Easter Weekend

Easter weekend (long) rundown:

We started our Easter weekend with a BBQ with friends at our place. We decorated Easter eggs with our new cool method of shaving cream! it was fun! But note for next time- boil more eggs. We had a lot of fun and are blessed to have some pretty cool friends. 

Saturday was a fun busy day! We started it off right with an Easter egg hunt at our Bishop's amazing house. It was so fun. Arli got to swing on the cutest swing with her lil friend from Sunbeams. That swing is magical. I love it. 

Then we finished off our Saturday with our niece Eden's baptism. 8 is great! After her baptism we had an Easter egg hunt with all the kids. Sooo many eggs. Sooo many kids! It was so fun to watch. Arli was especially hilarious to watch. At one point she was picking these candy carrot things up and throwing them back on the ground not knowing they were candy hahah. Beck was pretty serious about the whole deal and equally entertaining to watch.  

I was just loving soaking in the moment watching my lil family. 

And these two seriously melted my heart. I die. 

And i know there's so many pics of arli.. but dang that girl is always posing! Beck.. not so much.

Easter Morning we started with our own lil egg hunt. 

Beck woke up first and we could hear him head downstairs.. The Easter bunny left a trail of carrots ya know. He came back up and was so excited to go hunt in the yard.. then he said "I wonder where our boiled eggs are going to be that he hid!" .......... Cue Tucker's response.. eyes wide.. no eye contact.. "Boiiileeed eggs...." Then he dissapeared for a few min and went to go hide those haha. It was freakin hilarious i tell you. 

We then attempted some family pictures via the tripod. But .. well ya know. The result was satisfactory.. but nothing amazing haha. We are a rough group to photograph i guess. But the kids are dang cute! and got a couple of them in their rad Easter attire.

Then we went on a bike ride.. we don't have anything for Beck to ride yet so he squeezed in with Arli and Riv. hahah it was the best. Riv was just snug as a bug between the two big kids. And he slept the entire ride. Tuck was a real stud for pulling all three of them. 

We got home just in time to head to Gma Hope's Easter dinner with my family. Which was good eats and good company. I LOVEADORElovelovelove my brothers' girlfriends. They are the best! 

Easter weekend was busy... but so fun. A great kick off to our spring! 

And now... the kids are on a continuous sugar high. 

I'm back.

Well the deed is done and we are all moved into our new place. Hallelujah! We love it!
It's bigger and better in a lot of ways. But man, I'm so glad its all done. I forget what a pain moving is. But it's also nice to purge a lot of stuff in the process.
Admist the choas I snapped these pictures of Arli and Moby in the backyard. I will seriously miss that fence.. and not just because we don't have a fence for the yard here in the new place.. but because that fence was an amazing backdrop. sigh. I didn't even have to edit my pictures. Love.
I look at those pictures and cannot get over how stunning Arli is. She is just so naturally beautiful. It's almost painful. She is such a sweet sweet girl. A bit whiny.. but sweet ;)

Things that are making me happy these days..
Watching Riv crawl.
My new couch and rug.
My walk in closet.
Beck's swooping hair.
Arli's bum crack always sneakin out.
Having my husband back during weeknights. (goodbye cna night job)
Moby.. that lil dog
Being in this new place feels refreshing.. much needed. Clean slate.

mylifeneedstoslowdown

What? i just barely made it to the computer to blog in almost a month?

Yeah.. whats done is done.

I literally have a list... (i'm a list maker) of posts that need to be blogged... sickening i tell you. 

But before I get to those, I have something much more pressing weighing on my mind. 

I've been hecka busy lately. One thing after another and it shows no signs of slowing down. 

We went to Utah this last weekend and got to escape from reality for a few days. 

It was magical. Good company, good food! And family just spoiling my lil family. It warmed my heart so. 

Then we got home Sunday and decided to look for a place. 

Monday. I found one through a ward friend. 

And Tuesday we received the call that we got the place to rent! -pause- Yayyyyyyy! 

Today we signed the lease and all that grown up stuff. 

We move in 2 weeks. Lots to do, but huge relief! 

So today I finally decided I loved my family enough to go grocery shopping. Or more like Tucker has been making a list for 3 days now... hinting. waiting.

 And so I got the deed done. I took all three kiddos at 6 in the evening. What was I thinking? Super crowded. Note. Don't go to Winco when people get off work. 

