Easter Weekend

We had a super fun Easter weekend up in Show Low with Allen's family! Allen's mom flew into Phoenix on Thursday night and stayed with us overnight. On Friday morning I got up early to workout with my friends. When I got home, Al's mom informed us that Addie had been up most of the night with the stomach flu. She had bathed her a couple times and changed her sheets - all while we soundly slept in our beds. What a nice mother-in-law! So sad for Addie though.

Anyway, we decided to drive up to SL anyway and just hoped for the best. Al's mom has a timeshare up in Pinetop so we stayed there on Friday night. They have a couple of awesome heated outdoor pools and a huge hot tub so we got to swim/hot tub even though it was cold.

Carter especially loved being thrown around in the pool by his dad and uncles! That night I fixed a big family dinner and we had birthday cake for Allen's mom's bday. Addie did pretty well and slept on and off for most of the day. Luckily, we had lots of adult help so we could still do some fun stuff with the big kids.

Saturday morning we woke up to about 6 inches of snow. Surprise!! I was totally ill prepared for snow, even though I had checked the weather before packing. Allen's mom made some makeshift ponchos for the kids out of a trashbag to take them to the clubhouse while we were still sleeping. We still went out and swam and sat in the hot tub and had snowball fights in the pool. It was really fun!!

Yes, that is snow, on the pool chairs. And yes we are sitting on them. Brrrrrr....

On our way to the ranch we stopped for lunch, where Addie proceeded to throw up all over the table. Nice. She had been acting so much better all morning but she was obviously not better. We quickly headed to the ranch where she slept for most of the rest of the day. The rest of us took 4 wheeler rides, played in the treehouse, chopped wood and decorated Easter eggs:

Easter Morning before church:

Addie seemed to be better again this morning so we decided to take her to church. This isn't the best shot of her but it give you a decent look at the girls' dresses. I adore them {x a million}. I had them custom made again and just love having my girls in something totally unique! Carter got his very first suit and loves it. Here's a close up shot of M so you can get a better look at the amazing fabric {you can tell how cold she was!}

Allen's little brother Jake reported his mission during Sacrament meeting and did a wonderful job! It was fun to see so many familiar faces at the homecoming.

The Easter bunny came while we were at church! I did color themed baskets with the candy. They loved it. Here's the kids with their loot:



Carter got a new board game and a cool math activity board

Makenna got a set of 3 Disney Princess Polly Pockets and a magnetic wooden dress up doll.
Addison {with her post nap bed head} got some wooden stacking toys and some lacing cards. I kept it very educational this year :)

After a huge {and yummy} family dinner, we had a few Easter egg hunts and visited Allen's dad's grave before heading back to Phoenix.

It was a wonderful weekend! Today Addison is throwing up again so we will watch her for a few more hours and possibly head off to the pediatric ER. She is very hungry but then throws everything up but is otherwise acting pretty normal. Poor sweet thing!

Easter Ideas

This is a fly by posting! Having my sister here was nothing short of dreamy. They left last night and I'm so sad - even though we'll be seeing them for several weeks this summer. We had a wonderful week. But I will have to recap that later because we have MORE FAMILY coming into town today and then again later this week. And we're traveling again this weekend. Oh, and in there I'm also hosting book club at my house on Thursday. Whew.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple quick Easter ideas that I haven't seen anywhere else. I found an Easter FHE lesson through Chocolate on my Cranium (she posts a new, awesome FHE lesson every week!!) This lesson lasts for a week and each day you discuss the activities in Jesus' life leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection. Download the lesson Here.

My cute sister in law Tess did something similar with her girls last year and did an activity every day during the week leading up to Easter. You can see what she did (and be incredibly impressed) Here

And here's a perfect Easter related treat idea. Sorry, I don't have a picture but these are EASY and so fun for kids.

1 pkg. Pillsbury crescent rolls
Large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon sugar

The marshmallow represents Jesus' body. Have the kids dip it in the butter and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar. This represents the washing of Jesus' body and annointing it in spices. Wrap the marshmallow in the crescent roll. The crescent roll represents the tomb. Cook the roll according to package directions. When you take the rolls out of the oven, the marshmallow will have disappeared, of course representing that Jesus had been resurrected.

