Fun With Daddy

Due to the crazy week and weekend Brandon had last week and the generosity of his work, Brandon has been able to spend a couple of days this week with us as home. Today we took a trip to the aquarium. Since our first trip, Brylie has really wanted to come back with her Daddy. She's only brought it up a thousand times and asked him when he was going a million.

We had a great time and the kids loved spending the extra time with Brandon. Now if we could just figure out a way to get the extra time with out the extra time at work for Brandon.

Busy But Worth It - Saturday

Saturday was the last day my family was in town. We got together for lunch and then, after a quick shopping trip, headed back to our place for a quick birthday celebration for Brylie. It wasn't officially Brylie's birthday but it definitely got Brylie in the spirit to celebrate her birthday and gave my family a chance to see her face when she opened their presents. Due to the request from Beckam to have cake, we started things off with Brylie blowing out her candles and eating some cake.

After that we quickly went to what Brylie wanted to get to, opening presents.

Thanks so much for your gifts guys. She has wanted to take her camera everywhere and took it to show and tell at preschool. (I finally "hid" it to give it a rest). The dinging from the microwave is constant and Brylie has started taking orders for food to cook. And the tea set is never in it's container. It was a great three days!!

Busy But Worth It - Friday

Friday morning the kids and I headed down to Provo to attend my sister's convocation part of her graduation. We miraculously made it in time to actually watch the graduates walk into the Marriott Center.

We spent the next few hours listening to a few talks and a whole lot of names being read. I'm so glad my family was there to help with the kids and help keep them entertained. Cari graduated in psychology which was the next to last program to have their graduates read. (And for you BYU football fans out there, Fui Vakapuna graduated during the same convocation as my sister in sociology. The building echoed with "Fui" after his name was read.)

I'm so proud of my sister for all she has accomplished over these last three years. Now it makes two of us girls to graduate from BYU, one sister currently attending BYU and one sister we need to convince to go to BYU so we can have all of us with bachelors from there. Go BYU.

The kids and I were going to go to a late lunch with my family but within minutes of being in the car Beckam fell asleep and before I got to the freeway Brylie had fallen asleep. Thanks everyone for tiring them out. It was a nice drive home.

Busy But Worth It - Thursday

Last week from Thursday on the members of this Harward family were quite busy. Brandon was on call for the week, so it's pretty self explanatory what kept him busy. For the kids and I our fun started with a pre-school field trip to the Sweet Candy Factory Thursday morning. Since cameras weren't allowed and hair nets had to be worn, there are no pictures of that fun excursion. Out of the three of us, I was the only one to sample the sweets until we were out of the factory. No matter how much I coaxed neither Beckam or Brylie wanted to try any of the candy they offered throughout the tour. Once we were done though, Beckam decided he liked taffy and wanted to eat as many pieces as possible at the same time. After trying the taffy he then decided he'd try whatever I handed him. Brylie still wasn't too keen on the treats but did try some chocolate covered peanuts, a girl after my own heart.
We then hurried home so I could get Beckam down for a nap and ready to go to my sister's graduation commencement at BYU. Cari's graduation was the reason for the majority of our busyness this week, but it was all so worth it to celebrate her accomplishment. When Beckam woke up I got the kids in the car and dropped them off at my mother-in-law's. Thanks Jill for watching the kids. After the parking nightmare, the hike to the Marriott center, and a couple hours of Commencement, I was really glad I didn't have the kids with me. The program was great and I was so proud that my sister was part of the sea of hats.

After the commencement was over, I picked up the kids and we headed over to Tepanyaki for dinner with my family. We had a great time and the kids really were well behaved. They both enjoyed watching the fire.

After a long day we headed home to be back down in Provo the next morning for the Convocation (when my sister actually had her name called.)

Back to the Zoo

A few days ago we made our first trip of the year to the zoo. We've been quite the slackers visiting so far this year and were glad to get the invitation to join a fun group. Once again we had the stroller brigade with four strollers, 4 kids under 2, and 7 kids over two between 5 moms.

Brylie and the other older kids had fun running around and the heavens smiled on me because Beckam was content to just chill in the stroller. We saw all of the animals faster then the moms wanted to, but oh well. Sophie and Brylie sure showed us what they thought of the elephants smell.

When we came to a fork in the road our little guides were quick to pull out the map and decide which way we should go (little did they know the moms had already decided which way to take, but it was fun watching them.)

And along the way we found a new home for our wild kids. It didn't take any coaxing to get inside. They all willingly got right in and stayed there for about 2 minutes and then it was on to see the next animal.

We ended the day with a ride on the carousel. It was Beckam's first time and he wasn't really sure about it at the beginning, but by the end he seemed to enjoy himself. Good thing because we'll be going back to the zoo plenty. Thanks for a great time guys!!

Finally

We have finally had nice enough weather for the kids to go outside and play without getting bundled up or having any snow on the ground, for longer then a day. The kids have loved running around and going on walks without freezing or their mom making them come inside because she thinks it's too cold. Hopefully this weather is here to stay!!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend this year. It started out Saturday morning with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Since the kids needed baskets for our ward Easter Egg hunt later that afternoon, I was very happy he was so thoughtful to come on Saturday. The kids enjoyed their little treats. Brylie got a new friend and Beckam got more cars (both were thrilled).

After quickly getting ready for the day we headed to our ward activity. I love that is was held about a 2 minute walk from our house. The weather didn't really want to cooperate so after the kids quickly gathered some eggs we headed home to warm up.

The rest of Saturday was pretty normal but the kids got a special treat after baths helping make cupcakes for Brandon's mom's birthday celebration the next day. (When we told Brylie we were going to grandma's to celebrate her birthday, Brylie quickly stated we needed to make her a birthday cake/cupcakes. I had her set on making a white cake and then she remembered grandma liked chocolate. It was quite the ordeal until I was able to find a chocolate cake mix in my stash and order was restored.)

Sunday was a great day. The weather was sunny and warm, big improvement from Saturday. We went to church and remembered what Easter is truly about.

After church we headed to Brandon's parents for an egg hunt and dinner. It was great spending time with family and the kids got to get rid of some energy playing with cousins.

I just wish I had taken some of our candy to pawn off on others. We're suffering from some major sugar highs right now.