A magical trip...



Kurt looked at this map for about 20 hours while sitting in the stroller at Disneyland. 
He loved every minute of it.





After four days we finally saw Mickey!




 



The highlight of the girls trip was definitely waiting in line for an hour and a half to see Rapunzel and getting the surprise that Flynn Rider just stopped by unannounced!  Cartoon Crush.

A walk

Spring is magical the way everything comes to life again.  Leaves appeared all over the trees this week.  And these beautiful wild flowers called trilliums grow in our yard.  We don't pick them because they don't grow back for seven years once they are picked.  The kids treat them like magic flowers like on Tangled.  They sit by them and sing "flower gleam and glow...let you power shine".  It's very magical:) We had a wonderful walk around the trails near our home the other day.  Yay for Spring!

Our precious lambs



 

This year for Easter we gave the kids each a lamb and a picture of Christ. I love the analogy of the Good Shepherd with us being the sheep and following Christ.



Lauren loved her lamb the best.  She named her Lillian after Great Grandma Gleason.



Lauren lost her first tooth in Primary class on Easter.



This is a picture of Lauren...or my little sister Tess 20 years ago...I'm not sure.





                          Happy Easter 





Good luck charms





These are my good luck charms...aren't they sweet.  Today they got to fore go their school uniforms and where green.  In music class today they learned an Irish dance (sounded a bit like square dancing to me) and they all smiled through their complaints of having to dance with an opposite gender classmate.  Those were the good old days of elementary school.   

Kurt wouldn't get in the picture until I told him he'd get a marshmallow.  He'll do anything for marshmallows.  Normally I wouldn't skip right to a treat at breakfast time...but we were late for school and I was desperate for a picture.



Digger Party

Kurts birthday was about a month ago.  He wanted a digger (BullNoser) party.  It was lots of fun!  Can't believe my baby is 3!

Cake #1 got a little too much play time.   

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Soooooo.........we made cake #2. 

Cheetah in Florida

Dave and I just got back from our trip to Marco island Florida.  It was a wonderful break from the busyness of work and kids.  We took Lauren's little Cheetah along for the ride this year and she saw some amazing things.  By the end of the trip I was aching for the kids and for our home, but it was lots of fun.  We drove wave runners in the ocean, went parasailing, had lots and lots of food and read some books.  As always it's great to be home.

Cheetah on the beach with millions of seashells.



Cheetah watching the sunset from our balcony.



Cheetah with a waiter statue.

Cheetah with a dolphin statue in a floral pattern shirt.

Cheetah with a lizard on the sidewalk.

Dave and I parasailing

Sitting on a boat after parasailing.

Cheetah on the boat ride.



Cheetah watching the parasailing.  She didn't actually get to go up.  She's too small and might have fallen off.



The wave runners.  No pics of us on them because I didn't dare bring the camera going 55 miles an hour in the ocean. So super fun.

Cheetah in the sand.

Profile shot of Cheetah in the sand.

Cheetah in the bushes with an island flower.

Cheetah in a palm tree.

We had some great times in Florida.  I'm glad even if the kids couldn't come that Cheetah was able to enjoy the memories with us.  Big thanks to Tonya who came and stayed with our kids (along with her 5) and to my Mom for watching our little Kurt!

Mommy of a teenager

How crazy that we have a teenage girl.  She is so awesome!  I love that she is creative and kind and spiritual. I couldn't be a happier mommy of a teenager. 



Nicole had a Harry Potter movie marathon with her friends for her birthday party.  This is them getting their teenage wiggles out in the garage after 8 hours of Potter.



Remembering...

Today we are remembering a truly beautiful and wonderful mom and grandma.  The lovely woman who raised my husband.  

Mom with Jon and Dave



Mom with little Charity





Mom with Ryan (this is one of my favorite pictures because it captures the love of a mother)





Mom with Paul Ryan and Charity




Mom with baby Russ




Grandma with Grandpa and little Nicole on her blessing day.

 We love you and miss you so much.  Thank you for raising your children in righteousness and love. 

Let the Nerf wars begin

 The boys got these nerf guns for Christmas.  They recently got two more from Grandpa Pederson. I think I actually saw the boys cuddling their new nerf guns in their beds the other night.  Little orange darts can now be found all over the house.  In corners, behind couches, under laundry piles and even stuck to our fairly high ceiling.  Let the nerf wars begin.