Easter

I was thinking I should probably have titled the post "Jensen's 1st Easter" since he was the subject of 90% of my pictures this year.  But just for the record, even though he is my favorite to photograph these days, (and definitely the most cooperative!) the reason for neglect of photos of Pierce and Madi is not just because of my favoritism.  This weekend Pierce was much to cool, quick and busy for me to even watch him at all, let alone take pics.  And Madi was, well Madi.  On with the pictures!  

We had a great weekend and had a lot of fun spending time with our cousins.  We were excited to have Taylee with us for Friday and Saturday, the kids love playing with her and she is such a good sport to play with the younger kids.  Pierce was in Heaven having some one to play ball with all day long.  We had a fun day off of school on Friday and enjoyed time at the park with the Hall and Eves cousins and then had fun at the movies watching "The Lorax" in 3D.  The kids all loved it and even Jensen did great!  He sat still on my lap watching it for about 45 minutes.  Then when he got restless I gave him his first sucker and he was content as can be!   Although now, when he sees a sucker, he really wants it!  That night Ryan and I enjoyed a date night with his siblings and his Mom (yeah!  we love getting to spend time with the adults minus 19 kids!)  

Saturday we had our traditional Robison Easter Egg Hunt.  Jeff and Crystal are so gracious to host us in their beautiful yard.  We enjoyed a yummy breakfast and all the kids had a grand time!  We had the teenage cousins hide the eggs and after all our hunting we counted up and were still missing about a dozen!  Guess they hid them a little too well!  Pierce was too quick for me to catch much of his action this year, but I did manage to follow Madi around with Jensen in tow, then she loved helping find eggs for Jens.  

Madi and cute cousin Lily - Lily is such a fun cousin for Madi and extra special, these two are just a day apart, born 12 hours apart from each other! 

Sweet baby boy, loved his Easter Eggs! 

Tay, Pierce and Madi

Saturday night we had Audra, Jared and Savyon come and stay the night with us.  The kids loved playing with Savyon and it was so great to have Audge here and catch up with her, I definitely don't get to see her enough.  

Attempt at a family picture with the tri-pod.  Have to admit, it's better than I thought we'd get! 

We attended Jeff & Crystal's ward for Ammon's Baby blessing then enjoyed more fun with the cousins and good food at their house.  What a great Easter day! 

Here is my boy in his cute "1st Easter" attire.  I could not pick 1 or 2 favorites, or even 5 or 6 favorites, so here is a look at his many cute faces...

Nothing like a little leaf to chomp on.  Love this baby boy so much.  He really is such a joy to us.

I made my traditional Easter cupcakes for the kids and used this recipe again.  They were yumm-o!  And now that I've become a true Our Best Bites fan, I've had my eye on this recipe for Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies for months and was just waiting for Easter for the excuse to make them.  They were so delicious, I think a new Easter time tradition for sure!  After we delivered cupcakes to a few friends we got together with the Woodburys to let the kids make these fun Easter nests.  They are so cute and easy and the kids love them.  Heck, I love them.  Rice Krispie treats and Robin Eggs, what's not to love?!

After fun with friends we finally got around to giving this little boy his Easter basket.  Our attempts to have the Easter bunny hide the kids' baskets so it would be saved for after church did not go so well.  Pierce found them and dug in while I was getting ready!  I knew he was just excited but I got after him a bit because I was sad I missed it, stinker.  So Pierce and Madi had done their own thing and since it was such a busy day, Jensen got his just before bed.  He was so tired, but sure perked up when we set this in front of him!  

For just a crawler, this little guy is quick!  I turned my back for a few seconds and when I turned back around I found he'd quickly made his way to Mom's basket, helped himself to a Cadbury Carmel Egg and was going to town, the foil wrapper didn't slow him down one bit!  Of course I had to laugh and snap a few pics before I took it away...

Isn't he the cutest?!  Seriously so in love with him.  

What a wonderful Easter weekend we had! I am so truly thankful for dear friends, wonderful family, cute (even when slightly naughty) kids, amazing husband, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  How blessed we are to have his teachings and to celebrate his life, example, atonement and resurrection.  

