Grayson Turns 4!

 Happy Birthday to the best caboose in the family! Grayson is so happy. He is creative and curious and relatively obedient. He's pretty easy to please, and very independent. Grayson asked for a kitty cake this year to match his own kitty. We love you Grayson! You are a bright light in our family and bring so much laughter and joy.

Conference Weekend

 As soon as we got home from Spokane we had Tim's family come stay with us for the weekend. They got tickets to the Saturday morning session of General Conference, and later that night Tim and Tyson went to a punk rock concert; that was Tyson's Christmas present. They are so much fun to have over.

Spring Break in the Pacific Northwest

 I have been itching to go to Spokane to visit Becky; it's been a couple years so I decided we'd go for spring break this year. I picked up Mom in Twin off we went. We hadn't really planned anything as far as activities, but of course, Becky had some things in mind for us to do and made it another memorable trip for us. We got to have Easter there and go to sacrament to listen to Lance sing. What a treat! Their sacrament program was so sweet. There is so much talent in their ward. We had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard, and the kids had fun looking for their Easter baskets. Zander also lost a tooth. We had a family home evening lesson on Jesus Christ and the resurrection done by Lance. My kids have never sat and listened to a lesson like that before, haha.

Listening to Lance's lesson

Look at this cute sign Ezra made for me! He made one for grandma too, but she stayed in the guest bedroom. Ezra and Cora were so gracious to let me and Grayson use their bedroom. 

The kids had a popcorn and movie night. They watched 'Beethoven'. They got in the hot tub, the older boys had fun shooting targets with air soft guns, The girls and Ezra had fun collecting treasures outside and playing with Murphy. I have to say I was a little nervous how Grayson would do with Murphy because he doesn't like dogs--he's scared of them. But Murphy is the most docile and well behaved dog I have ever had the pleasure of playing with. It did take Grayson a few days to get the courage to pet Murphy, but he is so sweet and cute! Becky, Mom, and I also got some shopping in; that was fun and much needed. 

Monday Becky took us to Bowl and Pitcher for a hike. We brought our lunch and took a walk, and the kids dipped their feet in the frigid river while skipping rocks. It was a fun hike albeit slow, haha. We kept getting distracted along the way; the kids were obsessed with finding sticks.  It was beautiful out there! I can't wait to see it in the summertime when we go back. 

Next we went to Riverfront Park for the first half of the day. We rode scooters, played on the playground and skate park, took a ride on the carousel, had ice cream, and fed the goat. Then we stopped at Minihaha park and let the kids climb and hike around there. We took the kids swimming and had pizza for dinner the night before we left. Thank you Becky and Lance for hosting us and making our trip so much fun!