Easter

Happy Easter. Ours started at 3 am when Anderson woke up and found his Easter basket and ran in to tell us that the Easter Bunny brought him a new monster truck. It took some doing but finally, I got him to leave it alone and go back to sleep. We went to church, burned our dinner, smoked ourselves out of the house, and made some memories....good or bad right?! Since we live out of town, my mom and dad want pictures, so here you go! We did a mini photo shoot in the backyard. I think we may start Ivy on a diet tomorrow.

Our First Visitors

The last few days, we had Tim's brother Justin's family in town with us for their Spring Break and we had such a good time. We were able to go downtown and check out all of the touristy spots, eat at the recommended restaurants, and even take a river boat on the Mississippi River. My kids LOVE their cousins, and they were no exception. I promised I didn't even see Anderson for like 4 days. He was Spencer's little buddy and Spencer was so good with him. This is all of the kids in front of the Gibson Guitar Factory. You can do tours, but you have to be at least 5 years old because of the level of sound during the tour. So, the big kids did that one without us.

Little buddies on Beale Street. Beale Street is the main street to hit here with all of the Blues Clubs and night life. You can't even drive down the street. It's pretty crazy.

And the girls. Minnie was in heaven too. They also came bearing gifts...Minnie got a new stroller and doll that she LOVES and Anderson got 2 new nerf dart guns that we used for a few "gun games". At one point, we had all of the kids (including 3 of my friend's kids that we were watching) all lined up along the fireplace vs. the adults. It was fun!

While they were here, I had the pleasure (just kidding) of speaking during church. And it was just me, not Tim. Weird, right?! I'm glad it's over, and that we had 6 helpers to keep my kids quiet in church. That was barely enough.

Anderson has been begging to wear his tie and church shirt with his "white pants". He asked me if he could wear his church shirt to bed tonight. Geez, must get it from his dad. (see the stroller in the background...she LOVES IT. It has to be parked next to her bed every night).

I learned a few things about Memphis this weekend. Half the time I forgot I lived here...

#1 Justin Timberlake grew up here...who knew? I love him...mostly because he is HILARIOUS on SNL

#2 Man vs. Food comes to Memphis a lot! We ate somewhere where you could order a 6 lb hamburger and try to eat it with another person in under 60 min. I think it's only happend 2x

#3 A guy in my ward went to High School with my mom...how RANDOM is that?

#4 There is full on tornadoes in Memphis. Like, it's no big deal to have the craziest thunderstorms and have to go in the hallway with the kids underneath a mattress. Who knew? Tonight there was 70mph winds in the area. Crazy! Guess I need to get batteries for my flashlight!

Anderson's 4th Birthday!

Today Andy turned 4! I can't believe it. He's getting so old. We had "birthday donuts" (our little family tradition we started...when we lived a mile from Krispy Kremes). Then we got ready and went to the Memphis Zoo. We have been told to just get a membership so we can go whenever and I think it's totally worth it. We loved it. These are the tigers that we saw as soon as we got there. They had a lot of different animals that we don't have at the good old Phoenix zoo and it was nice weather and the kids were really good. This is the area that is like Yellowstone. Ivy was asleep in the stroller by the random lady who took our picture. They had timberwolves and bears and elk here. It was really cool. The kids love the zoo. We rode the train around the petting zoo area and saw polar bears for the first time. They are HUGE. We will definately be going back. Minnie and I rode the carousel and she kept asking to go see Minnie Mouse and Snow White. I guess we trained her well. I had to explain, for probably the 10th time, that Snow White and Minnie Mouse were far far away.

After the zoo we came and did cake and presents. Andy made out and got everything his little heart desired...except a pogo stick. Do they still have those? He's been asking for one and I have no idea where he even saw one. I did look at Target and didn't see one. Weird request, right?

He was so fired up all day and had so much fun. He's done so good here and for being used to playing with his cousins A LOT, he has adjusted well. We've made some good friends here that he loves to play with, and I'm so grateful for that. I signed him up for Pre-School and he is soo excited. Anderson is a handful at times, but is starting to grow up and is a good big brother to his sisters. I will always have ENDLESS stories of his shenanigans though!