Out of Doors

Okay, get ready for a ton of pictures.

As the weather gets increasingly nice, we have been spending more time outside. Dane and I have had picnic lunches in the park a lot over the past couple of weeks (although Dane gets a little frustrated that Mommy can't run and play on the playground with him like she used to). It's a simple way to add a little more fun to our days.
Also, the Easter bunny gave Dane this stomp rocket. I think it's pretty much an awesome toy.
As Dane describes it, you put the rocket on the launcher,

Jump on the purple soap,

And it flies up high in the sky!

We've had a lot of fun with this toy.
I really love this picture for some reason:

Dane likes to have fun with different trajectories, too.


Also, on the last day of April, we had about six inches of snow. A lot of people were frustrated by it, but I felt like it was the perfect kind of snow. It was great for snowballs, not too cold outside, Dane was absolutely filled with mirth as he played, and it all melted away by the afternoon!
Throwing snowballs at Daddy,

Force feeding snow to Daddy:

They just had a grand old time. Notice how fresh their tracks are in the snow and how the snow gets increasingly disheveled as the pictures progress.

Dane was laughing harder than I've heard him laugh in a while.

Snow angel Dane:

Joel would throw big clumps of snow in the air and explode them on his head.

Which made Dane laugh even harder.

Joel also taught Dane how to make face prints in the snow.


Snow snuggles:

A mischievous face:

This one looks like Dane is casting a spell:

Modeling snow hats:

Then Joel tried to dive/slide through the snow:

So, of course, Dane gave it a try:

At that point, he realized that snow is cold, and we headed back inside for some hot cocoa.

Just a couple of our outdoor adventures. Currently, it is raining and chilly outside. I'm learning to enjoy all these variations.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to mah HUZbund. We are so weird. I love that we can both be weird and happy together.

Joel and I celebrated our seventh anniversary in a two-day extravaganza necessitated by the fact that I love going out to eat but our anniversary was on a Sunday. Yesterday we exchanged little gifts and hand-painted cards (that's what happens when you take a watercolor class at BYU together; we were the worst in the class), and tonight we actually got a babysitter and went out to Benihana!
When we were close to being done, the server brought out a camera and asked to take our picture. Then she printed the picture and brought it out to us in a little paper frame.
Joel made fun of the expression I'm making and told me what he thought I was thinking at the time. I countered that his face is just as bemused as mine.
Feel free to put in your two cents about what is going through our heads.

P.S. I've been convincing myself though most of this pregnancy so far that I am not as big as I was with Dane. But just yesterday it dawned on me that I have been in complete denial. I am seriously already bigger than some women ever get...and I've got over four months to go. This picture provides further evidence of my puffiness. Oh well.

Easter Festivities

We had a lot of fun this Easter weekend, doing the traditional things.
We kicked things off with some egg dying:
First, Dane put eggs in all the colors.

Then he'd check to see if they were satisfactory:

Pink didn't work very well.
But green did!

I was impressed with how well he used the little wire egg dipper thing.
But then hands were just easier.


Dane chose blue as his favorite.


Then, Easter Sunday morning, Dane found what the Easter bunny left him:

The Easter bunny left quite a mess, leaving carrot crumbs and muddy footprints all around the Easter basket. Fortunately for us, the mess was completely localized on this piece of posterboard that happened to be right under the Easter basket. Whew.


For the record, I didn't know my lumpy, pajamaed form was in the picture.
Rainbow beanbags!

And yes, I know Dane has his pajama shirt on backward. He does it on purpose because he thinks it makes him look like a football player. He says letters on your shirt mean you're fast.

We had a little family photo shoot before church. I must say, I think I live with two very handsome boys.

Joel taught Dane how to look dapper:

But Dane had his own ideas of how to pose:


Easter family!

After church, we headed down for our 9th Annual Easter Dinner with the Penovich family.
The Penoviches are so kind and friendly that they often have many guests for Easter. But this year they are empty nesters, and we were the only guests! (Including Kenji and his friend, Spencer). We felt special.
Our gracious hosts, Todd & Lanez:

After a delicious dinner, they hid 75 Easter eggs for Dane, Kenji, and Spencer.



Sometimes he'd have to race Daddy to get the eggs.


Dane found more eggs than Kenji and Spencer put together!


Happy Easter!

P.S. I have a few fun videos to post, but I'm having trouble uploading them. Stay tuned!