Easter/Garn Visit

Because we took a gazillion pictures of all that went on during this week of fun, I decided to try something new and put in slideshows. It may have turned out to be slideshow overload, but I'm a rookie and this is the best I can do for now. If any of you are more familiar with different slidshow options that are better than Smilebox, let me know. It seemed a little tedious, but maybe that's how they all are. I just don't know.

ANYWAY, our Easter festivities actually started the Friday before when we had Dallin and Emily open a fun Easter package from Grandma and Grandpa Dixon. This baby was loaded with presents and candy, and they had fun discovering all the goodies. Then on Saturday morning, Danny took the kids to a community Easter egg hunt at a local park. I wish he'd recap it here because he said it was pretty intense and humorous with all the kids (and parents) trying to get as many eggs as possible in the huge soccer field. The only downer was that it was a really cold day and they nearly froze out there.

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At lunchtime on Saturday is when the real fun began because the Garns came to visit all the way from Michigan for spring break. The Garn family consists of Byron, Michelle (my sister), Jack, Max, Lucy, and Sam. We packed a lot of fun things into Day 1. After lunch we headed off to the beautiful botanical garden in Huntsville. The current main exhibit is the Big Bugs. All the kids enjoyed those and all of us enjoyed the spectacular flowers and plants in full bloom. I loved all the tulips, especially the deep purple ones. We also thought the huge 100-year-old Dogwood tree was pretty amazing. Again, it was a freezing day and all of us were ready to go when it closed. Some of that might be contributed to the fact that dinner was next on the agenda. The Garns wanted to try some good ol' Southern cookin' and had requested Greenbrier Restaurant as the place to eat. So off we went for some deep fried deliciousness: hush puppies, chicken fingers, catfish, shrimp, fries and onion rings. Yummy! Michelle and I left a little early from the restaurant in order to play Easter Bunny. We set up the front room with baskets for the kids, plastic eggs, and candy all over the place. When Byron, Danny, and the kids arrived it was all set to go and they loved collecting and eating all the candy. Once the kiddos were all in bed all us adults stayed up late playing a fun game we own called Qwirkle.

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Day 2 was Easter Sunday. We went to church in the morning, and Danny and I spoke in sacrament meeting. We thought it was very convenient having family in town to sit with our kids and we chuckled up on the stand watching Byron and Michelle have to deal with all six of the kids. Later that afternoon after some good naps we had a delicious Sunday dinner: glazed ham, funeral potatoes, veggies, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. One really weird thing for me was having enough people to have a kids' table and a grown-up table, just like we always had at big family dinners at my grandma's. Once dinner was cleaned up, we busted out 3 dozen hard boiled eggs and started dying them. It was a lot of fun and a lot of mess! Jack and Max were very creative. The younger kids just enjoyed plopping the eggs in and out of the dye. Again, us grown-ups enjoyed a few rounds of Qwirkle once the kids were in bed. We wanted to squeeze in as many games as we could with all four of us to since Danny was headed to Tucson on a business trip the next day.

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Day 3 was especially fun because we went to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. It is an incredible place with tons to see and do, including a few rides. That was our big outing of the day and we were ready to head home for lunch. Danny came home early to spend a couple of hours with everyone before he left for Az, and of course we played one last round of Qwirkle with all four of us. We said good-bye to him, had dinner, did an Easter Home Evening, and got the kids to bed. I can't remember for sure, but I think Byron, Michelle, and I played Qwirkle again.

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Day 4 was just as good as the rest, maybe even better in my opinion because we started out the day by going out to breakfast at the Blue Plate Cafe per the Garns' request. The food there is beyond excellent and I wish I didn't get full when I eat there. Michelle and Jack tried some grits for the first time and I kept eating off Jack's omlet when he got too full. It was TO DIE FOR. Then we headed off to Sci-Quest, the science center in Huntsville. It was a very great place and everyone had a great time exploring and learning at all the different exhibits. My favorite one was making giant bubbles. The rest of the day was as usual: lunch, naps, dinner, baths, bed, staying up late playing Qwirkle.

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For Day 5 we did what the big boys (Jack and Max) wanted to do and they chose bowling. I was excited for this because Emily and Dallin had never been before. We headed down to the bowling alley at 11:00 only to find out that the info on the website was incorrect and they didn't open till noon. Lame! So we killed some time by grabbing a bite to eat and letting the kids play at the play place there in the restaurant. Then it was time to bowl. The kids had a bumper in their lane and they all really had a great time. It was fun for me to see my kids bowl for the first time. As for us adults, Michelle came in first and I edged out Byron by one pin on the last frame. Yeah, so he lost to two girls. Ha ha! The afternoon was as usual, adding in haircuts for the boys. I always cut Dallin's hair with scissors since it's stressful enough for me without using the clippers. So I recruited Byron to do the clipping and I did the rest. Dallin did great the whole time and didn't seem phased by the buzzing.

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Day 6 was just a half day, since the Garns took off for home after lunch. Since the weather was warm that day, we all went to the park. All of us, but Emily that is. She went off to her first day of preschool, then Dallin and I met everyone at Dublin Park.

