Easter

We spent the Easter weekend in the teeny tiny town of Paragonah at my Grandma's house. It was a great weekend and very relaxing. Just what we needed. I would love to still be there and probably would be but, my grandma has since left for New Zealand. We all love it there and I wonder why we don't go more often. Here are some pics of our Easter fun...

Saturday was the hunt

Lucy was cranky that day

I think this was the worst Easter Bunny I've ever seen. It looks more like an Easter Goat. As you can see, Lucy was terrified. Coloring eggs... While we were at church the Easter Goat hid baskets and candy outside.

Happy Easter

Still here

Yes I'm still around but busy. Blogging has taken a back seat to my other projects and activities. And honestly, I just haven't felt much like doing it. But since Mr. Lloyd has been away for the last 5 days, I thought I would post some pictures of the last couple of days without him here.

Thursday was Crazy Hair day at school for Emma.

Saturday afternoon we went to Kangaroo Zoo for our niece Emma's 5th birthday.Here are the kids. Emma, Trinity, Isabelle, Emma, and BridgerIsabelle I really thought Lucy would love this place. She is after all, half monkey. But she pretty much had me hold her the whole time with her hands over her ears. Silly girl.Last night the girls helped me set up their tent for a sleep out in the family room. We watched Enchanted and ate popcorn. Lucy was very excited about this. It was her first sleep out and she kept saying "This is MY castle!" I LOVE this picture!Isabelle had the great idea for the ol' ride the sleeping bad down the stairs game... which was quickly taken over by Emma and then no one else got a turn.The girls had a fun night. I however, didn't get much sleep. I spent the night playing "musical beds" with the girls. At one point each kid was asleep in my bed with me, after which I would move them back to their rightful sleeping spot, until one of them (I won't say who) peed in my bed! F.Y.I. Cough syrup and a cup of juice before bed isn't the best idea. At least it was on Mr. Lloyd's side of the bed. Ha Ha!

Lucky for me, Lucy Jane slept in until 10:00!

I miss you husband and your daughters miss you. I can't wait until tomorrow when you'll be home!

p.s. don't forget to bring home gummy bears and little bottles of hotel shampoo and soap for the small ones.

Love you

Not By The Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin

I've never put much thought into getting older. I'd like to think I'm very "Oprah" about aging. But after the week I've had I would very much like to be 29 again...

Nine days ago I turned 30. The actual turning didn't hurt at all. In fact it was a very good day. The night before the turning, 3 of my favorite friends, Erin, Carrie, and Kayelynne took me out to dinner for my birthday. We stayed out late and took our time getting home because we couldn't stop laughing. I woke up Wednesday feeling happy and rested. Brent came home early to give me my birthday present which was a real surprise. He got me a new violin. I was very excited and even cried a bit. Later that night Brent took me out to dinner to a not so surprise party that I found out about two weeks earlier. I spent the evening with a bunch of my favorite people eating Korean food. It was a good day.

Two days after the big 3-0 I hopped on my bathroom scale. I was sad to see it 3 lbs higher. I wasn't to worried cuz I thought it was probably water. Well Sunday comes around and I hop on again. Up another 2lbs. So is this what turning 30 means? 5 lbs in one week? Well, I felt optimistic because I knew just what to do. A couple weeks of water, egg whites, oatmeal, fish, and exercise usually does the trick.

I woke up at 6:30 am on Monday morning. I had a great work out planned of weights and running. I felt determined to enter my 30's on a good start regardless of the scale. I grabbed my shoes and sat down to put them on. I bent over to lace them up and never got back up. You see, turning 30 means that my back goes out while doing simple every day things. I've never had a sore back in my life. But now that I'm 30...
I spent the rest of the day laying in bed and cursing my luck. Every time I took a deep breath I felt like my back was going to snap.

I knew that at some point I would have to feed my kids lunch so I decided to get in the car and go for take out. Instead of the low cal meal I had intended on, I ordered a Happy Meal and ate it alone in my room hunched over in my bed while crumbs fell all over. Gross! This is me depressed.

Later that day I hobbled into my bathroom to wash my face and clean up from my slothful lunch. As my hands washed my face I felt a little poke on my finger from something. I looked in the mirror closer and found that I had a hair on my chin!!! A big black one that was clearly visible. I looked closer and saw a second one on its way out. What the @#&*&%$%&*!!!
I'm 30, gaining weight, broken, and growing ugly old lady whiskers on my chin. I'm depressed. That night I took a Tylenol PM and went to bed at 7:00 pm.

