{A Gift}

I served as the Primary President for about 3 years in my ward here. Just this past January I was released and have been slowly getting used to getting the chance to relax and listen to lessons at church.

This past Sunday a few people were insistant that I get into Primary to listen to K's talk.

So I went in to listen and then was given a beautiful blanket from the new Presidency.

They put each child's picture on the blanket, and one of my favorite scriptures and the one and only picture of my presidency (without me). It is a wonderful gift and made me miss the chance I had to be with the children each week and to be with the friends I found in my presidency every week. It gave us a chance to talk and made us stick together. We all have different callings now and work in different auxillaries in the ward, making it hard to be together a lot......I just didn't realize how much I missed that.

{Jam}

Since Strawberries are so cheap right now I have been buying ALOT of them.....actually faster than E can eat them. Usually he eats them faster than I can buy them so this is a rare event and gives me the chance to make something with them.

We spent part of Saturday making freezer jam and strawberry sauce.

I told the boys they were all going to help me. And they did mostly happily....and now we have lots of jam in the feezer and sauce for strawberry lemonade and deserts!

{A Birthday}

Today we celebrated K's birthday with presetns, streamers, his choice for dinner (Red Robin), cake and 3 of our cousins.

It was a great time.

We tend to keep it simple here on birthdays and just try to make the day special.

He enjoyed it and got what he has been wanting for a LOOONG time...a new DS.

{K's 10 Today!!}

I don't know how it happened or where all the time when but our oldest son is 10!!

I absolutely can't believe it. It seems so amazing that he has grown into such a wonderful little boy!

This year his birthday wish list seems to be getting more "tennager-y" the two things that top the list are an i-touch and new ds. I don't know if I am ready for a child who needs electonics at each birthday or anytime a gift giving time comes around.

In honor of his 10th Brrthday I list 10 Things about K.

1.  He is so helpful to everyone. He likes to serve others and is always willing to help anyone do anything
2.  He loves babies.
3.  He is a milk drinker.
4.  He is great at using manners-holding doors open for others, using please and always thanking me and C for things we do for him
5.  He likes to do the laundry (how could I deny him that pleasure?)
6.  He is a great artist (he is always sketching and they look so great!)
7.  He is great at memorizing things (geography maps, poems, scriptures, anything really)

8.  He is an avid reader (like me and C. He has almost finished the Lightening Thief series after beginning it about 6 weeks ago)

9.  He is a great big brother.
10. He is still a hugger and cuddler (I hope he never outgrows that!)

We love you K!!

Happy Birthday!!

{in Case you wanted to know}

K is at this very moment....

singing Christmas songs.....

Why....

Well I think he found the Christmas music for the paino in his urge to play something.

And now the songs are too hard so he might as well sing them.

It is 86 degrees today...

the wind feels like a blow dryer...

and our almost 10 year old is singing Silent Night.

Wait he has moved on to...

Deck the Halls.

{Shark Reef}

This weekend both of N's parents are in town for the arrival of thier 8th Grandchild (and our niece). So we went with them to the Shark Reef and spent the afternoon with everyone.

The boys haven't been there in a few years so it was a great adventure for them. They give you a "wand" that tells you about each ocean animal as you travel through the reef. They listened to each and every description and learned about each animal in the reef. They are full of random knowledge again.

This is the fish that is attracted to shiny things like jewlery. Luckily Grandma had on her bracelets so the the fish kept turing around to get a close up look of them. We made a fish friend while we were there today.

There is also a touch pool there full of sting rays. The boys and Grandma were fearless and we sat there for a good amount of time hoping to get to touch all the sting rays in the pool.

It was a great afternoon out with the fam.

.

{Our Style Fishing}

So sometimes fishing with poles just isn't so fun for little boys. I mean you have to have patience and skill. Skill not to tangle your lines together or get them caught in a tree or on a bush or a rock.

So K has decided a net is the way to go.

Saturday morning K, E and C went out to another area to fish. There were four little ponds with the wild horses come close to the water and the ponds were full of fish. So the boys got on their swimsuits, swim shirts and swim shows. They got thier nets and chased the fish. K was successful and got one fish and 5 rocks. E is still hoping for his first catch next fishing trip.

