one year, baby

Well it's been awhile since I posted, but nothing too exciting has been going on...except for THOMAS HAS BEEN OUT FOR ONE YEAR YESTERDAY! I'm so excited to get to this point. Wow. In a lot of ways it's gone by fast, but only because his letters are so awesome and he is loving his mission. I think that makes it so much easier for your family when they know you are happy and love what you are doing. It has been really hard though because I know that in a year when Thomas comes home, we won't be living there. It's hard to think about that. You bet I'll be there at the airport to see him though, but I will miss out on being around him a lot.
He has been such a great example to me this past year. I'm so grateful for the sacrifices he is making. I know it's not easy, but it's worth it. I love him so much.
This is quite an ugly picture of me, but I didn't get ready that morning he left, instead I followed him around and watched him. It was a really emotional morning for all of us; wow, that was a really hard day. I love my family, and I'm so grateful that we are close and have so much in common. We have our parents to thank because they are the best. I love you, Tom! Keep up the hard work! Recently my mom helped me recover this papasan chair for Jacoby's room. It was really fun to do, and I'm really glad my mom was so willing to help me. She has great taste, and I hope to have a beautiful home like them someday, but I know I'm not as good as she is. I definitely am really interested in decorating right now and look for ideas all the time. I will have to post pictures once we move and can hang things up on the wall because the house we're renting right now is for sale so we don't hang anything.
Jacoby has really liked this chair so far. I found him "reading" books in it the other day all by himself. He looked like such a big boy. I love being able to read him books in there before he goes to bed.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. It was really nice to have conference the same weekend of Easter; it just made it even more special. I always enjoy hearing from the prophet. Tyler's mission president is in the seventy now and he spoke in the last session of conference. His name is Gregory Schwitzer. Tyler was really excited to hear him speak.
Easter was also extra fun with Jacoby this year. We had several Easter egg hunts and he loved them because he thought they looked like balls. Ha ha. I even found some eggs that were sports balls. He got The Princess and the Frog, some books, and a bunch of candy. He ate way too many sweets on Easter, and so did I. Isn't Easter candy the best?
We had an Easter brunch with my family on Saturday in between sessions. We had lots of yummy food: brunch rolls, sour cream pancakes, fruit parfaits, hashbrowns, and eggs. (links to the recipes)
Later that day, us girls and our kids got together during the priesthood session. My mom had the idea to do a pizza party, so we ate pizza of course, made pizzas out of paper, made treat pizzas out of Rice Krispies, and read stories about pizzas. The kids loved it.
My parents got all the grandkids basketball hoops for Easter. Jacoby was thrilled to have another one, but Tyler's parents had just given us one, so we decided that we should switch it for something else. Thanks, dad, our apartment in Arizona will just be too small for 3 basketball hoops. :)
On Sunday after conference we went to Tyler's parent's to eat dinner. The food was really yummy. Jacoby got to do another Easter egg hunt and he loved getting more treats. We watched Sherlock Holmes with his parents and I highly recommend it.
I hope you all had a fun Easter/conference weekend.