Trip to Spokane

Mark's graduation ceremony was this past weekend. The whole family was going to drive up to Spokane, but when Mark's parents offered to watch the kids, we couldn't pass up the idea of not driving 14 hours with the kids. Instead Mark, Stacey and Joseph flew and spent a couple days enjoying this "vacation." Without the car we did quite a bit of walking, but we enjoyed the nearby park and mall. We even got to go on a gondola ride and saw Spokane Falls. We saw several Marmots on our walks and I think Joseph really enjoyed all the attention on him alone.

Cinco de Mayo

Grandma sent the children another fun package. They love these, because they are so educational as the children learn about different cultures and holidays. This time they learned how to make sombreros, strike a pinata, and eat mexican food among other things. Thanks for the memories grandma.
Aunt Kari found a way to make Joseph laugh so we caught the cute laughter on film. That is one of my favorite sounds (a baby laughing).

Day of the Family

Our church put on a nice Hispanic Event for the community. I felt a little out of place at first because I wasn't Hispanic, a non-member, or a volunteer, but I thought the kids might enjoy it. Anything written was in Spanish. However, we ended up having a good time. Everything was free including Hamburger/hot dogs, beans, salad, ice cream, brownies, cookies, french fries, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, horse rides, family pictures, entertainment (we saw cloggers and Latino dancers), inflatables, and lots of church handouts. Sam really enjoyed the dancing as you can see from the video - don't mind him getting tripped. It was fun. Although it had been raining all morning before we went, it was real nice out while we were there. Just as we were leaving it started to pour, but it only lasted a half hour. Taylor invited some friends to go, but we're not sure that they ever came.

Boys will be boys

Just some random pictures I've taken recently. We've been trying to give Joseph cereal and although he'll let us put it in his mouth, he never swallows so it all comes back out.

Easter Sunday

Jumping Jacks

While in Utah we took the kids to a place called Jumping Jacks where the kids had a lot of fun playing on several inflatables. Sam of course had a hard time climbing up, but with mom, dad, and Aunt Sheryl's help he was able to go down several slides and bounce everywhere else. Taylor was scared of the real steep ones, but after going down with mom she went again and again. Dani didn't have any trouble with any of it and just kept going.

Cousins

We were able to spend some time with Mark's brother and his family while in Utah. The kids had a blast playing together. We all seemed to match most of the time because our main clothing source is the same. We enjoyed several activities there, one of which was dyeing Easter Eggs.

Temple Square

We enjoyed a short visit to Temple Square because Taylor had really wanted to see the Christus. The kids love learning about the Church History and we never seem to get bored of seeing the same things over and over.

Great Grandparents

We were able to take a trip down to Utah and stay a night with Mark's grandparents. The kids enjoyed being with them a short time, but I'm sure we wore them out. It's good to spend time with them because you never know when it will be your last.

Gardening and jumping

Don't you love how the kids help in the garden? They all pulled out their chairs to watch Mark work. Poor Mark - when he goes out to work the kids make a huge mess with all their toys and it's twice as hard for him to keep his eye on them and then get them to clean everything up.
We got out the Johnny Jumper for Joseph. His head is barely strong enough for him as long as his siblings don't come bounce him, or twist him. His weak little legs don't do any jumping yet.

General Conference

I have some catching up to do and a lot of pictures - sorry.





These are the kids during and after general conference. They thought it would be fun to conduct the music while the Tabernacle choir was singing. Sam decided he should be the only one doing it. What a great mom to be filming it and not stopping it. Afterward we went to visit the grandparents and they had prepared an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Overall it was a fun day.

The boys

Here are the latest pictures of the boys. Joseph had had enough by the end so we didn't get a decent picture of them together.