Go Kindergarten GOLD!

Last night Hayden had his first soccer game ever. He was so excited! As my dad said, they are so good, they don't even need practice. Yep, just one practice before the games started, the weather may or may not have had anything to do with that.

He ran like a pro
and even kicked the ball a few times, who cares what direction it was in! Hayden was so excited to see one of his opponents, this little girl with the headband. She (Brooklyn) is one of his buddies at preschool. Both teams won, but I was cheering for the Kindergarten Gold team! Go Hayden!!!

Denver zoo

Last year the summer came and left without us even knowing it was here. I don't know what happened other than time goes by too fast, but it seemed we didn't even have a summer. We didn't get out to do much of anything, but this year is going to be different. We are going to play! I don't know what we're going to do, but we are going to do something! Kyrie has a love for animals, so I thought we would get a zoo pass so we can go anytime we want to. So this summer we may be spending a few days at the zoo. We have already gone twice - once with friends once as a family, and I feel like we are getting a head start this year.

Both times we have gone the Sea Lions have given us our own personal show. They were so much fun to watch.

These guys were our next favorite. I don't think we were supposed to be feeding them but we couldn't resist.

The boys took a test, "How far can you jump". Hayden can jump as far as a spider, a whopping 2 feet.

Dusty jumps like a penguin, 5 feet!

And Chris made it to the 8 foot mark right with the polar bears. I already know my results so I didn't need to take the test.

We had a lot of fun seeing some nature over the weekend. I am sure glad that mother nature cooperated so that we could. These days you never know if you're going to get snowed on or sunburned!

work and play

The kids got a new sandbox a few weeks ago. They were able to keep it for a week while Chris was gone. They loved playing in it but as soon as Chris got home he decided he wanted his truck back.

So he made us clean all of the sand out of the new sandbox.

Actually he did most of the work. The boys loved helping, I guess they didn't realize it was work, to them it was all fun and games. Kyrie had the best idea, she was enjoying the whole house to herself as she was snoozing away dreaming of her momma.

We have been working hard and playing hard and sometimes we are just to pooped to do anything else but get comfy and cozy on the couch.

It's always fun when Grandpa comes

even if it is only for a couple of hours.

The kids got him to play crack the egg.

Then it was the boys turn to try to crack Grandpa and Kyrie

They gave up! It was fun to have a quick little visit. Hayden really thinks Grandpa came all the way out here just to watch him at his first soccer practice.

Easter outfits

What goofy kids!

Spring Break

Last year we headed to Utah for Spring Break and on our way back home Dusty asked when it was going to be Spring Break again and if we could go to Garland. So we decided to once again load up and head for Utah for what felt like winter break. We had a few plans that weren't fulfilled because of the incooperative weather, but we managed to have a lot of fun. It was one of the best trips (I thought) because we were there for a couple of days longer than usual. We have a lot we like to do and a lot of people to see, and the couple extra days made it a lot less stressful on us, I don't know about for my parents though!

We started our 560 mile drive bright and early. The kids were treated with a nicely packed breakfast. Kyrie quickly found out that she was stuck in her carseat longer than our normal 20 minute rides and she let us know that her and her babies were not happy about it. Dusty jumped in the 3rd row and made our day much more pleasurable than our last voyage. The boys were very good travelers, absolutely no problems, we are lucky that they are usually very good travelers.
Chris's cousin, Jason has had plans for a couple of years to buy 4-wheelers for his whole family and this year got it done and couldn't wait to share the fun. The boys were SO excited that they got to drive them all by themselves.

We were able to borrow my niece, Rylee to tag along with us and I learned that she is a dare devil! It was so fun to have her come along.

Chris loved riding the dune buggy! I DID NOT!

I was scared to have this one riding by himself, I am greatful that the 4-wheelers went about walking speed.

Chris used to scream up the face of this hill in the gravel pit on his motorcycle and it nearly scared me to death watching him. This time it scared the boys! Dusty would yell, "DAD, DON'T DO IT!" This is where I learned more about Rylee. She excitedly said, "I want to do that!" I hope she wasn't too let down that she didn't get to. Hayden said when he gets big he is going to ride his 4-wheeler in the mountain too. Dusty said "When I have my own 4-wheeler I know that I will want to ride like that, but I'm not going to" and then there was Rylee wanting to do it now!

What's up?

We got lucky, it happened to be conference weekend as well, so we got to join in on the homemade, hand churned ice cream. Kyrie had her very first ice cream cone, and she loved it, I don't blame her.

Who would have ever guessed, 4 little girls! I love that the kids all have several cousins just their size. It always makes for a busy, chaotic, noisy time. I treasure these times and I am sure the kids will too, what fond memories they get to make.

The kids got to go on 2 Easter egg hunts, one I didn't take many picture of, it was WAY too cold outside at the park. I even had to throw on a pair of socks to go with my flip-flops! That's how cold it was. The fresh fallen snow was crunchy and iced-over, not quite how I envisioned Spring Break! Our second hunt was in the warmth of my parent's house. We were spoiled.

Grandma hid 122 eggs, 10 for each grandchild that was there plus a silver and gold egg, Dusty found the silver, and Jaxon found the gold.

Kyrie slept through the hunt, so she got her very own all to herself.

We did lots of playing, sleep-overs, colored eggs, had an Easter party and lunch, visited all of the near-by Grandmas and Grandpas and had lots of fun, but even 5 days goes by fast! Much faster than the 2 days of traveling.

Easter morning and the bunny found the kids, the boys got the same things: a wooden airplane, a kite, a watch...

some cotton candy that turns into gum, some rock gum and a few other treats.

Good morning!
It's always a good morning when the kids wake up like this!

When Kyrie got out of the bedroom, she instantly saw the buckets and seemed to know which one was for her, she went right to the pink! She got Hello Kitty sunglasses, coloring book, a case, some bracelets and goodies.

Hello!

Forever Young at 24!

Happy Happy Birthday Tina dear, Happy days will come to you all year, If I had a wish then it would be......... for you to come back and never leave. Someday it will be forever and we will have her back and she will never have to leave us again. I am so excited for that day. Although I am not quite ready for it yet, I owe her big time. Yesterday Chris asked the boys to check his shoes for spiders. And it reminded me of every morning I would yell for Tina, and she would come running downstairs and I would point out which shoes I was going to wear for the day and she would bravely stick her hand inside each shoe to check for spiders. (A friend of mine slipped her foot in her shoe and a big spider ran out the hole in the tip of her shoe, I saw it happen, and it left me terrified.) Tina was told every morning to check and see if there was a surprise. Day after day she hoped for a piece of candy or something, but she got nothing (at least she didn't get a spider). This went on for at least a year. I owe her a surprise, but what? I'm not sure yet. I think of her daily, we talk of her often, I often hear the boys have conversations about her. Sometimes at our house it seems as if she is still alive, then sometimes the reality of it all hits. I wore one of her knecklaces to church on Sunday. Hayden asked me where I got it and I said "I stole it from Tina". He didn't like the idea of me stealing and said, "maybe she wanted you to have it. You better 'bive' it back when she comes back alive." He doesn't fully understand but he knows she is alive in heaven and someday we will have her back. Happy Birthday Ti! Love ya bunches!