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!

Another one?

Kelcie came home from school today laughing about her other tooth feeling so loose and her teacher teasing her that "what if you lost that one today?" Well, withing 10 minutes, she lost her second tooth! Crazy that they both came out within like 24 hours! She's loving it!

It feels so cool and funny that she talks with a little lisp - I let it go for a few days, and then I had to inform her that "s's" use your top teeth, and she still has those! :) She looks SO CUTE!

Family Birthdays

We usually celebrate birthdays with my family on Sunday evenings, and since this Sunday was right between Talin and Jamie's birthdays, they celebrated together!

The cake!

When the grandkids turn 12, my parents give them a tent - Jamie has been waiting and excited for years!!! Of course, she set it up right away!

This was where we found her later than night reading a book :)

Happy Birthday, Talin and Jamie - to come........

Kelcie's tooth!

So, Kelcie is almost seven and hasn't even had loose teeth yet, which is normal for some, but late for our family! Well, a few weeks ago they were actually started to get a little loose if you tried hard. Yesterday morning, she woke up and came down saying her tooth felt funny and was really loose. Sure enough, it was REALLY LOOSE overnight!!! Strange! And, true to our family, the new one was growing in behind it. Today, at church, she showed me it was about to fall out! I asked her - please wait til we get home so you don't lose it! So, after church, she tried for a minute and then asked me to pull it out - it was very ready! So, she finally lost her first tooth - one VERY excited little girl!!! And, I think the one next to it will be in a few days!

Talin's birthday party

So, we had a little birthday party for Talin yesterday. Sorry, there's lots of pictures, but I wanted to show all the things we did!

These are the cute little candy tractors we made for the party favors - I saw them on the internet like 2 years ago and have been wanting to do them ever since! Talin LOVES tractors, so it was perfect! Getting ready for the party - they buried him in balloons!

Marble Painting - huge hit!

Uncle Brian's Bounce House filled with balls - so fun!

Playing

Car, Car, Tractor aka duck, duck, goose

Racecar aka follow the leader

OH - they did red light-green light, too - forgot that picture.

Balloon fun - loud music and balloons, what could be better?

Opening presents - they were supposed to be sitting on the blanket!

Cupcakes

Blowing out his candles

Fun presents!

O.k., I had to put this picture in because if you look at Talin in the middle front, this is about how he was feeling the whole party! I was so frustrated with him - mostly because I've done this before with other kids and didn't want to do it with him! I really didn't expect it from him, either - he's so easy going! But, I think too much attention for too long got to him. It's o.k., we made it through and I think everyone had fun - including him!

The cute group making silly faces

Fun party!!! And, this felt like the easiest group of kids we ever did a party with!!! I'm not sure why! Maybe because the backyard is bigger and they could just play without wanting to go inside or want more to do? I don't know - but, it was great! AND, FYI, it's AWESOME having older kids to help out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Driving me.......

O.k., no picture for this.....yet. Erin got her Driver's Permit today - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! She can't possibly be old enough to drive, right? She was determined to get it on the exact day she could - which just so happened to be during her Spring Break, so it worked out. She studied and was so nervous to not pass the test (teasing from friends), but she did great! Now, we have to teach her how to drive! I have to be honest, it's a little scary..........but, she does really well. Faced with that problem of wanting her to have as much experience as she can before she's on her own, and letting her drive! Anyway, wish us luck!

Talin's 4!!!!

Today was Talin's 4th Birthday!!!! I can't believe he's four, and yet he's been four in my mind for months now.

He had a good birthday! He got a Penguin Pillow Pet (he specifically asked for), an RC car (he specifically asked for), books, and a Mariokart T-shirt.

Talin at 4:

Favorite color: Green

Favorite food: Spagettios!

Favorite toys: cars, trucks, tractors, trains

Favorite movies: Cars, Wall-E

Favorite shows: Go Diego Go!, Umi-Zumi, Bubble-Guppies

Youth Conference

Soooooo.......Our Stake had a Youth Conference this weekend. Last Sunday, they got a "mission call" and then they met on Thursday night with their different "missions". Erin was in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Mission. Well, Friday afternoon, they had some fun and then went to play in the mud..........really.

I don't know if they had any fun......... Saturday afternoon, they learned how to teach as missionaries and got to go teach a couple families. Then, they ended Sunday afternoon with a Testimony Meeting and a dinner to break their missionary fast. I'm sure there was A LOT more to it, but that's what I can remember. The Stake did such a wonderful job - I can't imagine all the work that went into it! And, it was really fun that Lafe just happens to be in Young Men's so he was able to be there with Erin.

Spring Break!!!

Spring Break was filled with a little Spring Cleaning - at least we got the bedrooms done. Lafe took off the end of the week, so we had a little fun.
On Thursday, we went to the Science Museum - we've wanted to get a membership there for about 11 years -no joke - so we finally did it!!! We had a great time. Sorry, the only picture is on Lafe's phone - hopefully I'll still get it on here :)
On Friday, we went to the ZOO!!! Lafe's sister had a pass to get us all in - yeah!!! It was great weather and really fun.

Ethan, Jamie, Laura, Erin

Kelcie, Helen, Talin

Jamie

Helen, Kelcie

Laura

Some of our favorites:

Koalas - they leave next week and we LOVED being able to see them!!!
Jaguar - I love big kitties - I just want to snuggle up next to them and take a nap!
Galapagos Turtles - we got feeding time!
This little bunny was so tiny - you can't tell because of the zoom - and was living with the turtles. Laura fell in love.....
Squirrel Monkies are always a favorite - you get to walk in among them and they're so tiny jumping everywhere.

The rest of Spring Break was filled with Youth Conference........more to come.......