Fun in the Spring!

During spring break in March (not that any of my kids are in school, yet) we enjoyed a morning playing in the snow.  We got to go sledding, make snow angels,  and attempt a snowman.  The boys loved playing outside in the snow.  Especially having mom pull them around in the sled and sliding down the small hill in our yard.

One day while I was at work, Linden got this photo of Zackary and Isabel sleeping.

One night, Isabel woke up and didn't really want to settle back down to sleep.  Linden and I were still up and Linden was playing around with his basketball.  He decided this would be a good time to let Isabel get her first lesson in shooting a basketball.  She loved it!!

Our little darling in her cute outfit.  My Aunt Jean made her the adorable skirt.

On April 29, we had another snow storm for the boys to go play in the snow.  They loved it.  They built a nice big snowman and then demolished it and enjoyed playing with the snow again.

Anton concentrating on playing with the snow, trying to get it nice and smooth.

Zackary was willing to look up from the snow for a quick picture.  We had been working on getting the flower bed ready for the year just a few days before, so, here he has his gardening tools for the snow.

Linden, out supervising the boys playing in the snow.  This was his better side, he said.

Isabel got all dirty eating something chocolatey.  Don't remember what it was.  I got a picture taken and gave her some water to drink. And then was going to get her all cleaned up.  Anton wanted to take a picture of Zackary.

So, I let Anton take a picture of Zackary.  Anton insisted that he needed to get a picture of Zackary's behind and Zackary was more than willing to comply.  So here it is.

I then went back to get Isabel out of her seat and cleaned up.  I guess the water helped to wash off her chin. However, she smeared the rest ALL OVER her head.

 We had a great sping.  More to come on some of our spring activies soon.  Then we will get started reporting on the summer.

Birthday Kids

At the end of March we had two birthdays to celebrate.  Anton turned five and Isabel reached the one year mark.  I decided to get fancy with their cakes.  (I know this is nothing compared to what some people do for cakes, but this is about as much as I do.)  Linden baked the cakes and I did the decorating/frosting.  It was a very delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  The recipe Linden found for the yellow cake called for 8 egg yolks!!

The festivities consisted of a special day for Isabel and another one for Anton doing what they wanted to do, and letting them know how special they are for our family.  And then of course, we had the party with Grandma and Grandpa Butler and family and another with Grandma Nielsen and family.

Our little darling on her first birthday.  Sitting, no walking or crawling.  However she had a really mean army swim (yip, swim not army crawl) that would get her anywhere her little heart desired very QUICKLY.  She is now almost walking and crawls everywhere.  I miss that army swim.

Showing off how old she was.  She would be so excited that she would dance around, hence the blury picture.

Uncle Josh had to help Anton unwrap his gift from he and Maria.  He had taped down EVERYTHING! Anton couldn't find a loose end anywhere to start ripping.  Good job, Josh.  When Anton got it opened he was super excited.  He got a hotwheels race car track.  He loves IT!

As most 1 year olds, Isabel was more interested in the wrapping paper than the gifts.

We always have to strip down the babies on their first birthdays to facilitate clean-up of the cake eating. Isabel loved her cake. I will hopefully be posting a video of her devouring her cake - if it decides to work. Here she decided to give us the thumbs up she was so excited to see her very own cake!

Anton blowing out his candles.

Anton thought he needed to eat his cake like Isabel was eating hers - without his shirt on and without a fork/spoon.  However, our clean freak also decided that he didn't want to get his hands dirty.  So, he ate his cake very carefully with just his mouth, making sure to not get his face dirty, either.

The devouring of the cake.  She LOVED it!

The next weekend, after Grandma Nielsen was back in town, we got to do the same thing again.  It is great to have Grandparents close enough to share in these special occasions.

The second go-round of cake eating, Isabel had it down.  She knew what to do to get the most amount of cake and frosting into her mouth.

