Yee Haw!

Last night was our ward party; it had a hoe down theme and was a ton of fun! The kids had a blast getting dressed up as cowboys and a cowgirl. Even Lucas rocked the Western theme with this ensemble.


He wasn't digging the hat though and it only stayed on for the picture! (As a side note he has 1 and 1/4 teeth on the top now too!).

Jared and Liz wore jeans, black shirts (we were on the "black and white" team), cowboy boots, neckties, belt buckles and hats. They started going a little overboard with the accessories but they were having so much fun we just rolled with it. (Liz's North Shore hat isn't exactly cowgirl attire but she was adamant that she wear it so for this night it was!).


There were lots of fun things to do at the party. Unfortunately my camera battery was nearly dead so I could only capture a few. First, there were dancing lessons! Here are Danny and Liz doing the slide.


Then Lucas had his big competition for the night. He was in a crawling contest - with one other baby! How sad is our ward that so few babies live in it! We need more young blood in California. I digress. Lucas immediately took off crawling but not towards me - he crawled toward the other Mommy because she was smart and brought food as an incentive! When he got about 1 foot from the finish line he suddenly stopped and wouldn't go any further!


It took Daddy getting down on the floor to finally coerce him across the finish line. They said he won but I think the other family is really the winners; if you can put your baby down and not have him crawl all over everywhere but just sit nicely on the floor where you put him - priceless!

Luke was obviously overjoyed with his victory. Or maybe he was exhausted.


I have no other pictures to share but we also enjoyed a chili cook off (I brought my mom's low fat turkey chili!), rootbeer floats, a horseshoe toss, a cow milking contest, a lasso toss, and an Easter egg chase for the Primary kids. Overall, we had a great time. Jared and Liz ran around playing the entire time and Lucas was a trooper considering we went home nearly 3 hours AFTER his bedtime.

Other Spring Break Shenanigans!

Beside playing at the beach, swimming a couple of times, and playing at the park we also did a few other family things during spring break.

We walked to the library a couple of times - including a story time all about trains. Here the kids are in the "zoo train."


Daddy, Jared, and Liz spent a good portion of one day thoroughly cleaning out Mom's car! Isn't it wonderful??? (Mom was inside caring for Lucas and blogging about our Easter adventures).




Liz isn't all work though - she enjoys a nice popcorn break once in a while!


We also had a camp out! We were going to camp in our backyard but we were unsure of the weather so we set up our tent on Mom and Dad's bed! Everyone who could walk helped with the set up.


The kids were very excited!


And what's a camp out without s'mores? Of course we had some of those as well!




And here's a picture that Jared took - decent, eh?


Eventually we did go to bed. Great idea, Daddy! Everyone loved camping out.


We're definitely sad that spring break is over but we are so excited that summer is coming!

Life's A Beach

The past few weeks Jared has been asking to go to the beach. Since it was spring break this week we decided to oblige his wishes and headed to the beach for a morning. It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies. The kids played in the surf for at least an hour.


Daddy got our kite up in the air and everyone took a turn flying it - even Luke!




Lucas and I played together on the blanket and experimented with touching the sand. He wasn't a big fan of it! In the video he had JUST put his hand in sand. He was considering whether to try it again or not and then decided to try and shake it off.




The water was chilly though and soon after the kids came out of the water we had to leave because they were freezing with their wet swimsuits. Just as we were preparing to leave, we spotted a seal swimming very close to shore. A perfect ending to a great day!

Spring Break Swimming

Two different times during spring break we went swimming. It was so much fun! All three of the kids had a blast and we stayed well over two hours both times.

Lucas stayed in his little boat the entire time just splashing, smiling, and trying to dip his face in the water. We had to watch him because he would lean all the way over on one side and try to submerge his little face. He was a very good sport about wearing his protective hat too.


Elizabeth was getting braver the longer we were there. She would plug her nose and briefly go underwater. And of course she took about ten photos where she is doing silly poses.



Jared was the bravest. He had tons of swimming races with Dad, learned how to dive from the side of the pool, enjoyed Daddy throwing him high in the air and then swimming back, doing cannonballs, and resting on the noodles.





I tried to upload a video of each kid but it won't let me. It keeps uploading the same video...Grrr. Anyone know how to upload more than one video at a time? Well, enjoy Liz's video - she's pretty hilarious.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

One day this week we all walked to Jared's elementary school and attempted to fly a kite. The wind was dismal and we were never able to get the kite to take flight. We did, however, have fun playing on the school equipment and using our imaginations.

The Secret Reveal

It is a tattoo of....


Pinocchio.

And apparently now it is a permanent tattoo.

Any Guesses?

Yesterday we went to the beach in the morning and a swimming pool in the afternoon. Unfortunately Liz appears to have more Hawaiian blood in her than previously thought because she tanned fairly quickly. The negative side to this? She had a huge tattoo on her arm from the library. By evening the tattoo was gone but...well, see for yourself. I had to turn the flash off so the picture isn't the best. My question: What did she have tattooed on her arm???? The winner gets a free tattoo!