Spring!

When did I ever find time to blog?!? I don't know what has happened the last few weeks, but I feel like I am constantly behind these days!!!  I'm blaming it on the sun! As soon as the sun comes out, we head outside and add a gagillion more things to the to-do list which leaves every inside chore completely undone (and outside chore for that matter).  I'm pretty sure I've attempted to start spring cleaning in every room, which as you can imagine has resulted in giant PILES in every room. We finally decided to take the guest bed out of the office (why did I resist for so long?!?! My house feels SO much bigger!!!) and we painted one wall with chalkboard paint (it's seriously so stinkin' cute) and threw a whole loot of toys in here. Voila! Guest bedroom/Office turned toy-room/office, and I officially have a living room again! Genius.  

We've been "training" for a sprint triathlon in the middle of May.  That's in quotation marks because our version of training is a little different than what might actually come to your mind.  We don't have personal trainers or even gym memberships; we're just trying to balance me getting a run in everyday (without my sleigh, preferably) and Matt going for a bike ride or getting to the pool on a daily basis... amidst track meets, church activities and work of course! ;) Our goal is to not be the slowest team out there! Here's to hoping!!!

And although things have felt 'busy' we certainly have been enjoying ourselves! Madelyn learned how to ride her bike (she's a pedaling maniac) and went to her first swim lesson all in one day this week! Matt said, "Wow, did Madi age a whole entire year today?" And it seriously felt like it! Sooooo bittersweet! We love our big girl, but we're not sure where our baby went!

Emmitt is also well on his way of growing up! He stands up ALL the time and even did it by himself in the middle of the room the other day (while I was on a run, of course).  He's still quite serious and very determined.  I've always said he's a very finicky boy and it's true! Em knows what he wants and he is very persistent at getting it! We're hoping to channel this character quality in the right direction! ;)

Our little fam on Easter! =)

Poor Madelyn is SO much like her Mama when it comes to her lack of photogenic-ness.  Em was too cute not to post this picture though! =)

Yes, we were attempting to hide eggs easy enough for even Crosby to catch on! Ha!

Now this is one. proud. Papa. This is exactly half of his grandchildren. ;)

One of my faves! Swinging on Easter Sunday! =)

Now, I'm going to sign off and say goodbye to my slower paced morning.  My tutoring was cancelled last minute and Madelyn went to work with her Daddy this morning. I just spent a half an hour listening to Emmitt chat happily in his crib while I enjoyed some alone time. I think we should go get another crib again. I forgot how nice this was! ;)

The Big 6-0.

I know.  We went totally MIA for a couple weeks.  My apologies, fellow blog followers.  I don't have any good excuses.  There's some weeks that I "head-blog" (for you 'non-bloggers' that means I mentally compose posts) almost everyday, and then out of nowhere I'll go a week or more and completely forget I have ever even blogged before.  Unfortunately, we've just experienced a time lapse of the later... regardless of all the exciting (and not so exciting) things that have happened!

So, on that note, we'll do a little 'catch up'...

We ended our spring break with a bang! Literally!  We headed over the mountains on Saturday and our jeep broke down at the top of the pass and had to be towed home on Sunday. Bang. Thankfully, it was a minor glitch in the grand scheme of things and we have made amends with our 4-wheel friend!  (And an added praise, our insurance ended up covering the ENTIRE tow cost home from Hoodoo!!!) Matt and a friend enjoyed a few beers in the pouring rain with the hood of the car up and voila! A little over a $100 later it was purring like a kitten! I, friends, find that to be quite magical, but some people just call it mechanics...

Whatever, same difference. 

Our detour due to a broken car...

A mischievous snowball culprit...

Alright, that was completely off topic.  Now for the REAL big bang.  

My sister and her new fiance' (yup, you read that right), flew home and we ALL surprised my dad for his 60th birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Papa!!! 

We're party crashing!!! ;)

Jess and David got engaged on Sunday evening along the banks of the Deschutes River.  So they say, I wasn't actually present...

We celebrated with some homemade Mountain High Mud Pie.  (Go ahead, make fun of me family, but you know you'll come back begging me to make it again!)

 We spent Sunday and Monday skiing at Hoodoo just like old times... 

Okay, so not at all like old times. I think I only rode "green" chair three times, but it was still a blast!!!  We taught the little tykes how to ski and enjoyed each others' company though!

I could go on and on about how well Madi has picked up skiing, but I'm probably a little biased so I'll just let you enjoy her cuteness in pics. ;)  However, if you want a little memory lane, check out this post from last year!  So. Much. Change. in only one short year!!!

Speaking of change, a few new cuties we've added to the family...

(Jude 10.5 months, Emmitt 7 months, and Crosby 18 months)

These boys are TOO much!  Emmitt had 3 boy cousins born within a year of him! Yup, Crosby, Jude, Emmitt, and Brandon.  T-R-O-U-B-L-E... Thankfully, for now they're just cute! ;)

Speaking of cute, the boys were pretty darn cute on skis for the first time too! 

I rode the lift with Seven for the first time EVER and he was so scared! He was brave and got on, but then I could tell he got super scared and wouldn't let go of me.  However, by the end of Monday he was jumping on all by himself! So proud!!!

David braved the mountains, regardless of his southern blood. ;) We give him two thumbs up for that! And, I didn't even see him crash... although I did spend most of my days on Easy Rider...

Em even skied for his first time on Monday!  Matt had to go home for work on Sunday night, so he was no longer available for babysitting.  As such, we just strapped Emmitt on and rode Easy Rider together! (He went out with me once in the morning and once in the afternoon for at least an hour and a half each and he slept the entire time!)

I was SO happy to get a few runs in with Josh at the end of the day on Monday! =) Thanks, Caca!

 It was GORGEOUS out!

Josh ended the day with a backflip and we called it a success!

Thank you Hoodoo for the many, many memories you have helped us create! Hopefully we'll be back next year too!

Our group photo (minus Matt): taken Monday afternoon:

Thanks for getting old, Dad! We loved taking advantage of it! I vote we make a 'bang' out of more birthdays, eh?!?  

Side note: For those of you who have no idea what Liftopia is (like I didn't three weeks ago). You can score CHEAP lift tickets in advance if you know when you're going to ski! I paid $20 to ski on Sunday and $10 to ski on Monday (compared to the regular cost of $49/day).  Insanely AWESOME!!! And we're taking advantage of the kids ski free under 6 for a while longer! ;)

A trip to the ZOO!

I realize, I'm a bit behind here, but I had some cute pics from our family trip to the zoo...

We spent one day... okay, the only sunny day, during spring break visiting the animals at the zoo.  It was beautiful and Madelyn loved it! Matt hasn't been to the zoo (excluding our family trips to zoo lights when the animals are all hiding) since he was a kid and he was extra excited to take Mads.  

Our tired thumb-sucker...

If only everyday was this beautiful last week...

Oh well, we timed it right!  Here's to some beautifully sunny days at the zoo this summer (we now have a family pass)!!!!