~Camping Spring Break~

Our first morning in at the cabin was beautiful! The air was so crisp and cool.

I was the first one up and had to capture a few pictures as the sun came up. The whole time we were there the sky was so blue with only a trace of clouds. As we sat around laughing and visiting I was so overwhelmed with joy.

I have the best life!

Raychel was so excited to start the morning fire, she is getting pretty good at it. She says she is getting ready for girls camp. Jolene had fun getting Drake to obey her and then getting him to eat snow out of her hands, you would have thought how he responded he was getting treats. Our crazy dog enjoyed our vacation as much as we did. He loved having the girls take him on walks, pet him and even lay on him.

We loved today.

~Camping Spring Break~

It has been a couple of crazy months with school, activities, work and just daily living. The girls have done amazing is school again this quarter by working hard. We have all been saying we needed some time away together for Spring break, but we didn't want to go sight seeing or stay in a hotel and be busy doing....so we all decided to go to our favorite away place, the cabin! It was perfect as always. There was still snow on the ground, but the temperature was perfectly warm!! Jolene had fun just shoveling snow around the side of the cabin and playing with Drake. Raychel enjoying laying around reading and playing with Jolene and Drake. It was a wonderful long weekend away that was exactly what we asked for!!

~Bedtime~

Like every night I go in a check on the girls before I head to bed, usually I find Ella at the foot of the bed sound asleep for the night. Tonight this is what I found. I guess Ella was cold. 

~Sunday Photo~

What a great Sunday!

The weather was perfect for being outside.  Raychel headed out to read while on the patio swing, Jolene is enjoying learning to front flips on the trampoline and Ward got the BBQ dinner going.  It was really nice. Jolene and I had fun jumping on the trampoline together.  She is so much fun.  I love her laugh.  Once Raychel woke up her and I sat on the swing together while Ward and Jolene played on the trampoline.  I can't remember the last time we all laughed so hard.  As we sat there I thought about my primary lesson and the scripture that says, "...if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness.  O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." 

Tonight I think I saw what never ending happiness looks like.

~Pin Wheels~

A good friend is ready to have her first little baby any day now, so the girls and I picked out some material and made her little girl a quilt.  I wanted it to be different then any I have made before so I got on youtube and looked up how to do the pinwheels.  They were much easier then I thought they would be.  I love how they turned out.  The back is a soft, fuzzy brown that looks great with the pink.  I hope she loves this quilt as much as we do.

~Sunday Photo~

I love lazy Sundays and so does the family.  Raychel was sitting on the couch watching a movie when Ella climbed up with her.  Ella couldn't be any closer unless she was on her lap.

~Jolene~

What a little beauty!  You are so head strong.   Independent.   Dependent.   Loving.  Funny.   Serious.  A smart little thing.   Determined.   A leader.  Ridiculously beautiful. Quiet in class, not so quiet at home.  Polite, and accommodating and obedient. You get scared at night and have tummy aches when you're stressed.  You love having your back scratched.  And you love to be held. So many days I wish I could see inside your head and understand where you are and what you are thinking. Raychel is your best friend and I hope it always stays that way.  You are 9 and growing up so quickly, yet you are still my little baby. I love you to the moon and back!!

xoxo
mom

~Friends~

Sleepover!!  These 4 make me laugh at loud!  They are so funny together.  They had us laughing with their silly jokes and games they were playing.  I loving them together, I love the way they get along, I love the way the interact and take care of each other.  They are more then friends, they are like sisters.  I have enjoyed watching them grow up together and can't wait to watch what is to come for all of them.

~Paris~

Raychel wanted to add a little something to her room while we were changing Jolene's room.  She likes her bedding and the colors she just wanted to had a few pictures to her walls.  Down with the old and up with the new.  We found a framed picture of the Eiffel Tower then downloaded and framed several other pictures of the Eiffel Tower and around Pairs.  Raychel has loved the idea of Pairs for a while now, so we decided to add it to her room.  It turned out really nice.  It is fun to see the girls get their own interest and add it to their rooms.  If you notice the green pillow against her headboard, we made that to bring out the green more.  She is really into green!!!

