Easter Weekend!

I was quite brave, I must admit, the Friday before Easter and volunteered to have some friends & kiddos come over to the house for Easter egg dying activity. Ya, what was I thinking? I know.

However, we all were pleasantly surprised and pleasantly proud of our lil' terror children who, by some miracle, did not end up dying my table, by couch, any of the moms clothing, and to Cash's happiness, not him.

Although I give the braveness award to great friend, Shauna, who helped Lily dye all of her eggs...uh, not that Sha had a choice. Lil just sat right up on her lap and wouldn't take no for an answer...she's a bossy lil' thing. Thank you Shauna! (big thanks, cuz that meant more mimosas for me!)

Vaughn especially loves Easter activities!

And who knew I invited Martha Stewart over? Brooke not only baked cookies that morning (what happened to the cheating ways of store bought?!) but she put them in a cute wicker basket with a fashionable striped kitchen towel to keep them warm and of course, presentation, presentation, presentation. What?! Who are you?

And we could tell Gretts was a seasoned "kids activity" mom; hence, just taking Gagey's shirt off right away to avoid stains. Smart lady, she is.

And who brought this hooligan?! Oh 3-year-olds - the discovery of making funny faces for the camera is priceless.

We love that Koa!

And Easter Weekend continues with family fun! A few pics from our Easter Brunch...

Lil 110% hearts her Auntie Laura!

Now here's a motley crew

Our sweet tiny Lydia - love her!

So we have yet another Martha in our lives...check out all the hats the kids are wearing! Melissa made bunny beanies for everyone which were just absolutely adorable...adorable! Thanks Meliss!!

Megan! It's your turn!!

Megan - if you're reading this blog, this is your shout out from the Bartons! It's your turn to visit Utah...you said you were coming!! Have I guilted you enough yet?

Well if not, I'm playing dirty now....I know you hate to be left out, so let me just show you how much fun we had when Sar & James came to visit! (Sarah also straight up slipped this night up in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival...there's always comic relief when Sar's around - love her!)

Much to your surprise, Utah does in fact serve very large beers...

Kenny and I are patiently waiting...

Because tutus are fun

Lily is lucky enough to have awesome Auntie Sydney who sends some dang cute presents...oh uh, and Uncle Branden, too, of course. :) This fancy orange tutu is just one of those to show off! Why should every girl own a tutu? Let's list a few reasons...

First and foremost - they just make a girl smile!

You get to twirl and twirl while staring in the mirror to admire how it floats up!

Because your friends wish they had one...

When you crawl up on a couch, a chair, a bed, etc, all those tulles layers up in the air with a cute tush exposed is just to die for!
And finally, why every girl needs a tutu? Because they can convince even the toughest of dads for just one more piece of candy!

Oh George W...

A girl after my own heart...Ken gave me this birthday card last year and I've kept it because it's one of my absolute favorites. Well, come to find out, Lil finds the humor in it as well.

Full disclosure of the card:

(On the front featuring our former President Bush)

"My fellow Americans, we're at war, the price of gas continues to rise, and social security will run out in a few years, but, don't worry -- I do have some good news...

(open the card and W's voice says...)

"I've save a bunch of money on my car insurance!"

(taken, of course, from the Geico commercials! Now go watch the video again and laugh with Lil some more!)

And why do we swim in the ocean?

Lil and I ventured down to the dinosaur museum awhile ago with our cool mama-kid pals. I'm fine with staring at giant monsters that have been long since extinct, but then much to my surprise and fear, we came upon this...

Apparently, this GIANGANTIC shark (with some name that I could never attempt to spell or remember for that matter) once lived in the ocean, but scientists know little about it. So since they don't know much about it, how the hell do they know it doesn't still live in the ocean? This is why I prefer lakes to the ocean.

Kid Free and Zac Brown Concert Night!

Lucky for Ken & I and Gretts & T-Bone, we have wonderful families who babysit for us so we can enjoy a night out once in awhile! And so we were off to the Zac Brown concert at the newly opened Rail Events Center a couple of weekends ago...Zac - awesome! Venue - sucked!! But that's another story.

Funny, several photos felt like I'd seen them before...similar smiles, similar lighting, similar progression of worsening as the night went on. Kenny Chesney???

Early in the night...

Later in the night...

Early concert

During concert

(yes that is a very pregnant Gretchen dancing on a piano bench! Hey, it was the only way we could see...hence the comment about the venue sucking!)

End concert...

At least someone is resting around here...thanks for watching Lil, boys!!

Bull Riding Anyone?

And by bull, I mean Cash the Black Lab.

Oh Cash, you are the best and most patient and most chill dog in the world!

That is for about 30 seconds....30 seconds of Lily jumping up and down yelling and pulling. About 28 more patient seconds than Ken would have allowed!