Random April...

 Here are a few pics from my phone that I want to remember. These are things that happened in April.

Riding bikes with my posse. 

Whitney's Venus flytrap caught a fly all be itself! We usually put a fly in it and the leaf closes on it. This time we didn't. Good job, plant.

 Zach built a gigantic ship out of play dough. I love those big eyes!

 I worked on my Lego skills a bit. I got this idea from a Lego book and it seemed easy enough. I'm missing a white grill piece. It drives me nuts when we are missing pieces! I'm clearly not a "master builder". I'm pretty much Lord Business, if you want to know the truth.

 I found out that Josh can juggle, which left me to wonder, "what else is he keeping from me?" I just hope I don't find a full on clown outfit and face painting kit in the basement. You think you know someone...

 Tyler lost a tooth!

 When the poor tooth fairy went in to his room to retrieve the tooth, this is what she found. Not sure how she was supposed to find a tooth in all that blanket, pillow, stuffed animal and "tote" business. (The totes are where the animals live, obviously)

 The next morning, I found it, Right there in the middle of this picture, can you see it? I don't know how this kid sleeps with all the stuff he has to put on his bed. It's unreal.

 Zach finished up his last "story time" at the library. It's hitting me hard that he will be going to Kindergarten next year and I won't have a buddy at home with me anymore:( It's not a great feeling.

 

I got a bike as an early birthday present and I've been having fun riding it around. I love feeling that fresh air whip through my lungs, I haven't felt that in a long time since I can't run anymore. It's indescribable. Here are some pictures of the canyon by our house. It's so much more beautiful than these pictures let on. This is as far up the canyon I could go. The snow is still not melted on the road. 
 
The Dam

 Anyway, spring is in full swing over here; temperamental weather and all. We relish the sunny days and are thankful for the moisture on the wet days. The birds have come back and sing all day long. It's so great. The kids spend most of their time outside after school and we can almost see those carefree days of summer ahead. Bring on May!

Star Valley Temple Ground Breaking

 Since our temple was announced in October of 2011, we have been anxiously anticipating the day when construction would begin on it. Last weekend the wait was over! Over 5,000 people showed up to the groundbreaking. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but "luckily", it turned out to be a dry and somewhat sunny day. (It snowed the next day, haha! That's how it is around here.)

Taking our turn at the shovels.

 

 

Here's what the Temple will eventually look like. 

  

I remember the exact moment that our temple was announced. I remember sitting on the couch watching conference and fighting back tears of joy, wondering if what I heard was correct. Our town is so small and I'm sure many people wondered where "Star Valley" even was on the map. It was an answer to many prayers to get a temple and we feel SO blessed to one day have one just a few miles from our house!  It's going to be so great. We're excited to watch it's progress each week.

 

A great day in Star Valley. 

She's in the double digits!

 Whitney's birthday seems to have been an ongoing thing this year. She started it off a couple of weeks ago with a birthday lunch with some of her cousins in Utah. I mentioned that in a previous post. That was a serious highlight to her year.

 

 Then, she had a little mini party in St. George with grandma and grandpa, which I also mentioned in a previous post.

We celebrated her birthday a couple of days early because Josh was going to be out of town for her actually birthday. She was so excited to open her presents, of course. One thing we gave her was a cake decorating set. She wanted to decorate her own cake. I was thrilled, although I really do love decorating the kids birthday cakes.

 

The boys were quite interested in what she was doing... 

 

 Voila!

 She requested corned beef (her "favorite of the beefs"), a variety of fruit and corn bread. We were all pleased with this meal. Can't go wrong with a little savory beef!

 Cake time! She had some sparkler type of trick candles. The kids had fun trying to blow them out.

 

Then, on her real birthday I checked her out of school and let her pick a place for lunch. She chose Taco Time. There's not much to pick from in the way of  eateries in our little town. She got her fav, a crisp bean burrito. Can't go wrong with a little deep fried bean tortilla! 

 

 I like to look back and compare months to years. Here are some of Whitney's 10 month baby pictures. I may be a little biased, but isn't she literally breathtaking. I can't get over how beautiful she is. Oh  how I wish I could rewind time and have that little 10 month old back! Love me a squishy babe to cuddle, sigh... I feel so so so lucky that she was sent to our family and that I get to spend a portion of my life with her in our home. She's such a unique, smart, creative, and kind kid. We love you Miss Whit!

(Those eyes!!! I love those eyes!!!)

Easter 2015

 Easter sort of snuck up on us since we were gone the week before. Here's a little of what our Easter looked like...

 

Here are some shots of our traditional Easter Sunday clothes that we wore the Sunday after Easter. I'm a big fan of buying church outfits so this is always fun for me;)