Easter 2016

Easter is the one day of the year that I make sure all the kids are looking spiffy and are ready 15 minutes early so I can get a picture.  Well, I guess I do that on Mother's and Father's Day too.  Anyway, this year was no different, except that after about 20 pictures I still didn't have a good one...somedays the kids are just not cooperating, namely Adeline...but the older ones were being stinkers too.

Most of the pictures turned out like this:

This one is the closest we got, they still are beautiful children, even though they don't listen to their mother when she tells them to smile "for real!  No fake smiles!"  haha, Oh well, there are worse things.

The girls got two new Easter dresses (actually 3...) so the week before I decided to take pictures too, just in case the ones on actual Easter didn't turn out.  I got some cute ones that day.  I sure love these children, and I have to say, they are the most beautiful children I have ever seen.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Durtschi's house for their Easter egg hunt.  The kids had fun searching all through the fields and machinery for the eggs.  

After the kids found their eggs, they were given a big basket of eggs to hide for the adults.  It was so fun!  I love looking for eggs, some things never change.

Our primary also did an easter egg hunt which was so fun.  The kids loved searching for eggs together!  This is Eloise and Jordan.

Dad and Adeline, she picked up approximately 2 eggs and then proceeded to enjoy candy, I believe that that is a guarantee in life.  No child, under age 3, can wait until the end to eat their candy.  They forfeit the chance to get 20 X more candy to sit and eat the jelly bean right away.  I think I see a gospel parallel here.

 Teagan and his best buddies had a blast as well.  Eli Heath, Zachary Nielson, Teagan, Mason Murdoch.

Easter is such a great time of year.  The warm weather and family gatherings and reminders of Jesus Christ's love for us make it a wonderful time of year.

Big 30!

I had the most wonderful, magical 30th birthday ever.  There are exactly 0 pictures of the whole week, but I'm telling you, it was the best.  Zac went above and beyond to make me feel special and loved.  I feel so lucky to have him.

First of all, Zac came out with a pile of presents on Monday (my birthday was Friday) and told me that this year we would be celebrating birthday week.  Each morning I was able to open a new present until my actual birthday.  This alone was enough to make me giddy, I love a good celebration week.  

On my actual birthday I had the best present, a scavenger hunt!  I absolutely love treasure hunts and Zac knew I would love it.  It took me all over Shelley and each clue came with a caramel cadbury egg.   My buddy, Courtney, took the day off work to save me from babysitting on my birthday and to have fun with me so her and Jordan came along for the fun.  The treasure hunt took me all morning and into the afternoon.  I seriously loved every second.  

Halfway through the day my mom and Grandma Packer came with a beautiful bouquet of balloons and the game "are you smarter than a 5th grader."  We laughed and laughed and it was so fun to play. I loved having visitors!

After this experience I have determined that my love language is quality time.  Never have I felt more loved by Zac than while I did that because I knew that he had put so much time into it for me and I knew he was excited for me to be able to do it.  I didn't even care what was at the end (people kept asking me what the jackpot prize was, were they expecting a car?  I have no idea, but I would have been fine with no prize, the hunt was the part I loved.) Just in case you're curious, it ended at the bakery at Broulims and I got an amazing slice of carrot cake.  

Zac is one of those guys that doesn't need hints and directions for how to buy me a present or celebrate my birthday.  He just comes up with it all on his own.  I actually told him to not worry about a present (I spent a bunch on myself in Vegas).  He is a one of a kind man!

The next day we rented out the paramount and invited our family and friends to come watch Kung fu Panda with us.  Then we were able to go out to eat at Cafe Rio.  

I can say that this year was definitely the best birthday ever.  Zac completely out did himself and I loved it!

As for being 30, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be 30!  I feel like this is going to be the best decade of my life.  All my kids will still be at home, this will be my prime.  I hope the decade passes slowly because I know it will be my best one, (as long as my kids stay just as sweet and adorable as teenagers).

Here is a selfie, Melissa Ann Daniels, age 30.

Visiting the Hargraves

A family in our ward, the Hargraves invited our whole family over Sunday afternoon when Zac wanted to go home teaching.  We had an excellent message from Zac and then headed outside to see the cutest little baby goats.  Adeline was completely taken with them and kept trying to kiss them.

They also have a huge llama that Teagan and Eloise got to ride.  It was so so fun.

After the petting zoo we had fun tossing a football and playing on the trampoline.  Jennifer got up there with Teagan and taught him how to do a backflip!  He learned so quickly, I am seriously amazed at his athleticism.  Teagan had a blast playing catch with all those older kids too.  They have five kids, the youngest is 10 and oldest about 21.

Teagan said after, "it was nice to play catch with people who can actually catch and throw, even if she is a girl."  haha That made me laugh.  Thanks for such a fun afternoon go to the Hargraves family.

Cub Scouts

Teagan is absolutely loving cub scouts.  We are having fun planting seeds and doing exercise and building things to pass off all the requirements.  

For one pack meeting he chose me to go with him and we made something out of recycled materials. I'm not trying to brag, but our creation was definitely the coolest one there!  It was all Teagan's idea.  It is a hot air balloon.  Then there are two stick people, me inside the basket and teagan was hanging by a rope.  He could put is guy on top, in the basket or hanging down for dear life.  I had so much fun having a special little night with Teagan, he really is a remarkable young man.  He has awesome ideas and a zest for life.  He also has endless energy.

