Lately through Instagram....

 This boy had a Birthday! He turned 3 and is as sweet and adorable as ever. Love this big boy.

 Ellie ended her 4th grade year with a Pioneer semester. They did so many cool things and she learned so much. This was from their Boxed Social and this cutie picked her Box of goodies and was then her square dance partner.

 A well known sight for our Connor boy. I got a call from the school that he was doubled over in pain and this time on the other side of where his appendix was. Long story short, lots of tests later...he was fine and just backed up. Better safe than sorry.

 Our kids really did have THE best teachers this year and this is a pic of what we took to Macie's class the last day.

 It is finally warm enough to really get outside. This was a hike we took, it looked like a stroller parade.

It's warm enough for jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler under. We have done that a lot.

 My good friend Cassi had her twins. A boy and a girl and I have been snuggling them often ever since. Not baby hungry just miss that sweet newborn smell.

 This little one has been having some middle child issues and is crazy emotional lately. I made it a goal to be in her class as much as I could the last few weeks.

And this is a picture of a surprise scavenger hunt we went on for FHE the other night. Scott planned it all out on his own and the kids loved every minute of it.

I love my little family and all we get to do together. We are very blessed.

Siemers Wedding and a Birthday getaway!!

Scott and I have been friends with Jason and Rachel Siemers since we were all newlyweds. We lived in the same building and our front doors actually faced each other. We had babies at the same time, had FHE together, late night girls talks, and we even got to know their extended family. Our little families grew so close. Over the years we have moved apart but have kept in touch and even made it a plan to see each other every year. And we have.

When we found out that Jason's brother was marring Carolyn Bridwell (a fabulous girl I know) we were beyond thrilled and headed out to their wedding in Etna California at the end of April.

Matt and Carolyn were married in the Medford LDS temple the day before and held a ring ceremony and a reception in the most beautiful outdoor area I have ever seen!!

 

We loved seeing Jason and Rachel and their beautiful family and we even got to see another couple, Josh and Jenny Hiett, who were in our FHE group with us all those years ago!
 



Such a great reunion. I love these girls!!

 

A few weeks before I thought that while we were out that way we should make a weekend of it for Scotts Birthday. We drove from Etna to Redding and I surprised Scott with some fun things I already had planned.

We went to Turtle Bay and got to see so much more than we ever do when we go with our kids. We ate a the famous Mary's Pizza and got the most amazing Bruschetta I have EVER eaten.

 

 

We went to the movies and Scott got to eat at his favorite restaurant. Also, don't judge me, I reserved a time for Scott and I to go on a guided Segway Tour around Turtle Bay, the beautiful McConnell Arboretum and the Sundial Bridge.

And as nerdy as we look we actually had a lot of fun.

Great weekend. Love my Hubby!

 

football and soccer

Connor and Macie tried out new sports this year.
 

 

 We put Connor in Flag Football and Macie in Soccer.

 

 Both had a great time but neither of them are very competitive. I think they liked being with friends more than actually playing. I think we will stick to basketball for Connor and Macie would be happy running and skipping in a field...and that's free.

Spring Break 2013

We wanted to go somewhere warm this year for Spring break and lucky us we live 2 hours away from Redding CA. And it is plenty warm there. Our kids kinda LOVE palm trees and as soon as we pulled up to the hotel you would have thought they believed we were in Hawaii.
We got all the way to Turtle Bay and found out they were on their Spring Break hours and weren't open that day. We were sad but instead we had lunch at the Sundial Bridge.
 

 

 

 

 We headed to the local theater and had the place all to ourselves.

We

Had to do Chuck E Cheese. Failed at the photo booth, again. Won hundreds of tickets and got...a sucker for it.

The rest of the time was spent shopping and lounging by the pool. We live for family vacations!!

Fooled ya

I kicked this month off with a bang for the kids on April Fools morning. I had been saving up ideas for a month because I was so excited to pull some fun pranks all day.

So first thing in the morning they were surprised to see that their teeth had been turned blue while brushing them... 

