Today I am...

... thankful for the telephone, email, and Skype to keep in touch with family and friends who live far away.

... taking Carter to his first Soccer practice. This kid has more going on than I do these days.

... admiring Hayley's hair. I put curlers in it this morning and now she has perfect little ringlets, and looks like Shirley Temple.

... making nanaimo bars for Jared, his favorite.

...welcoming the rain, only because it gives me a little break from my horrible springtime allergies.

... remembering a good quote I heard: "You shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back". -Maya Angelou

... looking forward to camping this summer.

... wishing the best husband and father a very happy birthday. Happy Birthday Jared!

New and Happening

It's springtime, and it's muddy here, but apparently that's what we like!

We also like forcing our clean-freak children to like getting dirty.

And yes. I make Jared change in the garage.

This kid can finally ride a two-wheeler! We went to practice at the church gym, and his Dad had his training wheels off and Carter was riding around perfectly before I could even get the classic Dad-running-behind-wobbly-kid-on-bike picture. I'd say he was ready.

So...we got a boat. We actually didn't set out to get a boat, funny story: We were looking for a utility trailer for our quads and found someone selling a trailer that we wanted...with a boat on top. Two for the price of one! And we are definitely having more fun with the boat than the trailer. We took the kids to Tie Lake last weekend and went fishing. We are having gorgeous weather lately, and getting sunburns in April!

We went out and got firewood recently too. I love where we live. Except for the bears. They're waking up now, it's unnerving. If you ask Jared though, that's his most favorite part about where we live.

Carter had his Kindergarten Easter Performance. He was a bird. They sang songs. It was cute.

My baby girl started Soccer today. Was Carter actually this little back when he started Soccer? She seems so much younger out there.

This week we also start T-Ball, which will be really fun. And somehow I got suckered into helping coach again this year. What can I say, I'm a people pleaser.

Coming up: rodeo, birthdays, yard work, barbeques, and more dirt. Spring? Love it.

Oh wow...

We are having some work done around our house. The contractor we hired is a little, well, different. A weird hybrid of Bob the Builder and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. So just for you my fellow bloggers, the debut of "Bubbles the Builder":

Pillow Balancing

*I was trying to upload these videos last night along with my Easter Weekend post, but it was taking way too long. Hopefully they work...*

On Saturday night, we all got a little silly and giggly and had some friendly "pillow-balancing" competitions. And... as a disclaimer, this may be one of those "you had to be there" type things.

See? I told you it's fun being a Whidden!

Easter Weekend

This past weekend, we traveled to southern Alberta for Jared's brother's wedding (the third Whidden wedding in under 2 years). Unfortunately, not all of the Whiddens could make it, but it was great to have about 2/3 of us all together.

not sure what Carter is doing here...

the Utah Whidden kids

the siblings (minus Gina) with the happy couple

all the Whidden brothers

Cooper and Carter posing

Seth and Kim's first dance

We were fortunate enough to be invited to stay at my sister-in-law's family's house in Coaldale for the weekend - yes, all of us! We had a family barbeque and did an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in the backyard. We made them line up, and sent them outside from youngest to oldest.

Hayley and Bauer's turn

Carter and Alivia

Some of the "men" (I use the term loosely, heehee) were jumping on the trampoline while the kids were doing the egg hunt. One thing I love about the Whiddens is no matter how much older they get, they still do the same things together for fun. Like holding hands while trying to double-bounce each other :)

Kessler

Hayley, Alli, and Alivia with their loot