Easter

We had a fun filled Easter weekend. On Saturday morning we had a brunch at my mom's house with my parents, my brother Josh & Sara and their two kids. We had an egg bake with potatoes, ham, green onions, mushrooms and cheese with fruit & dip, donuts, and cinnamon rolls. It was all delicious. We had key lime raspberry cupcakes for dessert. We had an Easter egg hunt for Athen and Alyssa in the backyard. They LOVED it. Athen thinks the eggs are balls so he loved running around, grabbing the balls and putting them in his bucket. He loved it even more when he discovered that the balls opened up and had candy inside. He did much better than I was expecting and had a great time. We sat around outside and enjoyed the nice day and watched the kids play.






Athen giving cousin Alyssa a ride on his trike.

That afternoon we had some friends from Oakland join us up on the hill for an Easter BBQ and egg hunt. Good thing Athen got some egg hunting practice in the morning because he was one of the youngest in this group. He still did pretty good. All the kids had so much fun finding eggs, playing on the toy bikes, blowing bubbles and going in the hot tub.











We started off with a delicious BBQ. Rick was the grill master and made some delicious meats. We had salmon marinated in soy sauce, butter, garlic, and honey, topped with a strawberry, cucumber, yellow pepper salsa which also had green onions, cilantro and rice vinegar. He also made some flank steak marinated in soy, honey, olive oil, garlic and red wine vinegar. We also had tri tip that was marinated in Omaha seasonings. It was a pot luck so we had some wonderful side dishes - potato salads, green salads, fruit salads, and brown rice salads. All was delicious. For dessert we had angel food cake with fresh cream and strawberries. It was a fun time. Athen had the time of his life and we were glad so many of our friends we able to join us.






On Sunday after church we headed to SJ to spend the day with grandpa O. We had a BBQ for dinner and enjoyed the sunshine in the backyard. Athen ran around the pool several times while Rick followed. The one time Rick decided he didn't need to follow was the one time Athen tripped and over the edge we went. Straight into the freezing cold water with all his clothes and shoes on. Although, he is pretty good at swim classes and is learning what to do when he falls in the pool, I think the cold water and all his clothes on shocked him a bit. He immediately tried turning onto his back which is what he is suppose to do. However, he still can't float on his back completely by himself yet so he started sinking. When that didn't work he started kicking his way up to the top to grab on to the edge which he is pretty good at doing. However, the edge was no where to be found. By this time Rick was in the water grabbing the poor little guy out. He sucked up a bunch of water and was a little scared. However, a few seconds later he was fine and happy as can be when grandpa showed up with a huge dump truck for him to play with.





This pictures is of Athen seconds before falling into the pool. The funny thing is while I was taking this picture the thought going through my mind was just that - this is Athen right before he falls in. I meant to document the whole thing but I think I was too frightened that my little guy had fallen in that I missed the photo opps afterwards.

After the pool incident we headed to the front yard for an Easter egg hunt. This was Athen's third for the weekend so by this time he was pretty good. Plus there were no other kids to steal any of the eggs. They were all for him. He is wearing his Jams in these photos because his wet clothes were in the drier.




We had a great Easter weekend!

Catch up

We have had a fun and busy last few weeks. Athen and I went to the Oakland zoo with friends. I thought he would like it a little more than he did. He likes animals and knows how to make different animal sounds so I thought he would enjoy it. He didn't seem to care too much about it, maybe the animals were too far away. He did like the reptile and amphibian room because they were close up and easy to see.




Over conference weekend Grandma and Grandpa B came into town. Athen had a blast and loved all the attention. He was showing off and dancing around the house. We have never seen him do that before. He LOVED the attention.

Friday night we went straight from the airport to San Francisco to pick up Ricky and go for some dinner. Rick took us to a delicious place in the Ferry building along the water called Hog Island Oysters. We had the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches (three kinds of french cheeses), oyster soup and clam chowder.

On Saturday morning we headed to the farmers market down the street from our house. We bought just about everything there. We bought greens, salad dressing, asian pears, dried fruit, honey orange almonds, honey raspberry almonds, fruit and nut mix, macaroons, peppered goat cheese, and dry jack cheese (so delicious). We headed to China town for some Vietnamese sandwiches at our favorite place - BC Deli. The men headed to priesthood while we headed to Trader Joe's. After priesthood the EQ came over to our place for an activity. They made liquid nitrogen ice cream. Rick was pretty excited about this activity and has been wanting to do it for awhile. I got to attend my first EQ activity. It was fun to watch them make the ice cream. There was about 20-25 people so it was a sucessful activity.










Rick used the left over liquid nitrogen to freeze some of the food in our fridge - cheese.

Sunday we watched conference and headed on a walk to the park and the lake. Athen had fun blowing bubbles, watching the ducks and playing on the playground. We made hot sandwiches for lunch with delicious bread, turkey, salame, swiss and dry jack. For dinner we had a delicious fresh salad from our goods at the farmers market along with Rick's favorite - homemade potstickers with coconut, shrimp, green onions, orange zest and cilantro. We played some games and then took Rick to the airport for a business trip.












It was a nice relaxing weekend and Athen was thrilled to spend it with his grandparents.

On Monday morning Athen and I headed to Livermore for swim class. Grandma and Grandpa B were able to come and watch on their way out of town to LA. Athen didn't do so good this week. He was fussy and distracted (we noticed one of his molars popped through that morning - poor little guy). Athen was sad to say good bye to his grandparents and has missed all the attention since.

We headed over to my mom's house for the day. My mom and I made homemade corn tortillas, shredded chicken, guacamole, and made tacos for lunch with all the fixins. We ate lunch on the back porch as Athen played around for a bit. We spent the day being lazy as well as doing some sewing. We made pillow cases for Athen as samples for my up coming RS meeting activity.





This is how Athen lets me know he is done eating - he sticks food in his ear or up his nose. What a cutie pie.


Athen loves his new Phil & Ted stroller. He makes vrrrrr vrrrrr noises and tries to get in while still in the house.


This is my big boy headed to play group with his lunch box. Isn't he precious!