 

Then when getting their clothes out for the day each child was surprised to see that all of their underwear in their drawer had been sewn together...

 

 

And while gathering up their backpack's they found out that they had all been turned inside out and zipped up...

 

They also discovered that all of their light switches were taped down and they got a spray in the face when getting a drink. Needless to say they were on edge as to when the next prank was coming.



 

For dinner we invited our Macdonald cousins and family over and Grandma and Grandpa Mortenson to enjoy our Fools Café. This dinner was tricky because each person was given a menu with 20 coded food items. They each had to write down 5 items per course, not knowing what they had ordered.

 

Some choose wisely and got utensils with a course (even if the food you got that course called for them or not)

 

 

Some ended up with ham and finger foods, but no potatoes for their gravy, and no ice cream for their chocolate sauce...

 

 

I think this order was my favorite of the night. All the silverware at one time including a toothpick and a water. yum.

 

It was so fun for us to watch the kids try to figure out how to eat random things. Like Jello with a knife.

 

 

They did some good improvising.

 

 

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We are already plotting for next year!

 We had a happy April Fools.

 

4th gradeTrain trip to Eugene OR.

(Ellie and Sara)

In March, Ellie's class took a guided tour on a train to Eugene OR. I was super excited because I got to go with her. In fact there were more adults that volunteered to go than there were kids.

Neither of us had been on a train before and we were in for a treat.

 

We headed down to the station just as the sun came up. All of the kids were smiling from ear to ear waiting to catch the first glimpse of the Amtrak.

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Believe it or not the train was on time and we all filed in and found our seats. When I imagined being on a train I thought we would all sit in our seats and watch out the window till our train stopped... this was not the case AT ALL.

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We found a seat and set down our things and then took off to explore the train before ending up in the Observation Car. (aka, the coolest seats on the entire train)

 



 (Ellie and Ruby)

Floor to ceiling windows allowed the kids to see everything around them on both sides. And we had a man and his wife from the Museum come and give us a guided tour over the loud speaker of everything we saw.

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Mr. Young had booklets for all the kids to keep record in and it was filled with questions and things they had to find and answer. I had more fun than the kids I swear.

One of the kids favorites, besides all the tunnels, was "Root Beer Falls" (which is really seen best by train and not from the road)

 



 

We pulled into Eugene around 1pm and walked a short distance to a great park where the kids got to run and stretch their legs.

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Before we left the park Mr. Young had the kids find all the different planets hidden in the park. Then we went on a small hike up the hill to get to our next stop which was the historic Shelton McMurphey Johnson house.

 



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I am a sucker for old historic things so I ate this up. All the kids had to put on clothes fitting to the time period, the girls in white petticoat aprons and the boys in vests. So fun.

 

The tour through the house was broken up into 3 sections and in each the kids got to actually go into the rooms and touch things that belonged to the house. Even playing with toys from that Era.

Ellie's favorite room was the nursery where there were some creepy looking dolls and baby buggies.



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In the attic her group sat down and learned about different things that were used in the house that we don't normally use anymore. When they first got the items they had to guess what they were and what they were used for before they learned the truth.

 



 

The girls thought this particular item was used as a spanker. :) Turns out it is for beating rugs. 

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They had to read parts of a story based on the people who lived in the house and the kids loved it. What a neat experience these kids had.

After we left the house we all walked into town and did a little shopping and got ourselves a VooDoo Doughnut. Then we all meet back at the train station and boarded an even nicer train than the last.

We had a nice dinner in the dining car and I got to snuggle and chat with my girl all the way home.

Such a fun day for the both of us. 

Ready to go again!

100th day of school

The kids had their 100th day of school a while back and they each got to celebrate it differently in each class. In Ellie's they had a party, and in Connors they made all these fun projects that had to do with 100. But thought Macie's class had the cutest idea and I had to share. In her class they all had to dress like they were 100 years old!

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So stinkin' funny to have a class full of 100 year old Kindergartners.

Macie was all for it and we headed out and did some shopping, and then did some sewing.

I thought she was the cutest 100 year old I have ever seen.