Happy Easter!

The kids had a fun morning searching for their baskets before we headed off to church. No pictures of their outfits as we hurried out the door so we could have time to walk instead of driving. Maren wore her new white shirt and matching skirt she got from the Easter bunny. However after church she thought it was a great idea to dig in the dirt with her new outfit on. So much for a new white shirt with no stains! We had Grammy, Pops, Uncle Joel, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Sue, and their 3 kids over for dinner. The kids enjoyed playing together outside in the nice spring weather. The big hit of the day was the little Nerf gun Jim got in his basket. Now the wars can commence with two Nerf guns in the house!

Spring Break in Arizona

We were so grateful to be headed south for Spring Break when our weather had looked like this the previous two days:

 It was nice to arrive in AZ to sunny and temps in the 70s and 80s. The kids quickly changed to shorts, pulled out their scooters, and made plans for swimming the next day. Sunday we enjoyed attending church with the family. The kids enjoyed waving the palm fronds passed out for Palm Sunday at Nana and Bops' church.  

We celebrated Bops' 81st birthday that evening along with Mom and Rob's birthdays that were coming up the following week. Monday we enjoyed hanging out, swimming, and running a few errands. Jonas thought he needed to fix the golf course and jumped the back fence when no one was looking. He chased the lawn mower then ran around the pond to the sand trap next to the ninth hole and started raking it. Oblivious to the golfers playing the hole, he caused a bit of excitement and upset a few people. Tuesday, we shopped and golfed. Yet again, Bops played amazingly well when playing his grandkids. We enjoyed dinner that night at a nearby steakhouse.

Wednesday, we took the kids to hike Camelback mountain via the Cholla trail. It was a mix of hiking and scrambling up the ridge of the mountain. The kids had a great time even with all the crowds. We spent the afternoon swimming again and then grabbed some local Mexican food on the way to watch the Mesa Easter pageant. Jonas was sad to leave Arizona because he likes spring and not winter.  Luckily, we arrived home to much nicer weather than when we left!

Petting a live lamb!

The desert is beautiful in the spring!

Wax Museum

Today the third grade had their wax museum of Great Americans. Whitney chose to be Clara Barton, a teacher, nurse, and founder of the American Red Cross.

We love our Daddy!

He lets us watch Star Wars: Clone Wars on his computer.

He's fun to play with and always gives us hugs and kisses before leaving for work.

Monkey boy

 We would store Jonas' pacifier on top of the fridge but that didn't stop him from getting it because he's a little monkey!  His Dad is quite impressed with his foot jamming technique.

He's one cute little monkey!

Christmas

The kids received a Special Delivery straight from the North Pole.  Inside was the Elf that they named Harry that kept an eye on things during December to report back to Santa. 

 

Santa visits the ward Christmas Party.

 

 

Love the view from our house during Christmas with all the homes decorated in lights!

 Christmas Day!