Priesthood session selfie

That's the smile of a boy that is enjoying one on one time with his dad.....and knows he's getting some serious ice cream when the meeting is over.

A Dallman tradition

Easter might be over, but that never has and never will stop Rosalee Dallman from holding her annual Easter Egg hunt!

She explains the rules:

1. Little kids first.

2. There are 1 dozen real hard boiled eggs mixed in with the plastic candy-filled ones. If you don't like them, give them to someone who does (Everly!)

3. Empty out your candy into your basket and put the plastic ones back in the egg cartons. 

4. We hunt until we've found them all!

Everly did pretty good this year! And she found several hard boiled eggs herself.

Getting a count of all the found eggs and helping the kids find the elusive remainders.

The spoils.

Now, how do I get them to give me all their Almond Joys and Nutrolls?

Beginnings

May you all know the joy of the first little seedlings popping up in the spring. It is the definition of hope and anticipation. 

Nevermind that I seem to have an entire bed of cilantro volunteering among my lettuces and peas. 

Proof

Sometimes I take a picture of my vacuum lines because there isn't a chance on this green earth that Mark will ever get to see them. 

They were here.

And they were beautiful.

Easter 2016

Happy Easter!

Don't you love that part where the kids come down in the morning and find their baskets and they start to look through them and it's so fun to see them excited about their Easter gifts and snuggle down in the couch in their jammies to have some chocolate for breakfast and the whole day is just super relaxed and we have a nice family day that culminates in a pot roast supper and.....

No.

Not this year...because we are Mormons and we have choir practice at 8 am and it's going to take 30 minutes to drive there. And once we get there we will hope and pray that the kids won't burn the place to the ground while we try to polish up the songs we are supposed to perform during Sacrament meeting. Oh! And don't forget your viola because you are playing prelude with the ward orchestra....and for sure  you should remember all your visual aids for the Easter themed singing time you prepared and the plastic tote with jingle bells and shaker eggs that the nursery kids love for their own special singing time. 

And don't forget to put that roast beef in the oven because the only thing more stressful that getting that done before church is trying to think of something else to make when dinner rolls around....ROLLS! Don't forget to get the rolls in the breadmaker. Everybody knows that Easter dinner just isn't the same without fresh, hot rolls.

Once the kids are all in the car, you can run back in to "get something" and set out their baskets so they can find them and be excited when we all get home from church. 

And maybe you can grab a power nap while they sort their Easter goodies. 

Sadly, Laney wasn't able to join in any of our Easter fun or craziness...she was under the weather with a stomach bug. And in this house that means complete quarantine.

But no one ever said anything about lingering for a game of pretend in the doorway...

We did it. We pulled it all off and now we will take our own baskets (featuring various dark chocolates, Jordan almonds, obscene quantities of Ferrero Rocher and turtles) to a quiet spot and count our blessings.

Not the least of which is that we have each other. 

And we have homemade rolls, to boot.

Boogie

These images are super dark, but they are of Mathew and McKenzie dancing at her brother, Austin's, wedding reception.

Believe me, the video is even better!

I love my brave, uninhibited Mathew!

An art lesson

Sometimes my kids want to do things with me and, at first, I just really don't want to. Sometimes I might even procrastinate or distract them in hopes that they will forget about what they are asking me. 

I'm not proud of it.

But Laney is a very determined girl. And when she wants to hold an art lesson for the "entire family"...you should get out the paper and pencils because it's GONNA HAPPEN.

She learned how to draw a raccoon with a background of leaves and she was dying to help us draw one too.

And, you know....it was fun! I liked seeing how everyone had a different idea of what their raccoon should be.

I gave Everly a couple of pieces of paper and let her "scribble" while we were listening to the instructions. And to my absolute amazement and delight, she produced her own raccoon! She was following each step!

About halfway through, Mark abandoned his raccoon and decided to start again. He googled a real raccoon and created his own. He's always been a nonfiction guy.

I think I will say "yes" more often. Might as well get credit for a good attitude.