I don't think it's spring!

what a week! we went from it being quite lovely outside to freezing cold with 30+ mph winds. i think i am colder now then during the winter. anyway, before this terrible wind and cold weather came through again we started working outside in our backyard. we got our whole garden area ready to be fertilized and rototilled. it was an area that was covered with concrete and part of the patio (the patio ran the whole length of the house--weird previous owners). half the patio was nice stones and the other half was concrete and terribly poured concrete at that. it was disintegrating and completely uneven, so we decided to rip it all out and put the garden there, not to mention it's the only place in the whole yard that gets sun all day long. anyway, we did that and ripped out old tree and bush stumps and made a flower bed in a different area in the back yard until this cold weather came back. now we just hang out inside, which i guess is good because we are getting some other projects done, actually making dinner before 7 at night (because it's so much more fun to be outside than cooking right now) and luke is not constantly falling down all the time. he learned to walk 2 weeks ago and he thinks he is the coolest thing around. it is so fun to watch him TRY to chase the kids. he just giggles and giggles and trys to walk at the same time and most of the time it doesn't work and then he falls. he has also learned to pout worse than a girl. he covers his eyes, ducks his head, slaps the ground and even makes a pretend cry. it is so funny. well on to more projects. today it is making birthday invitations for kathryn's b-day. she is very excited and has decided she wants ponies ones so....hope their cute, if not 4 year olds don't care right?

Nature is AWESOME!!

my kids loved these pictures that grandma and grandpa beus sent and wanted to put them on our blog. Enjoy!

stitching

as some of you know, i love to stitch and i was so glad to get this done. most of the time i have projects sitting around the house partially done so I am working on getting them finished. I had this one stitched before Luke was born and i finally got it framed and hung on the wall. Now no more fighting during family night of whose turn it is to choose the activity (atleast we hope so)!

Easter

Here are some of our pictures from Easter. This is the kids ready to go to church. Luke was not happy about getting his picture taken.



Mom, this is for you. Sarah loves her swimming suit, don't you just love those socks. She is such a skinny minny.



Luke was helping Seth open his Easter eggs. He thought it was awesome to have so much chocolate around. We let him have a chocolate egg and he thought he was the coolest kid around.



You can't really tell, but this is our backyard and we hid 350+ eggs in it. There were eggs everywhere and it looked really cool. We invited all the kids over in our ward and they got to find 10 easter eggs each. It was lots of fun!



This is Luke on his first Easter egg hunt. He wasn't too happy with me because I kept putting him down so I could help do things. He wanted me to hold him the entire time.



Kathryn showing all the eggs she had found so far.



Seth with his easter eggs.



Sarah was trying as hard as she could to get this egg. No matter how high she jumped she just couldn't quite reach it. It was really cute.

We had such a great Easter. It turned out to be a perfect day to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and what an amazing blessing that is!!

Pumpkin Waffles

My mom gave us this recipe and it is so so so good. We absolutely love it!

1 c. pumpkin
1 1/2 c. milk
6 T butter
1 T vanilla
4 eggs, separated
2 c flour
2 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t coriander
1/4 t salt

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix together wet ingredients, except for eggs. Separate eggs; add yolks to wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until blended. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into batter. Cook (this can also be used as pancake batter).

SYRUP: In a LARGE saucepan combine 1/2 c. butter, 1 c. buttermilk, 2 c. sugar and 2 T. corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 2 t. vanilla, then 2 t. soda. Stir briskly--IT WILL FOAM A LOT, be prepared. Serve over pancakes and enjoy.