{Happ Day to C}

When K was little instead of saying "happy birthday" he would say "Happy Day" and since then that's what I have always remembered and used.

So C's big day was an ordinary work day for him with a birthday dinner (his choice), birthday presents, and streamers to decorate the house.

We love him and without him I woudl be lost!
I love you forever!!

{Fishing}

As the weather warms up C and the boys begin making plans for outdoor adventures. They always talk about camping but as one of them doesn't enjoy it as much as the other two they try out smaller outdoor activities first.

So this Saturday was a fishing trip that turned into a horseshoe playing teip.

They went to the local park to fish and had a great morning. No fish caught but lots of horseshoe playing.

{Legos}

So one of the treasures in our home is the buckets and buckets of Legos we have. We have C's childhood legos that his mom saved for him that started off the collection. Then our boys love legos and have buckets of thier own. So we have more than enough legos for everyone!

Each General Conference weekend the whole entire collection of Legos comes out into the front room and gets dumped on blankets all over the room.

This Conference weekend E decided it was time to build another Nerf Gun....so they began Sunday morning and finished sometimes Sunday night.

And here is the finished product......

{Notice anything?}

So over spring break we finally got some work done around here.....can you tell?

How about in this picture?

Yep....we painted....after living here for 7 years we gave in and it feels so cozy and adds a lot. What a difference a few cans of paint can make.

{49 Days}

E is all about summer break....he has been asking since Christmas break when it was coming around. And now since we are finished with Spring Break we thought it was time to make a countdown chain to summer!!

He wanted to count all the days not just school days until summer so we are at 7 weeks which is 49 days. (For me I like to think about the number of actual school days which brings us down to a reasonable 27!!)

This is one long chain!!

{Conference}

And this Sunday also happened to be Conference. The boys love it....I mean watching church on TV? It is one of the greatest weekends of our year every year. Pjs, comfort food, comfortable seating, what isn't to like?

And years ago a great friend made us this............

And every conference time the boys remind us to buy candy and they listen intently to hear the squares on the board b/c when there is a bingo they get to eat the candy.  Great idea!!

{Easter}

We aren't big into the Bunny and Eggs and talking about all of that at easter but we do a little egg hunt for the boys each year.

This year the baskets were cute towels rolled up tight with goodies tucked into them. A great idea from the bunny if i do say some myself.. Then the one and only picture I took before they got taken apart is horribly blurry so there is no proof of thier cute-ness.

But the bunny did leave water guns.....yes it is the year of the gun at our house. I don't know why I have given in but I have and I think about it all the time!

{Beach Break}

I think we have started a new "rule"/tradition in our house. Spring break will always have to come with a Beach Break at the beginning.

Last week was our Spring Break....10 days with no school committments and no one telling us what time we had to be anywhere. I made sure to not committ to anything for anyone else except for the four of us! It was great!

We started the week with a much needed trip to Coronado California....right on the beach. I found a cheap hotel for us and we drove down on Sunday and came home Monday night realllllly late.

We spent an hour on the beach walking around on sunday night after the sunset. The boys and I were in heaven....the smell of the salt water, the waves crashing, the sand in between our toes. It was great. We picked out where we should go the next day and went to the hotel to bed.

The next morning we were at the beach by 930 and having a great time. It was about 80 degrees out with a wonderful cool breeze. We were able to see two battleships in the water, a naval hospital ship come in and lots of other military planes. That was happiness for C as he doesn't have the fondness for the beach like the other 3 of us do. We left the bach aroung 5 for our trip home and we were all tired and happy!

The tide ended up going out....really far and the tide pools were uncovered so E, K and I went and found hermit crabs, crabs, sponges, seaweed, muscles and all kinds of stuff.

K is our collector so he came home with a few shells of course. He was also the brave one to get into the cold water and boogie board. E really wanted to but the water was very cold!!

I think we'll be back again this summer. 3 of us love the beach and the one who doesn't, well he loves us enough to take us there again and again!