If I'm not back before Easter, have a wonderful and spiritual Easter weekend!

Hippity Hoppity

A few pictures of my Easter decor. I'm liking the softer, more muted colors this year. But I'm still incorporating my more fun, kid friendly items. Sometimes makes for an interesting mix!

{Kristi, this one is clickable, just for you!}

In an ideal world, I would love to have fresh cut flowers in my house at all times. But that's not exactly budget friendly, so I buy flowering potted plants instead. Last LOTS longer, are just as beautiful and adds a splash of color.

Speaking of spring, my sister is here from Portland with her family for their spring break. They think it is so warm here, even though it's a little cooler than normal for us. They're totally ready to hit the pool! We have many a fun thing planned for this week so I'll be back next week after they've gone!

{PS- like my new bloggy look? I used paper and elements from the free spring kit at Kevin and Amanda . She also has tons of cute free fonts! I also used pieces from Sweet Shoppe Designs Quarterly Assortment 2009 vol. 1}

Project 365: Weeks 8, 9 & 10

Ugh. I swore I wouldn't let myself get behind on my 365 layouts. But I was 5 weeks behind and have been scrambling to get caught up. I got home from my trip, spent Monday unpacking, spent Tuesday cleaning and having Activity Days. Tuesday night Allen's mom, sister and our BIL came to spend the night. On Wednesday Al's youngest brother returned from his mission in Peru. We spent the day together on Wednesday and Thursday. My sister comes to AZ with her 5 kids on Sunday night. I'm trying desperately to get caught up. I HAVE to finish my taxes tonight before the Turbo Tax price goes up tomorrow {it is taking forever this year since I'm trying to squeeze every penny out of our medical expenses}. Fun times.

ANYWAY... here are the layouts. Everything is clickable for all who care to read the journaling!

Week 8:





Week 9:





Week 10:

Update on my Mom

My mom had her surgery on Tuesday and everything went great! The doctor did not find any cancer cells in her lymph nodes, which is the main concern with breast cancer. The doctor removed the cancerous parts in her breast along with some additional tissue to make sure she got it all. She should have additional information from the toxicology reports by tomorrow but all things indicate that she is going to be FINE!

To say we are relived would be putting it lightly. Tuesday was the longest day in my life. I spent a lot of time on my knees that day. My mom will likely need additional treatment but the prognosis is looking great! I'll keep updating as we know more!

Thanks again for all your concern, thoughts and prayers!

On the road again (part 2)

I'm finally getting around to recapping our super fun spring break trip to Colorado. Here are the highlights:

Saturday: Looooong day in the car. Perfect traveling weather. Kids did great. I read nearly an entire book while Allen listened to one on his iPod.

Sunday: My dad took Allen to the airport at 4:00 a.m. We attended church at my parents ward where my kids are virtually the only kids in the congregation. After lunch and naps, we took a nice leisurely walk down the nature trail behind my parents house and played at the park for quite awhile.

Monday: Spent the morning visiting my friend Kayla {how did we fail to take a picture, yet again?!} and letting our kids play together. Always so fun to hang out and wondeful to meet baby Finley! Met up with my parents at the LDS Employment Center where they are serving their mission. Got a tour of the facilities, met all those they work with. Very cool and made me so proud of them to see all the work they are doing and all those they are helping {you can imagine that in this economy they have a very big job!} Went to lunch with my parents and then stopped for a little shopping on the way home.

Tuesday: St. Patty's day! Lucky the Leprechaun visited and left a treasure hunt for the kids along with chocolate "coins" {rolo's} along the path. The kids loved it {though I was mad because I'd left the fun surprises at home and had to improvise and spend more money - ugh}. We had our traditional green breakfast. We spent the morning at the Littleton Historical Museum - a staple for us when we visit Denver. It's such a fun place and I have such fond memories of visiting there from my childhood. We saw the 13 newborn sheep, got to observe and help the blacksmith.

Visited the animals:

Played at all the indoor and outdoor exhibits:

We literally had to tear the kids away, they were having so much fun!

We hurried and had our picnic lunch and then went off to see "Bedtime Stories" at the movie theater. Cute movie. My kids thought it was really fun! My mom made the yummiest Irish dinner to finish off our fun day!

