Catching a Bee Swarm

April 19th

One Sunday in April, I got a text from my sister while we were at church with a picture of bee swarm that was in her boyfriend's, dad's backyard and said we were welcome to come get it if we wanted to catch it.  So, as soon as we got home from church we got things in order and jumped in the car for a spur-of-the-moment trip to go catch a bee swarm.  It's the first time I've been present to watch Darwin catch a swarm.  We all loved watching the master work :)
(Thank you, Bri, for taking most of the pictures while I took video and for helping me hold the girls when they were afraid of the dogs.  You're the best!)

Securing the box so the bees wouldn't escape during the car ride back home

The swarm

Koda and her friend liked snitching the honey from the frame of comb that was in the hive box Darwin brought up.  It's delicious honey!  I don't blame them!

Checking out the swarm/tree and coming up with a plan of action :)

Getting to work clipping the branches away from the swarm



Bri was definitely a willing helper!  She wasn't afraid to get close to the bees :)

The girls watched from a safe distance away in the car and munched on sunflower seeds while they waited


Vannah was a little cranky because she didn't get a nap that day

Success!  He was excited when he saw the queen and knew we had a done deal!

Putting the bees in their new home

Getting the box put back together again with its new residents

The bees behaved perfectly in their box in the trunk on the way home and they're doing really well!  Thanks for the free beehive, Bri, PJ and family!  Be prepared for a jar of some delicious honey come harvest time!!

Painting Nails

April 11th
To go along with Aurora's first hair cut, she got to paint her own nails for the first time.  She was pretty excited that we felt she was big enough to try it on her own.  One of her friends gave her some "Frozen" nail polish for her birthday and it's perfect for practicing with because it washes off really easily.  She was a little sad when she realized it didn't last very long, but it gives her more opportunity to practice!

Great job for a first timer, Babs!

Aurora's 1st hair cut!

April 9th
You have to remember that this girl didn't have hair until she was two.  And then when she finally did get hair, it took a while to come in until all of a sudden she had a whole head full of hair!  That being said, Aurora is just over four years old and she finally got her first hair cut!  She sat so well and made silly faces at herself in the mirror almost the entire time.

Getting all the knots brushed out

Happy and excited!

She only got a trim to even it out.  That long curl in the middle just had to go. I couldn't bear to part with it though and still have that little curl for keepsake reasons.

Ready to go!


Thanks for making Aurora's first hair cut such a great experience, Anna!  You're awesome!

Look at those beautiful curls--all evened up! :)

She was so excited to have Anna cut her hair.  Now that she's had it cut once she thinks she needs a hair cut every other week almost.  Silly kid.  It took lots of convincing to even get Darwin to let me take her to get it trimmed :)

Nastassia Day

We don't really celebrate Nastassia's "birth" day because she didn't survive the pregnancy, but every year on April 7th we celebrate "Nastassia Day" to remember our tiny little angel.

This year the girls were very excited to celebrate Nastassia Day.  I don't think they really understand what it means to have a sister who lives in heaven, but Aurora is starting to understand more and ask more questions about her.  She knows that Nastassia was in my tummy after she was and that she died because she had a broken heart (that's what Aurora calls it since we told her that Nastassia's heart didn't grow right), and that she lives with Heavenly Father now.

It probably doesn't show on the outside, but not a day goes by that I don't think of Nastassia still.  She is still very much a part of our family and we look forward to being with her in the eternities some day.

As part of our celebration this year, we wanted to take the girls to the temple because that's where we become forever families.  The temple is such a special, sacred place and I love to be there.  I love the peace I feel even just being on the grounds.  I'm grateful that our girls are learning to love the temple at an early age and I hope they choose to live worthy to be able to go inside someday.

Darwin's parents gave us a beautiful bouquet of yellow daffodils right after we lost Nastassia, so anytime I see yellow, and especially yellow daffodils, I think of her.  We all wore yellow that day in her honor.
Our family at the temple.  The yellow tulip was meant to represent Nastassia.

We had a picnic on the grass just west of the temple and then took the girls to a playground for a little while before heading home.  They thought it was pretty awesome that Daddy let them play in the kitchen sink for a long time after they helped him make brownies (instead of a birthday cake) as part of our Nastassia Day celebration :)


Darwin always gets a beautiful bouquet of yellow flowers for us on Nastassia Day. It means so much to me that he makes this small, but huge, gesture to remember our angel baby.

We love you, Nastassia!  And we always will!
Happy Nastassia Day!

Easter 2015

April 4 - Coloring Easter Eggs
We colored Easter eggs during the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference.  The girls loved it--I think they love it more as they get older.  It's fun for us too :)  Aurora didn't like that we said we were going to "dye Easter eggs" because she didn't want the eggs to die.  We had to be very careful about how we phrased it. Haha!

They were so serious, but I promise they had fun!

Daddy had fun too! :)

Some of our finished products

Savannah fell asleep early so Aurora got to help us set out the Easter baskets all by herself.  Funny how they take turns falling asleep early on holidays!


April 5 - Easter Sunday!
Aurora thought it was pretty hilarious that the Easter bunny put our little Easter bunny-bear in Mom and Dad's basket

We had to wait a little while until Savannah woke up and could join us so we made silly faces at each other

Savannah gets a little grumpy when she wakes up sometimes. She makes me laugh.

But her attitude changed quickly when she realized the eggs were full of "candies"!

Checking out the fun things the Easter bunny left for them

Then they went hunting for the eggs that the Easter bunny hid all over the family room

After a quick hunt to find all the eggs, Daddy made bunny-butt pancakes for breakfast!

Raspberries must be eaten on your fingers.  Just in case you didn't know. :)

The crawl tunnel was a big hit from the beginning!



We stayed home to watch General Conference and then headed out to be with family for the evening.  On the way to my cousin's house we dropped some of our stuff at Darwin's parents house and there was a sick deer hiding out behind the bushes right by the front porch.  The girls were very concerned about the sick deer :(

Our family on Easter

My sister, Shannon, and her husband, Jonathan, just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary!  Happy anniversary, you two!

They have such a cute family!

The kiddos always have fun when we all get together.

We tried to get another family selfie by the pretty "popcorn" trees. Aurora had just cut her hand on the tree and was too concerned about her hand to look at the camera.  It's all good though--and her hand was just fine :)

After hanging out with my family for a while we joined Grandma and Grandpa at their house with Uncle Ryan.  The Easter bunny somehow knew we would be going over there and had hid even more eggs outside!  The girls were pretty lucky to have two egg hunts in one day!



Spotted one!


We're trying to teach our girls what all the "fun" Easter symbols mean and how they remind us of Jesus Christ and his Resurrection.  I am so grateful for our Savior and all He has done to make it possible for us to live with Him again and to be with our families forever.  That's what Easter is all about!