Easter (Picture Overload!)

I have always loved Easter.  I looked forward to getting my basket full of candy, chocolate, and my own box of cereal that I didn't have to share with anyone!  It was Captain Crunch for quite a few years, and then I moved on to Rice Chex.  I'm pretty exciting, aren't I?!

To start off the festivities earlier in the week, we dyed eggs after Elsie's first soccer game.

I thought we were taking a nice picture together, and then I saw this.

On the way up to the Easter party, we stopped at the BYU Spring Scrimmage. 

I must say, Aaron's family really knows how to do Easter.  Their Easter parties are amazing...tons of toys, eggs, a pinata, decorations, great food!  We got together at Liz's house this year, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!

Aaron's uncle Dave makes all sorts of balloon animals.  They had the whole yard decorated with them.  A big hit with the kiddos!

Same pinata as last year.  Gary had to do some surgery on it to get it to work.

Elsie loved the confetti in her braid.  She thought it was so pretty.

And, finally, Easter morning Elsie got her basket.

April Review

It's Good to Have Friends

Elsie has made some good friends this year at school and in the neighborhood.  She loves having friends over to play.  I love to hear them laughing, playing, imagining, bossing, directing, and chatting with each other.

Aaron is Yardy

Aaron has been working his tail off (and obsessing way too much) about getting trees and shrubs planted and sprucing up the yard.  He's always standing at the window, looking outside, thinking about what he needs to do, what he wants to do, what the plants will look like by the end of summer, etc.  He's done a great job, and hasn't even made me help!  I'm so grateful that he cares about making our yard look nice and he takes the time to do it.  And thank goodness for Costco and their inexpensive trees and plants!!

The two trees on either side of the house are new.

Tulip Festival

There is a tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point Gardens that is quite lovely.  We met up with Angie, Qiana, Piper, and Harper one afternoon when the weather was finally decent.  The flowers were beautiful, the weather was not too shabby, and the company was fabulous! 

This flower was called "Obedient Plant".  Piper said I should have Elsie stand there and pose.  That's my girl!

I love tulips. I always have thanks to my mom.  We went to see the tulips in WA many times while growing up.  Those memories remain some of my fondest!

Somebody's Getting Married

Elsie's Kindergarten teacher got married a couple weeks ago.  We threw her a little bridal shower in class one day before she left for her wedding.  I wanted to think of a creative way to give her money from everyone, so I found some inspiration on Pinterest.  My friend and other mom in the class, Brooke, helped me make this money tree.  I love how it turned out, and it was so fun to give it to her.

spring soccer

Elsie had another great soccer season!  She's slowly, but surely, getting better at going for the ball and being more aggressive.  Baby steps!  She loves it, though, and that's what I'm most excited about.

She had just gotten over being so sick with the flu for her last soccer game.  She wanted to play so badly.  It wore her out!  She had quite the cheering section.

Grandma and Grandpa

Angie and Qiana

Slide Project

The last couple weeks, I've been working on a big Wise family project.  I am going through 100's (probably close to 2000) slides of the Wises since the 1970's.  I am weeding out lots (Gary and Sylvia...you really loved the landscape and wildlife pictures, didn't you?!) and then scanning the ones that we're keeping.  It has been fun to see all these pictures of the family and Aaron's childhood that I've never seen before.  Definitely a project that needed to get done, and I'm glad to do it!

Just had to post these pictures of Aaron and Elsie, both around 4 years old, with Pluto at Disneyland.  This is what makes this project worth it!

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to post these.  Now I'm just hungry for Disneyland!

November

(Let the blog catch up begin!  Lots of pictures and not so much writing about our lives over the last few months.)

FIRST SNOWFALL

We got snow really early this year, and a lot of it!

Living where we do so close to the mountain, we usually get more snow than is forecasted.  This year has been so much snowier than last year.  I kind of don't like it...at all, but Elsie would play outside for hours if we let her.  And, I will say, the snow is much better when you have actual snow clothes and boots to wear.  If only I didn't have to ever drive in it!


SLEEPOVER WITH HARPER

Grandpa and Grandma Wise had Elsie and Harper over for a little sleepover.  They had a great time, even without getting much sleep.

DISNEY ON ICE

Angie, Qiana, Elsie, and I went to Disney on Ice again this year.  We love it!  This show was especially great because we got to see a bunch of princesses, and there was a whole segment based on "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland. 

Elsie's reaction when the show started :)

SANTA CRAFT

These girls love to craft as much as their mommies!

KILLERS CONCERT

Aaron and I got to go to the Killers concert with Merv and Becky.  It was such a fun night.  We went to Chili's for dinner.  We all really like the chips & salsa!  The concert was really good.  They sounded awesome live.  My favorite part of the night was seeing how much Aaron was loving it.  He even pulled out some pretty sweet moves...you should be sad you missed them!

Coming up...Thanksgiving Week

Winter Dance Recital

Elsie had her winter dance recital this past week.  She is taking jazz/ballet and tap.

Enjoy the videos of her performances and just try to ignore her teacher's head.  I love Elsie's "trying not to smile" face!

Tap Dance




Ballet Dance