Easter

Easter was a little busy this year. We started the morning up in Austin, on Lake Travis, more on that later. We headed back home around noon, and had just enough time after we got back to bake a cake, change our clothes, and unpack the car.

We headed over to the Grandparents house, had a delish dinner, played with our cousins, and headed outside for lots of pictures and an easter egg hunt, always the favorite for the kids.


Halli asked us to hide some harder for her this year, so she bypassed all the easy eggs, and in the end was a little disappointed that she didn't get as many as the other kids. Oh well, she was fine with it eventually and that's life, right?


Peyton and Lexie did a great job during the easter egg hunt, and I'm suprised that Lexie is as into it as she is. Of course, she knows there is candy in the eggs, so I suppose that's why.

So, lots of photos ahead, although I did try to condense some of them so there weren't so many, but there's still quite a few. Enjoy!

All 10 grandkids, minus baby Colt who was inside asleep.

Sweet Lexie, getting into the hunt!

Peyton had this egg in her basket, and after opening it, brought it to me and told me it wasn't candy. I said sorry, and she threw it on the ground. Some of the other girls walked by it and no one would pick it up cause it wasn't candy inside. Funny Kids!

Sweet Peyton, Love this photos, not really the tongue, but she's cute anyways!
Gotta love this girl!

She doesn't like to pose for pictures anymore, but she's still beautiful!

lovely Halli

Love this girl!

All of our beautiful daughters, kinda happy after the easter egg hunt. Lexie REALLY wanted to eat her candy, so she wasn't too happy to sit there, but she did good anyways. We had a wonderful easter, and loved spending the day with our family.

Little Bookworm

I know Halli is a great reader, and I know that she REALLY loves to read, but I guess I just didn't realize how good at it she was getting. A few moms in my ward, and old ward, have daughters around the same age, and one of them suggested we do a mommy/daughter book club.

Our most recent meeting was last saturday and we were supposed to have read 'The Boxcar Children', I was a little behind and hadn't gotten the book, and Kevin was going to be gone all day with the Young Men, so I wasn't planning on going. Well, Nicole convinced me to come anyway, and she had the book I could borrow. Only problem was, we didn't get the book till 7pm on friday night, and the meeting was at noon the next day.

Well, Halli is one amazing little girl, and she read her little heart out that night. Apparently she kept waking up throughout the night to read, at least that's what she says. She finished the book right after we got to Nicole's house the next day. I couldn't believe that she actually finished it, but boy am I proud of that little bookworm!

I LOVED to read too, and still do when I have the time, so it is a wonderful thing to see this same love instilled in her, and I hope the other girls get it too. There is just something about being lost in a good book, I hope she continues to love it and keeps on reading!



I guess I should have known early on that she REALLY loved to read, here she is, no more than 18 months old, and she loved her books way back then too! Yes, we put her chair in the crib, with her stuffed dog, and all her books. I have no idea why we did that, but apparently she loved it so who cares!

I just love you Halli and I LOVE being able to watch you learn and grow into your own amazing little person. You're awesome!

Fun Run

Today me and the little girlies were able to head over to the elementary school to watch Halli do her 'fun run' for school. They got to run around their little track for 20 minutes doing little obstacle courses along the way.

It's really not too big of a deal, but any excuse we can get to visit her up at the school, we'll take! My friend Nicole got these pictures of Halli for me, cause I didn't take my camera. Thanks Nicole!

I decided that Halli is really a sprinter at heart, takes after her mom. She would run her little heart out as fast as she could for the straight-a-way, then she'd need to walk around the curve, and then she'd take off again as fast as she could.

She is one amazing girl, we'll have to see if she really will take after me and go the track route, it would be fun if she did! Although, at this point I think Kevin's got her brainwashed.:)

An Enduring Legacy

When our new ward at church was created, I was released from the primary and called as the 'Relief Society Meeting Coordinator', which is the new way of saying the enrichment leader. Our first meeting that we got to put together as a commitee was the big RS birthday celebration.

Thanks to the amazing women on the committee, and a few late nights before the event, (cause I'm a major procrastinator), we had an amazing night. The program was awesome, and really dealt with the history of the relief society, where it all started, and how as an organization of women we are strong, and able to do what we are asked and commanded to do.

We based the evening off the talk "The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society", by Elder Eyring. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read it and get a renewed sense of the purpose of Relief Society and the impact that we are able to have on those around us. It really leaves you with a feeling, "GO WOMEN!", this is an amazing organization and we are so blessed to be a part of it.