So I had two kids in the cart and one walk by me. Got lots of stares..some good- some bad. Whatev people. 

And we got all our delcious shopping done in a whopping Hour and a half! holy moses. 

And considering that, Beck and Arli did really well! I had no complaints. Rivers was an angel of course, as usual. 

So Beck and Arli each picked out a doughnut but we get home and my heart sunk when I couldn't find the bag. I totally left them at the checkout. MOMFAIL! 

Beck's heart was broken. 

The boy loooooves doughnuts. And he knew he deserved one. 

They still loved me after I let them have cereal for dinner. at 7:45 mind you. (aka bedtime) They went to bed sweet and tired. 

While I was putting Riv to sleep in their room, Alri goes out to fill her waterbottle like the miss independent she is. 

She comes back and I say goodnight. Tell her I love her. And that girl made my heart burst into a million pieces and she said Goodnight, I love you too, and blew me a nice wet kiss. Then she blew Rivers a kiss. Walked over to her bed and blew a kiss at Beck on the top bunk. Heart melting! 

I love when that girl blows kisses. Little did she know that I seriously needed one right then. 

I watched her climb into bed. That silly girl is so loving. So forgiving. 

And each night when I put them to bed I remember how lucky I am to have these sweet, beautiful, smart, just straight up good kids to call mine. 

I have to admit something I do with my kids. After the especially hard days.. ya know the ones. When my mean mom comes out.. and I am impatient and unattentive with my little ones - that night when it slows down like that.. I apologize to them. I literally tell them how sorry I am for "such and such" and tell them I promise to be better tomorrow and tell them how much I love them. 

I know they are naturally so forgiving.. but I do it to let them know that Mommy makes mistakes.. and they are still so loved. And I think it validates their feelings.

Guys, I'm nowhere near a perfect Mother. 

But I can only try to be. 

And love my kids along the way. 

and kiss-hug-tickle-tease-squeeze- them every day.

snow day

We have made good use of the snow...

I spent forever trying to figure out what songs to use... thank goodness for Rachel's and then Tucker's suggestions.. I finally finished it. It is not professional by any means.. but I totally enjoy making them.

2012 photo book

I've been working on our 2012 Family photo album for the past two weeks!! agh!
With the first couple years of our family's photos I just printed them out and stuck them in an album. But 1. that takes forever! and 2. it gets spendy.
I finally decided to try out making a photo book online. I just finished making it and will get it in the mail next week. I used lots of coupon codes so I saved over $100! They always have good deals goin on.
I had fun making it.. but I'm kind of a perfectionist and I customized every page.. so thats why it took foreverr.
here's a peek! Can't wait to get it in my hands!

Click here to view this photo book larger

 photo books. 

Tree Branch Hooks

I wanted to share this gift I made for my brother for Christmas...

We drew names for my siblings and I was out of money. Like gonezo. My bro said he wanted a coat/hat hooks. I searched pinterest and found a small branch one and got to work on my own. 

I just found the biggest broken tree branch in my alley. The one thing my alley has done me good for. 

I sawed all the pieces and stapled them together! Easy peasy!! But more importantly, completely FREE.

And it looks so cool! A one of a kind piece. It's almost so unique and earthy that its modern. Too far? Okay. 

I loved it so much I am going to make another for myself. Add that to my long list of projects ;) 

Go find some branches and make one!

Real Mom Moments caught on camera

Motherhood isn't all fun, organized, and kids dressin cute. 

Just watch this viedo and you'll understand what I'm saying. 

Background story: It's dinnertime. Tucker is at work. We've been sitting at the table for 40 minutes. Kids won't eat their dinner. Words spitting out of my mouth are repetitive. I.might.be.going.crazy. 

Good thing for sneaky videos to at least entertain me. And always remember these ..uhhh.. sweet moments.

Real Mom Moments from Michelle Botkin on Vimeo.

Notice Arli keep looking at me every time she does something... trying to see what I'm gonna do about it. and at this point.. it was do nothing or go crazy. I went with do nothing. Of course I end the video on my sweetness Riv that is small and innocent and not able to do anything. You're welcome.
p.s.  I have way too many videos of Arli "in her own world" as we like to call it. She is quite the free spirited artsy fartsy sassy pants.