Two-Wheeler

That's what Taylor now calls his bike. We knew he could ride the bike without his training wheels. He would ride his friend's bike that had none every so often. But when we first took off his training wheels he panicked. So the other day, while Kent was outside with the kids, Taylor took his own training wheels off and went for it.He even built a ramp. Such a dare-devil. The happy audience.

In need of a tune-up.

Down by the Lake

Last week Kent on Kent's day off we thought we'd head on up to a campsite that we like just for the day. It's church-owned, and we've camped there before and loved it. They have a small lake and you can borrow paddle boats. The playground is a little sketchy, but who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned see-saw?

There is nothing boys love more than throwing rocks in water.

For Aunt Nicole

My sister-in-law, Nicole, has been on the hospital for the past few weeks or so with her triplets (32 weeks pregnant! Woohoo!). I can only imagine how boring that must get. So this is for her entertainment.

Post-Easter Outfits

By the time I realized that Easter fell on General Conference weekend I had already bought our Easter outfits. Yes, I'm that mom who buys her entire family coordinating outfits. So we wore them the Sunday after Easter. And we managed to get a few pictures before all three kids melted down after church.Yes, that is a cookie in Erik's hand. It was the only reason he was sitting down and not running away.Kent says that this one looks stupid crooked like this. I kinda like it that way.

Oops

I really did mean to include a picture of Melanie on her first Easter in the previous post. I totally forgot. This is the only picture we got of her. How sad is that?

Easter! (...finally)

This Easter was pretty low-key. It was General Conference weekend (woohoo! Church on T.V.!), so we did a lot of lounging around. Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs. I tried the rubber cement egg dying trick, and they actually turned out pretty cute (aside from the fact that a lot of them were a pale vomit color since Erik would dunk each egg in every color we had).Taylor looks so old in this picture! I guess he's not a baby or toddler anymore. I always picture Pinnochio because I think, "He's a real boy!"Erik did away with the egg dipper and just used his hand.

The past two years our neighbors have gone around to the houses on our street and painted bunny footprints on the porch. So our porch would look like this on Easter morning. This is the picture from last year-

I didn't really give it much thought. That is, until Taylor ran to the front door, looked outside, and said in the saddest little voice, "Mommy, the Easter Bunny didn't come!" Apparently our neighbors were in Oregon for the weekend. Oops. So I told Taylor the Easter Bunny was running late, ran him upstairs, and quickly painted some footprints on our porch.

Anyway, I kind of slacked off this Easter. I usually get the boys a book about Jesus for their baskets, but I hadn't made it to any bookstore. So they had a couple pieces of candy and a little stuffed animal. Oh, and some paper grass. But they didn't care and were totally excited to look for Easter eggs.

Inspecting their loot.

This Easter I made "Jesus Biscuits" with the boys. Ever heard of 'em? You get those Pillsbury biscuits, wrap a marshmallow inside (representing Jesus) and then bake them. The marshmallow melts, so it's empty inside, just like the tomb on Easter morning. Anyway, we made them, and afterwards Taylor says, "Mom, I don't want a Jesus biscuit. Thanks, though." Maybe next year...

Great Support

The other day I found Erik coming down the stairs like this:

And then I heard Taylor:

"Mommy, look at my boobie-holders!!"

Classy, I know.

Ooh-Ah

For Taylor's second Christmas he got this really cute little monkey from Nana D. It was then added to the collection of stuffed animals without much of a second glance from Taylor.

Fast forward 2 years. Erik was around one when he first started taking a liking to the stuffed monkey. And now he absolutely adores it. He wouldn't (and couldn't) say "monkey." But we would make monkey noises with it. And since monkeys say, "ooh-ah" that's what Erik started calling him. He's really kinda nasty-looking (the monkey, that is). Erik falls asleep sucking on the monkey's tail, so it always stinks.

But he adores it, and it's cute watching him lay ooh-ah down next to him when he gets ready for bed. And it never fails to cheer him up when he's sad.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Warning: Lots of pictures to follow.

Well, we went to Disneyland right after Erik turned 2. Kent and I were supposed to go to Hawaii... alone... but Melanie was just too young still (a wet nurse is not only creepy, but probably too expensive...). So I convinced Kent to go to Disneyland instead. And every time I go it's just as exciting, though I have to say that if it weren't for Kent's parents going with us, it wouldn't have been as nice. Since Grandma and Grandad Saunders were there, we were able to go on the bigger rides with Taylor while they stayed with Melanie and Erik. Thanks for everything Steve and Linda!

Taylor was actually tall enough to ride Space Mountain last time we went to Disneyland. This time, however, we actually took him on it. Notice the look of horror on his face. And no, he didn't like it.

One of Taylor's favorite rides is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I can't count how many times he ended up riding it.


Taylor's other favorite ride was a smaller roller coaster called Mulholland Madness over in California Adventures that gave you whiplash the entire time. It was awful. But it had a super short line and Taylor took full advantage of that.I love this picture of Linda. Doesn't she look like she's having the time of her life??Erik and Daddy on King Arthur's Carousel.

Taylor really is having fun, I promise. He just doesn't look it.

Erik loved Autopia. I actually don't really care for it. I suppose it would be great... if you didn't have to wait an hour in line.I'm not choking Taylor.

No, really, I'm not. It just looks like it.Erik just chillin' in our room.

Cute, isn't she? Though I did give Kent a hard time for photographing her without a bow.

Funny how you can spend a ton of money on vacation and the thing they enjoy most is the little water park.

I love the age that Erik is. It's such a cute stage, and he makes the funniest faces.

I laugh every time I look at this picture.

Melanie in all her splended chubbiness.

And can I just say that it's a total rip-off that embroidery is no longer included in the price of the hat? That's right folks. It's an additional $3.

I'm not sure what Erik was trying to do with the french fries, but he thought himself absolutely hilarious. He kinda reminds me of a walrus.

The hotel pool. One of the only pictures taken at the pool where one of them isn't jumping into the water that's only about a foot deep.

I love this picture of Taylor.

Attempt #349.

The only picture that was a decent shot of all 5 of us. And yes, our shirts are all matching.

The room that we stayed in had a jacuzzi tub. Man, with those water jets, it's amazing how many bubbles you can get. We lost the boys a couple times underneath all of them.

I'm constantly amazed at how many people have been to Disneyland but have never seen Billy Hill and the Hill-Billies. It's hilarious. So much so that Kent and I went to see it two days in a row. If you eat there it's great because the kids usually sit still since there's entertainment.

And what better way to end it than a trip to some of our favorite food places?

Good ol' Tito's. Awesome burritos and great salsa.

I love In-N-Out. Great burgers and I love their vanilla shakes.

But...

*dreamy sigh*

I love Foster's. They have incredible milkshakes. Their strawberry milkshake is the best. And their large is a real large.

We actually didn't see the Foster's until we had already stopped at Tito's and In-N-Out. So Kent was full and I had already had a milkshake. But it had been too long since we had one from there. So we both devoured one.

I love Disneyland. I'm already missing it. Some of our friends are going in May during a week that Kent has off, so I'm trying to convince him to drive down there, drop the kids off at Steve and Linda's on the way, and go to Disneyland with no children in tow. But Kent and Taylor want to go camping. I wonder if I can convince Steve and Linda to take the kids camping while we go to Disneyland...