Happy Easter(late of course:)

Usually for Easter, I LOVE to get Kade a cute little church outfit, in fact I kind of love it a little too much. This was Kellan's first Easter and guess what? Easter Sunday was also General Conference. Before I realized that, I had alrady gotten their little matching outfits, so the churchy pictures are the Sunday before.

Taking a picture of them together is near impossible. Kellan was just starting to walk here and he does not want to stay still, especially for his brother or my camera. He is basically trying to excape in every picture in this post:)




Here is Easter Sunday. I wanted them to have Easter outfits, but didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money, so I went the crafty route and made some tie tees and got cute little polos. Total cost of Easter outfits, $10 each. Yeah, awesome.

We went to Duane's Grandparent's house and did a little Easter egg hunt with his brother's son, Brody, who is a year old than Kade. They love each other:)







We then went to my sister, Minnarie's house for egg hunt number 2 and spent the rest of the day there with my parents, and lots of cousins. I took soooo many pictures here but will only post a few, or it's gonna get kinda long:)

Of course, I wait to get them all together in their tie shirts till about 9:30 pm when they are all sweaty and tired. Genius:) Again, Kellan trying to escape:)


Same with this one. Right before we went home. We all look AWFUL and exhausted, but hey, how often do we actually stop for a family picture? Totally post-worthy.


This is what happens when Duane gets a hold of my camera(on the off chance I'm not looking:)


All in all, it was a beautiful Easter with lots of family. I missed going to church on Easter, but conference makes up for it of course:)

Oakland Zoo

We recently bought an Oakland Zoo membership through a deal a day site for $40 off of $85! It's such a good deal, I couldn't pass it up and it gives up free or discounted admission to a whole bunch of other zoos, including SF Zoo, Aquarium of the Bay- SF, and Micke Grove, which we love. We went for the first time the other day loved it:)

This is the only picture of Kellan from the day, because he was sound asleep in the stroller the whole time we were there:)



Kade was really cute and excited about the snake and snake eggs haha



We loved the giraffes:)


This picture is completely gratuitous. We got Kade's hair cut this week and I am in still in mourning of the curls. It's still plenty curly, but not as much on the sides:(


We have a bit of an elephant obsession around here:) Kellan was awake at this part and he just watched them in awe too




While we were there, we detoured to the Oakland Temple. Kade loves temples and this time, we got to take him in the visitors center too, so he really enjoyed it:)

The Homestretch

On March 28, my biggest man, Kellan turned 11 months old. How are we here already? How did this past year pass so fast?!

A lot has happened in the last month with Kellan's development. Here is a word list:)

dah- dog
hahhh- hi
cahhh- car
gook- book
plah plah- splash splash
gurrr- yogurt
uh-uh- uh-oh

Those are the audible words. The other things he says he will say if we work with it on him for a couple minutes. He tries really hard to say everything we tell him to. Which is a good thing, because he is VERY vocal:)

A couple of cool things have happened this month. Kellan took his first steps attempting to get me from his Grammy! He isn't fully walking yet but he totally can! The other night he was walking from me to Duane and decided he didn't want Papa afterall, so he just went around him and kept on walking. He totally can, he would just rather speed crawl:)




Much to my dismay, Kellan hated baths and the swimming pool. He would cry and was really uncomfortable, kind of like putting a baby on grass for the first time. He just didn't know how to feel about the water. Through swim lessons, he has become reallllly confortable and will even splash in the water, reguardless of if he knows it will get in his eyes.


This isn't really exciting, but he LOVES pasta, but I mean is that any surprise, he is my child after all:)


Some other things are that he can clap, wave, sign "more" and "all done" and blow kisses! He has mastered going up the stairs and down, he is doing really well, but I still stay right next to him, just in case he loses his balance. He is a sweet, cuddly, mama's boy, sometimes sensitive, sometimes crazy, and makes THE funniest little noises. He will do these little growls when something makes him happy. Seriously, adorable! Duane and I just look at him and say,"Could you be any cuter?!" He loves his big borther and follows him all around the house. Kade loves having a little brother and fully take advantage of thr attention Kellan gives him:) We have one more month till one year old and I cannot believe it has been sneaking up on us so fast. Expect the next Kellan post to be one full of sentiment and boo-hooing:)

Monterey Bay Aquarium

We had been planning on going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for months and plans always slipped through and then the breaks between the kids being sick and not just didn't come on the right days. So, this past weekend, everyone was healthy, Duane's knee was feeling good so we decided to go. The kids were really just in awe of the majority of it all. Kade wouldn't touch anything in the indoor tidepools and was, at first freaked out by the sharks so close to us, but once he realized that the glass was between them, he was fine.

My chunky butt, just along for the ride


Let's gooo MOMMMM!


Kellan was in such awe once we put him in the carrier



Kade was afraid of the sharks at first, but once he got used to it, that was his favorite part. He even got a shark plushie and shirt:)


My favorite exhibits there are the seahorse and jellyfish. I had no idea that something like this even existed! A sea dragon.



Beautiful Monterey



Loved everything about this exhibit! So mystical and beautiful and serene.




There was a baby and toddler area that the kids played in for about an hour. Super cute and fun.





So, that was basically it. I forgot to clear my card before going so, it ended up filling up here. Then by the time I deleted everything, the battery died. Both of our cell phone died this day too. hahaha. Goooo figure. We ended up hopelessly searching for a Verizon and got car chargers. Such a fun day! I would love to go back soon and do the stuff that we didn't get to!

A Usual Week In Our Life

Nothing significant has been going on in our lives. Duane is slaving away at school, I am being mama, cook, chauffeur, taking care of Dad, doing In The Know Mom, and taking lots of pictures:)

We love the park. We love our Rachel and Hailey, what else can say?






Swim Lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays.




Trying to encourage this one to walk


We try every couple weeks to go and do something fun and inexpensive with the kids when they have a blessed break in sickness. We love us some Superfranks:)





And we have a lot of pajama days, I'm not even gonna lie:)



And my days, all day, consists of me talking Kade down from turing things into guns. Notice the vest? Yeah, Halloween constume...from 5 months ago. Not to mention the train tracks. Should I just give up on my "No Guns" stance? I don't think it's working:)