"Jumping Slide"

William said "this was a perfect thing for Daddy to buy for our home. We just played on it all day after Daddy put it together. We had to do the garden before we played on it. Weeding was more boring than the water slide but I'm glad we did both"

Everyone loves a good book

I never did have a chance to comment on this great photo. For one thing, the kids just don't sit THAT still for me. But I was lucky to quickly grab the shot before the battery died out on my camera. That book was one of my favorites when I was little! Even more precious though is the image and sweet reminder of why Paul quit banking.

"We are sleeping so good" by Peter

We are doing something funny, silly, crazy. We are sleeping in the car. And Daddy was driving in the front seat. We drove back from Mapleton. We were dreaming it.

James the Lobster Eater by James

I am not only the oldest child but also the President of the Seafood Lover's Club. William is the Vice Presisdent, Opa is the first counselor, Mommy is the treasurer, Nathan is Vice treasurer, and Douglas is second counselor. We hope to soon elect Peter to the club.

This picture is of the Lobster that I ate with the help of XiaoXia breaking the exoskeleton. It tasted good except for the green part. XiaoXia told us that the people in China eat Lobster raw. I thought eating it cooked was better. It was a good after school snack.

"Jabba the Ham"

by James
We bought a ham at Costco. When we put it in the oven it looked like Jabba the Hutt. William and I couldn't stop laughing at it. It was stranger than I thought. There was a crack for the mouth, two bumps for the eyes, two holes for the nostrils, and fat juicing down its face. We called the oven his Sail Barge. We said when we take him out of the oven he gets out of his Sail Barge.

It was so weird but it tasted good. Next time we get a ham maybe it will look like R2-D2.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! These pictures were taken outfront of Emily's house in Mapleton. We enjoyed a great feast and fun games until late in the evening. The younger kids felt right at home again.

The girls' matching dresses and sweaters are from Zara in Spain. I also got the boys' Easter ties in Spain from Corte Ingles.

Happy Spring

What beautiful weather we have been enjoying here in Utah! It is officially spring after spending two days of completing what my boys call "the big switch" - dumping out all the drawers of clothes and sifting through out grown sweaters and pants. The process continues as we scurry around the garage and through the mini van looking for lost mittens and hats. Unbelieveably we found them all - even William's Spider Man glove that has been missing since last Winter.



















After much begging and bribbing I got the boys to try on some of the stowed away spring/summer clothes to see what fit who. I let them "shop" the old plastic bins. Peter was so excited to inherit William's old Shark bathing suit and green lizard shirt. Likewise, William was happy about the cool army cargos and orange shark t-shirt from James. Everyone was excited to once again be reunited with their faithful adventure hats! So after a quick trip to Old Navy to fill in some "missing links" the boys are set for Spring and Summer. Lets hope we don't have a May snow storm!

So the kids, now geared up in their adventure hats, have been playing outside non-stop. They love their scooters and bikes and are now pitching balls to each other and playing one on one soccer. Poor Maryanna has a view of it all from the window across from her crib and resists her nap with all the energy of a determined toddler- climbing out of her crib and trying to kick down the door. She especially likes the new dome shaped climbing structure we got from Costco this weekend. James recieved the first injury of the season when he lost half his toe nail and a chunk of skin off his big toe. He ran over it with a scooter and now knows why I always tell them not to take their shoes off. We have great plans to plant a vegtable garden, get a fence and maybe even the inflatable water slide from Costco. We are just so happy for Spring!

These pictures are from the annaul Mapleton Easter egg hunt hosted by Mike and Rayanne. The kids ate half their candy in the time it took us to drive back to SLC, the other half melted. But we all had fun and were inspired by Rayanne's gardening. She kindly dug up some rasberry shoots for us...now its time for us to really get to work in our back yard.