Darci's Birthday was on a Saturday this year. I asked her what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to have a party at Grandma and Grandpa's and eat hotdogs and cake (apparently she really had a good Birthday last year, that's exactly what we did then too!). Here are some pictures, in no particular order.

Jarret LOVES Strawberries (you will see more on that in the next post)!

Darci got to pick out her cake this year! She was SOO excited about her choice, she told the lady at the checkout at Safeway (as she bounced up and down) that she got a PRINCESS cake!

For whatever reason, Randy thinks it's funny to give Darci his frosting, he is not a fan of frosting, especially a lot, so I gave him the corner piece with the most frosting, I should've known he would give it to Darci....

...she wasn't super excited about it. ;)

 

The kids, ready for prayer

 "I this many" or "I three!"

Blowing out her candles

Happy 3rd Birthday Darci

Today Darci turns 3! This morning our conversation went something like this:

Me: ...yay Darci, now you are 3!
Darci: no, I not 3, I 2.
Me: Darci today is your Birthday, now you are 3!
Darci: NO, I not 3 yet, I almost 3! I still 2!
me: ok... when will you be 3? 
Darci: after I eat my Dinner!

She cracks me up! I can't believe my little girl is 3! The time sure does fly. Here are some questions I asked her for her Birthday! (I got this idea from my sister-in-law. It's a cute, fun thing to do every year on their Birthday and see how things change):

1. What is your favorite color? purple

2. What is your favorite toy? My jeep

3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas

4. What is your favorite T.V. show? Mickey Mouse

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni and Cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? My new suits (not sure what she is talking about)

7. What is your favorite game? Princess game (the matching game)

8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? rabbits

10. What is your favorite song? Popcorn popping

11. What is your favorite book? Bears in the night

12. Who is your best friend? Wyatt and Easton

13. What is your favorite cereal? Cereals (?)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? sing

15. What is your favorite drink? Water, at night

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Easter

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? All my animal friends

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? oatmeal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hot dogs

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy

I was surprised at how well she answered these questions, I was expecting it to be difficult for her to cooperate, but she sat next to me and we went through all of them and she answerd quickly and new exactly what I was talking about, except the last one, she didn't quite get it, so I said "what do you want to be when you get big like Mommy?" So of course her answer was "a mommy!"
We are so excited to celebrate her Birthday today, we started yesterday by taking her to Toys r us (after her dentist appointment) to pick out a toy with some of her Birthday money, she picked out a new puzzle and a mini magna-doodle. And then we went to McDonald's and got to eat inside, her choice and she chose which McDonald's we went to. Silly girl. I pulled into the McDonald's by toys r us, and she said, "No, not this one, the one by Wyatt's house!" (is it sad that she knows just where McDonald's is? I really don't go there THAT much ;)

This picture was taken last week, we went to a children's rodeo in St Paul (she picked out her outfit) and then we stopped at the Woodburn outlet Mall to exchange some clothes. They had this tree made from a ton of flowers, she LOVED it.

 The day after my brother's wedding was Easter. Normally we would have taken a low key/ relaxed day. But since it was Easter it turned into another busy day, a bit low key for Easter, but....
  We got up and got ready for church, luckily it wasn't til 10:30. Then we headed over to my parent's house for Easter festivities, which consisted of roasting hot dogs at the fire pit (with lots of bugs), and then an Easter egg hunt for the kids, which was a bunch of empty eggs, which they didn't seem to care one bit that there wasn't anything in them. And then my nephews birthdays were the week before so we celebrated with leftover wedding cake (they got their own cupcakes that their mom made) and presents.

Before church I made sure to get some pics of Darci and Jarret in their church clothes, we got Darci a dress, more a "Spring dress" rather than an "Easter dress", she had already worn it multiple times, and I didn't get anything for Jarret, his outfit was a Christmas present! ;)

 Easter pictures on our bedroom floor ;)

The kids patiently waiting for their Easter egg hunt

Racing to get that egg

Her legs couldn't keep up and she fell

She stepped in the water trying to get that one

Happy kids and their Easter baskets

 

Yay! Easter!

