3rd trip to Utah in 3 months

 I just got back from a trip to Utah with our youth conference. At the "This is the Place" park, we each got to make three crafts. It was perfect to bring one home for each of the kids. Nate is crazy about his arrowhead necklace I made for him. He told me he would wear it for his whole life. I also have to point out Nate's tie I got at the consignment store for $2.50. Best deal for the coolest tie ever. It has lizards and snakes on it.

 This summer the girls made a goal to make dinner once a week. They trade off being the head chef and sous chef. I didn't get a picture of Ashlyn's meal last week. She made Chinese chicken salad and Sadie made muffins. For Sadie's turn, she made alfredo sauce from scratch since that's one of her favorite foods. They did such a great job putting the meal together and I love the help!

 Nate has a few pairs of pajamas that he loves but are getting too small. So we decided to pull out the scissors and cut off the feet. Nate was so excited about them. And now they can fit for a few more months!

 The kids have had a blast making their own mail system with our neighbors. They tied string from a tree in our yard to our neighbor's deck. They attached a box to the string. They take turns writing notes and sending messages in the box. Sometimes a note is waiting for them when they get home and they get so excited to go find a new message! It is so fun to watch! They have spent hours creating and recreating this  contraption.

Nate and I were both sad to be apart from each other for 4 days. He made this note for me before I left. In case you can't read it all:
Mom don't go. Don't go. If you do I will not let you go. Love Nate. I will save this note forever. Then when I got home, he hardly looked at me to say hi because he was just dying to show me the lego magazine that just came in the mail with Lord of the Ring LEGOS! The kids are so excited about the new legos and have big wish lists for their birthdays!

Utah Trip

 Nate performing with his class. They were being "pi pirates" and sharing the pi formulas they learned!

 We had a fun weekend in Utah for my cousin's wedding. We met up with Mom and Dad and got to spend the weekend with them. Ash, Sadie and Nate put on a Mother's Day program for us at Brigham Young's "This is the Place" monument. It was perfect weather and a beautiful spot for an outdoor program. Nate wanted my help for his solo so here we are, with Nate sitting on my lap while he sang.

 Nate was so excited to read a book to Grandma and Grandpa on webcam. I thought he would just read a couple pages but he insisted on reading the whole book. G and G were so nice to listen so intently to Nate!

 The girls and I did matching waterfall braids in our hair for church last week.

 Sadie dancing with my cousin at the wedding. They had soooo much fun together!

 Nate packed his BYU shirt to be sure to match with Grandpa! We called them the BYU buddies!

 Ash acting out a poem she wrote for me for Mother's Day.

 I thought this sign on the rock couldn't have been more perfect for the kids to do their Mother's Day program. It just seemed fitting since I have angels on both sides.

 The girls singing "Have I Done Any Good?"

I burst out in laughter (during the girls' sweet singing) when I looked over and saw Nate shooting us with his home made gun. Such a boy and I love it.

General Conference Week

It is so fun to live closer to Utah and to be able to hop over pretty easily. I think we've been there 3 times since we've lived here. We were able to get tickets to conference and were able to stop in and see lots of friends and family while we were there.

We were able to see our great friends from our Georgia days. They held Nate the day he was born and our kids hadn't seen each other since '08. The kids put plays together and playing huckle buckle beanstalk was a highlight! What fun we had and we look forward to our next get together!

I moved into the ward when I was 5. Shauna and I have been friends ever since. In some ways it seemed like nothing had ever changed...until we looked in the back of the car with kids everywhere! Just a few changes. We had so much fun getting together! Thanks for having us even though you were just a couple weeks from your due date!
On our walk back to the car from conference there were so many pretty flowers out that we had to keep stopping to take pictures!

Nate has turned into quite the monkey. One day I turned around and found Nate on top of the car.

Jack, skiing, and a bow and arrow

We got a new crate for our growing Jack. The first night, Nate wanted to get in the crate with Jack. They fell asleep so quickly. Nate sure loves having a buddy in his room. The other night I went in to say goodnight to Nate and he was having a full conversation with Jack. He was telling him that when Jack gets big, Nate will ride on his back. They will ride through the forest and Nate will slice off the coyote heads while Jack gets the other animals. Yikes. But...I really loved hearing Nate talk to Jack like a good, good friend.

We squeezed in two ski trips this spring. We were so glad Sage could come with us. Sage and Sadie were such fun ski buddies together. Ash was true to form and wanted to take the more cautious and careful route for skiing. I was so proud of her for trying so hard at something that didn't come easily to her. Once Nate decided he wanted to ski all by himself, he took off. It was fun to watch him fly down that mountain trying so hard to balance.

Dave helped the kids each make their own bow and arrow. They had so much fun making these. Ash sewed a quiver for Nate to hold his arrows.

Ashlyn as Abigail Adams

Ashlyn had a big report to write up on Abigail Adams. Along with the report, she had to give a 6 minute presentation in first person, describing things about her character, and then at the end the class had to guess who she was. All of the kids dressed up like their character. It was such a fun day at school! Ash did a great job.
The week before Ashlyn's presentations we were practicing curlers in their hair (and how many we would need to get Ashlyn's hair in ringlets!) so we did curlers for church.

Happy Birthday Ash!

Birthday kisses for the birthday girl.
Nate and Sadie spent a long time making special birthday cards for Ash. Nate wanted to explain every bit of his note and drawing to Ash.
We surprised Ash on the morning of her birthday and told her that we were taking her to get her ears pierced. She was shocked and so excited and I think it made the whole day that much more fun! She kept saying "I can't believe I'm a girl with my ears pierced!"
Ash chose a chocolate mint cake with chocolate mint frosting. She has an "A" of Andes Mints on her cake. And she wanted to light her own candles! Hard to believe we have an 11 year old girl!

Sledding

What fun we had sledding when Mom came to town! We hurried to snap a picture by the car before we hit the hill, but if we had moved over just a bit, we would have had a spectacular view of the mountains! Oh well!