Our Trip to Portland Part 3: The Big Day!

Jasmine and Josh's wedding day! It was a perfect day, I was so filled with joy just being there.  Ryan and I were excited to visit the Portland Temple again and being there with the Burton Family was just the best thing ever!  It was such a very special moment for me as we were sitting in the waiting room to see Jess and Mel come into the room together, amazing Jess pushing her amazing Mom in her wheelchair.  My heart was so full of  joy and love for the two of them!  Mel's health has been so bad that for the past few months she was afraid she would not even be able to be there for her daughter's wedding.  I knew what a miraculous blessing of strength and comfort from our Father in Heaven that Mel was receiving and I could not keep the tears from running down my face.  Truly this amazing family was blessed on this very special day!  I could go on and on about all of my emotions of this day, but instead of rambling on like a fool I'll just share some favorite moments from the day in pictures.

Remember how I said I had over 800 pictures to go through from our trip?  Ya, I wasn't exaggerating.  I've finally made it through all of them, here are some favorites....

My buddy Jared - man I love this kid.  Everyone needs a Jared in their life! 

Beautiful Janessa!  Twin sister of the bride! 

Me, Janessa and fabulous Laurel!
Laurel is Mel's niece, we totally knew each other before we ever met.  This was only the 2nd time we've met in person, which seems so weird, we are dear friends (thankful for blogging!)  and I love her!
  

Ted with Handsome Jeremiah, and beautiful daughters Jennalise and Jayla

Beautiful Mel with her stunning daughters!

Twin Sisters = Best Friends! 

Ted & Mel, pretty much the most fantastic couple on the planet.  

Seriously love these 5 people! 

Beautiful Jess and her darling family - handsome husband Mason and cute boys Cooper and Dane.  Dane really is cute too, he was a bit tired!

Happy Jared! 

Me & Mel - love her so much!  I was so happy she had such a wonderful day and was able to do so much, she did amazing! 

Lucky Groom! 

Happy couple with the Happy Couple! 

A Happy Couple of Parents! 

Love this!   

What a perfectly wonderful day it was!  We were so happy to have the opportunity to be in the temple with Josh and Jasmine and their family and to share in their joy on this happiest of days!  We had so much fun spending time together and with the Burtons.  We love you all so much!  

Our Trip to Portland Part 2: It was totally WICKED!!!

When we heard from Mel that Jasmine was getting married,  (Gasp!)  I went through some slight shock and then realized that Jasmine and Janessa are not 11  any more,  and that is was actually ok for her to be getting married.  Then we decided we would plan a trip and be there for the wedding, we were very much in need of some quality time with The Burtons!  We made our plans a couple months in advance and we had been planning to leave Pierce and Madi with Grandma and take Jensen with us.  As the trip got closer I considered leaving him home, debated back and forth and then decided we would go ahead and take him.  I really wanted to show him off (he is the cutest thing on the planet after all!) and I didn't know how he would do with out me.  He is such a Momma's boy!  Which I love.  Anyway we were planning to take him up until the day we left... I was just getting so nervous about how he would do on the plane ride, we would be getting to Portland around mid night and I was worried he wouldn't sleep well, I was worried he wouldn't sleep good in the hotel and that he'd be miserable and tired the whole time.  I finally decided an hour before we were to leave, that I would leave him with Grandma!  I figured he would do better at home in his comfort zone and in his own bed with out me, than he would being on the go for 3 days and being thrown off his schedule.  I bawled when we left and could not believe I was leaving my baby, then questioned myself all night if I had done the right thing.  The next morning after calling JoAnn and hearing he was doing just fine I totally relaxed and was SO thrilled to have three days with Ryan.  Just me and him.  Alone. For the first time since we've had children! For three days.  It was Heaven.  

We had planned to be up there a day before the wedding so we could make the most of it, and we did!  We headed out to Forest Grove and had a little blast from the past just driving around, to the school, past our old apartment and just enjoying the beautiful green roadsides!  We had to make a stop at the school bookstore for new T-shirts - Pierson loves his "Pacific Boxers" tee shirt and was sad when he got a hole it it when it was quite new.  When my sister asked him about us going to Oregon he told her, "ya they're going to get me a new shirt.  Oh and to see some friends too."  We did not disapoint and he is thrilled with his new tee shirt!

