Favorite quote

The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.
-Mulan

Kindergarten graduation

Can't believe our little girl has graduated from kindergarten and is soon to start 1st grade. She had the best teacher ever and learned soooo much. She really enjoys school and looks forward to being able to stay at school all day long like her big sister and brother. I on the other hand am not sure I want her to go. I really shouldn't be at this stage yet...I should have a 3 year old at home with me. I try not to think about it and look forward to when the kids will get home each day. I will be able to get a lot of things done while they are gone which I'm looking forward to. Here are a few pictures of her graduation.

Hay with her awesome and amazing teacher...love Mrs. Anderson!

Hay with her best friend.

Dancing to one of the many songs they learned.

Saying goodbye to kindergarten and hello to 1st grade. I held back the tears.

Backyard

I decided to buy a table cloth that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it at Target. I decided to make some pillows out of it for our outside furniture. I love how bright they are. I also bought a pot at DI and spray painted it to match. I then bought a flower and planted in it. I also painted our wicker chair with white spray paint and put it under our arch way in the back yard. This is now one of my favorite places to sit and look at the beautiful red mountains. I've enjoyed many breakfasts in this spot. It's also a great place to sit and watch the kids jump on the trampoline. Love the simple joys in my life.

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter. We had Derek's sisters family down for the weekend and had lots of fun with them hiking, playing games and just enjoying spending time together. Then my niece came for one night and we got to color eggs and have the Easter bunny come for a fun hunt.

We usually go to Wyatt's grave Easter morning and talk about the significance of Christ's resurrection and how important that is to us but it rained that morning so we went that evening and talked about the wonderful day when we will have our little boy again. Here are a bunch of pictures I took.

Easter egg hunt.

Tyler got his braces off. He was beyond thrilled!!

American Doll Store

Since this trip was the girls trip they got to choose a couple of the things that we did. American Doll store was definitely the highlight of the trip for the girls. When we were first planning the trip we mentioned American Doll store. That became the main thing they wanted to do. It is every girls dream and the girls could hardly wait. The wait finally was over and we drove to Los Angeles and had lunch at the American Doll Cafe. Such a fun atmosphere. It's something I think the girls and I will never forget. They had chairs for their dolls to sit in that hooked to the table. The food was ok but the atmosphere and how everything was presented was perfect!


Since this was Grandma and Grandpa's trip for the girls they gave us money so that we could let the girls each get a doll. We let them know the big surprise when we got there. Oh, how excited there were! Such a fun surprise for them. It was awesome shopping and looking through all the darling clothes and dolls. Such fun stuff! It took them a long time to decide which doll they wanted. They ended up getting Julie and Kanani. Before we left we took them to the Doll salon and they got to get their dolls ears pierced. It was such a fun day. One the girls will always cherish. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa!

Hay having lunch with her doll Kit. Kit we got through e-bay many years ago and her legs are very loose. The lady saw that when we put her in the chair so she had the "Dr." come to check on Kit. They wanted us to leave her at the hospital to get fixed for a "fee" but we decided that we would try and fix her when we got home. It was cute to have the "Dr" come all dressed up to check on Kit. I wish I would have taken a picture.

Em with her "Just like me" doll Grace having lunch.

Dessert....everything was presented so cute and fun. They had some conversation cards at the table that we asked questions to each other. That was fun to hear the different responses from the girls.

The girls with their new dolls....oh so fun!

The Mormon Battalion

After releasing butterflies at the San Diego Temple we went and toured the Mormon Battalion. It was such a great tour and VERY entertaining. Derek had 2 relatives that were in the Mormon Battalion so before we went in, while we ate our picnic lunch he told us the amazing story about Meltier and Orin Hatch...brothers that were in the Mormon Battalion. Orin got sick while on the trial and the leader told Meltier to just leave Orin behind because he couldn't keep up. Meltier would not leave his brother to die so every night with the help of a friend he would march back to where Orin was and carry him to camp and then he would march with the battalion all day and do that over and over again. Finally the commander in charge had pity on him and gave Orin a horse to ride until he got better. It was fun at the end of the tour to look up their names and see pictures of these amazing relatives. After the tour they had some fun little activities for the kids. Panning for gold was so much fun. It was a great and memorable day spent learning about the early pioneers.






Panning for gold.