Every year the fourth grade does a program at the end of the year. This program was called “Go West”. They have done it the last few years and the kids love it. Since Preston was a 4th grader this year he got to participate. He played Robert Fulton. It was fun to watch the kids. They did a good job with all of their parts and the music was great. I’m also a parent so I might be a little biased.
Preston as Robert Fulton
Our family likes to go on a small hike to kick off the camping/hiking season. In May we decided to hike the North Menan Butte. It’s about a mile up the butte. Over all we hiked about 3 miles. Sophia made it to the top and then Corey had to pack her around the rest of the way. She did pretty well for her first hike on foot. I have to say it was a little challenging, although it doesn’t look it, most times it felt like we were hiking straight up. It was a beautiful day to hike and once we reached the top we loved the view. At the top there are many different rock formations that the kids (and Corey) loved to climb around in and on.
The boys starting out up the butte
A nice little critter we saw along the trail
taking a rest
Beautiful spring flowers
Taking another rest
One of the many caves up the butte
Cute little hiker with her cute little backpack
Lunch time
The view from the rim
Corey climbing around on the rock formations. "I'm king of the Mountain"
Hiking back out of the caldera and then on down the butte
Today is my youngest 4th birthday. We had a small party in our backyard with a couple of her friends. It was so fun to listen to these kids. Half the time Corey and I were trying to understand their conversations and other times they were cracking us up. Oaklen couldn’t believe that my husband likes to melt marshmallows and put them on rice krispys. He just kept saying “Seriously”. I couldn’t stop laughing. Sophia had fun playing around with her friends and not having to share things with her older brothers. Tonight when the boys get home we will open family gifts so they can also join in the celebration. Sophia wanted a flower cake so I opted to go the cupcake route. I found a great idea with marshmallows on pintrest and the cupcakes turned out really cute.
Sophia and her goofy smile
Sweet Candice
Oaklen "seriously?!"
Oaklen's favorite thing to do
Candice on her way to the swings
Opening Presents
Flower cupcakes
Better light
When Sophia came into our lives she was three weeks early. She was the hardest pregnancy but the easiest to have. Once I got to the hospital she was here in a little less than an hour. Her and I have had a special bond ever since. I was worried about having a girl but I’m so thankful I have her in my life. She is such a sweetheart and I couldn’t imagine life with out her.
Me and my sweet baby girl. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIA!
I can’t believe that my little Preston is now 10! His birthday was April 23rd. I’m just so slow on getting things posted. I have so many things I want to blog about but can’t seem to get them on here fast enough. This year he wanted to go bowling. The Saturday before his birthday we had a bowling party for him. This was one of the easiest parties I’ve done so far. He invited 5 friends and we had a blast. Preston wanted a Tardis birthday cake. You may ask “what is a Tardis?” If you’re a fan of Doctor Who you’ll know what we are referring to. Otherwise it’s a time travelling machine. So Corey made the cake. I was actually surprised how many kids that he invited knew what a Tardis was. Along with cake the kids loved bowling. To make it more interesting they had to draw out of a hat and do what the paper said. For example bowl blindfolded. bowl laying down, do a silly dance, or bowl backwards. For Preston’s actual birthday we opened presents from family. This was a really special birthday for Preston because his grandma Tiffany was able to be here for it. We don’t get to see grandma very often so he was so excited to have her join us. I love Preston he is such a sweet and silly boy. I was watching him walk away and go to class the other day and for a small moment I was able to picture him as that small 2 year old that was my little buddy. It’s tough for me to believe that he is growing. He is still my buddy just not little anymore. He is always there to try and cheer me up when I’m sad or help out when I need it. I think the Lord really knew exactly what I needed when he sent this blessing to me. I’m so grateful for him and I’m excited to see where the future takes him. Now, If only I had a Tardis.
Getting ready for cake
Blowing out candles
Tardis Cake
Preston Bowling
Opening presents at home
Family picture after church
Okay, I know Easter was over a week ago, but I’m finally getting caught up on blogging. Next week is Preston’s birthday and I have to get caught up before then, right?!
I’m always forgetting to snap pictures so I only have a few of Easter. On Saturday we colored eggs and had them for breakfast on Easter morning. We have early church (9:00am) so after breakfast it was straight to church. After church we took a little family photo of us all pretty. Then we did our traditional Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Corey always does such a good job of hiding all the eggs. The kids were still finding some the next day. In the picture with the three kids Levi doesn’t look very happy. That’s because he thought his brother was finding all the eggs and he wasn’t getting any. Next year I think we’ll have to make up some rules so the boys don’t fight over the eggs.
Sophia finding eggs
The kids with their baskets
Sophia being silly
I love this time of year. It’s a great time to reflect on the Savior’s love for us. He sacrificed so much for each one of us. I’m so grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I love the Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart. I know it was for us that he suffered. I know that he did suffer for us so that we may someday return to him and be like him. What a great blessing to have him in our lives today.
Cool park we went to
Day 4 was technically the last day of our vacation. Day 5 was spent all day in the car on the way home and nothing exciting to write about. On this day we decided to take it easier than the others. We had a slow morning where the kids just played with old toys and us adults recouped from the previous day. After lunch we went to a park. You can see from the pictures that the play set was shaped as a barn. The kids liked that. We took some good pictures of the kids playing. We spent at least an hour there if not more.
This was Sophia's favorite. A rocking chicken.
All of the kids loved this. They called it the twirling toilet.
