Happy Birthday to Austin and Nicholas!

Today Austin is 33 and Nicholas is 2! Of course Daddy went to work, and Meg went to school, so Andy, Maisie and I celebrated Nick the best we could until afternoon came.

As soon as Austin arrived home, Maisie insisted that we open presents.


Austin and I worked in the yard this afternoon while the kids "swam" in the pet pool -- it's obvious that we had fantasically warm weather today.


Cake Celebration -- I made a cheese cake for Austin, and "Cars" cupcakes for Nick. We did sing twice, and we blew out candles at least 15 times.


2009

2008

2007

Spring Gardening

Too bad for all of you it's growing season again...which means losts of posts about plants. Austin has spent all winter babying his vegetables in his grow boxes. We've harvested green onions and spinach so far.

I haven't touched my rock garden yet, but Grandma's bulbs I planted last fall are up and blooming, along with the phlox and pansies.

Easter Sunday

Today we dressed in yellow for Easter Stake Conference, a regional broadcast from SLC. We've now attended stake conference in Dallas, Highland and Newton. Let's just say 6 months until it comes around again. Here are pictures after church.

Easter Bunny

Saturday morning the children slept in until 8:00 am! The Easter bunny came and left NERF guns, granola bars, and fruit leather. Nick's skills with his gun are quite impressive -- he's already realized that Mom is an easy target.....


Austin and I are fortunate that "Good Friday" is celebrated by no work and no school. We took advantage and headed to Oklahoma City to attend the temple.

Egg Hunt

We invited 13 neighbor kids over for an Easter-egg hunt. I think we hid 200+ eggs, and the kids hunted for about 30 seconds. Good times.

Success

Today Nick was accident-free, if you know what I mean....we even went shopping in Salina. I am probably jinxing him by posting this, but we might not have a "perfect" day like today in a long time.

(Most of the time Nick wears boxer-briefs, but he was so excited about his "choo-choos" that I couldn't help but post his favorite pair.)

Conference Weekend

This weekend we've spent 6 hours listening to conference. Here is the moment in which we are eating popcorn, inflicting leprosy upon Andy, and trying to listen.



As a side note: While in Utah for spring break, we visited temple square and spent some time in the offices of the presidency of the 70. We spent probably 15 minutes in the office of President Neil Anderson, so my children were especially tickled when he was called as our newest apostle. Elder Anderson told us stories about the pictures on his walls, including an unusual picture of President Monson and an original oil painting of the "Baptism" painting. Perhaps the most endearing comment he made was when he told Natalie and I that we are doing exactly what we should be --having children and raising them correctly. I did feel the reassurance of the Spirit as he told us that. I hope my children will recognize this special connection that have with Elder Anderson.

Great Wolf Lodge

Our dear friends, the Bells, from dental school came for a visit. We spent the weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge -- an indoor water park. All the kids (9 of them 7 and younger) had a fantastic time.




Saturday night we came home to at least a foot of snow, I thought spring was officially here, church was cancelled Sunday so Austin and the kids made a snowman.