Memorial Weekend

It's been an incredibly cold spring.

The coldest spring on the books actually.

So when my sister invited us to Torrey for Memorial Weekend,

we jumped on the opportunity for warmer weather!

Grandma and Grandpa came too.
It was such a great time!

The weather was warm, but It was a little windy.
The kids had a blast on the three wheeler and motorcycle.

We spent most of our first day just hanging out,

 playing on the three wheeler and motorcycle and we

took a few short hikes.

We stopped at the river and told the kids they could get their feet wet.

That lasted for all of about five minutes.... Right after the group photo above

Nadya lost her balanced and grabbed Carter in a desperate attempt to stay dry

and pulled Carter in with her.  He was not happy to say the least.

So it was pretty much a free for all after that.

The kids moved on to sliding down the rock-

Which wasn't a great idea considering they all walked away with new holes on the bottom of their shorts.

Oh well.  They had fun!

The wind didn't let up at night,  so we didn't get to have any great fires outside.

But, that didn't stop us from making smores.

The next day we drove the 40 minutes or so to Boulder to hike Calf Creek Falls.

It's a six mile round trip hike to an amazing water fall.

The kids did awesome!

Hallie, our slow poke, was the first one in and the first one out.

Apparently, she no longer wants to be known as the slow one in the family.

Carter kept telling us along the way that when we finally got to the waterfall, he was going to dip his head in.

Which he did, more than once.

The waterfall was beautiful and I was so proud of the kids.

They hiked their little hearts out!

Misc. May

Nadya had her annual Gymnastics Team Sleep Over.

Scratch that...  There was no sleep involved.

Not sure if I'll do it again. 

Mother's Day-

I was really hoping for new couches,

but we got new pipes instead...  ARGH!!!!

But, I did get new bedding for when I paint the bedroom this summer.

 I've already got the best kids in the world and couldn't ask for anything more!

I love all the XOXOX's from Carter and Alex and I love how Nadya signed the card.

"You picked me now your stuck with me!"  Cute girl!!!

Later that night, we had dinner at my Mom's house. 

My Mom had a Birthday.

We celebrated with lunch at Market Street Grill.

We planted a Japanese Maple for her yard. 

Alex lost his third tooth on May 25th.....

His top right hand side.

It wasn't that loose but he had it out in less than a day!

It fell out  at school and he wore it

around his neck in a special tooth box.

He played a trick on the Tooth Fairy and hid his tooth in his dresser.

He claimed it was to find out if the Tooth Fairy really exists.

He claims the REAL Tooth Fairy would have tooth radar

and would know where his tooth was regardless of where he put it.

So, when he awoke Friday morning and discovered his tooth,

he declared that the Tooth Fairy is not real.

Huh?? 

Hallie finished her Country Report on Puerto Rico.

She did an awesome job!

One of my former 5th grade students is graduating from High School (Wow!) and she asked

if I would take her Senior Pictures.  We went out to the Great Salt Lake and got some amazing pictures.

She is a journalist and a dancer so we tried to incorporate her hobbies into our pics.

Here are a few of my Favorite..... She is so beautiful.  It made my job easy!

Carter Sang at the Strawberry Festival at School.

He is so serious when he sings.  I love it!

We dyed Easter Eggs the Saturday before Easter.

It was pleasantly peaceful. 
I just sat back, took pics, watched, and even decorated a few myself.

No messes, no spills, no fighting, no crying, just fun family time!

(Gosh, our kids are getting big!)

Kris and Laurence joined us again this year and we decorated about 36 eggs in no time at all.

The kids had a blast and got really creative with the eggs this year.

Carter even remembered to make an egg for Uncle Aaron which prompted the

other kids to make eggs for Misty, Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma June (Our cute grandma neighbor).

We did miss Hallie this year as it was her mom's year for Easter.

The boys insisted on leaving Carrots for the Easter Bunny.

Easter Morning Nadya woke up at 4:30!!!!!!  Little Stink.  Apparently she woke Alex up, they searched for about 30 minutes for their baskets, gave up and went back to sleep until 7:30ish.  (She was told she couldn't get up any earlier than 7:30) Carter on the other hand, was the good child who we had to wake up at 9:00.  Why, oh why can't they all sleep like him???

The Easter Bunny always hides the kids' Easter Baskets and leaves an Easter outfit on the couch.  This year, he also left new swim bags for Summer and their outfits were stashed inside.  It was kind of funny that their bags all matched their pajamas.  Nadya's bag also matched her Easter outfit and her Jammie's.  I am excited for the kids to carry their own crud swim gear to the pool this year!  Woot, woot!!!!!!!

The kids all had a difficult time finding their baskets this year. Alex found his first which was hanging by a hanger behind the blinds. Nadya searched and searched unsuccessfully for a good hour. It was Alex who finally found it for her and Carter found his basket after I gave him a few clues. I guess we will have to tell EB to pick easier spots next year. After the basket hunt, the kids didn't waste anytime consuming the goodies inside. They instantly dumped everything out, took inventory and had a nutritious breakfast complete with chocolate and cadburry eggs. Lovely. It is only once a year, right?

Afterwards we headed outside for the Easter Egg Hunt!

Our backyard is great for all sorts of fun hiding spots!

We found most of our eggs and headed off to Church. 

 After we came back and took a few Easter Pictures.

The boys were being silly and insisted on having their Peeps in the pictures.

I told the boys to put their arms around each other and show me how much they love each other.

They had fun with it and even pretended to kiss! Silly Boys!!! 
Nadya took a few pictures of me with the boys. 

Peeps On A Stick Anyone????

Kris and Laurence dropped by briefly and we discovered that  EB

 (Yes, we did just see Hop) left Laurence the same outfit. 

I couldn't pass up the opportunity for  a photo!

Kris asked if I would take a few pics of Laurence....... 
She wanted to document his new smile phase.

It's sort of a half crooked smirk!

Later on Grandma Tammy, Aunt Misty and Uncle Aaron came over for Ham and Potato Salad. 

After dinner we played outside for a while.  The kids had a blast!

Hallie's Easter basket stayed hidden until Monday after school.