EASTER FUN!!

Easter this year fell at such a weird time. Too close to Graces Birthday to focus too much on it, and with no church services, I was lazy with the Easter Outfits (which is so unlike me). But we still had some great family time! Coloring eggs is always the funnest part! We had so much fun coloring them this year. Everyone had fun trying to out color the others! We ended up with some really vivid colors:) I can't believe how quickly we colored 6 dozen eggs:)

Finding the eggs was fun in the COLD!! But at least we didn't have snow! At least that's what we kept telling ourselves:) We loved spending the day together hanging out, adding our new Webkinz, EATING!, and going to Andys parents for dinner! The kids always love having a little cousin time on the holidays! Happy Easter Everyone!

This picture of Spencer is the best! They always get scratchits in their Easter baskets... The older kids have figured this out and look forward to getting them! This year was so funny... they all tore into theirs and didn't win anything... then they talked Dallin into doing his and Dallin won 15 dollars... Didn't make the older kids very happy:) Made us laugh because Wyatt was totally unaware of what was going on:) Fun day!

Happy Birthday Grace!!

We made cupcakes for her class, since I have quit preschool I can do this kind of thing, everyone else has always had store bought ones:) Her teacher gave her the birthday crown and she was the happiest girl in the WORLD! A cupcake and a crown, what else could a girl want on their Birthday!!! :)



I can't believe she is 7!!! When did that really happen! Happy Birthday to the cutest 7 year old in the world! Grace is my super loving little one! She leaves me sweet notes all over the house telling me she loves me! Grace is the organized one. Generally if we are out and need something, she will have it! She loves to just hang out and doesn't have a lot of expectations or demands... just loves to be together! Grace loves anything pink, loves being with her friends, loves talking! She is my jump roper, and would jump rope ALL OF THE TIME, if I would let her! She is so kind and thoughtful, almost to a fault. She loves to make others happy and will do anything to hopefully make them that way (worries me sometimes:)). Grace, Happy Happy Birthday sweet princess Girl! Thanks for all of the loves and for being so happy and cheerful! We love you!

Portland Shamrock Run 2010

This year for Jeffs Birthday (in December), Andy and I bought him registration for the Shamrock run! We were so excited to have a fun weekend with him!! The weekend finally got here and we had so much fun! Of course it was a week before school finished up, so we all had homework hanging over our head;) Ashleigh decided to come with us at the last minute, so unfortunately registration was closed, but we still got to spend time together, which was so fun!
Andy drove us there very efficiently (is that the right word for fast and furious:)) giving us plenty of time the first night there to call Beth and have dinner together. We went to Macaroni Grill and had wonderful food and company! Then back to the room to crash! It was Daylight Savings Time the next morning so we needed lots of sleep!
The next morning was just beautiful! The sun was shining and there was NO RAIN! We had such a great time running! The boys took pity on me and ran with me, which made it super fun for me!! The course was a bit hilly, but it always makes it for some interesting running, instead of boring flat terrain! It's also fun to run with 22,000 other people. Keeps you motivated and entertained for sure:) My favorite part was a turn that we took and you could see waves of people running... It truly always is such a great feeling to see that many people doing something hard, and accomplishing it! Even though lots of people do it faster and make it look easy, it still is hard! So much fun to be a part of it! And a beautiful day to enjoy the green scenery! What a fun day! We are so grateful for Jeff letting us spend his Birthday Gift with him!

The view out our hotel room window Sunday morning! It was truly a beautiful day!!

I can't tell you how much we adore these women! They are so much fun to be around and such inspirational women!! We had such a great night together!

This is my favorite two pictures. This is a picture of the start of the 15K, see the people all ready to go, readying their watches to time their run perfectly... So serious and ready for a hard run!!

So here is the picture of the group that we were in. They have you line up according to your pace, since there are so many runners! So they would let a wave of people go, then we would wait, then more would go... on and on! So, here is our group, with the sign showing "SLOW"! Really? We weren't that slow, come on!! Cut us some slack!! Notice we all don't have on the short shorts and no one is setting their watches! Made me laugh!!!

Red to Red Bike Race

Andy competed this year in the Red to Red bike race in Echo Oregon. It is a 27 mile mountain bike race. They have two different races. 20 miles, or 27 miles. In order to race in the 27 mile ride they had to register as a Category 1 racer, which he had never done before. It was such a beautiful day for a race in March, sun was shining and it was fairly warm out. The poor little town of Echo is just tiny, and then has 300 bikers and family members bombard the quiet town! Andy did so well and finished in less time than his goal! I was so proud of how well he did! He actally finished faster than he had told me, so I missed his finish line picture since I thought I had another half hour! I really love watching him compete, he does such a great job on his bike, and has fun doing it!

Hearts in Motion Competition

We love going to the Hearts in Motions Competition in Pendleton! They really know how to put on a show over there! Kyndalls group was so ready for the competition, and they are old enough now that they have a fun time together and can be pretty independant. The younger groups always are more like babysitting, but as helper moms this year, it was SO much fun! The girls did a great job and won 2nd place in their Junior Large Group division. In reality they competed against girls much older than them, so we were so proud of them! They dance to a cut of the new version of FAME! Such a fun dance to watch:) And of course it's just so fun to watch all of the other groups dance. Fun to see the diversity and talent in the state.

Sleeping in the snow!

February always marks the month when the boys sleep in snow caves for the Boy Scout Klondike Derby. They look forward to it so much! It begins on Presidents day, spending the day at Anthony Lakes digging the snow caves and making camp. Then they go back that following Friday and stay over night! They cook dinner in the snow, try to avoid their clothing and food from freezing in the horrible cold weather. Spencer ended up getting horribly sick on the Thursday of the week and ended up not getting to go camping. But he had so much fun digging the caves. They built their camp so that all of the cave were built kind of in a bowl. Their 7 caves opened to the middle where they all spent their evening eating and visiting. This ended up working rreally well due to the face that the wind was super strong and being inside of the bowl, they were protected from the wind. Wyatt had a great time on the Saturday day activity. The boys got to cross country ski. Wyatt had a great time skiing. I think he is now hooked on cross country skiing, but then again, Wyatt loves anything outside!
As mom, I am always so relieved when they get home safe! But it is always a bonus when they had a great time as well. Not many people can have a WONDERFUL time in 10 degree weather:)

Surfin in the USA

Grace's dance team danced at the EOU game this month! They are all so cute! Her class is full of little 5 to 7 year olds. Her dance teacher is seriously my hero! That is a lot of work to keep them working hard and doing such a great job! They danced to the Beach Boys - Surfin in the USA, which is so funny, cuz they had never heard the song and don't LOVE this dance, but the audience so loves it! The outfits were not foofy enough for Miss Grace! But I think they were super cute and fit the dance so well!!! She has so many fun friends in this group of girls, makes it really fun for her to be involved in dance.