alex's birthday

This year for Al's birthday we had two different parities with the same people two days in a row. Let me tell you... it rocked! We had such a good time! 

Monday night was the day before his actual birthday but it was also the March Madness championship game. We ordered in Papa Murphy's pizza, had fresh fruit, C&S (chips and salsa), shrimp, and lots of treats! We had this party at Alex's parents with Grandma Hafen, Grandma Gates, Darlo and Grace, Hans and Lori, my parents and siblings, and John and Mikelle + the boys.

Tuesday night we partied at my parents house with pretty much all the same people, minus only a few. We had homemade Cafe Rio and fried ice cream for dessert, YUM!

Alex scored on the presents this year! I surprised him with some Oakley sunnies, and new outfit, he also got money and an apple TV!

Whenever I complain or am saying something negative, Alex always says, "Life's a garden, dig it." Well sometimes this simple phrase drives me crazy but hey, life's a garden, so I will just have to deal with it. I decided to make a print for our house and I bought a cheap frame from Michaels and spray painted it red. It turned out pretty cute and Al really liked it!

Happy Birthday sweet boy, I love you so!

the santa clara way

One of my favorite easter traditions is coloring eggs "the santa clara way." By that I mean the way our ancestors did it using red root and onion skins to cook the eggs in. We wrapped the eggs in blossoms, weeds, grass, dandelions, dad's old ties, you name it! Then we wrapped them tight with yarn and popped them in with the red root and onion skins. They turned out so great, we love that tradition!

easter sunday

Alex and I are really lucky to leave so close to both of our families. We actually had two easter dinners this year. First we went to Alex's for dinner. Then we ended up at Grandma Gates' house where we had an easter egg hunt with lots of yummy treats! Then my Grandma dressed up as the easter bunny as usual and passed out easter eggs to the tune of "Here Comes Peter Cottaintail" that had five dollars each inside. My Grandma and Macey seriously won the egg toss, they were champs. Happy Easter! 

I AM SUCH A SLACKER

Here i am, posting about something we did THREE weeks ago. oops. Oh well, I am still going to do it. I guess it was three weeks from tomorrow we headed up to Salt Lake City around one. We arrived sometime around five and met Hans (Alex's dad) at Scheels. We were pretty hungry by then, so we headed to our favorite restaurant for dinner. California Pizza Kitchen... yes please!! The boys mostly wanted to go there because they have TV's so they were able to watch the college basketball games, but it was a win win situation for all of us. We were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel and I watched Grey's on the iPad while the boys enjoyed the college basketball games on the TV. The next morning I drove myself to one of my very best friends house ALL BY MYSELF. This was BIG. First off it was snowing, lightly, but it was snowing, and I have never driven in SLC before on my own so I was pretty darn proud when I arrived at her house. When Bailey got there we headed to Red Iguana for lunch. That was probably the best decision of the trip. Our waiter kept asking Maddi if she was a MO-DELL we weren't quite sure what he was trying to ask us until he started snapping pictures with his fake camera. He loved Maddi. He drew a picture of the two of them on a scooter with flowers on her receipt and called her princess. Thanks for the good time Alonso, you were such a great waiter. After lunch we talked in the car for a good chunk of time which was SO nice. I hate that all my girls live up north and I never get to see them. I met back up with Alex at the Gateway and we shopped until he had to go to the game. Alex's dad spoiled all his boys with tickets to the college basketball games they were on the first row behind the bench. They are all convinced that they are all famous because they were on TV for most of the two games. After Alex left the games I met back up with Maddi and we shopped around at City Creek for a bit. I miss her so much and I am so so glad we got to spend some time together. I also made a very impulsive purchase when I bought a clarisonic but Alex and I really like it so far! After a bit of shopping Maddi and I met up with my sister-in-law Heidi and her friend Michelle for dinner at Maccaroni Grill. The dinner wasn't great but the company sure was. We laughed about pretty much everything and had such a good time. That night we stayed at Heidi's house and played five crowns, watched youtube videos, and had a McDonalds run for fountain drinks. It was SO fun, we sure love going up north to visit friends and family.

I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite things. On our way out of town we needed something in our tummy's and we decided on Krispy Kreme. The best part was that the Hot N' Ready sign was on and we were overly excited ha we were freaking out in the car I laugh thinking about how excited we were now because it was a bit pathetic. It was so worth it though and we probably picked up two dozen besides the two we got Hot N' Ready. SO GOOD. I wish we had one here, but it was the perfect end to such a fun trip!