Backyard Picnic

 

Courtney, Caitlin, Rachel & Spencer

After church today, the kids were so excited to see blue skies that they asked to have a picnic outside.  At a balmy 49 degrees, Spencer was perfectly comfortable wearing shorts!  I was the only one wearing my coat and none of the kids were cold at all!  After lunch, we jumped on the trampoline forever.  It was a beautiful day!

A little blurry! 

Oh yeah, Caitlin!

Love her hair here!

Courtney!

This was after doing a flip.  I could never actually take the picture fast enough to get him in the air.

She's flipping!

Courtney's flipping!

Rachel and I laughed and laughed at this picture!  Isn't it hilarious? 

We took a little rest and looked at the blue, blue sky! 

Flying high!

Weekend in Washington

We had a great weekend!  On Friday night, we headed to Washington D.C.  That evening, the kids  swam in the hotel pool.  Saturday morning, Paul and I went to the temple for our ward temple day.  It was nice being in the temple together.  We love having a teenager in the family to watch the kids.  After our trip to the temple, we met our nephew, Andrew, and his wife, Erin, for lunch.  They live in Virginia.  It was fun spending time with them because we hadn't had a chance to get to know Erin before this and Andrew and his family lived abroad throughout his teenage years so we enjoyed the chance to get to know them better.  Afterwards,  we all went to the National Zoo.  We arrived late in the day but were able to see quite a bit before it closed.  Many of the animals weren't there because it's winter but there were plenty to see!  Our favorite part was seeing the primates, especially the gorillas.  There was a darling baby gorilla with his mother and father.  We enjoyed watching them interact with each other.  We also liked the pandas and orangutans.  We returned home very late Saturday night.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so all these pictures are taken with my cell phone so the resolution is very low.  To cap off the weekend, we enjoyed a nice day with the family at church on Sunday and had the missionaries over for a delicious dinner. 

Washington D.C. Temple. 

Spencer loved the flamingo feather I got for him when I had to climb a fence to retrieve his hat which blew off.  The wind was brisk that day but the temperatures were pretty mild--quite a change from the frigid cold we have been experiencing all winter.

Erin and Andrew--aren't they adorable?

This Orangutan sat right next to the window and smiled at us. 

We spent a long time in the bird section.  There were some cool birds there!

We loved the pandas.  They spent the entire time chowing down on bamboo.  They must go through a ton of the stuff.

Toucan time!

Let's Make a Cub Scout Cake!

I nearly freaked out when I was told Spencer had to make and decorate a cake for the Blue and Gold Banquet.  I am not much of a cake decorator at all and just the thought of doing something creative didn't appeal to me whatsoever.  But Spencer was soooooo excited about it so I knew we had to do something exciting.  Luckily, Paul had the idea of making a Cub Scout.  Apparently, he made one when he was a kid in Scouts.  So I made the cake, Paul bought all the candy (way too much of it, which the kids loved), and Spencer decorated it to look like his best friend, Eric.  We were all so happy with how well it turned out!  Despite my early misgivings, it turned into a very fun activity for the family.

Cub Scout Eric!

He's excited!



He's very proud of his creation! 



The girls insisted on being in a picture, too!



Spencer received the Cub Scout Spirit Award for his unique cake.

Ice, Ice Baby!

Our family home evening activity was playing Twister.

Things got a little crazy

Good times!

During one of the ice storms this winter, I ventured out and took some pictures.  I love how icicles form on every branch and leaf of our shrubs and trees.  It looks like a crystal forest.

Can you believe how tall the snow pile is in front of our house?  I took this picture standing on the road in front of the house.  The pile of snow is way taller than I am!

Courtney and I made this heart wreath in about 10 minutes using a hanger and cut up strips of fabric from some old shirts and a gingham dress.  It turned out really cute! 

Tree Frogged!

While preparing a report on American Green Tree Frogs for school, Spencer convinced Paul to buy him one.  I must be crazy because frogs eat live crickets.  So now I have to keep creepy crawly bugs in the house.  Eek!  The things we do for our kids!  Of course, the kids are crazy about the frog (named Jared after Jared in the book of Ether from the Book of Mormon) so I'll survive.

Snow Days

What a winter!  We've had eight snow days in the past few weeks so our kiddos have been home from school A LOT!  We've also had one 2 hour delay and one early release day in addition to the eight days of cancelled school.  I agreed with about four of the snow days because either we had a monumental amount of snow or an ice storm which makes driving treacherous and crazy dangerous. 

Currently, the snow is piled so high on the curb in front of our house that it's probably 12 feet tall.  In fact, a friend came over the other night for Book Club and called from the circle to ask which house was ours because she couldn't see the house numbers on any of the houses because the snow was in the way.  This is because we live at the end of the cul-de-sac and that's where the plow puts all the snow from the end of the circle. 

The kids love sledding on the hills in our backyard.  Most days, I send them outside and watch from the window but I did go out the other day and capture them sledding.  Rachel isn't satisfied with our hills at home anymore so she and her friends often head to other locales like the water retention basin at the bottom of our neighborhood or the high school playing fields where there are some gigantic hills.  She told me she used to think the hills in our yard were huge when she was little.  Alas, she is growing up!