Wednesday: My dad stayed home with my kids so my mom and I could enjoy shopping and lunch together. What a treat. I wish we could do it more often! It was a very low key day for the kids and they played and played in my parents backyard {did I mention that the weather was GORGEOUS last week - 60s and 70s all week which is phenomenal for Denver this time of year!} We all went to the park and hung out. My dad introduced Carter to Sudoku this week and he is now obsessed. He has also decided he wants to learn how to write in cursive and spent hours practicing his letters! He's such a funny kid!

Thursday: Spent most of the day at the Denver Zoo! Let me tell you, we usually do these kinds of activities in the dead of summer when we're visiting so it was DREAMY to be doing them in the more mild temps. It was a lovely day and we had so much fun. Addie was dreamy and so agreeable and the big kids wanted to see everything. Our favorites were the polar bears, monkeys and giraffe's. We rode the train, got treats, got really dirty and generally had a great time.

Friday: Spent most of the day with my dear friend Melissa, who I sadly had not seen in about 2 years. It was so fun to get our kids together and let them play {very similar ages} and get to gab and catch up. I so wish we could do it more often. Thanks for such a fun day Melissa! That night my parents had signed up for the missionaries so we had fun making dinner and feeding them.

Saturday: Another gorgeous day so the kids were in the yard for most of the morning with my dad while my mom and I snuck away for wee bit more shopping. Have you ever been to Lakeshore Learning? Oh my gosh, most fun store ever! Check it out if you have one near you. I spent waaaaaay too much money there! Right after lunch we went out to the airport to pick up Allen {angels singing!!} and went straight to White Fence Farm for a fun afternoon and dinner. This is a restaurant that has a ton of fun things for kids: playground, huge indoor slide and play area, arcade, candy shop, petting zoo area, little shops, etc. We all really had so much fun!

Sunday: Another long car ride home. We hit a horrible, horrible wind storm that lasted for about 200 miles. Truck trailers were tipped over and we were basically driving in white out conditions because of the dust! It was nuts but we made it home safely.

Of course the week went way too fast. It was so nice to get so much one on one time with my parents. We're often sharing my parents with lots of grandkids/kids so having so much time with them was a treat. I think we were a pretty good distraction for my mom and I even helped get a few little projects done around there house. It was a great week! Thanks so much mom and dad!

On the road again (part 1)

Whew. I survived the week. Barely. Field day was nuts today. I was in charge of the popsicles/otter pops. Which means I cut open and distributed roughly 800 popsicles today. Needless to say, I came home a very sticky mess.

Thank you so much for your comments and support regarding my mom. She will be heading into exploratory surgery on the 24th and we will know much more after that. What a long, emotional and exhausting process this is. We are all in good spirits and are of course, hoping and praying for the best!

After this week I kind of just want to crawl into bed and get rested up. But... next week is spring break and I decided {very} last minute that I'd love to spend it in Colorado with my parents. Allen was able to priceline a very cheap ticket {with horrible, awful flight times and connections - poor guy} and we are hitting the road at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to make the looooong drive to CO. Allen will spend a whopping 8 hours in the state and fly home way too early on Sunday morning so he can spend the week at work! Sorry to be mushy, but I just have to say how much I love my husband. He is such a trooper. When I said I wanted to go to CO {on Wednesday night}, he just said, "Ok, let's make it work." He is for sure getting the rotten end of the deal and he doesn't care AT ALL. I love you sweetheart!!!!! XOXOXOXO

So, we're off for another crazy adventure. I might post from the road but probably not. I'll be too busy enjoying some quality time with my parents and kiddos.

Have a great week!

Update

I'm affectionately calling this week the chicken-with-no-head week at the Frost house. We are swamped with a million different things this week {play group, Enrichment, 2 YM activities, Activity Days, a couple service opportunities, dinner group exchange, field day for Carter & all day volunteer opportunity for me, 2 baptisms, meeting with the interior designer to get going on my drapes, shopping for drape fabric... plus all our other normal weekly commitments} Long story short, I'll be MIA for most of this week.

