Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Ranch, Easter, & Other Stuff





On Saturday at the ranch, Mike finished the tiling upstairs and started rocking the fireplace (which is now finished & beautiful). Have a gander... Upstairs spare bathroom tile
Great work, Mike!

Excuse my dusty lens...here is the basement family room from the stairs. It's going to look so cool with the cozy furniture and the entertainment system!



Goodbye, white brick, hello rocks!Out back, things are thawing out. The river is rising and the grass is starting to green...



...Spring has NOT QUITE sprung, but it's getting there!
***




Monday and yesterday (Tuesday 4/19), it snowed like crazy.



Today, Wednesday, the snow is almost all gone and the ground is all spongey.


My tulips keep growing thru the snow!



Today I went to pick up James from preschool and found this BUNNY BOY!
(he made the ears and his face is painted with a blue bunny nose & green whiskers)



He was excited about this duck from his teacher


(I like how you can see the Strupps' van in the background)



Last week for Activity Days, Addie made this egg




and James (& I) made this egg for a sample--so cute!



***


Lastly, our new stroller/baby carrier came in the mail yesterday. It's FABULOUS!



Now all we need is our baby brother to put in there!



I foresee lots of great family walks with our new wheels! YAY!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Jessica's Shower

Last night (Heidi's birthday), the girls and I went to Jessica Holm's Bridal Shower at the church. Jessica has been: my favorite Beehive (8 years ago), a favorite babysitter, and James' swimming teacher (and crush). Her mom is our Aunt Debbie (Heidi's grown up BFF) and we're all really excited about her upcoming marriage to Zachary (on 4/22 in SLC).SO CUTE.

Heidi playing with Baby Porter at the party All-ages wedding rager-- Grandmas, moms, daughters, babies--we all had fun!
A shot from across the room from where we were sitting
Addie
Aunt Debbie & Heidi
Jessica gave us a sneak peek of her dress last night since most of us can't go to SLC for the wedding. My girls just LOVED it!


CONGRATULATIONS, JESSICA!

We love you!

(and thanks for the lovely party, Terry , Sheila, & other helpers)

Friday, April 15, 2011

It's Heaven to be Seven!

Happy, happy birthday, Heidi-Dear!Addie & Heidi in Sept. 2004

Heidi was the cutest, sweetest baby ever! I can't believe she's SEVEN! We celebrated with a family party last night because tonight we are going to Jessica Holm's bridal shower. So we had a pizza party here last night before I had to dash off to PTO... Addie took this picture of us all sitting down to dinner: me, Grandma Rosalie, James, Heidi, and Daddy (Uncle Mike came a little later and Grandpa was at High Council meeting in Bozo).
Silly sisters! The banner abover Heidi's head is one she made with Grandma on her Grandma Date on Wednesday. They also made a BOB cake (from Monsters vs. Aliens...Heidi loves that movie!).
Heidi's first gift was some mad birthday cash from Grandma...
nice!
After dinner, we broke out the BOB cake
Grandma is so creative! Heidi kept asking for this cake for like 2 years and I had no idea how to make it happen (jello mold?), but Grandma did! See the resemblance?

The "other" thing Heidi wanted really bad , besides a new Zambi, was this Lala Loopsey doll. We indulged. She was thrilled.
Look at BOB's guts! YUM!
Heidi also got a new Easter dress from us...
...and some sparkle-toe Easter shoes.
Uncle Mike came and brought her some fancy dress-up shoes, too!

***

About this time, I had to head out to my meeting, but after Grandma and I left, Rich and Mike hung out with the kids for a while. Addie and Heidi decided they wanted to let some party balloons go with notes for Papa Bill on them (just like 2 wks ago for Papa's birthday)

Heidi with her balloons.
When I got home from my meeting, this little note was sitting on my computer desk. It's what Addie wrote for her balloon.

***

This morning, Rich got up early and cooked a pound of bacon and some waffles for Heidi's bday breakfast.

Here are all my sweethearts leaving for school/work this morning...so CUTE!
Heidi took 2 dozen cupcakes and Lala Loopsey for her special snack/ show-and-tell day at first grade.

It's sure to be an awesome day for our Lynners!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Almost-34 Week Belly Shot

James took this pic of me (look at my puffy nose...prego face!)... ...and I took this one of him today. "Hi, Nana Lyn!"

Weekend Doin's

Addie really wanted to make fried chicken on Friday night, so we decided to make Asian Chicken Salad. She was in charge of the tempura chicken...Battering the chicken for the fryer Chopping cabbage, carrots, celery, water chestnuts, snowpeas, and toasting almonds & sesame seeds for the salad Addie frying like a pro! (it was DELICIOUS!) When we stopped at Papa Jim's & Grandma Becky's house last Sunday, they gave Heidi her bday gift early. Unbeknownst to them, she had been asking for a new Zambi faithfully for a year (since she lost the one Nana gave her at the park last spring)...they gave her a new Zambi and Saturday, she dressed Zambi up for Easter--see the pretty hair bows on her ears?
Heidi also used her allowance to buy this Fur-Real Pet in Utah. It's a cuddly little dog that dresses up as the Easter Bunny. She made it an Easter Basket-cage in her room.
Saturday night we went to Donkey Basketball (a Kiwanis fundraiser, sponsored in part by The Melin Agency) and the kids LOVED it. I didn't get a pic of the donkeys, but here is the eventual champion team, part of the Park High Boys Basketball Team. Andrew Holm is in the sombrero and our kids were rooting for him loudly.

***

We also did some painting at the ranch and Rich took the kids to see "HOP" this weekend, too, while I worked on my Easter lesson for Young Women. It was a wonderful weekend and I feel super thnakful for my darling family (especially after listening to Elder Scott's conference talk this morning--I have the best husband in the world!).

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

So Ya Come From the Land Down Undah...

Here are the last few pix we took when we were saying good bye to our Posties. They were on the plane to Australia a few hours later and we already miss them!"He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"

Willy with one of his plethora of Aussie delights. Happy Cousins! Melanie, Liam Heidi, Maeby, James & Spencer (Addie had slept over at Ally's) Not even "silly face time" could make Spencer smile...
NOT smiling

(Spencer is just Ralphie from Christmas Story to me- so cute)
Audrey, Will, and me saying good bye. Good thing my eyes are closed...
James and Maeby gave a million hugs...
they are cutie cousin pals!
Heidi got in on the good bye hugs, too.
Yet another 'tarded face from me...giving Will a hug. You can see my prego belly pretty well there.

***

All in all, a lovely whirlwind trip. So glad to spend time with our Posties and finally hang out with my mom feeling decent. We are sad we never made it down to Mayberry's love nest or to Rich's family or to see our Provo friends. After teh baby comes, we'll be back. We had a nice trip home Sunday, stopping for lunch with Papa Jim and Gramma Becky in Pocatello between conference sessions, and arriving home around 8:30pm. SO GLAD to be home!

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...