#3 of Catching Up (Yip, I am still at it)

Last Thursday we received a very wonderful phone call.  We have been hoping and praying for this phone call for over a year. We started applying for jobs about last March before Linden graduated in July.  The last day of his internship was June 24, 2010.  His first day of his new job will be June 20, 2011.  Almost one complete year.  Many prayers of gratitude and joy have been offered, along with tears.  It isn't a dream job.  It isn't even in Linden's field of study.  It is a JOB.  We are extremely grateful.  On Thursday, Linden was offered a part-time job with Melaleuca in their call center.  Yesterday, Monday, they called back and said, hey how about we give you a full-time position.  Even more answers to our many prayers.  We will have insurance again, in a few months.  We will have a steady paycheck. 

Though this past year has been quite a trial, I have learned much.  Mostly I am extremely grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that has kept us going with little blessings everywhere that add up to huge blessings.  I know that our little family has been blessed because we have done our best to be self-reliant and follow the prophets' counsel. We have avoided debt, we do our best to have food storage and prepare for the future.  We work hard to manage our resources wisely. Because of this we were blessed with a few temporary jobs to extend our savings.  How grateful we are for this opportunity for Linden to have regular employment again.  I know that we will continue to be blessed as we continue in obedience and do our best to fulfill the Lord's will for us.  Thanks to all of you for your prayers on our behalf and for your assistance.

Now moving on to something that won't make me cry as I type.  Here are lots of pictures that I think are so cute I couldn't resist posting them on the blog.

At the end of January Leonora, Kevin and Katelynn came for a visit.  We took advantage of the opportunity to get a picture of three of the four granddaughters that were born in the Butler family last year.  We are only missing Susan's little girl.  Here Isabel looks so big and chubby.  In reality, she is in the first percentile for height and weight and we get lectures about feeding her enough.

The little girls with their mothers.  Leonora and Katelynn, Isabel and me, Jessica and Claire.  Isabel is the oldest of the three, born in March.  Next is Katelynn in November and Claire in December.

One night, around midnight, I heard a commotion coming from the boys room.  Linden went to see what was going on.  Then I heard him helping Anton back to the bathroom.  Then I heard Anton start puking (again).  I took over helping Anton, while Linden proceeded to move Zackary to our bed and change the bedding.  Of course, Isabel woke up, also.  After I got Anton bathed he joined Zackary and Isabel in our bed while Linden and I got the boys bed made again.  They enjoyed being in Mom & Dad's bed.  We finally got them settled in their beds again after about 45 minutes.  Twenty minutes later, we heard Anton puking again.  So, it was back in the bath, new sheets and blankets again and all three kids in our bed.  We had more sheets for the boys bed still, but we were about out of clean blankets, so we were quite relieved when we didn't have round three that night.  As it was none of us got settled in bed again until around 2 am.  Poor little Anton, looks like he isn't feeling very well in this picture.

Bath time is everyone's favorite in our house, especially Isabel.

What an adorable little face!

Trying on their new ties for Brook and Bob's wedding.

We made a trip down to Utah for a couple of momentous family events the first weekend in March.  First up, Brook went through the temple prior to getting married. What a special day.  Thanks for sharing with us.

Second up that weekend, was Katelynn's blessing.  Here are the kids after church.  (We had already changed the kids out of their clothes so they wouldn't get dirty, and wanted to get a picture of the four cousins.)  Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get four little ones to hold still for a picture.  It would have helped if I had the camera on the right settings, (oops, I forgot to check).  Anton and Zackary LOVE Katelynn.  When we first got there on Saturday evening they spent about fifteen minutes just talking and cooing with Katelynn, trying to get her to smile. They don't stick at hardly anything for fifteen minutes.  I attribute it to the week we spent in Utah helping Leonora with Katelynn while she was finishing up her student teaching.

The proud parents with their little darling.  A couple of weeks later we were also able to attend Clair's blessing, but we forgot our camera.

Isabel loves marshmallows.  Mom and Dad don't.  I think this particular one was a yellow one with some chocolate stuff on it.  She was almost untouchable.  This picture wasn't the worst of it.

The amazing ever-floating balloon.  This picture was taken when the balloon was one month old.  Yes, it is still up at the ceiling, no photo tricks.  A few days later, it died.  We were quite surprised that it lasted so long.

It was a great few months.  We have such wonderful children.  I love watching them learn and grow.  Thanks for bearing with me as I catch up on our family journal.