Good company...

This is who Emma and I have been hanging out with today. She's been
such a sweetie. We love you Zoey!

Emma and Zoey

Emma was so excited to hold Zoey for the first time! She was so
worried everytime she started to fuss. We are excited to start
watching her this week. It'll be so fun!

Renesme?

My school had another Twilight party, and Emma came with me to help supervise. It was fun. Emma watched incredibles on her little DVD player, and spent the entire time moving Edward and Bella around. She thought it was pretty cool. :)

A visit to the Doughnut machine...

Family day at Grasslawn...

What a fun park. Shane took Monday off and we went and played, just for fun together. Emma's now big enough for the big-girl swings, although it stills scares me a little. She fell about 10 feet from one of the climbing toys, but survived. (I was scared to death). It was overall a good day. I'm grateful to have such a sweet family.

Emma & Grandpa

Doing leg exercises...

Easter Egg hunt in Bellevue

(A little late, I'm trying to catch up on all my pictures). We went to my home ward's Easter egg hunt, and Emma had fun. The other cousins were there, and they raced around the church searching for goodies. We even spotted a real bunny, and the kids were freaking out, they thought it was so cool!


Emma looks so grown up to me in all these pictures.

Afternoon at the park

Thanks Morgan for these pictures from the other day. :) This was Emma's first duck, duck goose game. It was so cute to watch. Since then, if we're at the park and there are only two kids, they still play. They just walk around each other bopping heads over and over again before saying "goose" and then running away. Pretty funny. I'm grateful that both Emma and I have found such great friends in this ward. ;)

Things to be grateful for...

When life gets tough, all I have to do is remember how blessed I am.

I have a sweet husband, a beautiful daughter, wonderful friends, and a loving and supportive family. Really, there isn't much more that you need.

My new focus...

“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” (D&C 88:119).

I really want to focus on getting my home and my life organized. Spring and Summer, seem like a good time to do that (especially since I'll be working less). Let's see how I do. :)

Mini-Vacation, Part II

So after the morning and lunch at the zoo, we headed down south to Northwest Trek. It is a 600 acre wildlife park, with bison, moose, caribou, deer, goats, beavers, lots of birds, and much more. If you go to the zoo, you get buy one get one free entrance into the park. Once you get in, they have a few animal exhibits, but the fun part is that you go on a 55 minute tram ride through the park and get to see all of the animals up close. It was beautiful and very peaceful. It had originally belonged to a couple, who had lived then in an A-frame for years. I can't even imagine how peaceful a life that would have been. It was just beautiful, and so fun to see all the animals on the tour.






Afterward, we wandered around a bit, took some pictures and played. It was getting cold and we were all getting tired.

We then drove until we found a little local Mexican restaurant for some yummy food to end the day. We were out in the middle of nowhere, but really, those little Mexican restaurants are always fast and delicious.

We may not be high-rollers, and able to travel the world on Spring Break, but we sure have fun just bumming around together. I can't believe I have to back to work on Monday. Yuck...one more week please!

Our Mini-Vacation to Tacoma, (Yes...Tacoma)

After waking up late, and eating some breakfast, we headed south for a day filled with adventure. I love that Emma is big enough now, that all I have to grab is a coat and a few snacks and we are on our way!

We had never been down to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, but had heard wonderful things about it, especially how it was great for little kids because there isn't as much walking as the Woodland Park Zoo, and how all the animals are up close and easier to see. Let me just say, it was amazing. We loved it! If you haven't taken your kids, go. Super fun. :)

We first found the elephants, and they were so close! They were just hanging out in front of us for a while, and then one of the handlers brought over a snack for them, and they began eating right in front of Emma. It really was amazing to see how HUGE they were right up close.
We then saw, lots of swinging monkeys, penguins and even one of Santa's reindeer!



We tried to get in a few more family photos ( I always realize at the end of the year, that I don't have enough pictures of the whole family, since I'm the one always taking the pictures).

They had a fun "kidz-zone", where Emma could climb on toys, pretend to be a hermit crab and a spider, and also feed the goats! (She was a little wary at first, but loved it by the end). They even had a couple of peacocks roaming around the grounds. We saw one two different times!

And finally, they have a free carousel for the kids to ride. That's right, FREE! I've gotta say, if I'm comparing Woodland Park zoo to Point Defiance zoo, Tacoma wins on this one. (Not like anybody but me cares, but oh well...) It was a wonderful time.

Kidz Bounce

On Thursday, we were lucky and got to go to kidz bounce out in Preston, twice in one day! We went in the morning with friends, and then back for Hailey's birthday. Happy 4th birthday Hailey! Emma was loving life! She slept very well that night.

Its a big warehouse that has lots of giant inflatable obstacle courses, slides, and bouncy houses for kids to run around in. Emma had so much fun running around with all her friends and cousins. Plus it gave us another opportunity to wear shorts.

Here is Anne, Caeson and Hailey, cruising down the big slide. They must of all done it forty times!

Here's beautiful grandma!