Eggstra Eggstra Read All About it!

Ah, Easter how I love you.
Just when I was running out of Valentine's and Christmas candy,
you come and replenish my stash of goodies. ;)

Oh, come on now,
I know Easter isn't just about a bunny pooping Jelly Beans.
Its to celebrate the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

I am so grateful for him and his sacrifice,
so that I can be with my family again in the next life.

Cuz, my family pretty much ROCKS!

See, what did I tell you.. Isn't my family awesome?
Who wouldn't want to spend Eternity with them!

a homecoming and easter sunday

April 20th was THE day.

The day that we've been counting down to for the last 18 months.
The day Papa Jack and Grandma Gaye came home!!!

Elder and Sister Nelson, faithfully served in Dallas, Texas at the Church's employment center. They helped many people and I'm sure will be greatly missed there.

But we missed them more and are so glad they are home!!!

Estefan literally jumped out of the truck and onto Gaye.
And Jack and Gaye finally got to meet little Luke! They hit it off right away.

Four wheeler rides, visiting old friends

and lots of hugs were a must for the first day home.!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Easter Sunday Jack and Gaye reported their missions and talked about Easter.

It was a wonderful meeting. The spirit was strong and love abounded.

After Sacrament meeting we all met at their home for a luncheon (we totally missed Gaye's yummy food!!) and had family pictures.
These are not the outtakes, I only posted the good ones.. lol!

Aunt Jill made the girls' lovely Easter dresses!

The handsome grandsons and the beautiful granddaughters

We missed Jack and Gaye so much
and are glad to finally have the Nelson clan back together!!

I'm Kind of A Big Deal...

Have you guys heard of Ana White, formally "Knock of Wood"?
Well if you haven't, go check her site and then come back and finish reading this post.

She is am.az.ing.
I love to look at her galleries and dream of building things that she does.

Like this bed.

It screams "Lauren!"
Get in my room!!!

Any way.. back to the point.
As I was browsing her site, I decided to check out her about page.

Among some of her photos I see this one...

Kay... hold the phone. Let's take a closer look... yes Ana is quite the babe..
but see that logo right by her foot...
I DESIGNED IT!

Yup, little ol' me. {blushes}

I created the watermark/logo for Exposures Studio Photography last year.
And Ana had her photos taken by them!!

How cool is that?
SO FLIPPIN' COOL!!!

Ahh... feels good to see my work around the 'net.

So, if you were wondering.. yeah, I'm kind of a big deal.
You can find me a designerblogs.com.

Don't be afraid to drop my name... maybe I'll design you a little something for free. ;)

funny feet

Ah, the joys of Spring.

Licorice

and Mullberry stained feet.

An Easter post is in the works. But right now I have to scrub my kids' purple toes. ;)

Kid Quotes

Mark: Can I have some milk momma?

Allie: Be careful Mark, if you drink too much milk you're gonna turn into milk.

Me: How about he'll turn into a cow. Cow's make milk.

Mark: No, momma, cows made of hamburger.


~~~~~


Dustin: Hey, is today fast Sunday?

Me: Yeah I think it is.

Allie: On fast Sundays you don't treats.
You only get treats on slow Sundays.

Never Grow Up - 3 Months

Your little hands wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
It could stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
No, no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up

Quiet Book

If you noticed in my last post, Mark got a quiet book for his birthday.

My sister, Ashley, who is incredibly crafty started making one for her son, Ty and I had to join the fun! So together and with a lot of help from our talented mother we each made one!!

Here is the cover of Mark's!
I loooove the polka dot and cowboy material.

Up close. Cute as a button!

The book is held together with grommets and large binder rings.

Now on to the fun stuff.. the pages!!

The first page is a tool box. Made with a template from Serving Pink Lemonade.
She has so many cute felt projects, I could die!

Next is a barn, complete with finger puppets. Inspiration from Homemade by Jill.

Tractor has moving tires and loader. Inspiration from Mustard Cut.
Ashley made the gumball machine as part of her present to Mark.
I'm not sure where that idea come from.. maybe just her pretty head!

Moving rocket that blasts into space.
Held on with elastic, for stretchy fun.
Inspiration from Mustard Cut.

Next there is a cookie jar with a dozen cookies to take in and out of the pocket at the top.

Idea credit: My Mom :)
The tent has a little pocket inside for a sleeping bear.
Inspiration from Homemade by Jill.

The last two pages are more presents from Ashley. She and my mom put these together.
The caterpillar's body comes apart so you can put the numbers in order.
The robot has stretchy arms and legs. His chest opens to show a cute little heart!

This was such a fun project and enjoyed all the girl time!
Its safe to say that we are addicted to felt.
I have one for Estefan and Allie now in the works!!

How Big Cowboys Party

Last Saturday my BIG cowboy turned three!!

We decided to skip the Saturday rush at the fair and go to the hills to celebrate.

We had a picnic out at Gold Butte.

It was such an amazing day. It was like you could see forever.

After enjoying PB&Js and a bag of Cheetos (birthday boy's request),
we headed home for the family party.

But it started to snow!

And snow and snow!!!

I told Mark that Heavenly Father must really love him, to give him snow on his birthday.
He replied, "But, I don'ts even wike snow."
Nice...


For his party, Mark requested a boot cake... with spurs on it.
Thanks to my mom, we got this puppy whipped out. He was pleased.

Mark was so excited to open his presents.
He got lots of fun stuff..
some new clothes,

a play dough farm,

a quiet book made by Mama,
(post on that, coming up!)

some money,

and what.. what's this...

a BIG Sheriff Woody!!!

After opening presents, we sang Happy Birthday and Mark blew out his candles!

Love you BIG cowboy!!