First Hike of 2021-Bell Canyon

Last Saturday, Rob had a hike planned with his Young Men's group.  He couldn't find another adult leader to go with him so I came with all the kids.  Then as we were supposed to be leaving, he got a call from a guy in the neighborhood saying he could come with.  By that point we were already all ready and the kids were excited about hiking so we ended up going with them.   It's a good thing the other guy was there because he went ahead with the boys and Rob, and I stayed back with the girls.  Finley wanted to stop at every pebble and flower and the other girls enjoyed finding and pointing out lots of nature.  So it was good that the Young Men didn't have to lag behind with us.  We ended up making it to the waterfall, staying for a bit and then heading back down.  The boys all stayed and shot wrist rockets and then headed back. We only beat them to the car by about 5 minutes, so it worked out perfectly.  

I had to document Riley's hiking outfit.  Note the long socks over her jeans.  :)

Before we started the hike.  Finley wore that backpack for about 10 minutes and then Riley had to carry it the rest of the way.

At the lake. 

One of the things the girls stopped me to look at.  Then they wanted a picture. The rock was so big!

Beautiful.

Us girls on the trail back.  Finley took a little spill but she recovered alright after I had the brilliant idea to start calling her "Romeo" from her favorite show PJ Masks.  Then she pretended to be him the rest of the way down.  I was lots of different characters.  Anything to help her keep walking!  :)

Hopefully we will be able to go on lots more hikes this summer!

 

All Riley wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth.

Riley lost 2 teeth. this last week.  One of them came out and the other was being stubborn.  

She got the first one half way out and then ran to the mirror to look at it.  She was so excited.  Then she came back to the living room and pulled it out.  

Cute smile.

Then about 4 days later Riley got brave and let Rob really yank on her tooth.  He got it partially out and then she did the rest.  

Her grown up tooth was partially grown in behind the baby tooth.  She is so happy she got both of those teeth out.  

 

Zac is 11

Zac had a birthday!  He turned 11 on April 26th and we had a little birthday party where he invited some friends over and they watched a fun movie and ran around outside until it got dark!  They were literally running around the front and back of the house for a long time.  It was so fun to watch.  I love seeing my kids with their friends.  I realized as I was watching Zac interact with his buddies that he is turning into a really great human being.  Not that he wasn't already...I just realized he is learning and growing and it made me really happy seeing him make sure all of his friends were included and feeling welcome.  It's one of those proud parent moments.  

Bright and early surrounded by his presents and sisters. 

Cake and ice cream.  He is pretty much always the one who lights the candles...even on his own cake!

Isn't he handsome?

Happy birthday!

He got a couple nerf guns and some sprite and a basketball.

It was also National Pretzel day on his birthday.  So I made these peperoni and parmesan cheese pretzels.  They were yummy.  We had them with his birthday dinner.  He chose Ramen.  ha ha.

He was so excited for a whole 2 liters of sprite for himself!

Here are all the boys he invited over (minus one who came late)  Like I said, It was so fun to see him with his buddies...and to realize how good of a kid he is.  

We love Zac!!

 

2021 Piano recital for my granparents.

 We were able to get up and visit my grandparents after about a year of not seeing them!  We came and visited them and the kids brought their instruments and put on a recital for them.  It was really good to be with them again.  They always have fun things to say and the kids like to get attention from family other than us.  

The kids all got a song ready and performed it for them.  They did a great job.  I'll post a video of each of the kids performing their piece.  

My grandparents always come out and stand on the porch when we leave.  We all wave goodbye and blow them kisses.  We love them!  

Easter 2021

Easter 2021

We woke up bright and early on Easter morning.  Well, the kids did.  So I came out and hung out with them while Rob slept in for a while.  I started making some cinnamon rolls, and told the kids that when I got to the point where they needed to rise, I would go wake Rob up and we could check the backyard for Easter eggs.  Finley was so excited!  

The kids waited patiently and we finally woke Rob up.  The rule is that the little kids get to go out like 30 seconds before everyone else.  So they get a little head start.  The funny thing is that Finley got stuck on the first thing she saw and so she didn't get much of a head start. The kids were great though and helped her find eggs.  

Look at the excitement on her face.  I love it.  Also, look at the amazing plants that Rob is growing.  There's lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  

Emery got the one on top of the dome.  She guessed there would be one there before we even went outside.  She was right!

Oldest and youngest.  Sadie was so nice and made sure Finley got enough eggs.

Checking out what candy they got.  

After that we got cozy and watched conference.  It was a great way to celebrate Easter.  I'm so grateful that Christ lives and loves us all.  

I had exactly one activity for the kids to do over conference weekend.  They got to make these cereal rainbows with donut clouds.  They turned out so cute.

Happy Easter!

 

2021 Easter Egg Bash

We invited some friends over for our annual Easter Egg Bash this year.  It's always fun trying to explain the rules to people who have never heard of it before.  They just kinda look at you and say "this should be interesting!"  But then they always end up having fun.  :)  

I think this is the first year we had zero tears when people were eliminated.  It was awesome.  We had good food, company, and a good competition.  We ended up having a few double crackers (where both eggs cracked) and Fernando (who ended up winning the whole thing) was using his son's egg.  So he let his son take the trophy.  

Good looking group.

Emery vs. Victor.

Finley vs. Mateo.

Riley vs. Zac

Sharon vs. Emery

Victor holding the trophy.  His dad (who did the egg rolling) didn't even get to touch the trophy (Golden egg).  Ha ha. 

The final match was between these two.  Sadie almost won.  She had to lose twice for Fernando to win.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.  Poor Sadie.  She was so close to the golden egg.  

Until next year!

 

Visitors from AZ

My brother, his wife and son Cade and my dad came up for a visit and got to stay with us!  We love having visitors.  My dad mostly stayed with his parents but we got to see him for a day or so.  Finley was in heaven as always!  We especially loved having a baby around.  He was a busy boy but he was so happy and pleasant the whole time he was here.  

See how happy he is!  Sadie put a hair bow in his hair while his parents were gone.  I'm not sure how happy Scott will be with this, but it was cute. 

We went to my grandparent's house for a quick visit.  They have gotten the covid shot so we felt ok visiting them.  It had been about a year since I had made it up there.  I'm glad we got to see them.  

Cade snuggled up to my grandpa.  It was really cute.

Nothing better than baby smiles!

Finley snuggled with me on the rocking chair.

Then she sat with grandpa for a bit.  

When grandpa was at our house, she was always close by.  Here she is helping him fix our remote control car.  

She pushed all the right buttons when he needed her to.  

Then he agreed to play stuffed animals with her.  I don't know if he knew what he was getting himself into.  He was there for probably almost an hour!  

Then he showed Zac how to solve the Rubix cube.  Zac caught on really quick!

One of the days we went to wheeler farm with Scott, Christie and Cade.  It was pretty windy, and cold so we didn't last too long.  BUt it was fun to see the animals.  

Riley especially loved Cade.

This was minutes after grandpa arrived.  She just talked his ear off!  

THanks for coming guys!!