But I wanted to tell a little about my mom. Many of you have inquired about the pink ribbon over there ---------------------------> A few weeks ago my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been a very emotional time for all of us and while we still do not know a lot about her surgery and treatment, things are looking quite hopeful. In an MRI she had last week, it appeared that the cancer had already spread to her other breast but today she found out that it has not. This is very very good news.

She should know more about her prognosis and treatments as the week progresses. We are all a little surprised at how long it has taken to find out the details of her situation. We have cried and prayed so much these last few weeks. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated too. We know many are praying and pulling for her! I'll post updates as I know more!

Soliciting Opinions

It's been forever since I've done a decorating post. I guess that's what happens when your house gets to a certain level of completion. Of course, my house in nowhere near complete but most of our remaining projects are bigger budget so most of them are sitting on the back burner.

Anyway, for the last 18 months I've been trying to decide how to decorate the tops of my cabinets. I've been tempted to not add anything but it always bugged me so I've finally taken the plunge and have been working on it for the last couple weeks. It has been a challenge since I don't have a lot of space between the cabs and my ceiling.

I'm not sure I'm in love with how it looks so that is where I am soliciting opinions. Here are a few closeups:
{This is on the top of one of my stand alone cabinets and I actually like this little trio}



{ignore the empty Tupperware container that my little rooster is propped up on. I promise you can't see it from the floor!}

The big picture:


So... what do you think? I've thought about leaving the two higher spots completely empty but I don't really like how it looks. Also, I'm not a big fan of faux greenery {ducking for cover, don't hate me ok?!?} so I don't want to throw a bunch of greenery up there. Long skinny signs? Long baskets? Nothing?

As usual, the paint color is off but you get the general idea. I also added the pictures so they are clickable. Lay it on me, I can handle it!

4 Years Old!

Makenna turned four on Friday! For sentimentality sake, here's one of my very favorite pictures of her when she was about 10 months old:I let her plan her entire day. Here's what we did:

1. Breakfast of Cinnamon rolls, strawberries and hot chocolate

2. Opened presents:

She got a new baby, several outfits for the baby, a jewelry box w/ jewelry, a Cinderella book, a princess cash register and a Fancy Nancy game

3. Shopping and playtime at the outlets:
Here she has fallen asleep on the way to the outlets (must have been that veeerry early morning excitement for her big day). She would not (and still will not) put down her jewelry box that my mom sent for her! She totes it everywhere we go!

4. Lunch and shopping at Target (this was the first item on her list. Everyday she asks if we can go to Target - funny girl).
5. Play at the park

6. Had a cute friend stop by with a gift:

(And just for the record - she had the CUTEST skirt that I made to match her birthday shirt but she wouldn't wear it :(

7. Dinner at McDonald's (we begged her to change the restaurant but that's what she wanted to do!)

8. Play games at Chuck E. Cheese's 8. Have birthday cake:


Said birthday cake totally did not work out how I planned. This one is a snoozer. Luckily, we had four new princess friends who saved the day. M didn't care - it was pink, it was sparkly and it had princesses!

All in all it was a busy and fun day! We are so blessed to have Makenna in our family! She is such a sweet girl with just enough spunk! She is such a joy!

Space Center Field Trip

I've been a total blogging slacker - again. I've been super busy and am sick on top of it all. Going on a month of being sick with a horrible sinus infection. I've put off going to the doctor because I thought maybe it was allergies (it isn't) and then I started to feel better but went back downhill last week. Anyway...

Last week I was able to chaperone Carter's class on a field trip to the Challenger Space Center. I KNEW he would love it and I jump at any chance I can get to spend time with his school class. It was a really cool place. Kind of a museum but combined with lots of hands on activities.

His entire class:In front of one of the space shuttle replicas:This was really cool and had tons of working parts. I actually learned a ton about the space program while we were there.

Carter with his friends RJ and Allen. Coloring their space helmets:

In front of the "space station" that the worked in teams to build and then were able to crawl through and play in:His favorite part of the day though was building the rockets that were fueled by Alka Seltzer tablets. It was really fun to watch how far in the air the rockets with go with a little water/Alka Seltzer mixture.

Fun day! I'm reminded how little one-on-one time I get with Carter so this was a huge treat for us both!

I'll be back soon with a 4th birthday recap!