I stayed in bed for about 2 1/2 days feeling awful. But by Wednesday evening I managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I've since pulled the hair out of my chinny chin chin, lost 3 of the 5lbs, and am back to running my daily 4 miles in record time. Take that 30!

Port-O-Pottys in Heaven?

Last night while Brent was tucking Emma into bed she had a few questions for him...

Emma: How does Jesus hear our prayers all the way up in heaven?

Brent: That is what faith is for. We have to have faith that He hears and answers our prayers.

Emma: Okay.... (thinks for a minute) How does Jesus go to the bathroom in Heaven? (A bit random don't you think)

Brent: Ummm, He doesn't have to go to the bathroom in heaven.

Emma: Yeah, I guess your right. I've never seen a port-o-potty in any of those pictures.

Crazy kid... Where do they come up with these things? For all I know she has never even been in a Port-O-Potty. (She's been reading too many Captain Underpants books.) I have to think that even if there were Port-O-Pottys in heaven, no artist would ever paint one in a picture. Can you even imagine?

Isabelle strikes again...

Last Sunday morning rolled around, as always, and I decided that I would spend some real quality time doing my hair. I love hair and I love styling it but I don't spend much time on it these days. But now that our church has changed its meeting time to 1:00 pm, I have a lot of extra time to get me and the girls ready for church. Also, I wanted to look nice for my hubby who would be getting home after a week away in Baltimore.

This is what I did...

Showered

Blow dried my hair

Hot rollers with hairspray

Applied make up

Took out hot rollers

LOTS and LOTS of hairspray...

As I am spraying my hair Isabelle came into my bathroom. I saw her watching me with wonder and awe. I imagined that she must be thinking how pretty her mom looks and wishing she were old enough to wear makeup and do fancy hair. {She is after all a girly girl} Then she speaks up and says, "Mom guess what?"

I answered "What?"

She happily explained, "Well, I noticed that your hairspray was almost gone so I filled the bottle up with water. Now you won't have to go to the store and buy new hairspray!"

Ugggg! My big, fabulous, movie star like, curly hair, that I spent almost an hour on, is now flat and straight and I had to go to church wearing a pony tail AGAIN! Did I mention that watered down hairspray smells pretty much like the regular kind. Otherwise, I think I would have figured it out sooner. Leave it to Isabelle to look out for me and my interests. I do love her so!

Blog oops

Ummm, that birthday post was supposed to be posted at a later date and time -obviously- . (So much for the post options at the bottom of the page. Way to go blogger!) Sorry to confuse. I hadn't even finished writing it yet. Oh well. It's gone now and I will post it again on my real birthday.

Kids say the cutest things

I've been meaning to post a few of the cute things that my girls say but when I get around to it I can't seem to remember any thing. But today I have a goody! It goes a little something like this:

After reading the scriptures (The Book of Mormon) before school one morning, Isabelle asked a question about this picture she saw in the book.

Isabelle: Mom, who is that guy?

Mom: That's Moroni. He's the guy that took all of the records of his people and buried them in the ground to keep them safe until Joseph Smith was led to them and translated them into what is now our Book of Mormon.

Isabelle: Oh! So, he buried them in the ground and then they grew into the scriptures!

Emma and I couldn't stop giggling at that one. So sweet is my Isabelle. Needless to say, after we laughed at her cuteness, she figured it out all on her own.

Merry Christmas

Santa Came!!!The girls woke up at about 8:00 and didn't waste any time getting to their presents. These "cubs" are what they wanted the most. They are sooo cute. They purrr and growl and fall asleep while you pet them. Isabelle LOVES Barbies. She has been asking for this one since September. I'm super happy that Emma got one of these. Mostly because I wanted one my whole life and never got one. I can't wait to play with it. hehe! This sad face is because of the toothbrush in her stocking. She didn't want a "boy" toothbrush. I told her Santa must have forgotten about toothbrushes until the last minute and that is all he had left to give her. This sad face is because Brent threw a wrapping paper ball at her head. No sense of humor this kid. We'll have to save wrapping paper fights till she's a bit older I guess. The kids played with their toys until about 1:00 when we left home and went to Grandma's house. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at my mom's house. We exchanged presents and ate a great dinner. Emma got a new Ivy and Bean book. She is crazy about these books!We got home early enough for baths and books. Emma is the best big sister and insisted on reading Isabelle her new book.We had a great Christmas this year. I'm always so thankful this time of year. I feel so blessed beyond measure with an abundance of love, family, friends, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that I am so blessed with amazing kids, a loving husband, and an enormous family that I can always count on for support and lots of fun. I'm thankful for all of you who have been a part of my life. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas...

