Easter

Happy belated Easter Everyone!

We enjoyed visiting with the Bunkers for Easter. We made great travel time too. We left at 4:05 am (5 minutes late). I am not good at waking up early...but if there is a trip involved, I am all over getting up early and getting out the door. What is even more funny, Clark loves getting up "in the middle of the night" and going on trips too. I woke him up at 3:45 am and told him it was time to go to Paul's. With a slight smile on his face and sleepy speech, he said: "Yeah!" Then when we got in the van he exclaimed: "This is SO exciting!" We told the Bunkers to expect us about noon. We got there at 11:47 am. Not bad!

The first day and a half we relaxed, went to the park, hit story time, and Deb and I went on a big, fun shopping trip! Friday night we had a fun double date with Matt and Deb. We drove around looking at houses, and yep you guessed it, went to Walmart!!! Hey, where else are you going to get ice cream close to 11pm?

Saturday we enjoyed General Conference. During General Conference our Prophet and Apostles speak to us, as well as other church leaders. We watched via the internet. You can watch or read the English addresses here: www.lds.org. If I counted right, conference is available in 101 languages! What a blessing it is to listen to the Prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson and receive pertinent messages and counsel for us in our day. God has not left us to grapple alone in this life!

During the first of four sessions the kids colored eggs. I happily found out that pink egg dye comes out of fabric!





Clark caught some sort of something. Saturday afternoon he didn't feel well.


But Clark perked up in time for Easter baskets and an egg hunt!


The Bunkers hide their kids' baskets throughout the house and they have to find them. Deb hid Paul's in the best place ever! I think we'll pick up the tradition.






Time for the egg hunt!









Hyrum and Elden enjoyed playing with the eggs. Hyrum was a term baby, born just a couple days before Elden's actual due date.







After the Priesthood Session Matt treated all of us to ice cream from the Four Queens. Thanks Matt! I enjoyed the chocolate, chocolate chip cookie dough mix. We also watched a fun episode from Mission Impossible, Season 1.

Easter Sunday brought wonderful talks from our church leaders about our Savior and his resurrection, among other great topics. Later we had a scrumptious ham dinner from the none other Chef dEb. Thanks for a great time Bunkers!

On our travels home we stopped and saw one of Lee's BYU roommates, Alex. We did a couple things with him and his wife Sarah back at BYU too after we were married. They even came and helped us clean our apartment when we moved out of Wymount and gave us some goodies for the road trip to Nevada. We enjoyed visiting with them and meeting their daughters. What a great family! Seeing Lee and Alex visiting together reminded me of joyous reunion that Alma and the sons of Mosiah had in The Book of Mormon.


We arrived home at 3am...just in time for Lee to get 2 hours of sleep before work!

Easter is a holiday I definitely want some spiritual family traditions. We haven't set any yet. We have one year to get on it though!

Traveling Robertson Style

Traveling is something Lee and I like to do. We actually enjoy long road trips; even with five kids! Each trip has its spurts of crying and whining, but we still love it. Something we've done a couple of times--and I think I'll do it more in the future--is sending the kids to bed with comfortable clothes that double as pj's.

This is what I picked out for the girls the night before our Easter trip. Shanna seems to enjoy pictures when she's all dressed up.




I've found a trick for somewhat cutting down the fast food bill--when we do make the rare trip to a fast food joint. I'll order a few things of chicken nuggets, a big thing of fries, and free waters for the kids. Then at the window I ask for 4 small bags. I divvy up the food so each kid gets their own bag. Plus they love getting their own cup with a straw, even if it is just water. I guess the only problem is that Clark wants more food. The other kids have never said anything. But our favorite thing to do for an on-the-road meal is to find a Little Caesar's and get a large pizza and two bags of bread sticks. Six full tummies for $10! (Elden isn't into a lot of pizza yet.)

Any other travel ideas?

I'm Obsessed

Yes America, I do have a slight obsession: cleaning my van. Maybe it's not that odd of an obsession, but Lee will confirm that it's true. (So will my neighbor.) Ever since we got our "new" 2003 van, it's been even more fun to clean! I was disappointed when I saw the van for the first time because I expected a detailed, spotless van. Oh well. A little elbow grease on my part, and Lee lovingly being with the kids for 1 1/2 hours on his part, did the trick!

When we were in school, and even after school, having a nice, clean interior made me feel "rich" somehow. (Rich might not necessarily be the right word.) A 1997 minivan is nothing to boast about, but somehow getting into it when clean was like getting into a warm, freshly-made bed.

Now with five kids and lots of road trips, there isn't a way to prevent eating in our van. Hey, even Lee and I like to eat in our vehicles. We definitely don't allow certain foods inside (like Cheetos). But we do allow eating--it's worth it to have happy kids even if it means pulling out the carpet cleaner. One of the best things we ever bought was an extension cord so I can vacuum our van when I like. And who am I joking...it's also so I don't have to pay $0.75x2 every time either!

Right before I took this picture I was cleaning the van (shocking, I know) and thinking about how nice it looked and how much I like my "new" van. Well, Shanna got in the van and left mud marks just AFTER I had finished. Thanks for the reality check Shanna!

Quote about America from a modern prophet, President Harold B. Lee:

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple.. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America ; you and I must have faith in America , if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)

Thanks for sharing this Mom!

Last Days of Winter

We enjoyed the last weeks of Winter. The weather would fluctuate from mid 60's to low 30's, and of course every degree in between.

Elden wasn't feeling so hot in this picture. I think his second tooth came in at that time.



I found the girls like this one night. Too cute!


A couple weeks ago we had a Family Home Evening on prayer. Lee gave each kids a stick (yes, we let our kids play with sticks...hey I have an eye doctor on hand, why not?) and each stick (sorry Elden, you didn't get a stick) represented the fours parts of prayer--intro, thankful-fors, ask-Thee, and the closing. Lee picked a child and would ask them, for example, how the intro to a prayer should go. Then they would say it or we would practice it, and that child would throw their stick in. I thought it was a great idea.



My new creation, which I may have mentioned, is putting roasted marshmallows in between chocolate chip cookies. It's so good! And I rarely buy bars of chocolate. And as you all know, that my real reason is that chocolate chip cookies are cheaper to make, than buying 6 milk chocolate bars!




One of the "nice" days

Elden is the Big 0-1!

Can one WHOLE year have passed already? My "time" in the hospital seems so distance, yet contemplation at times makes the sadness almost fresh again. With my mounting complications, Elden must have wanted to come earth ASAP--all 2 pounds, 9 ounces of him. My problems were his quick ticket here, born at 28 weeks! After three or so blood transfusions, different shots, a level 2 brain bleed, hours under the bili-lite, successes and un-successes with bottle feeding, an MRI, multiple doctor visits, 5 RSV shots along with other immunizations, and physical therapy sessions thrown in, we're sure glad you are here Elden. It would tickle me to death if you were my biggest child!






And you can't forget the equipment! It cracks me up that at the entrance to the NICU there is a sign stating to turn off your cell phones, as the babies need peace and quiet. HAH! These machines are much louder than cell phones. I don't know as if I ever turned mine off!

Elden spent 2 months and 1 day in this box

Elden wore the middle diaper

For awhile Elden's diapers were weighed

Oh the hours I spent with you...I don't miss you one bit!



His first time finishing a bottle in a 1/2 hour






Can one WHOLE year have passed already? Happy Birthday little Guy!