St. Patrick's Day

Our Swenson family tradition on St. Patrick's day. We always seem to have the Leprechauns visit and leave tracks, turn the milk green, and leave riddles that the kids have to solve in order to find the Leprechaun's gold. Jeremy and I have fun watching. Noah and Paige are pretty bright, they always find the gold. Sometimes it takes a while but they always succeed. Here they are with the treasure. March 2010.

Haircut from Hill

While in Utah we get the treat of having Aunt Hillary cut our hair. Noah wanted to save his lock of hair like Paige. We cut 6 inches off of Paige's hair which was down to her bottom. All of her curls were cut off and it doesn't curl anymore. So sad. Noah turned his lock of hair into a mustache. April 2010.

Easter in Alpine

The kids and Rachel celebrated Easter with Grandpa Roger and Grandma Cami, Kellie and her kids, and Grandma Ceci. They dyed and decorated real Easter eggs, made cupcakes and decorated them, had an Easter egg hunt, and a short lesson on the meaning of Easter religiously. It was great. The next day was Sunday, so they headed home that Saturday night to spend Easter day with Jeremy home in Idaho. April 2010.

Spring Break Trip to Utah

For Spring Break the kids and I went to Alpine to visit family. Grandma Cami played with us. Grandma even went swimming...wore a swim suit and...she even got her hair wet! The kids had a great time playing in the pool with her. My mom, Grandma Cami, made me laugh so hard I started crying with her sideways crab walk in the shallow kiddie part of Lehi Legacy Pool. We all still laugh hard about it. April 2010.

Pink Snow Princess

You get to choose your battles as a parent. Paige dressed up in this dress-up costume and wanted to wear it all day. I am not one to usually allow this, but today I did. So she went to the library and the store and some other errands around town with me in her dress-up clothes. I thought she looked cute, so we took some dancing photos.

Family Service Project

For FHE we took gifts for babies in the Boise downtown NICU. The NICU was so wonderful to our family and Eden when we were there we wanted to do something for the NICU families and babies. The kids helped making the cards and wrapping the gifts. We have recieved so much service from others during the difficult loss of Eden that we want to give service. Service heals. If you are sad, depressed, hurt, or recovering from a loss, service brings peace and love into your life.

Warm Enough for Big Wheeling!

Grandma Karen gave the kids red flier big wheels for Christmas. Hooray! The weather is warm enough to cruise with them in the neighborhood.

Oliver is born!

February 2010. Oliver is born!

As soon as I knew Hillary was in active labor and going to the hospital, I jumped in the car with Paige. It was 10 p.m. at night but I had a good book on CD to listen in the car and our bags were packed. The drive went by very quickly (5 1/2 hours) and I was happy to say I was wide awake the whole drive. I made it in time to swing by my mom's, drop Paige off with Rog, and drive with mom to the hospital. We stayed the rest of the wee hours of the morning in the hospital with Hill and Davy. They were so great to want us there and let us be a part of such an exciting event. Hillary did great in labor and delivered Ollie later that same morning. Her labor and delivery was a lot like mine. Oliver is adorable. We are so happy for them. I got to stay four more days to help Hill and Davy before having to go back to Idaho to teach at CDSA. I am so glad I got to be a part of Ollie's birth.

Noah and His Owl

After Eden passed away, two friends from work gave our family a gift bag. In it were Shinning Stars stuffed animals. One for Eden, one for Paige, and one for Noah. Noah loves his Owl. He was so excited to take it to the zoo and show it to the owl there. He thought the zoo owl would think it was real and fly to meet his owl. Every time we go see the owl (since it is nocturnal) it is in its nest sleeping and hard to see. Noah's plan didn't work out like he planned, but it was so cute to watch. He always has great ideas.

Our kids love the zoo. Thanks to Aunt Laurel and Uncle Dave we have had a season pass for the Boise zoo each year. It is fun to go all through the year.

Practicing Spelling Words

Noah loves first grade. Who knew homework could be so fun? Noah is practicing his spelling words by writing them in shaving cream. Paige likes to join in the fun too. Adding a little food coloring to the shaving cream is just fun. Don't do this if your counters stain. Granite is very forgiving. February 2010.

Sunday Best

Noah and Paige pose for a photo just after church. What sweet kids we have. It is so nice to have peaceful sacrament meeting times. They are so reverent (well for 3 and 6, they are). Love them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here we are for FHE talking about family members we love and how we can show them we love them. Then we made Valentine's.

We also visited Eden's grave and decorated it for Valentine's Day.

Hillary's Baby Shower

My cousin Kellie and I threw Hillary a baby shower. It was always planned in January. I was going to cancel it when Eden was born early and did, then after a week after she passed away I decided to still go to Utah and help Kellie. The baby shower turned out well. I was so excited for Hillary, that it wasn't hard like many thought it would be for me. Hillary looks beautiful pregnant. Can't wait to meet little Oliver.

Swenson Family Spring 2010 Skiing

Here we are enjoying spring skiing at Bogus. We love skiing as a family. It is so nice that all of us like it and the kids keep getting better and better. Idaho doesn't have the greatest snow on earth like Utah, but the most affordable. Season passes are great and kids under 6 ski free! This was the first season that Paige skied by herself without her skiing reins. It was a little nerve racking for mom and Noah to watch her fearlessly ski down big ski runs. You can see her fearless a slope by herself in one of the photos. And a sweet photo of Noah and Paige showing sibling love. It is so great to see them cheer each other on.

Even though we are still grieving the loss of Eden, we try to have fun family outings that help us enjoy life and relieve stress. Skiing always does that for us. We feel lucky to be able to go together.