We woke up to this... Frozen trees! So beautiful. Tradition has us eating brunch at Brent's Mom's house followed by an afternoon out at the movies. This year we saw Bolt. It was very funny. The kids really liked it too. After the movie we went back to the house and opened presents and ate more food. This year Brent's Grandma was with us. It was nice having her there so that my kids could spend time with her. Lucy just loves her. She spent a lot of time sitting on her lap. We broke tradition this year and spent a quiet evening at our own home without a big dinner and without running all over the place to visit everyone. Our candle lit evening was spent watching The Nativity movie our church produced followed by a dinner of "Jerusalem type" foods that we ate sitting on the floor. I really wanted this Christmas Eve to be reverent and filled with the spirit of Christmas. This was by far my favorite Christmas Eve yet.

One of the longest running traditions in my family is the Christmas Eve Pj's. I know what you're thinking... and yes, I do have the cutest kids ever! After dinner, the kids went out in the cold to sprinkle reindeer food on the snow. It was of course magical reindeer food. Oats and sparkles.

Emma recited "The Night Before Christmas" and even had hand actions to go with it. We set out cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for his reindeer. Unfortunately, I had to set another plate out because Walter ate all of the cookies. When I saw the plate was empty I was afraid that Santa came, ate the cookies and left without giving us presents. But then I saw the crumbs on Walters mustache! Dumb dog.

Merry Christmas!!!

Snowed in...

Yesterday we were supposed to go to Soldier Hollow with my family + cousins and aunts and uncles and go tubing. Well, it snowed so much that Provo canyon closed and we weren't able to go. So instead, we spent the morning playing in the snow at home with the neighbors and then we headed over to my mom's house to have lunch which lasted long after dinner. It was a nice snowed in kind of day.

My three

LucyThe kids built a snow fort in our driveway.Here are the cousins at grandma's house.Bronnson was very sweet to Emma and took her on the four wheeler around my mom's backyard. Pleasant Grove got about 8" of snow yesterday. Her yard looked so pretty. Today, Brent helped Emma build an igloo. She was out in the snow at 10:00 am and didn't come in until 4:00 pm. The kid loves the snow. After all the neighbor kids have gone inside, she is still out there building and playing.

I don't know about the rest of you but I LOVE Utah winter. I love shoveling the walks and bundling up in warm clothes. Last night after the kids were in bed I took Walter out for a slippery walk around the neighborhood and then stayed outside until about 10:00 pm. playing in the snow with Brent. So far we are having a great Christmas Vacation!

Pro Look Christmas Party

Saturday night we went to Brent's company Christmas party. In years past these parties have always been hilarious and filled with wicked games of chance that end in either awesome prizes, cash $$, or you go home with screwdrivers. This year we played The Price is Right. It was very fun and there were some awesome prizes to be won. I poached some pictures off of Jane's Blog because I'm too lazy to download my own. I hope she doesn't mind.

This is Brent's work family.

Notice Brent... He's third over from the left. I laughed my butt off when I saw this. He's such a dork.

Here we all are... Brent is -again- doing something stupid in the shot...

This year Brent played for and won a pair of Sevens jeans and a Diesel jacket. Total retail price was something like $500.00! With this awesome outfit maybe he'll stop looking like such a dork in pictures. Seriously Brent... can you just try and not be so dumb??? How old are you anyways? All I really want for Christmas is for you to take a nice picture for once. Geesh! The best part of the night for me was after we had bid and won our prizes, one of which was a Hot Wheels car, Dusty (The Boss Man) asked if he could buy it back for his son KJ. Brent was about to give it to him when I yelled I'll sell it for $100.00. Ask and ye shall receive! I'm $100 richer! Apparently I have no shame when it comes to making a buck(:

Overall, The Rhodes know how to have a good time. I think it was one of the funniest parties yet.