We really do love Oregon, it is absolutely beautiful!  It's just that all that rain that makes it so beautiful is a little too much for us, so we always knew would could never live there, but we absolutely love visiting!

Beautiful green roadsides, such a change from St. George! - (and I did take these pics while we were passing by so excuse my poor quality), Ryan in front of the campus sign, (a tradition now) and Ryan getting ready to enjoy his "Jumbo Burger" at the Helvetia Tavern, a great little place for burgers he liked when he was in school.

AND, now that we were totally kid free, we could go see WICKED!  It was perfect luck that it was playing in Portland while we were there! I was so excited!  I  have been dying to see this show for the past three years (since I bought the soundtrack and fell in love with it!) We had planned on visiting Ryan's old roommate, Toby, and his wife Julie, while we were there, and luckily  they were up for the show on very short notice and tickets were available!

It was fabulous!  I loved it.  So much that I think I need to see it again this year when it come to Vegas.  Plus I wasn't able to fully appreciate every detail since our seats were on the side balcony.  So, it really is necessary to see it again.

After Wicked we hit PaPa Hayden's in Downtown Portland.  This is quite the happenin' little place, we had only been there once (when Ryan graduated) since it really isn't something poor students can justify. They are known for their desserts and let me tell you- delicious, scrumptious, amazing, divine...pretty much all the yummy words you could think of, ya they all apply.  Totally worth the 9 bucks each.

Isn't it pretty?  We definitely recommend the Chocolate Truffle Cake and the Peanut Butter Cheesecake.  And we loved it so much and figured- hey we're on vacation, with out our kids, for the first time ever!  So we went back the next night and got pick up.  So we definitely recommend the St. Moritz too, and we wished we had been able to try the Banana Cream Pie, they were out!  So we recommend that too.  It you are ever in Portland, stop in, and have  Coconut Macaroon for me too!  And while you are there stop by Moonstruck and get a milkshake!  Ya, we did that too.  But hey, we were on vacation!  Alone!  With out our kids! For three days!  And we kind of have a weekness for beautiful and delicious desserts.

Our Trip to Portland Part 1: Our History

It's not like me at all to do a picture-less blog post, but in preparing to post about our trip to Portland I've been thinking a lot about the reason for the trip.  Before blogging days I was hit and miss in my life about keeping a journal and I have never recorded some things that are very dear to me.  And some things need to be recorded, this is one of those things...

When Ryan and I got married he had just finished his second year of Optometry school at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.  We moved into our new little apartment in the neighboring town of Hillsboro.  After only being married and in our place for a few weeks I got a call from my new Visiting Teachers and they came to visit me.  They were a Mom and Daughter pair, Melody and Jessica Burton.  They came to visit me and they ended up staying for about 3 hours, we talked and talked and talked.  I told them all about our wedding and our little love story and they told me all about their family, which from day one, I knew was incredible.  Our friendship was instant.

Melody and her husband, Ted, had 6 children.  Jessica was the oldest and had just graduated from high school, then Jason, another teenager, then 10 year old twins, Jasmine and Janessa, then 6 year old Jared and 2 year old Jamie.  Jared and Jamie both have Down's Syndrome.  I could not even imagine having 6 children, not to mention two of them having Down's Syndrome.  Mel also had a major health problem, when she was 20 years old (after she had given birth to her first two children) she found out her spine was deteriorating.  At 20 years old doctors had told her her spine looked like a 90 year old.  She was told her body could not handle any more children and they had adopted the Jasmine, Janessa, Jared and Jamie.  Her back causes her constant pain and at the time she was unable to do many every day activities.  Her children had all learned how to help around the house and help with the younger children, I was constantly amazed to see that despite her limited ability, things always ran smoothly.  She would have times she would be down in bed for 3-4 weeks at a time, then she would be up and about again and it was a constant cycle, she had learned how to deal with constant pain and her family had learned to take care of her and each other.  Truly, the were an amazing example to me of what a family should be, loving, caring and helping always.  I admired them so much.

