Papa Andrich

Last week we took a little impromptu trip to Oregon.  Matt's Papa Andrich passed away, so we headed up there for his funeral and to spend some time with the Andrich clan.  We don't get to see them very often (it's been a couple years), so it was really nice to be able to have the whole family together.  Matt's parents were so generous and bought us flights up there.  We are so grateful to them for that!  It was our first time flying with two kids :) We were on the same flight as Chirs, Lisa, their kids, and Alex.  I'm sure it was a sight to see us walking through the airport with all our babies, luggage, car seats, and strollers.  We managed to fit all our stuff into carry-ons, but were able to check the car seats, so that was good.  When our flights were booked, somehow they would only let us book all middle seats, so yes, Sydney and Cooper were both supposed to sit by themselves, in the middle of two strangers.  Luckily, we got it all worked out, and I was able to sit with the two kids.

Flying with these two was a breeze.  They absolutely loved it.  When you ask them about the airplane, Cooper always says, "it was bumpy!"  And Sydney likes to tell that "we got to eat, have drinks, and color."  The only hard moment, was our turbulent landing, when Sydney's ears kept popping.  She wasn't a fan of that!  (funny how I was always worried about her ears as a baby, and never had a problem, but this time I didn't even think of it).  As soon as we got on the plane, Sydney found SkyMall and started checking it out... I love how she crossed her leg, and you can see her foot sticking out at the bottom...

My mom put together some little travel kits for the kids.  They loved having all the special treats!

They really loved coloring in their personalized notebooks... Aren't they so cute?  We drew so many pictures, and Sydney loved writing in it.  Get her a notebook of plain paper and crayons and she's the happiest girl on the planet.

The flight went by so quickly, and it was so fun.  The kids always keep talking about the "hairplane" (Cooper's language).  It was quite the experience for them :)

When we got off the plane, we loaded up 4 cars, and all headed up to Astoria.  It was a couple hour drive, and the kids slept the whole thing, so it was nice and enjoyable.  I'm always amazed at how thick and green the trees are there.  We were able to stay on the Leahy family farm, near Astoria.  There was no cell service or internet there.  So, it was 100% family time, which was great.  Sydney and Cooper had such a great time playing with all the adults, and with Mason.  And of course, Sydney loved taking her turn holding Landon.  They loved having so many people around, and definitely got lots of juice and candy, which they loved.

One of the days we were there, we headed over to Seaside.  I remember going there with Matt when we were engaged, so it brought back some fun memories.  A lot of the shops were closed, because it wasn't a weekend, but it was still fun.  We shopped in several different candy shops, and a toy shop.  The kids, and older girls :) rode on the carousel, and we ate some lunch at Pig-n-Pancake.  

The next day, was the funeral.  It was such a nice service.  Matt's mom spoke, and told a lot about Papa's life.  It was fun for me to learn more about him.  His funeral was held in the church that he was married in, which was really neat.  It was fun to imagine him getting married there.  We weren't able to spend a lot of time with him, but I do remember visiting him a few times.  One of those times, was when Sydney was a baby.  He held her, and did "Captain Jinks" with her.  I was able to find those pictures and am so glad we have them.  The one thing I have always known about him, is that he loved to do "Captain Jinks" with his kids and grandkids... so cute.

All the grandkids and great-grandkids

The whole Andrich clan

Matt and I were so glad that we were able to be at Papa's funeral with our children.  We are so thankful for the opportunity we had to spend time with family that we don't see often.  It was so special that we were all able to be there and spend time together!

After the funeral, we drove down to Salem, where Matt's parents live.  We spent a couple days there, before we flew home. We went to church together on Sunday, and that night a bunch of Missy and Kenin's friends came over for ice cream.  We were able to see the Moore's at that time.  It is always good to see them and their cute family.  Cooper loved playing with Grace, and Sydney had been waiting to see Lucy the whole trip.

Wrestling with Uncle Chris

Brothers 11 months apart, and cousins 11 months apart

Sydney playing with Zoe and Lucy

Cooper and Grace

We also went through a bunch of old boxes, and ended up watching the old swim team video (Chris and my senior year)... and our wedding video.  Both of them brought back a lot of fun memories.  Mason was pretty tired at that point and just sat on Matt... not something he does often, so I had to snap a picture.

Before we left we took some pictures of everyone together, since we aren't ALL together often...

The kids also loved the flight home.  This time the flight attendant gave them "wings" to wear and they loved that... (and yes, they are on upside down)

And I had to take this picture of Cooper walking through the "hairport."  He was walking SO SLOW and leisurely, just sipping on his juice box, with his goldfish in the other hand, and his backpack... too stinkin' cute...

Such a great trip.  Thank you Kenin and Missy for spoiling us with all that you did!  We are so glad we could be there!