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We want to say a BIG thank-you to the Garns for coming all that way to visit us. We had a great time with them here and hoped they loved their Alabama experience!

Our Biggest Girl

Today our little Emily became a big girl in that she had her first day of preschool! She was excited to go and had a great day. She can't wait to go next week. We're so proud of her!

I thought I'd try to write a post about this little girl who livens up our life so much. Going on 4, at times Emily's going on 14 with the things she says. She's a really quick learner and very bright. She's an inquisitive girl, constantly asking questions and "Why?" to the point of exasperation at times. As the big sister, she's definitely in charge. She makes sure Dallin follows her rules and does things her way. In group settings, though, Emily tends to be reserved and will hang back till she's comfortable. She loves taking care of her stuffed animals, but not baby dolls. Her favorites presently are her pink kitty (named Ta-doot or Dooty), her pink pig (named Squiggy, Squig Pig, or just Squig), and Lammy. This girl's got so many quirks, it'd take forever to list them all. I have to try, though. She's obsessed with the left; sitting on the left side, holding my left hand, getting the left half of the sandwich, etc. She's very particular when it comes to certain things, like having her step stool in the bathroom exactly centered with the sink. Or being scooted up to the table just right in her booster seat. Or not wanting her hair combed or clipped back at all. For now, only pigtail braids are acceptable, though an occasional bribe usually works. She falls into routines very easily and doing something new around here might just turn into a must, like singing "The Farmer in the Dell" and "I am a Child of God" literally every night before bed since May of '07. My favorite thing about Emily is her giggle. It's so contagious and I love when she laughs. She's a real sweetie most of the time and I love this girl!

This is the new pose Emily does every time we try to take a picture of her. This beats what she normally does: not even looking at the camera due to distractions around her.



She got her first haircut back in February.

Emily loves coloring, painting, drawing, and doing crafts. Here she and Dallin are doing finger painting.

This kid's always been a gatherer, for lack of a better word, since she could walk; constantly clustering toys together in one location. On this particular morning, she and Dallin got every single toy in the house and clustered them in the front room pretending like they were going on a trip.

















Emily loves to be involved and helping in whatever project is going on.



She's just a goofy kid!





She doesn't like going under water or having water in her face, but a while ago she got into this phase of laying down in the tub like this.

Emily enjoys playing hair dresser and will take you up on letting her do your hair any time you offer. In this case, Grandma Dixon was the willing victim.

She loves dressing up as a princess and often drags Dallin into it too. Poor kid!

What a cute girl! This was taken last fall when we were getting family pictures taken.

What the Hail??

Just now, we experienced our 2nd tornado warning, which means they want you to seek shelter from imminent tornadoes. So we spent 30+ minutes in our closet this afternoon (we had to get Dallin out of bed after only napping for half an hour - bummer!!). Danny got home from work really early, so luckily he was here too this time. During last week's it was just the kids and me. Right before we went into the closet he ran outside to collect the biggest chunks of hail we've seen in our lives. We did see a photo on the news, though, of someone holding a baseball-sized piece produced from this same storm. Nonetheless, we thought these were pretty impressive. Being from Arizona, we're new to all this tornado stuff and I find it quite unnerving, personally. Now the sun's out and birds are singing. Strange stuff.

Dallin's 2nd Birthday!

Today was very special for two reasons: it's Dallin's birthday and it's the start General Conference weekend. We tried to hype both of them up and think things went very well on both fronts. Compared to last year when we had a great big family birthday party for Dallin, today was very different since it was just the four of us. For that reason, we tried to make the day a special one for him. We started the day off with Dallin coming out of his room to see lots of birthday decorations up in the family room: balloons, streamers, and signs.

Then he got to help Daddy make pancakes that were colored green at his request.

He ate four pancakes, an egg, and some banana.

Then he and Emily helped me make his "Fun-fetti" cake. He chose that and the chocolate frosting with sprinkles.

Our goofy kids. Emily tried extra hard to be nice to him and let him enjoy the spotlight today.

He's getting ready to open presents.

Emily was ever-helpful with getting that darn wrapping paper off.

She literally could not keep her hands off his presents. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind.

Finally some boy dress up clothes! He got this cowboy outfit from us and a policeman outfit from his grandma and grandpa. Now he won't feel left out when Emily's all decked out in her princess outfits and he certainly won't have to put up with her dressing him up in her Cinderella dress anymore.

Dallin loves books and got several today. When he opened them, he immediately found a spot amongst all the wrapping paper in order to read one.

This is Dallin taking birthday phone and Skype calls from his grandparents.

Emily and Dallin are getting ready to watch General Conference via the internet. We had a crystal clear connection and it seemed just like we were watching it on T.V.

I made Pigs-in-a-Blanket for dinner. They were a big hit with both Dallin and Emily.

He thoroughly enjoyed his cake and, after two pieces, asked for yet another. I put my foot down on that one.

Just a quick stroll down memory lane: First Dallin on his actual birth-day, then on his 1st birthday, and finally our big 2-year-old birthday boy. Time sure flies!

Happy birthday, Dallin! We love you, buddy!