After  knowing The Burtons for only 4 months, and only 5 months of marriage, my newlywed blissful bubble of perfect and care free life was burst on October 1st, 2002 - the day my Mom was killed in a car accident.   My words can not even begin to express what that evening was like, to have my little sister tell me over the phone that our Mom was dead.  My 43 year old Mom was dead.  How could that be real?  I was 12 hours away from my family.  Ryan and I quickly started to pack to head to Utah and make flight arrangements, then he drove me over to the Burtons, I needed to tell them.  Jessica opened the door and I remember telling her that my Mom had been killed in a car accident, she immediately brought us in and took me up to Mel's room, where she was down in bed.  I remember crawling onto her bed and telling her that my Mom was dead, and having her hug me and cry with us.  I also remember Ted giving me a Priesthood blessing.  After going back home and getting ready, Jess drove us to the airport at 4:00 AM.

Two weeks later when I returned home to our little apartment in Oregon- being completely physically and emotionally drained and exhausted after my Mom's funeral- I walked in to find a vase of beautiful fresh flowers, a beautiful and comforting print hung on my wall and cards from Mel, Jess, Jasmine and Janessa.  The girls had also made cookies for Ryan when we had gotten home.  (He had to return after the funeral to get back to school and I had stayed for another week to be with my siblings.)

Over the next year, Mel carried me through what was the most difficult year of my life. She was there for me everyday.  The Burtons took Ryan and me in and treated us like part of their family.  We had Sunday dinners with them, we hung out with them on Halloween, we spent Thanksgiving with them, they invited us to go with with them to cut down a fresh Christmas tree.  Any time I just needed to cry, (which was a LOT) Mel insisted I didn't need to do it alone, I spent many hours crying on her couch and on her shoulder.  She was always doing something to lift me up- a hand written card telling me they loved me, a little treat or gift, she even took me shopping one day as a pick me up and took me to GAP and bought me a new outfit.  She shared in my excitement when I found out I was pregnant and was constantly checking on me through my whole pregnancy.  And of course she was there, visiting me at the hospital the day Pierson was born.

Also while we were there, they adopted another sweet daughter into their family, 9 year old Jennalise came to them from Russia.  It was amazing to see them go through this experience!  We were blessed to be in the Portland Temple with them the day thy had Jennalise and Jamie sealed to them.  By the time we were moving away they were in process of adopting 2 more boys from Russia.  Yes that would make 9 children.

We moved from Oregon back to Utah when Pierson was only 2 weeks old.  On our moving day Mel was there, doing the last bit of cleaning that needed to be done, bringing me lunch and spending the last few hours we were there with me.  As if she didn't have a million other things that needed to be done all the time, but she was there for me.  I remember taking some pictures as we got ready to leave and she stayed there until we were literally pulling away, waving good-bye.

Our time together living in Oregon was short, just about a year and a half, but it was such a crucial time in my life.  Getting married, my Mom dying and having my first baby in one year was a lot.  If was life changing to say the least.  It was by far the hardest time of my life and Melody and her sweet family got me through it.  They loved us, supported us and shared in our sorrow and in our joy.  I will be forever grateful to this special family and especially to Mel.  She is a true friend.  More than a friend, we became her family.

Since we've been away (81/2 years!) They have added 4 more children to their family. Little Jillian came shortly after we moved away and over the next few years came Jeremiah, Jallidia, and Jayla from Etheopia.  13 children are blessed to call Ted and Mel, Mom and Dad!  The last few years Mel's health has gotten severely worse.  She can no longer go up the stairs, she is in bed almost all of the time and she now has to use a wheel chair when she can even manage to get our of bed.  She lives in constant physical pain.  She has also lost her dear mother and last year they lost one of their beautiful daughters, 15 year old Jalidia.  My heart has ached for her in these sad times and I have wished so much that I could be there for her!

So, this fantastic family is why we took a trip to the great Northwest...