~Choir Performance~

Jolene has really enjoyed participating in the Elementary Choir this year.  They have had several performances throughout the year at school and it the community.  They have really grown as a group. They looked so nice tonight in their new choir shirts. They even had their own band to accompany the last song of the night at this performance~two guitars, piano, keyboard, and drums.  They all did a great job!

~Spring Band Concer~

It seems we were just here writing about the Winter Band Concert and it's already time for the Spring Band Concert.  This school year has gone so fast.  The kids have grown so much in everything they have done.  It was fun to listen to the band concert tonight.  All the kids in Band performed tonight.  They played with their grade levels.  It was pretty neat to hear the growth over each year.  It was sad to think not to long ago I was listening to Raychel as a 5th grader and now it is the end of 7th grade.  So much as happen and so much is yet to happen.  It was a great concert.

~New Dress~

We went into every store that sold dresses looking for a beautiful, modest, age appropriate dress for her to wear to church and for Easter.  We came up empty. We even looked on line for dresses, but it was hard to tell how long they were and very few had sleeves.  Raychel did find one, but it was over $200.  It was a simple looking pattern, I got this crazy idea I could make her a dress.  We headed to the fabric store with the goal not to leave without a pattern and material to create a beautiful dress.  We had success!!  Little did I know that would be the easy part!  The dress wasn't too bad, pretty basic except for the neck line.  It is pretty wide and I wasn't sure how to fix it.  I had a couple of friends help me who had lots more experience them I do.  It turned out perfect, and the best part is, she loves it!! She looks so beautiful in it.  The colors are perfect for her.  Now to find the perfect shoes!!!

~The Girls!~

These are just random pictures I found that needed to be posted.

The one of Jolene makes me laugh. She came home from school on day and the weather was warm and beautiful. She needed to read for her homework and I had several things going on at once and couldn't stop right then to be read to, so she took her book and went outside to read to the dog because he didn't have anything else to do. I think she was trying to make a point, but it was a pretty cute point.

This seems to be the norm when it comes to bedtime with Raychel and Ella. When Raychel heads up to bed Ella always runs after her. When Ward and I head up to bed we check on the girls and this is what we find. Ella is usually at the foot of the bed sleeping, but lately she is up close and sometimes even under the covers. I will see if I can get a picture of that soon. It is pretty cute to see the love this cat as for only Raychel!

~Bob & Nuts~

Meet Bob and his wife, Nuts.

Jolene has wanted these squirrels for a long time. She said she wants to name them Bob and Nuts, even before she had them in her possession. We searched high and low for these two. We looked online, we looked in every store we entered. We finally found Bob first about an hour from here, it was a bittersweet day because there was no Nuts. We took a trip to Utah and found Nuts! I know you are probably saying they look alike, how can you tell them apart? That was my question, but Bob is a little taller them Nuts and their coloring is a little different. Jolene was so excited! She couldn't wait to buy her and get her out to the car to meet up with Bob. I love the imagination of this girl, her stories and the love she has for her stuffed animals. She did sleep with them under one arm and Max under the other. Then one night I saw the couple sleeping in their own bed. She said they kept falling out of bed they were happier in their own bed.

~Golf~

What a great day. The weather was perfect, our first really nice weekend. We did few chores in the morning then headed out to the golf course. I don't golf, but it's fun to see the kids and Ward golf. The girls are picking it up really fast. I love it when they hit it well and they get so excited and then the look on Ward's face. He gets so proud of them. We walked the course together taking pictures along the way. The course is so beautiful, so peaceful. The course was packed, I think everyone had the same idea. It was fun to spend the day together. I love this time of year when the weather is perfect for playing together outside. So much to look forward to with weather like this in our future.