One of the women on the committee edited Elder Eyrings talk a little, added some music and some beautiful images, and made a little video we watched for part of the program and the spirit in the room during that presentation was so strong. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of how that night came together. Although, don't get me wrong, I got to deal with the more "shallow" aspect of decorating the room, which I loved, but it would have been nothing without the program.

I didn't really take too many pictures of the room that night, but here are a couple that I did take.

The centerpieces. I wanted something classy, that didn't look cheap, but was. Thank goodness for the women who loaned me all their Kleenex boxes so I'd have something to wrap for the tables.

I also put together a little dessert table, to compliment our DELICIOUS cake that was made by another sister on the committee. It really was so good! But I made these bags to go with the theme of the evening, so people would hopefully eat/take home all the dessert so I wouldn't be left with any.

This is the view of the whole room. It really looked wonderful, thanks in huge part to my mom who shipped all those beautiful table clothes to me. I had quite a few women tell me that I could rent them out for weddings....hmm, just might take them up on that. You don't need them back any time soon, do ya mom?

Also, I took the pictures before it was all said and done cause we had women bring china for the tables and it looked amazing with all the tables set and there was some really beautiful china! I don't have any, but it made me want to get some.

I had a wonderful, and exhausting evening. I really loved being a part of it, but at the same time I'm very grateful that all the meetings won't be dinners. It's a whole lotta work!

Scattern Sunshine

Here is my latest digital scrapbook kit. I'm SO excited spring is here, this winter has been too long and cold. Yes, I'm a wimp, but that's what living in Houston will do to ya!:) Check it out at Taffy Apple Designs, and you can download for free!

Small happenings in our home

We haven't been all that busy here lately, but there are a few fun things that have been going on that I've missed.

-After living in Houston for 5 years, I finally went to the Houston Rodeo. We got to see the bucking broncos, barrel racing, mutton bustin' (where the kids 5-6 years old ride the sheep as long as they can), that one was fun to watch. Kevin gave in and bought the girls some stick horses to ride around the house, and we got to see rascal flatts! I forgot the camera, so no pictures, which really stinks, cause our seats were pretty dang good!

-Kevin spent the weekend up in Austin with his brother and parents. Hopefully work will be done soon on the lakehouse and we'll be able to get up there and enjoy it! I still haven't seen it yet, but he says it's coming along.

-While he was gone the Monsons entertained me and the girls pretty well! We went out to dinner on friday, and then saturday we headed to the park to enjoy the AMAZING weather! We fished with Nonna & Pops (Blake's grandparents), got to see a parrot, and pet it! We also played on the playground and rode bikes around. The girls had a BLAST, and slept very well that night.

-Halli lost her snaggle tooth, YEAH! It was an accident when she bumped her tooth on the slide here at home, but we were SO excited that it finally came out!

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-Halli had her first sleepover last night, and had a blast. She was excited all week to get to go, and as expected, she was the first one to fall asleep. That girl can't stay awake late at all, no matter how hard she tries. Whenever there's a group of kids together and it's late, it's almost a guarantee that she'll the be the first one out for the night.

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-We celebrated all the march birthdays in the Williams family last night. There are 7, in one month. That's what happens when there are two sets of twins born the same month. It was fun to get together with the whole family though, and who doesn't love a gathering that ends in singing and cake!

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-I've replaced Lexie's bows and redone her hair at least 10 times today alone. Seriously, every time we get in the car that's the first thing she does is rip her bows out. It's exhausting.

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-Peyton is the best at playing with my hair and rubbing my back for me. She's the only one that will do it, and I LOVE it. She knows the way to her mommy's heart for sure!

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-I had to go to the dentist, it was awful, and it's not over yet, I still get to go back. Yes, my teeth are horrible, but it doesn't help when you haven't been to the dentist in a couple years. I'm really good at making sure the kids are healthy and have their doctors and dentist appointments on time, for me, not so much.

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-The baby is moving tons, hopefully this doesn't mean he's going to be too active of a baby.

Kevin and I can't agree on names, at all. Any ideas? Feel free to let us know, we kinda like one name, but he really only likes the nickname, not the name itself.

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-I spent today going through the girls clothes and switching out their winter to summer clothes, I'm SO excited to be able to get rid of the baby clothes that don't fit Lexie anymore. Those bins are starting to add up, and I do NOT love going through them every time a new season comes around.

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-Last but not least, tomorrow night we're going to take all the girls to their first NBA game, should be fun, hopefully!

Family Photos {Gruwell Family}

Such a fun family to take pictures of! Their girls were so dang cute, especially the littlest one, until I tripped over her and made her fall and start crying, so sorry for that, I can be a little clumsy. :) Check out a preview of some of their pictures at photos by April!