easter adventures

wow, it seems like I haven't posted in forever! And we've had so much going on!

We're nearly done getting the house set up, and I'll post more once we are.

Now, for our easter adventures. This really begins the week before easter. The kids had the week off of school for spring break so we visited my family in south dakota. It was great to see them again (Aaron and the kids haven't seen them in a while) and we had lots of fun. It was conference weekend, so most of our time was spent at the house, but the kids had fun playing in their backyard, and my brothers even made a makeshift swing in one of the trees. Sunday afternoon we had an easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids, and for dinner we had a fun April Fools Day dinner.

After we said our goodbyes and made our way back home, we spent the rest of the week working on the house. We got the kids rooms organized, planted our garden and set up the new swingset in the backyard.

That weekend we decided to pay a visit to our friends back in Colorado Springs. We spent the night there and had a good time catching up and just having a good time.

For easter the kids had their baskets waiting for them in the morning. However, we have 9 am church, so most of our morning was spent in a rush to get everyone ready. After church the kids spent most of the afternoon playing outside while Abby napped and I made dinner. Then once Abby woke up they had some fun coloring eggs with Aaron. Aaron's friend Molly also joined us for egg coloring and easter dinner and the kids ate up all the extra attention :). Abby was so funny coloring the eggs. She had never done it before and found it fascinating that the egg would change colors. She would stir the egg around in the cup and we'd pull it up every once in a while so she could see it and she would get all excited, but she would never want to take it out of the cup :) that is, until we could convince her to do a new one in a different color :).

After egg coloring, and a delicious easter dinner (if I do say so myself) we had a bit more fun with some marshmallow roasting outside in the firepit. We made some s'mores and had some good laughs. Abby didn't want to roast marshmallows, she just wanted to eat them. So I had Nicolas get one of the treats from her easter basket. It was four different colored peeps on a stick (kind of like a peep-kabob). She was interested in that long enough to bite all the heads off, but then she just wanted the regular marshmallows. I decided it would be fun to try to roast the peeps...since their already on a stick and everything :). They were actually pretty good! And molly made the comment that it would be funny to take a picture with me roasting the peeps with one hand and holding a chocolate bunny on a graham cracker in the other...all ready for a nice easter s'more :).

All in all, a nice week.

Reminiscings

Well, with the start of a new year, I guess it's only natural to look back on the year that has past. So, here are a few of my favorite things that happened in this past year.

Abby's first birthday! Although Aaron wasn't able to be there in person because of his deployment, we were able to skype so that he could still see her open presents and devour her cake :). And being able to share it with my family was a blessing as well.

The end of Aaron's deployment. This wasn't Aaron's first

deployment, but it was his first one since we've been married, and it was great to be reunited after such a long separation.

Vacation in Nevada with Aaron's family.

The last time we were all able to see them was two years ago, so it was great to spend time together again.

Surprising my family with a visit on the 4th of July :). This was particularly fun for me because it was so spontaneous. We hadn't planned on a trip, and just decided

the day before we left. It was great to be able to spend that time with my family, even though it was just a short trip.

Aaron's acceptance to OTS. We were all so proud of him for this accomplishment and he was further lucky to be chosen for the career he wanted as well, and it will be such a blessing for our ever growing family! :)

Christmas with all the kids! We haven't had the older kids with us on christmas morning for a couple years (and last year we didn't get to see them at all since Aaron was deployed) so it was especially exciting to have them with us this year. It was so much fun to be all together again, and Abby loved having the older kids to play with.

This past year had some wonderful memories, and I'm sure this next year will have just as many. :)

New Year, new adventures

This past year has been full of excitement. This next year though, is already looking to outdo last year. In just the next few weeks I will be cleaning the house and going through everything to get ready for our move, which takes place at the end of the month. In a couple weeks I'll be starting school again with just two classes left, and good thing too, cause I don't think I'd be able to handle much more with all that will be going on this semester. After moving out of this house I'll be taking a week off to visit my family in SD and welcome home my brother who has been serving a mission in New Mexico. After this short break I'll get to welcome our belongings into our new home with only a few days before we leave for Alabama. We'll get to spend a week there with Aaron before he graduates (yay! :D), and then it will be a few days driving back to Colorado.

So, after a very busy couple of months we'll finally be in our new home, Aaron will be starting his new job as an officer (with another round of training thrown in there somewhere), and I'll be finishing the last couple months of my schooling and my pregnancy. Wow... and that's just the first half of the year! :D I certainly hope that after a very crazy beginning of the year, hopefully we'll have a slower end, but with a new baby and a new job I doubt it :).