Singing Happy Birthday to Easton and Wyatt

We had a fun day! And after that busy weekend, Darci was SOO tired, she fell asleep on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, before we were even half way, and we only live 2 miles away ;)

Cory and Cheryl

 Last Saturday, April 7th, My baby brother got married. They were sealed in the Portland Oregon Temple for Time and All Eternity. It was such a great day, Also the only nice day (not raining) all week! They are so happy, and we are all so excited to have Cheryl join our family!

Introducing Mr and Mrs Bird!

Soo Pretty! Love her dress! 

It was in the morning and a bit cold, Darci was a little clingy and just wanted to be held the whole time. Other than that, both Kids were amazing the whole day, hardly a fuss out of either one! :)

Kids running around at the reception. They pretty much did this the whole time.

 ....Even during the Bride and Groom's first dance!

Daddy dancing with his little girl!

 

The Bride with the cutest little boy!

Congrats Cory and Cheryl!

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen Visit

 Apparently I didn't take as many pictures of the week as I thought that I did. Either that, or they got deleted. The rest of the week we pretty much just stayed around the house. Merrill and Eric went out and did some things the couple days that Merrill had off. And Saturday while Don was here, the boys went to the air museum and to Priesthood session of General Conference. And the Girls, including my mom and future sisters-in-law went out to dinner.
 I introduced Susan to Pinterest and showed her the many awesome recipes I have collected. I made a few of them for dinner during the week, and we picked out 3 desserts and made them, 2 of which we took to my families house for a big get together to watch conference, they were YUMMY!

Darci picked Uncle Eric to read her bedtime stories. She picked him over Mommy and Grandma. She had fun with her Uncle Eric.

 Eating the Marshmallow cream from the measuring cup

Of course it got everywhere

While they were here, Jarret learned to push himself up to sitting position. He doesn't crawl yet, and wasn't to sturdy sitting up on his own, but he learned quickly how to sit up on his own.
This is him getting into sitting position

Grandma with her Grandkids

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen Day 2

 The 2nd day, which was raining all day, we went to Pietro's Pizza. It's a big Pizza place with an arcade, mini golf and Laser Tag. We were going to play mini golf, but we decided not to, plus apparently it was black light mini golf or something like that, I don't think the kids would have liked it that much. Instead we played a few arcade games, which Darci loves! She got enough tickets to get a flashlight key chain and 2 suckers!

After pizza and arcade games, we went to the Carousel at the park (one of Darci's favorite things).

 Grandma and Jarret in the wagon on the Carousel

 

She LOVES riding the horses

 Darci and Mommy

Silly Uncle Eric

So tired after a long fun day

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen - Day 1

The last week in March, Merrill's parents and brother came to visit for spring break. Don had to work during the week, so Susan and Eric came Monday and Don came on Friday. Merrill had to work the first couple days that they were here. Luckily had I the time off. We didn't get to do too much, cause it rained the whole time :(
On Tuesday it looked like there was a few hours where it wasn't raining. I had some free passes to Enchanted Forest, so we went. It rained a tiny bit, but not bad. There wasn't many people there. Darci had a blast. It was a pretty fun day! Here are some pics:

Grandma Larsen with Jarret!

Coming out of the "rabbit hole"

Darci wasn't so sure about going in there, but we told her it was the way to the slide. ;)

Coming down the slide

Just chillin' in his stroller

The crooked house

Haha

The cutest kids ever!

The shoe slide

Darci and I racing Eric

Jarret and I racing Darci 

Darci had fun with her Uncle Eric

She loved this little train

We watched the water light show. Darci thought it was SOO cool! Jarret loved it to, He just starred at it the whole time. Such a fun day for them!