Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt!!!!! Whoo Hoo!!!!

This is my "I'm so happy to help with the egg hunt" smile. He would rather have been out looking for a new car.

Let's get this party started. Chocolate, cookies, pizza. What could be better???

Ethan, dreaming of "chocolate milk" no doubt. Sweetie pie.

Hailey, coloring eggs and making cookies.

That building in the background is the new veterinary building.

Cute, happy girl, Cedes.

Hey, is that an egg or a rock?

Too cool, Vanessa and Logan were "chillin" - they hid the eggs for the little kids.

This picture of Bailey cracks me up. It fits her personality so much!

Cedes getting serious.

Hey! I think Uncle Scott stole the eggs.

Yes, I know I'm adorable, but I'm trying to be modest!

Ian was giving some tips, or was he stealing the kids eggs?

Hey, do you think some of these eggs contain money?

It was a little windy, but not too cold. Kelsee was hanging onto her eggs.

This is one of my favorite Logan smiles.....

Vanessa is so grown up - she's the oldest girl cousin, and you can tell. She's always helping out.

We have to make a fashion statement while we are hunting. Cute, Bailey.


Chocolate is always a good incentive for finding eggs! Yum, yum.

Well, another week has gone by. It's been a fun week. We decided to have our Easter party on Saturday so some of the kids could do things with their in-laws. It worked out great. We made and decorated Easter cookies (fun) and also colored eggs. The kids had quite a few egg "hunts", taking turns hiding the eggs so everyone got to have fun. They each went home with a basket full of chocolate and a plate full of cookies, and fun was had by all, hahahaha. The weather was rainy in the morning, but by the time we had the party, the weather was quite nice.

I spent today at church. The choir sang and we had a really nice program. The rest of the day, I've just be lying around. Nice, quiet Sunday. The wind is blowing so hard outside, it actually has blown some of the shingles off the roof. I thought for a few minutes, the trees behind the house were going to blow over. I'm really glad we had our celebration yesterday, cuz this wind is a nightmare. It's supposed to SNOW tonight. Hey! I thought it was SPRING! Oh well, at least I won't have to face a commute in the morning - just into my office. At 4:00 a.m., however, that can be a bit dangerous. I bumped into my doorknob the other morning and gave myself a giant bruise, so - my commute can be dangerous. hahahahaha

This last paragraph of the blog is known as the "old people's problems" section. Reporting all our sicknesses. hahahahah I'm feeling a tiny bit better (baby steps) this week. The shots still make me sick, mostly in the evenings, but my sugars are doing better. So, I think it will be worth it eventually. LaRay's arm is still really bad, I don't know if it is going to improve unless she's able to stop typing for a while - which is doubtful. Beside my nausea (ooooo) my back is sooooooooo bad. I'm sitting here on two HOT corn pads right now, trying to do the blog. I took two 800 mg Ibuprofen so I could stand it. This really sucks. Delores is definitely having her surgery in New York, is just trying to straighten out all the details as we speak. So maybe six months from now, we will all be doing better.

Hope you all have had a good Easter - lots of food and chocolate (no chocolate for me, boohoo) and time spent with your family. I'm grateful for our Savior and his sacrifice for us and for his resurrection. What a great gift. In church, I was thinking about how Mary must have felt when she saw the empty tomb. What an amazing thing that must have been! Have a good week. I love you all. Leave your comments if you want. Love, Helen xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Hey, We're Still Here!

Our newest adddition Ethan is just the sweetest thing.

Hey, It's my 5th birthday today! (Kelsee)

Hailey and Kelsee, close playmates and cousins.

Yummy, birthday cake!

Hailey and Cameron are standing by in case she has any trouble blowing out the candles.

Bailey and Ethan. Emily has NO TROUBLE getting someone to hold the baby. Everyone wants him.

Sort of a weird angle (up the nose), but you can see how dang cute he is.

Cameron is such a good big brother. He loves to help his mom with Ethan.

April 2, Cameron turned 5. We had his party on Saturday at Classic Skating. He's the second "triplet" to have his birthday. (Kelsee, Cameron and Hailey were born within 6 weeks of each other, so we have always called them "the triplets".)

This picture is blurry, but it was a good look at how red the kids were in the face when they got through playing. I wanted to join them, but alas, adults weren't allowed.

Hailey, Bailey, and Kelsee, having fun.

After an hour of bouncing, climbing, and basically running around, we moved into the party room. Vanessa was really good about helping with the little kids.

This is the special "Spongebob" Party room. Bailey, thinks it's pretty cool.

You can see, they are still red in the face from all the "bouncing" they did.

There were Spongebob TV's in the party room for games, and Spongebob music you could play over the loadspeaker to the room. That was really annoying.

Here he is with his "Spongebob Cake". We had a really good time.

Emily brought the kids over today, and they were totally pooped. Look how Ethan has his hand up under his face, cute, cute, cute.

Well, I bet you thought we fell off the edge of the earth, but no, we're still here. We've been out of commision for 2-3 weeks because someone lost my USB cord to my camera (Stefany) and we had to order a new one. It took a couple of weeks. Anyway, all is well now.

Everyone is well and happy. The kids have all been healthy, except for Ethan who has had a few problems since his birth, but nothing serious. A thyroid condition and some stomach problems. Otherwise, he is great (and totally adorable). It's so much fun to have a new baby in the family, I forgot how much fun.

I've been having a hard time with my new shots (twice a day) for my diabetes. The shots make me sick so I've lost a little weight because I can't eat. That's got to be good for me. But, it's been a challenge as well. I'm going to keep going on them for at least 3 months to see if they lower my hemoglobin A1C which is at 10.1 and should be 6.5 or under. If the shots work, I will stave off insulin for a while longer (maybe forever). Anyway, so far, they seem to be helping my blood sugars, course it's hard to tell when you can't eat, hahahaha. It's getting better than it was the first week though, so I'm sure I'll adjust. I thought I might have trouble giving myself shots, but it hasn't been a problem. I give them in my abdomen, and it really hurts less than the finger sticks. (Just call me Nurse Ratchett).

LaRay is still so sore from her fall, and is really having a hard time working right now. We sometimes wonder how dad did it for so long. Between me with my diabetes, LaRay with her injuries, and Delores with her heart problems, we are a real matched set. I thought about it when President Hinckley was speaking at conference. I just don't know how he does it (well, yes I do). He's amazing and makes me feel guilty for complaining about any sickness.

Well, I'm done for this blog. Can't even think of anything new except Scott had another birthday as well on April 3rd, he's 22. Didn't get his picture, but I did take him to lunch and we both got food poisoning, so that was a fun day. hahahahahaha Take care everyone. We love and miss you. Be good. Leave your comments. Love, Helen.