Shane's Birthday

 Just another birthday for Shane.  He got to work lucky for him. :) After presents we were lucky enough to get a babysitter so we could go and watch a growth and development video.  YEA!! Brianna would have to watch it if we didn't go and see it and if we did go then we could opt out.  We thought it was important for us to view it before she did so we could see if it was appropriate and we would know what it was about so we could talk to her.

 His parents got him a new watch and ski googles.

 For his cake he wanted a cake with raspberries.  I looked around online for a cake with raspberries and this is the only one that I could find.  It was a orange and raspberry cake.  It was very sweet and the kids LOVED IT.  Ryker picked the candles for the cake.  Shane was fine being 21 again.

Easter 2012

 Oh the joy of Easter!  This year we decided that the kids would get their baskets after church.  They had a long wait because our church doesn't get out until 4.  In their baskets they had: coloring books, water squirters, notebooks, large Easter pens, fling a bug toy, a lego guy, a chocolate bunny and Robin eggs.  We figured that they would get enough candy from the grandparents that we didn't need to buy very much.

 We went through the eggs with the meaning of Easter.  The kids always love opening them and seeing what is inside.

 After we ate dinner we went for an Easter egg hunt in our back yard.  We hid about 175 eggs.  About half of them had candy and the other half had money.  The money that we didn't spend on candy we decided that we would put in the eggs for their piggy banks.

 The hunt is on.  Paige ended up finding the most.  Lauren and Ryker got a head start and then Paige and Brianna came out.  Brianna was taking it easy so the little ones would get eggs and Paige was just running around as fast as she could.

 Shane brought this tradition home from his mission.  You take a blown out egg and fill it with confetti and then make a wish and crack it over someone's head.  The kids all enjoyed that.

 Ryker ended up hitting Paige on the head multiple times before he broke it.  It was funny.  I wish that I would have recorded it.

 I was able to clean up most of it because I had them do it on the table cloth.  So- all I had to do is pick it up and shake it off.  Then I vacuumed it.  I thought that I had  gotten it all but I still seemed to be cleaning it up a few weeks later.

Coming home (spring break #3)

 As we drive back and forth on our trips we always seem to stop in the same places.  I wanted to make our short trip something that the kids would remember.  So- we stopped at a different travel center to look around and get dinner.  This travel center had a aquarium of all different types of trout.  The kids thought that was really interesting.

 This is just one of the tanks they had there.  If I can recall right I think there were about 5 different kinds of trout.  I did let the kids pick one thing from the gift section to get to remind them of our short but fun time.  Brianna got a stuffed polar bear, Paige got a key ring with her name on it, Lauren got a little fishing pole ( to remind her of the fish at the travel center) and Ryker got a race car.  The only kid that got something to remind them of the trip was Lauren.  I think the kids were really excited to get something because that never happens.

We saw these really funny sunglasses and had to get a picture with them.  I debated on buying them for the kids but they were$16.oo each.  CRAZY!  They all thought they were funny but I don't know if they would wear them  out in public.  :)  Brianna's flipped up.  They were SO FUNNY!  I remember sunglasses like this when I was little!

Spring Break in ID 4/12

I love going back home to visit my family.  We only got to spend two days with family and two days worth traveling.  It took us 10 1/2 hours to get  down there because of Reese.  She did great on the way back it was only     8 1/2  hours to get home.  We only had to stop once.  While we were there Lauren really enjoyed playing with Demi.  Reading books to her was one of the first activity we had.  Demi also loved to do up the buckle on the car seat and then would ask for someone to undo it for her and the cycle would start all over again.

We were treated to go out with my mom to Leo's Place while we were there. The kids loved it.  As you can tell Ryker was running around a ton and was very sweaty and his cheeks were red.

 

 Maddie was very nice and took care of Reese so I could get some stuff done.  You can tell she has a little sister.  Don't you love Lauren's teeth in the above picture!

 

 We also got to go out for lunch the second day there and the grand attraction was this GIANT elephant. 

 Ryker however just wanted to play with the guns.  It looks like he is going to shoot his own head.  On the day we were heading home we stopped at my mom's house and she had a little easter party for the kids.
They all had fun but we all decided that two full days there is just not enough time.  It was the first time any of them had seen Reese and that was the main reason I decided that it was worth the drive.  Thank you for putting up with all of us at your house Rena and Steve.

 

Spring break 4/3/12

Bri taking a break waiting for her friends to catch up

 End of Paige's first season, has been rocking the "monkey hat" all season

Girls making their way down the mountain.

 The Garza family spent the day with us: Aubrey, Oscar, and Ali.

 Evidence that men really do check maps.  :)

 Can't tell if they spent more time posing or going down the slopes.

Who says that you need sunscreen when you go skiing?  All three of them looked like this.  Shane and Paige were the worst.

Bri 3/12

Brianna thought this was really funny.  She asked Ryker if she had shrunk and he said, "YES."

Paige's Choir Concert

On March 8th Paige had her choir concert.  She had a great time.  It is fun to watch her perform.  We don't have any pictures of the actual concert because we video taped it all.  During her concert they sang, did a little dancing and she got to play xylophone

Here is a picture of some of her good friends.  Kate is in the white and Alaina is in the black.

This is her teacher.   We love her she will come to anything her kids invite her.  Brianna also had her and we hope that the rest of the kids will get her also.