Easter 2011

We had an enjoyable Easter Sunday, although it didn't start out the greatest.  All the kids were ready for church (except for Brynlee needing her hair done) about 30 minutes before church started so I wanted to get some pictures.  I tried and tried to convince Brynlee to put something in her hair.  Rob got a few pictures before her hair was done and finally after mom losing her patience (got to work on that!), she let me put a flower in her hair.  Yes, we were late for church.

Check out these studs...

"Before" pics. I had to include a bunch of them since they are quite comical (not at the time, of course)...








Much better, don't you think?

Cheryl and her family and Rob's parents and Grandma Jones came over for Easter dinner. Afterwards, we did an egg hunt in the backyard. I don't think you could wipe the permagrin off of Trevor's face. Love that kid!

Rob put an egg in a tiny basket up in the tree. The older boys were determined to knock it down with their baskets.

The little basket in the tree...

Just missed it...

Got it!

And then the big basket got stuck!


Meanwhile, Landon took advantage of the lack of competition and picked up a ton of eggs. I felt really bad taking some from him and sharing with the cousins.  He was pretty upset even though I still left him with alot of eggs. After some tears, he was able to force this smile. Sorry, bud!

Eight of the thirteen Barton cousins.  Such a "happy" group.  At least Trevor and Ashlee are smiling :)


I love this picture of T showing his Great-Grandma Jones his loot.

Baby Animal Days

The day before Easter was finally a nice enough day to head to the American West Heritage Center for Baby Animal Days.  The girls and I are volunteering this year at the AWHC so we get to dress up in 1917 attire (since we volunteer on the 1917 Farm site).  The first few days of the festival were AWFUL!  Tons of snow so they ended up extending the event until the end of April.  Ashlee and Brynlee liked volunteering with the chicks and ducklings so that's where we were most of the time.  We volunteered that morning and then Rob and the boys joined us in the afternoon when our shift was over and we were able to see all the baby animals.  All the pictures are pretty much self explanatory.  Brynlee wanted to stay in her dress (that is, until a chick or duck pooped on it), but Ashlee and I went home and changed.  Luckily Rob called us while we were still at home to bring an extra outfit for Brynlee.  Ashlee has her dress on in the first picture with her in it, although she has a black dress coat on so you can't really tell.   I need to get a picture of her in her outfit, though.  I sewed both of the girls' dresses.

Waiting for the train...

The candy cannon.  They tossed candy and water bottles all over the ground and then the candy cannon went off, shooting out more candy, and signaling to the kids to go at it!  If you look up in the sky, you can see the candy.  Probably the highlights of Landon's day.  He's is definitely my candy boy.  Pretty sure all the laffy taffy he collected (and it was ALOT) was gone by bedtime.  Surprisingly, we just had a checkup at the dentist and they all made it into the no cavity club.

Biggest Losers Come to Logan!

As we were heading out of town to go to the Hogle Zoo, we heard on the radio that some of the Biggest Loser contestants would be in Logan that day from 4:00 to 8:00 at Golden Corral (ha!  Biggest Losers at an all you can eat buffet!).  Justin Pope and Rulon Gardner live here in Logan (or nearby in Wellsville or something) and own a gym at the south end of town. 

I thought we might be able to make it back to town to see them, but then the thought of me and four kids at Golden Corral with tons of people made me not so anxious to hurry back.  After the zoo, we went to Christie's house for dinner and let the kids play with cousins.  We got back to Logan around 8:30 and I decided to stop by Golden Corral just to see if any of the contestants were still there.  Trevor was asleep so I sent Ashlee and Brynlee in to ask if they were still there.  The guy said they were so we decided to go in and see if we could get some quick pictures.  Technically, you were supposed to pay for the buffet so we snuck in and immediately saw Kaylee and the white team (if you watch BL, they were the ones that could've made it on the show if they lost more at home than Kaylee did on the ranch, but they didn't so they didn't get to join the rest of the contestants on the ranch).  Just as I was about to take the picture, Sarah walked by so we grabbed her to be in the picture as well.  Then Arthur was walking towards us so I asked if we could take a picture with him.  I'm not gonna lie...he was kinda ornery.

We also saw Moses just a few tables away but he was eating so I didn't bother him for a picture.  I saw Justin when we were still in the car, but couldn't see him when we were inside.  Since we left Trevor sleeping in the car, I didn't want to go wandering around looking for more contestants.  Rumor was that Q and Brett the trainer were also supposed to be there.  I think you could also get a pass to workout with them for eating there but I didn't get one.  Would've been fun, though!

Hogle Zoo

This week is Spring Break for the kids. While I would rather be in San Diego, we couldn't make the trip this year since Rob had a meeting in Salt Lake on Wednesday and is on the staff for Woodbadge Thursday through Saturday. So we've dealt with the crummy, not-so-spring-like weather the majority of the week. We went to the ice skating rink on Tuesday and on Wednesday it was actually a nice day so we took a trip down to Salt Lake to go to the Hogle Zoo.

With Trevor in charge of the trusty map, we were able to make our way to see all the animals...

We always love to see the baby elephant...so cute! 

Rhinos...

Crocodile...

Ashlee with a Sand Cat.  She thought it was sooooo cute....

Trevor and a couple of porcupines...

This giraffe came really close to the rock wall, but then of course everyone rushed to see it and it walked away...

The tigers were sleeping under a shelter when we walked by the first time but then when we went by again, two of them were walking up the hill and settled right by the fence...

Orangutans...

After we saw all the animals, we decided to ride on some on the carousel...

I think the kids sometimes think the statues of the animals are more fun than the live ones...

FHE Legos

For Family Home Evening, we played a game where everyone created a scriptural scene out of Legos. Then everyone else had to guess what the story was.

The challenge for our loyal readers is to guess not only what scripture story is being depicted but who created each one. T didn't participate.

Makeshift Recital

The girls' piano teacher had an early emergency C-section, but mom and baby appear to be doing okay. Congrats Nicole and Talon!

The recital was cancelled, so here are the girls playing their songs for all our loyal readers and for you, Nicole. They were each shot on one take.


Scarborough Fair


Persian Market (I was doing my best to keep the boys quiet, and I'm surprised T's giggle in the middle of this was the only one.)


Starry Starry Night


Coconut Shuffle

Dinnertime Drama

What could be so sad at dinnertime to cause tears like this?



Yes, we ran out of broccoli.



After making more, he was happy, until it ran out again.