!

Sunday afternoon, I had the wonderful experience of attending a special devotional held the in Priesthood room at the Manti Temple for our Stake. Last year our Stake Presidency placed an emphasis on family history and temple work and set a goal to double the size of our stake through Temple work, which was about 3,500 names. We not only made that goal, but far exceeded it, by almost double at, I think, just over 6,000 names. Because of the great effort made by our Stake, the First Presidency granted permission for this special devotional to be held on Easter Sunday in such a beautiful and amazing room, a first as far as the Temple Presidency knows. I can't even begin tell you what an extraordinary experience it was, and it truly made made my Easter Sunday complete.