Easter fun!

Pretty eggs!!  The colors were super vibrant!

 The dyers, Conner, Davin, and Samantha hard at work.

 Sweet cousin friends.  Rory and Mackenzie are just 2 1/2 months apart. 

 Mackenzie found her basket right off.

 Conner wasn't worried about his basket, he just wanted the eggs.

 This is the face of a boy who is annoyed that he cannot find his basket now.

 There, he found it.

 Took him a while!

The tradition with Blake is to have his basket hidden in the most difficult spot.  It used to reduce him to tears, now he relishes the challenge.  We played hot/cold to guide him after about 12 min.  It was on the backside of the old aviary roof.  

 Everybody with their loot.  Missing our out of state cousins. 

 These silly girls were sharing candy from each others baskets.

 All of a sudden, any time I asked her to smile, this is what she did.  I couldn't get her to stop.

 Then she decided to talk Rory into doing it. 

 Here is her shy attempt.

 My solution was to tell them to put their hands in their pockets.  Unfortunately, Mackenzie's pants are too big and when she put her hands in her pockets, it pulled her pants down.

Rory decided on this trip that her Aunt Janna was not so bad after all.  Conner is a creeper in the back.

Los Angeles Temple

Maryn and Blake had the opportunity to do Temple baptisms on the Wednesday of spring break.  I followed them down there a couple of hours later.  I have never really taken the little kids around the temple grounds, so I thought this would be a good time to do that.  They also just recently reopened the Visitor's Center, so we went to have a look.  Here are some pictures of that trip. 

Usually the Christus Statue has a darker background, so it is funny to see it so light.  Here are my 6 at His feet. 

 The story behind this picture is that when my parents were taking their wedding pictures, my parents took a picture on this exact spot with my dad in front and my mom in the back peeking out from behind.  Justin and I took the exact same picture the day we were married.  I thought it would be fun to have a third generation do the same pose. 

 Good looking bunch.

 I so seldom carry my camera anymore.  I was glad to have it this day.  I just wish the boys were not so scruffy looking. You have to do a silly face picture every now and again.

 She is a beauty. She is talented. She is 15!  I can't believe how the time flies.

 The oldest of my handsome boys.  He is 13, and good.

 Brady is my happy helpful one.  He is just about 10.  The hair is out of control right now because the stake musical wants the boys to have longer hair.  I cannot wait to cut it!!

 My sweet boy is almost 8!   He gets to be baptized soon. 

 What you cannot see is that his shirt says "Major Trouble", this is my future president of something, anything he can be in charge of.  He is a charmer.  A favorite among the staff at school.

Here is our whirlwind.  She is a beauty as well.  She has her daddy wrapped around her finger.  Mom gets to be the bad guy. 

Spring Break 2012

I had wanted to go to Arizona for spring break this year. Two of Justin's brothers and their families live there, and we don't get to see them often.  BUT, Mackenzie got the flu and wasn't 100%, gas is so very expensive, and Amy (my SIL) was ordered to be on strict bed rest.  We decided to just stay local.  We went to my mom and dad's house and did a few things in the L.A. area.  We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Thursday.  My friends from Bakersfield were there that day too.  I also called up one of my best friends from high school, Alma, to meet us there.  Her kids were still in school, but she was off, so she came.  It was really fun to spend a few hours with her.  The place was INSANELY busy.  Good thing I bought a membership so we can go back and have some space another time. 

Just keep swimming.  Like I said, too many people that day, so our photos are not great.

The next day, we went to Hollywood and hit the Ripley's Believe it or Not!, Guiness Book of World Records Museum, and the Wax Museum.   The Ripley's museum was really cool.  Lots to see and learn about.  Even Mackenzie was entertained with the things to see.  Here she is hugging Tiny Tim. She just kept hugging him.  I guess it was because he was her size.    

 This mural is made entirely with Rubik's cubes. 

 These Star Wars characters are made of car parts.

 Very realistic.

 The Guiness Museum would have been lots better without Mackenzie.  She was driving me nuts by this point.  Here is Conner in one of the largest men displays. It was the only picture I got here. 

 We went across the street to the Wax Museum.  Thankfully it was not crowded, so we could get through it quickly.  The lens on my camera made it look like we were looking at Jack Sparrow through a telescope. 

 I made Maryn take this picture.  If you can't tell, it is Bella and Edward Cullen.  We decided that the figures really were not great likenesses. 

 Here are the boys and an ancient Indiana Jones.

 Not a good Adam Sandler at all, but a cute girl. 

 The boys loved Men in Black.

 Not a good Leo either.

 Cute girl again.

 Brayden had no idea what this movie was, but I had him sit there anyway. 

WGI San Bernardino

I got to go with Maryn and the BHS drumline to WGI in San Bernardino in March for their overnight competition.  It is a competition of the best drumlines in the Western States.  I had never been to one of Maryn's shows, so it was fun to watch the kids, and help with the show.  It is a big race to get all the equipment on the floor and off to not get time penalties.  They did awesome.  They took first in their division during preliminaries and then ended up taking 4th overall.  I met some nice parents and kids.  Their shows name is Lost and Found.  These pictures are from their outside warm up. 

 Savannah and Maryn

 RJ

 Josiah

 Megan

 Cole and Maryn

 Zeph

Naomi