1 year old

We can hardly believe that iswas 1 year ago ( almost to the minute!) that we met our sweet Caleb. He has brought us so much joy! We love his easy smile and sweet personality. Today was really the first time at church that he fussed to be able to get down and go, he is usually happy to sit on my lap and look around. We had a fun little party with just our familytoday. Caleb loved grabbing his cake the first time, but once he tasted it, he was not impressed! He is almost walking and says mama....still a tiny guy, but so much fun!

We are finally home to stay for a while. We got home from a two week trip to Lake Tahoe and Idaho last Tuesday and snuck in one more trip for a day at the beach and our nephew's baptism yesterday. This week we have to get back into routines and ready for school next Monday. Elijah was thrilled to find out this week that he will have the same kindergarte

n teacher Aubrey had. Courtney and Aubrey are still anxiously awaiting their assignments. Mark even has a new schedule this year teaching seniors for the first time. It should be a fun new challenge for him. Christian has a preschool group set up for two days a week. It is 6 three year old boys, so all the moms are a bit nervous about keeping all that energy going the right direction, but is should be fun!

Our Alaska visit 2010

Our Alaska visit 2010

We just got back Tuesday night from a great two weeks in Alaska, spent the night in LA and finally made it home Wednesday afternoon. We are very happy to be home, but not too thrilled about the 105 degrees it has been the last couple of days. Luckily we have friends with swimming pools! We will be home for about another week, then head to Lake Tahoe for a few days and on to Idaho Falls. If only we could swing by Mississippi, we could see everyone!! I guess Nate and Sharolyn need to plan a trip out here!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip. We loved mom and dad's new kayaks and the kids are still talking about how fun itwas to use hammers and nails while building the treehouse. Even Aubrey and Prince became the best of friends. The boys made it to the top of the Butte and the girls to the top of Twin Peaks trail in Eklutna. Thanks again mom and dad, Scott and Yvonne and Cassie and Nate. We love and miss you guys!

Happy Easter!

SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

We've had a few birthdays and lots of fun times around here since we last checked in! We are officially on the odd year with our kids aged 9, 7, 5,3, and little Caleb almost 8 months. We have been busy, busy this last month selling girl scout cookies and are glad that is done. The girls worked really hard and sold 300 boxes each, so we will be going to SeaWorld Adventure Camp in June. We are very excited about that! We are into spring and nice weather, so the boys and I have been playing outside and at the park a lot and the girls even started outdoor swimming lessons at the university Saturday. This week was our Spring Break, so we took the time to go up and spend an afternoon and have a sleepover with Meg and Ryan before heading to the beach. We found a great hotel with a play deck( life size chess/checkers, ping pong, mini golf, etc) and a heated pool that was walking distance to the beach. After a couple of nights there, we headed home and got lots of projects done around the house.

Our Easter bunny went crazy this year. Each child woke up to a different color yarn tied to their bed. After checking in with mom and dad, they followed their yarn all around the house, inside and out, over and under furniture, etc until it lead to their basket. It was different and fun! Then we settled in for conference before having Mark's brothers and their families over for Easter dinner. All in all a great day and week- Mark goes back to work tomorrow, but the girls get one more day before they count down the final eight weeks of school- we are ready for summer!