Instagram April

I've been loving the Instagram App on my phone.  It has made it so easy for me to capture those every day moments that don't always get photographed.  Sometimes those moments are the best ones to remember, they just don't warrant running upstairs to pull my huge camera out... so a phone camera... perfect solution.  Here's a peak at our every day moments from April:

Easter Cookies

Reading to Jessie... She's getting so good at reading!

Making a nest for the birds...

Planting flowers...

Fell asleep while reading...

Playing baseball with himself... Hitting the ball off the tee,
right into his glove... So talented!

Making cookies with Grandma

Two things Cooper loves: riding his bike and his snow boots

Lunch at Daddy's work for Bring Your Child to Work Day

Landon's Baby Blessing

Made a new wreath for the front door

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Easter

Easter was pretty low-key and casual this year.  We have had several weeks of sickness in our home, which led up to Easter.  I actually thought we were over it all, because no one had shown signs of sickness for about 3 days before Easter, but I was wrong...  Sickness will always lead to less extravagant holidays, but it is always a good thing for me to remember that holidays can still be great, even when you keep things simple.  We didn't have any new, pretty Easter clothes, and scrapped a few things that we usually do, but we remembered our Savior and had some Easter Bunny fun as well.  It was great.

The night before Easter, we colored eggs... always a favorite of mine!  I loved seeing the fun rainbow of colors, and the bright white eggs just calling to be dyed!  Cooper insisted on coloring a red one, and it was so cute to see his bright red egg, with white scribbles, completed with fire truck and baseball stickers.  It was fun to watch him really get into the egg dying this year, and understand Easter more.  Sydney of course, wanted a purple egg, and loved the whole process. So fun!  Does anyone else have a problem with the pink dye?  Our pink ones never seem to turn out!

Sunday morning, we got ready and headed to church.  Sydney wasn't sure if the Easter Bunny had come yet, so she decided to leave some carrots on the chair by the window, just in case.  We told her we would look for baskets when we got home from church.  As soon as we got to church and sat down in the chapel, Sydney started complaining that her tummy was sick, and by the end of the first sacrament prayer she was literally in tears.  We headed for the bathroom, but didn't quite make it to the toilet before she threw up.  So, I had a sick daughter to take care of, some carpet to clean, and a bathroom floor to mop.  There was a nice sister who was visiting our ward who found the custodial closet, and helped me clean up.  It was so nice of her!  So we headed home before Sacrament Meeting was even over.  When we walked in the door, the carrots were gone, and it sure cheered Sydney up!  We let the kids look for their baskets before making Sydney lay down and rest.  Sydney found hers first, and Cooper was so excited he was cheering, arms above his head and all!

The kids were so excited to see the candy and trinkets in their baskets.  They loved getting new sunglasses and flip-flops, and have liked drinking out of their new water bottles.  I enjoyed a few too many of my very favorite Reese's eggs... but they were oh so yummy!

After baskets, we rested, watched some movies, and took it easy.  I made some orange rolls for dinner, and prepared for our egg hunt.  Later, we headed over to my family's house for dinner.  We did some Easter Egg Scriptures this year, to try and focus more on our Savior.  We had 12 eggs, each with a scripture and an object to represent something that happened during the last week of our Savior's life, leading up to His resurrection.  It was a fun way to get the kids involved and to feel the spirit of Easter.

We also did an egg hunt, like the one we did last year, where we had activities inside of the eggs.  We had fun telling favorite memories, racing each other, picking teams for baseball, taking turns on the skip-it, and hula hooping.  Such a fun tradition that we will probably keep doing.

Despite some sickness, we had a great Easter.  We hope all our friends and family did too!

March: Every Day Moments

March was a fun month for us.  We had a couple snowy days...

Lots of sunny, park days...

We celebrated Allie's 16th Birthday, with 16 things we love about Allie.  Wow, when did she get that old?!

And took pictures of Brett and his Prom date... again, Wow!

And Sydney must have had a tiring month, because she decided all on her own, to take naps several times this month... one time she took one on the landing of the stairs...

St. Patrick's Day

We had a fun little St. Patrick's Day around our house.  The thing I love about St. Patrick's Day is it is so easy to dress it up as a holiday.  I can pretty much do the same thing I do every day, but make it all green, and the kids LOVE it.  The night before St. Patty's we went over to Courtney and Tyler's house, and the kids made some rainbow-pot-of-gold cupcakes.  They had so much fun, and the cupcakes turned out so yummy and cute!  On the actual day, we enjoyed green milk, green pancakes, and green drinks.  We wore green, and painted our fingernails and toenails green.  We woke up from naps, to find leprechaun footprints all around, and a scavenger hunt provided by a funny little leprechaun named Patrick.  And for dessert, we made mint truffles... Definitely a very fun, and very green day!