Indiana for the Weekend

 We were able to make a quick trip to Indiana to visit Lacey, Tyler, and Colton last weekend! It was a blast and well-worth the 2 days we spent in the car to get there and back.

On the way we stopped at Cabela's in Wheeling, West Virginia and then Wendy's for some dinner. When we realized that our kids didn't know what a Frosty was we felt like we had failed as parents, but we quickly changed that! Everyone was glad we did.

We got there at midnight on Friday and we were welcomed with pizza. Cody was impressed that they had made pizza for us so that we could still keep up our Friday Pizza Night tradition. Cody and Kylee had fallen asleep in the car, so once we arrived they were too excited to go back to sleep. After a quick midnight pizza snack, we tried to get everyone settled into bed.

The next day, Lacey and Tyler took us to Purdue Campus for a Spring Festival.

 While Cody and I watched a Cricket Spitting Contest (Seriously! The contestants put a cricket in their mouth and spit it out as far as they could and then the judges measured the distance) the girls went through a bounce house. Livy got through it all by herself...

 But when she got to the slide at the end she wasn't so sure about going down...but once Steve climbed up there and got her started, she zoomed right down. Before she had even stopped she was saying she wanted to do it again.

Kylee loved the craft station.

 And while the girls stood in line for a balloon sword and balloon flower the boys got cotton candy and popcorn.

They also had a little petting zoo with goats, bunnies, baby ducks to hold, and a fistulated cow (gross!)

the baby ducks were so cute 

 Livy was Lacey's little shadow the entire weekend. 

As soon as Lacey was Colton-free Livy was right there!

Here is what Tyler and Lacey look like as the parents of four. 

We finished the day by eating frozen custard at Culver's and playing at the park.

After church on Sunday Cody, Tyler, Steve, and Lacey played Puerto Rico, while I played photo shoot with Kylee and Colton.

 Cody stopped playing the game for a minute to get Colton to smile.

 Cody made Colton laugh so hard ALL weekend.

The look of a champion (or so he thought).... 

Cody won the game! That's the crazy thing about this game. You have no idea who the winner is until the very end. 

Cody turned the bumbo and Lacey's foam curlers into a football helmet. He had the mini football on him at all times. 

 The girls had fun watering the deck garden.

On Sunday afternoon we grilled some chicken on, what my children call, the BEST picnic ever.

As soon as we got to the park it started sprinkling. So we whipped out some umbrellas and carried on. The kids had fun taking shelter under umbrellas and blankets.

For a little while we actually had to take cover in the car when it started pouring and the wind picked up. Tyler and Steve just kept on grilling while the kids played in the car for a few minutes. Once the weather calmed down again, we were able to picnic in peace. 

Shortly after starting on our way home I taught the kids how to get truckers to honk their horn. That alone created lots of fun and entertainment for the next few hours. They kept a tally of the honks they got in each state. Here are some videos so you can see how much fun they were having:

We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch on the way home to get a Blizzard just to cover all of our bases :) Steve and I want to make sure we are being the best parents we can be.

It was an awesome trip and we are so lucky to live close enough to visit Lacey and Tyler!! They made us feel pretty special.

General Conference Tent Party

 The week before General Conference we got a new tent for our family since our plan is to camp a lot this summer. The kids were so excited to put it up and check it out. So, while Steve went to the Priesthood Session of conference the kids had a little tent party with their sleeping bags that they love so much from Grandma Ellen.

What did we do for our tent party, you ask?

The tent party consisted of putting up the tent, arranging the sleeping bags and pillows, reading family scriptures while trying to keep children out of the tent, taking a picture with dad before he headed off to his meeting, mom reading a chapter in "Little House on the Prairie", mom pausing intermittently to tell the children to stop rolling on top of each other or stop making noise by zipping their arms and legs across the tent so that no one else could hear the story, Livy moving on top of Cody and away from Kylee because "she stinks", mom finishing one chapter and closing the book, mom scooting Livy away from Cody for the hundredth time, mom closing the blinds, mom turning off the lights, kids slipping every direction, mom turning on the light again, mom bringing in a quilt to put under the sleeping bags so the children can go to sleep without slipping out of their sleeping bags every time they move, mom bringing a nightlight into the tent so the girls aren't scared, Livy blinding mom with the nightlight, mom moving the nightlight out of reach on the other side of the room, mom laying down next to Livy so that she will settle down, mom singing Primary songs for a long time until the movement stops and the heavy breathing starts, mom going upstairs to read in bed until dad comes home from his meeting.

So, as you can see the tent party was a success! Maybe we can make this a General Conference tradition. After six months mom might be ready to do it again. :)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Raquel!

We love you!!

Snowy Spring

Cody and Kylee had so many snow days this year! Between the weather, holidays, and Teacher Work days, the kids haven't had a full five-day school week since November. And because we've never had this much snow since we moved here three years ago we don't have any snow toys, but that didn't stop the kids! A snow shovel and one plastic toy bin proved to be all they needed to have a good time!

I loved having the kids home so much throughout the winter when school was cancelled, but it did get a little tricky with appointments and meetings. And, as if the school year didn't end late enough, they have added three extra make-up days to the end of the year making our last day of school June 20th. 

Crazy!

Class Valentine's 2014

Kylee decided to make bracelets for each of her classmates this year for Valentine's day. She picked out all the different color combinations so that each bracelet was unique. 

 Cody found this idea for fun monster bookmarks and helped me make some out of felt. I go to his class once a month and read to the kids and there is a lot of emphasis on reading daily in third grade. So bookmarks seemed very appropriate.  

The bookmark just fits on the corner of the page.

Cody making a monster face.

When he got home from school the day of his Valentine party he said, "My Valentines were a hit, just like every year."