Viva Las Vegas!

We had the chance to go on a trip with the Daniels adults to Las Vegas to watch the basketball tournament. It was really fun! 

We stopped at about 11:00 PM at the Virgin River to eat their food. I thought that the whole time everyone was joking about stopping. But I forgot that the Daniels family does not joke about food!

We got taken out to eat at the Belagio by our good friend Matt, a former BYU basketball player who works with Kurt. The food was so yummy, especially the desert!

The Belagio gardens were so beautiful!

Friday night everyone decided to go to the Cirque du Soleil show. Zack and I opted to go to the movies and watch Eddie the Eagle instead. It was so good! We had a really fun time.

The highlight was definitely watching the basketball games! We had amazing seats for both games. The second game we noticed that the front row was empty so we went ahead and just sat there. I loved watching up that close!

I don't know about this picture, i'd like it more if it was Cosmo. Ha ha

Front row seats!

We realized that we were on the TV quite frequently on the front row, so we called grandma and grandpa Durtschi and ask them to turn on the TV. All the kids gathered around and watched us on TV. Anytime someone was shooting a free-throw on our side of the court we started waving and being silly so that they could see. I don't know if they ever did though.

Thank you to Kurt and Shelly for taking this on such an awesome and fun trip! We really had such a fun time, it was so nice to have a break from the normal day to day stuff.

Thank you to my Dad and Beth for taking care of the kids for three straight days! That was such a huge sacrifice and we appreciate it so much! This trip could not have happened without your willingness to watch the kids!  They had such a great time!

Happy 4th Birthday Eloise!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest four-year-old girl!  Eloise has been looking forward to her birthday and was so excited to be able to celebrate with her friends and family.  

We were in charge of joy school that week so we had a mini party with her friends.  The girls loved playing dress up and have a tea party.  In the picture we have Hazel Albertson in the back and then Miley Newell, Jordan Heath, Eloise, and Kya Phelps with Addy in the front with her back to us.

 We also got to have cupcakes which was a huge hit!  The kids all thought the whole things was great.

On her actual birthday, Eloise wanted to have all the cousins over.  She had so much fun getting gum and lip gloss and a new baby and bed and a puppy that walked!  She was playing with cousins all afternoon and evening and I somehow didn't get a picture the entire night.  I somehow missed getting a picture of her cake, another pink shark one.  Eloise was in dreamland all day and ate up all the attention and happiness.

Eloise is a very sweet, methodical, informative little girl.  She loves to sing and dance and doesn't mind if she has an audience.  She is a little nurturer and is always keeping an eye on Adeline.  She is quick to inform someone if anything seems amiss.  Eloise loves to color and I don't think she knows how to color without singing her little heart out.  She loves to wear dresses and play house.  She just learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels and is starting to learn her ABCs.  Her prayers are the sweetest, some of my favorite lines have been, "thank you for not making me hit my sister," and "please bless that we won't have any bad dreams,"  and "please bless mom won't be mad and have bad dreams."  She has just started finishing her prayers the way the rest of us do, but for the longest time she would end them, "in the Christ of Jesus amen."  We are so lucky to have her sweet self in our home.

We did a survey with her:
Age: 4
Favorite Color: Purple, red, and pink
Favorite Toy: New white puppy that walks
Favorite food: Oatmeal
Favorite snack: dry cereal
Favorite TV show: Cat in the Hat
Favorite Movie: Matilda (this is true!  She watches it ALL the time)
Favorite animal: Baby Elsa
Best Friend: Jordan Heath, Hazel Albertson, Boston Davis and Calissa Alberston
Favorite thing to do outside: When I jump on the trampoline and that funny boy in the red shirt acts like a butterfly when I say be a girl.  (??? I have no idea on that one)
Favorite Drink: Pop
What makes you happy: When you guys are happy
What makes you sad: When you guys are mad
What do you love about Mommy: When you sing with your voice
What do you love about Daddy: When he always throws me up in the air and he holds my toes and I walk on my hands and so he drags me to my room.  (all said through a lot of giggling).
What do you love about Teagan: I love him and I want to kiss him
What do you love about Adeline: When she plays with me
What do you love about you: I love to sing and I ride my bike
What do you want to be when you grow up: A doctor and a mom and dad

There you have it, my sweet little Ellie Anne.

Doctor

One day Zac and I were pooped, who am I kidding, that happens every day.  But on this day we had the genius idea to have the kids play doctor and pretend we were the sick patients.  Eloise tried to be loving and make us more comfortable.  Constantly checking my heart and temperature.  Teagan was her evil sidekick nurse and took a different approach.  He gave shots, a LOT of shots and removed a lot of limbs.  It was hilarious.  Eloise was trying to fix everything he was messing up and Teagan was loving it.  That was probably partly because Zac and I were giving such great reactions to his treatments.  haha  It ended up being a really fun night.  The kids especially loved it when Zac took a turn as Doctor, his style was similar to Teagans.  

I love my family, I love that we have fun together, I love that our kids have such fun, distinct personalities.  We were meant to be together!