Easter 2011

FAMILY = TRADITIONS

This is what makes childhood memorable.  I love this.  I'm so glad we are continuing these Easter traditions with our family.  This kids have a blast!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mortensen!  So fun!

Coloring Easter Eggs.

Ah, the yearly tradition.

Kennecott Copper Mine

If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT.  It was totally worth it.  It took us an hour to drive up, an hour there, and an hour to drive back.  So three hours for a very fun adventure for everyone during Spring Break.

It was very impressive to see the mine, and all the big equipment.  We also saw a little video, and learned about how they make and refine the copper and other metals they find.  Super interesting.  The kids loved it!  And so did the adults!

This the size of one of the tires on the big trucks they use to haul dirt out of the mine.  Amazing.  The trucks were as big as small houses.

Man!  That is one BIG hole!

My Amazing Husband!

Jared is running for the Utah County Republican Party Secretary.  Doesn't he look amazing!!!  I know he will do a great job! 

The Imaginary Friend

"Common!  Let's go play!"

Josh's Coin Collection

Josh needed to collect something for a scout achievement, so he decided he wanted to have all the state quaters.  It was a lot of fun looking through change, (even wanting to recieve change back while shopping), and to finally find all 50!  So he put them on this board and showed them to his scout troop.  I think it is neat to see them all in one place.  They are all so different and interesting.  I wonder how they picked what they would use to represent each state?  Pretty neat!

Our Dance Class

I decided to do a dance class for Breanne.  And by "do a dance class" I mean, I was the teacher.  But It was so that Breanne could be in a dance class without it costing me an arm and a leg.  It was also for our cousins, and then we invited some friends.  It turned out being super fun.  The girls did great.  Here they are at the recital. 

Cute Kids

Well, I wanted to go private...!!!

So it turns out that if I make this blog private, the only people who can view it are people who also have google accounts.  And not all my friends and family do, so we were having some complications yesturday, and I decided to not have it private for the time being.  But I know that some of you out there have your blog private, and it seems that all you need is to approve the persons email address.  Can anyone tell me how to do that?  Is this just a blogspot deal, do you have your blog through a different site?   I want to be private, and protective, but I also want my friends and family to view this blog without it being a big harrang.  Help me out blogger friends!

Going private.

I'm sorry to have to do it, but.... it is time to go private with the blog.  With Jared's life becoming increasingly public, I don't want my kids to also be exposed to the increased attention.  I just want to keep our privacy, and make sure my kids and our identities are kept safe.  I understand that this might reduce the amount of readers I have, but I don't think too many were viewing anyway, and those who are, I can easily invite.  But if you know someone who would like to view, give them my email :  lj.julie@gmail.com  And I would happily invite them.  Thanks, and I'm sorry for the incovienience of having to log in, or whatever, to see this.  But better safe than sorry.  :)

Walking the dog through the park.

Off to stop the bad guys.

Practicing my Lasso skills.

"Yee Haa!"

Brigham the Builder!

"Can he fix it?  YES HE CAN!"

Fighting the bad guy.

Just some silly ones.

The slinky.

"Brigham is out! Peace!"

Brigham at 6 months!

I can't believe this little guy is already so big!  He's 20 lbs, and off the charts, or atleast at the tippy-top for height, weight, head....  He's super healthy, and super cute.  You couldn't have a better baby.  He sleeps through the night, and doesn't need to be held all the time.  I guess he has plenty of brothers and sisters to keep him entertained.  He's rolling over, but no crawling yet.  I'm realizing that I better go back through and baby-proof the house.  What a blessing he is in our home.  We love you Brigham Micheal.

Hot Chocolate Anyone?

Josh's first Pine Wood Derby!

 Josh's car did awesome!!!  He won every race, but one at the end, so he came in officially at second place!  Pretty good for your first pine wood derby!  He was having a blast!  It was a lot of fun!

PREPERATIONS:  Jared helped, but Josh did have to do alot of the work to get his car ready.  I think that is part of the fun.

He named his car: "Thunderfield"!   I love it.  That kids is so creative.  Especially when it comes to naming things.  He had several other great ideas before settling on that one.  He could name race horses!  :) 
We love Josh, and we are happy that he had a fun time making and racing his car.  We will look forward to next year!

"Hello, Happy Happiness....."

Too Cute!

Too Happy!

"Like a Samurai, who makes PIE!"

After 10 years of marraige, I finally made Jared a PIE!  Apparently it was right around national "pi day"... go figure.  But that was not why I made the pie.  I made the pie, because we had some nieghborhood children come around selling pies for $15.  I didn't really like their "cause", and didn't think it would be responsible to spend $15 on a pie right now anyway.  But when I told Jared about it, he was like, "Pie...Yum...we should have bought one..."  So I decided it was time.  I would make him a pie.  It helped that the grocery store we visited that night, had the kind of apples that we needed to make a good pie (according to Linda.  Which would be ROME apples.)  So the next day... we had apple pie.  It wasn't that hard.  It is just that, while I do like pie, it is not my favorite dessert, and Linda was always making them anyway, so I just never made one.  I think I will be making them more often though now.  I would also like to experiment with some home made "pop-tart" type things.  Putting jams and stuff in them.  Yum!  

(And if you aren't a parent who's seen Backyardigans, which is the picture above, then: it is a super cute show that has an episode about samuri's who make pies.  It is one of our favorite episodes, and it has a really fun, catchy song about pies....which I was singing a lot while making the pie.  I guess I am a "pie master" now.)  I know it will make Jared happy!

"I love you!"

"Yes I do!"

Brighams first taste of FOOD!

Yum!  I just can't believe my baby is growing so big...SO FAST!

"We're going on a trip!"

I know.... Random.  But I thought this pic was funny.  It sort of captures the kind of play that goes on around here.  There's a My Little Pony, June (and Leo's in the back seat, but you can't see him), and Mario.  Awesome.

Field trip to the fire station.