I think he is getting a little big for this
Corey even got in on the action
Corey and his cool ride
Kids just hanging on
Mmmm... ice cream
Sophia enjoying her cone
Coloring with Nammi
Things have been really busy and I’ve gotten so behind on blogging. Well the second part of day three for our spring break in Colorado started with lunch. There is a park between the museum and the zoo. We had packed a lunch and decided to eat at the park. It’s still early in the season so there were no picnic benches. Preston wasn’t keen about sitting on the ground. He had determined that the ground was covered in goose poo. Luckily Nammi had brought a table cloth and had the kids sit on that. There was a sprinkler on next to us that sometimes seemed to creep up on us. We ended up moving a few feet so we wouldn’t end up with a shower. There were, however, some kids playing in the sprinkler. I was proud my kids resisted the urge to run through it.
After Lunch we walked over to the Denver Zoo. It’s a lot bigger then our own zoo here in Idaho Falls. There are so many pictures but I think I’ll have to cut it down to just a few to show you. We got there around 1:00 in the afternoon. Just in time for it to really heat up. I was really thankful I brought the kids some water. Corey carried Sophia just about the whole time. When there was a big crowd Levi had the best seat in the house on top of Nampa’s head. We spent about 5 1/2 hours at the zoo. By the end we were all tuckered out. We ended our day with a dinner out at some fancy Italian restaurant. Needless to say on our way home we had 3 sleeping kids.
One of my favorite exhibits. The giraffes.
The kids liked th sea lions.
One of the many exotic fish exhibits. Levi taking a seat where ever he can.
The Kamodo Dragon
For Corey, the red panda or the real "firefox"
Our tour guide. This peacock lead us through a good section of the park.
One of the many exotic bird exhibits.
One of the many, many benches that let us park our derrières.
Walking through the zoo. Getting to the end.
Denver's Museum of Nature and Science
Day three started here at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Day three was so busy I had to split it into a couple of post. This museum is huge. We didn’t go here to tour the museum though. That’s going to have to be another trip. We did, however, go here to see an IMAX 3-D movie. The movie that we watched was “Flying Monsters.” This movie was about the tarasaur. This is the first 3-D IMAX movie that our little family has ever been to. The first impression I had was wow this is really neat. The second impression was we should do this more often. Then things began to change about 30 minutes in I started to get a little motion sick. By the time it ended my vertigo was off and I felt nauseated. The kids loved it but my first and second impressions were quickly dismissed by the end. They can go again but I think I might have to pass.
The escaltor in the museum
the entrance into the theater
Waiting to be let in the theater
Sitting in the theater
Sophia with her 3-D glasses on
The museum has a little discovery center around the corner from the theater. After the show we decided to take the kids in there to explore a little. They had fun with all the cool stuff to do. One of our favorites was the wall with mirrors on it. Preston enjoyed making his arm look like a wing. There was a skinny mirror that I wouldn’t mind having in my bedroom.
Sophia playing with some blocks
Levi and Grandpa doing the smelling test
Preston our paleontologist
Preston making his arm a wing at the wall of mirrors
This year, since we are having great weather, we decided to go visit Corey’s parents for spring break. The first day we spent most of it in the car. Usually the drive is about 10 hours. This time we wanted to go through Utah to hand off some baby stuff to Corey’s brother and his wife. We left at 6:30am and got to Orem by 10:30am. We got to talk and go out to lunch with Russell and Hannah. She looks so cute with her little baby bump. It was so nice to clean out our storage area and get rid of most of the baby stuff. By 12:30pm we were back on the road. Colorado here we come. We stopped in Echo canyon and Corey tells me that his 3rd great aunt was named after the canyon because she was born there while migrating with the pioneers. So we had to stop and take a picture. We also got to see some ground squirrels up close. We did finally make it to Greeley Colorado by 9:30pm. We were tired and it didn’t take us long to get settled.
Echo Canyon rest area
Ground squirrel
Echo Canyon
Day two was a blast. Corey’s parents had to work for a few hours that day so we decided to go to the family funplex in Greeley. We didn’t bring the camera because we were afraid it would get wet. This place had a zero depth water play area, a lazy river, a couple of big slides and a normal swimming area. We all had a blast playing in the water. It was easy to spend a few hours there. When we got back we ate some lunch and walked over to Nammi’s work to pick her up. We went for a walk around the park. That is when we noticed how nice and warm it was. It ended up being in the upper 70s. By the time we made it back to grandma and grandpa’s we were pooped. Corey and Sophia took a nice nap in the recliner. The boys had fun playing with all the old/new to them toys. These toys were toys that Corey played with when he was a kid. We thought this was a great day and so much fun.
Preston playing with an old set of bricks (lego type toys)
Levi climbing into the large cabinet full of toys
Sophia playing with an old farm set
Daddy and his little girl taking a nap.
I think it is sad how more letters are being emailed/posted every year. I love to display the letters we get on our hall wall. It has been a really fun tradition that I have carried on from my childhood. Unfortunately last year we received so few letters that I didn’t even hang the line up. I made it work this year but it seems it’s starting to look more and more pathetic each year. I know it’s easier to send via email or other electronical means. So I really appreciate all those who took the time to send us a card this year.
I did send out letters this year to a select few. I like to make my own cards and it can be very time consuming. I had only made 26 this year so I’m very sorry if you didn’t receive one. I try and send a letter to all those who sent me one the year before but inevitably we always miss one or two people. So if you didn’t get one from us this year here is the link to a copy of the letter that went out with the cards. I’m sorry and I’ll try and send one for you next year. Although if you follow this blog you probably already know everything that is going on in our lives so this might be a repeat. I hope you all have a very wonderful Christmas.
