Happy Easter!!!!!

Yesterday we colored eggs.......LOTS of eggs!

Laura
Jamie

Talin coloring before the dye-ing

Kelcie

Easter Morning!

Talin came in early and told me he thought the Easter Bunny had come. So, I said, "yeah, how come?" "Cause there's eggs everywhere, Mom!" (Easter Egg Hunt) Poor kid, we made him lay in bed with us for 45 minutes before we let him wake up the others! (Hey, the Easter Bunny was up late last night!) Fun Easter!!!

Kittens!

Our cat Zoe had kittens! It's really hard to capture a cute picture, so we'll have to get some more as they get older. She had one calico girl, and a tiger striped boy.

Percy
Splatters

Snuggles

Lesson learned from a Bicycle

Sooooooo............I've been wanted to ride my new bike forever. I finally got the chance a few weeks ago and yesterday and wanted to share some lessons I learned: 1. The big hills you can see are often easier than the little ones you can't - hmmmmm, life lesson here? 2. The nice thing about cycling is that you have to make it back home - so you can't stop = good exercise! 3. It's REALLY hard to ride INTO the wind! Surprisingly hard!!! 4. It's nice to give yourself permission to slow down, in a sense, for an hour because your can't multi-task on a bike. 5. When listening to an audio book, it's definitely o.k. to laugh out loud :) 6. I need a better seat, padded bike shorts, or BOTH! The nerve between my compressed disks has been SCREAMING all day!!! 7. Sometimes it hurts more to stop and get off the bike than just continuing to ride - ouch!

Poetry and Essay Contest

Every year our school has a big Poetry and Essay contest with all the grades at all the campuses. This year we had 2 winners!!! Jamie won 2nd place for her essay on America, and Kelcie wond 2nd place for her poem! And, just because I want to, here they are: Kelcie's poem:

Visit to Utah

Looks like snowy hills around me.

Feels like my heart is freezing inside.

Tastes like hot chocolate burning in my mouth.

Smells like people roasting hotdogs behind the hills.

Sounds like people playing outside in the snow.

Jamie's essay:

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me" - Lee Greenwood. As Americans we are happy to know that we are free. Some of the things that remind me of that freedom are the flag, our choices, and even the laws from which we are governed.

Every time I look at the flag my heart swells as I think of all the people who risk their lives for our freedom. Most people in other countries cannot say, "I love being free!" But, we can! We can do many things in America because of our freedom. The American flag is a great reminder of American's freedom.

Another thing that reminds me of freedom is the choices we have. Americans can choose to have an education so they can get a good job, work hard and become wealthy. Another important thing that we can do is choose our leader. Does it have to be someone with royal blood? No. We have the right to vote for who we believe is a great leader. Choices are one of the many things that remind us of freedom.

Even though we are free we still have laws. Laws are very imoratnt in America because they are what keep us safe. Some Americans feel infringed upon because we have laws. I believe having laws is a very important thing because if we did not, chaos would ensue. People would be too scared to leave their houses. We do not get to do everything we want because we all have laws but things need to be kept balanced.

The flag, our choices, and our laws are only three of the many things that remind us of freedom inAmerica. I think that our choices are the most significant because we have the ability to control our destinies. We are all proud to be Americans where at least we know we are free forever!

Laura was also entered into the contest by her teacher - she did a great job, too!

Utah!!!

We have a tradition that when our kids turn 12 they get to go up to Utah for General Conference - it just so happens that Jamie's birthday was actually ON Conference this year - Lucky! So, we flew up Friday morning and enjoyed the sites in Salt Lake:

View from the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

South side of the Temple

Standing by the handcart that Grandpa Allan made and donated to the Church History Museum (we think, it doesn't have a sign anymore, but it looked like his)

By the Christus in the North Visitor Center

Inside the Conference Center!

Outside the Conference Center waiting for my brother to bring us lunch :)

This was where we stopped to finish our lunch before the second session on Saturday. It was so pretty, and Jamie thought we should get a picture. Sorry, the pictures aren't the greatest - all I took was my cell-phone. We had SO much fun and it was fun to visit with my brother and his family. Really fun tradition!!!

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

Happy Birthday, Jamie!!!

She's 12!!!!!!!!!!!! She actually got to open her presents a day early because one of them was a gift card to Deseret Book that she could use in Utah........more to come. I think her only request was the Just Dance 2 Wii game.

This is what the kids made for her when we got back - on her actual birthday.

We're so excited for you to be in Young Women's!!! Although, your parents are having a hard time believing we have 3 in mutual now!