I buzzed Max's hair a few days ago. His lack of hair reminds me of when he was a baby and he had cheeks so big that we called them jowls.

Mini Mission Reunion

Last night we got to host a little reunion from Jeff's mission. Jeff and his mission companion, Steve (who after their missions became Jeff's roommate), baptized the Rojas family 14 years ago while they were serving in the Tacoma, Washington mission. Today their youngest daughter, Victoria, is going into the MTC. We were so excited to get a chance to see most of the family and to get a chance to see Steve and his family as well.

We had fajitas with Jeff's yummy beans. In fact Jeff really was in charge of this meal and it was delicious. Homemade refried beans, fajita meat, and guacamole all made by Jeff. We had two more people than I was expecting and I was so impressed that we were able to fit 15 people into our kitchen for dinner. We always love it when we get to see the Rojas family. Even though most of the conversation is in Spanish I still feel so welcome and loved.

Jeff and Steve got to spend a few hours talking with our guests while Amy and I took care of the five little ones. I really enjoyed getting a chance to talk to Amy since I've only met her once or twice but feel like I've got to know her so well through blogging. The kids played great together. They jumped on the trampoline, Blake climbed some trees, and they played in Max's room. Max and Alison had a lot of fun playing with the toy kitchen and were so cute "cooking" for each other. Ali would remind Max they needed to say a pray and Max would pour her some "chocolate". It was so fun to see them all having such a great time together.

We had so much fun and can't wait until the next time we get to see everyone!

Jeff and Steve with the Rojas family.

Cruz, Jeff, Rogellio, Steve

Victoria, Veronica, Soccoro, Miguel

Cruz's daughter Vanessa

The Palmer family.

Alison, Steve, Blake, Amy, and Tyler

The Smell of Sweet Success

I felt like the little red hen today. Not only did I make this beautiful loaf of whole wheat bread, I ground the wheat by hand first. It took a long time. I think we might need to invest in an electric wheat grinder. Still, I was so proud of my beautiful, yummy loaves of bread. Now I'm just wondering if I'll really be able to make enough to satisfy Jeff's love of bread.

(I tried several recipes in my quest for homemade whole wheat bread but my favorite was from this blog. She even has a video on making bread that is really helpful in case any of you are interested.)

POST EDIT:
Apparently I am making myself appear more homemakery than I really am. Jeff says I need to post more about all my failed attempts. In the interest of not having a long post I failed to mention that this is at least my 10th attempt at homemade wheat bread in the past two months. Most of my other attempts were dense and crumbly or doughy in the center. I was almost to the point of giving up on ever making a decent loaf of bread. The only reason I ground my wheat is because I had no wheat flour in the house, had no money left in the budget to go out and buy wheat flour, I wanted to try out the wheat grinder Jeff's parents gave us for our birthdays and I have heard how wonderful white wheat is vs. red wheat and wanted to try that out as well. I certainly don't spend my days out in the field shucking wheat and then come home and sew my entire family matching outfits for Sunday the next day. Sorry to disillusion you Shannan! ;)

Easter Sunday

We had such a great Easter. The kids came downstairs first thing to find their Easter baskets. Max just wanted to play with his Hot Wheel's cars that he got, but Emily immediately shoved some jelly beans in her mouth and proceeded to find three eggs before Max even realized that the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs all over the house. I had one of those moments were I felt like my mother when one of the eggs wasn't found and I couldn't remember where it was. I guess we'll find it some time. Jeff wondered if it made me feel like my mother because I couldn't remember where it was hidden or because I couldn't seem to stop trying to find it for the next 30 minutes. To be honest, I'm not sure.

The kids got new Easter clothes. I made Emily's dress but not Max's clothes, which I kind of feel a little guilty about. I had prepared myself for Max to have a hard time putting on new church clothes, but that went over fine until we got to the new shoes. What followed was 15 minutes of screaming as we tried to get Max's shoes on. I ended up taking pictures of Emily in her dress while Jeff, who is the calm one, managed to get Max's shoes on. (They ended up coming off in nursery after all that work.) Because of the shoe debacle I got one lone picture of Max in his new clothes before we had to rush out the door to church. I was singing in the ward choir and was excited to sing the beautiful cantata we have been working on for the last few months. Our last song always makes me cry and I was trying the whole time to keep it together so that I could sing. I love songs about the Savior, especially on Easter and Christmas. What a great time of year Easter is!

After church we headed up to Jeff's parents for Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kids. I always love going to Jeff's parents. Their house just feels so comfortable and Jeff's family is just the nicest family I've ever met. I am so blessed with my in laws and the kids LOVE going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The Hunt Begins

We started out our Easter weekend by heading down to Grandma Sharon's Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning. (That was a lot of capitalized words in a row!) It's funny to me how Max is just getting into holidays this year but Emily picked up the concept of the Easter egg hunt almost right away! The eggs were hidden on a little hill so Emily fell down as often as she found an egg. After the egg hunt we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch and to play some games. Jeff actually didn't come with us since it was the last day he could use his season ski pass he got from my mom. He had a great day skiing and has really enjoyed getting to ski so much this year. (Thanks, Mom!)

After Emily went to bed, Max and I decorated Easter eggs together. This was a first for Max. My mom always went crazy with the amount of Easter eggs we would boil and color and I have a lot of fun memories decorating Easter eggs with my siblings. I showed Max how he could color on the eggs with crayons before you dye them which resulted in every egg getting a quick squigle on it before it was allowed to get colored. It was fun to watch him get so excited about dyeing Easter eggs.

As if we didn't have enough going on, we decided to make a bunch of freezer jam. I didn't make quite enough to last us through the winter last year and our local grocery store was having a sale on flats of strawberries. We're so excited to have freezer jam again! (YUM!)

Mini Mom in Training

My little copy cat loves wearing my old apron while I cook dinner. I love watching her toddle around the kitchen playing with the oven mitts and hot pads. Goosey Girl, you are just too cute!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Jeff!

Jeff had a birthday on Monday and I have been a big slacker about getting it posted. We celebrated with homemade pizza and chocolate cake and just had a nice quiet evening at home. When I asked Max if he thought Daddy would like his birthday cake he told me, "I think Max will like the birthday cake!"

For Jeff's birthday I made him a new bag for his church stuff since his old one is falling apart. I designed it myself and am really happy with how it turned out.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is not only my best friend and favorite person to talk to, but helps me out so much with the kids and the house! Happy Birthday, Jeff!