A Tween's Life

Where have the years gone? My cute girl will be an official teenager in just a few short weeks and, with trips to the mall with friends and her very first movie with just two of her besties, Savannah is embracing the life of a more independent young person.

She is also enrolled in a class through the Red Cross to become a certified babysitter because babysitting is just around the corner as well. More money for her mall trips! Stop growing up!!

We Love to See the Temple

Having been inspired by pictures I had seen on Pinterest, I was anxious to get Noah down to the temple for some pre-baptism photos so we took advantage of no meetings for David after Stake Conference and headed down to DC. It was an absolutely gorgeous spring day and there was hardly anyone at the temple. I am definitely not the greatest photographer and one of these days I will get around to reading up on all the ins and outs of my camera to get even better pictures but I really wasn't that disappointed with the pictures we did get. Noah was an excellent participant for all my ideas!

This turned out to be my favorite and we used it on his baptismal program.

Of course I had to grab pictures of all my kids too! This one might have to replace the current DC temple picture in our temple collage - love it.

A quiet moment.

I absolutely love this one of these two cuties.

His pose here is too much!

The blossoms were just making an appearance and were absolutely beautiful!

Noah had gotten tired of pictures by this point and was off running amok on temple grounds. These two, however, were still willing to pose nicely.

Both Savannah and Xander wanted to try out their photographer skills as well and took about fifty pictures of me and David sitting together. Out of all the pictures they took, this one was the only decent one. 

Some final individual shots...

and then we checked out the visitor's center.

While there we got to watch the new movie Meet the Mormons which we all loved. It was such a wonderful Sabbath afternoon!

Enjoying the Outdoors

Spring Break was really tough for me. I tried hard not to but every morning I found myself thinking, "Oh, today we would have been in Charleston!" or "Today we would be touring Gone With the Wind sites in Atlanta!" It about broke me heart. Everything we did during Spring Break definitely paled in comparison to what we would have been doing had we been able to go on our road trip but I did try to make it a fun week for the kids. We did the usual - movies, staying up late, playing outside - but one of the things we enjoyed doing most as a family was hiking at Gunpowder Falls. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Noah loved posing for pictures!

I even got Xander a few times as well.

The boys were so excited to find this log to climb.

I have pretty cute kids!

It's even more fun to jump off the log!

To scare off mountain lions, all one needs to do is hit two sticks against each other. We learned this trick from an old Indian guide. Mountain lions are ferocious; "they'll eat cha, ya know!" (Ha ha, love The Parent Trap.) Noah took it very seriously.

Of course, the kids LOVE the water so we spent some time throwing rocks and trying to keep Noah from going for a swim.

Being silly!

Love these three!

And then we came to The Log. Xander hurried on up with Noah slowly following. This one proved much too high for Savannah's liking and she stayed below with us.

The boys quickly made their way up and then came to the realization that they had no idea how to get down. Backing up was a little too scary and the jump was daunting!

So, we took a few pictures and then did our best to help them get off. No pictures of the jumps because both hands of both parents were needed.

My cute girl hates when I take pictures of her but I got her to consent to one or two.

On the way back David challenged Savannah and Xander to a race which didn't end well when Savannah tripped and fell, scraping up her knee. Noah poked along behind, gathering stick after stick after stick. He came home with quite a pile!

All that walking and climbing and jumping and stick collecting can really wear a kid out!

Easter Bunny Day 2015

Due to a very ill-timed (too bummed to have a pun intended) stomach flu, our family missed out on the amazing, fun-filled spring break road trip that I had been planning for months. I was crushed and devastated and beyond sad about it but I was determined to make the best of it. I quickly contacted the Easter Bunny to let him know that we would actually be at home Easter weekend and would welcome his visit. Thank goodness he didn't let me down!

The kids were thrilled with their Easter baskets! Savannah got a gift card to American Eagle;

Xander got a new Lego set;

and the Halo guys put a huge smile on Noah's face!

With baskets in hand, the kids were anxious to get started.

Ready...set...hunt!

Time to sort through all the eggs to see what they got!

Lots of candy...

and money is always nice!

Another great Easter Bunny Day!