General Conference

What an amazing General Conference this was! The Solemn Assembly was such a neat experience as we all stood and sustained our new prophet - President Nelson. This conference was particularly powerful for me as I felt so strongly that President Nelson is a prophet for our day, called of God. I was happy to receive that witness and reassurance. President Nelson was so strong and powerful as he warned of dangers in our day and reminded us of the importance of teaching our children how to recognize personal revelation. 

Spring Break 2018

The day after Calvin's birthday, we headed for Brentwood to spend the rest of our Spring Break week at Gram and Papa's! 

The kids were super excited to check out the new park that had opened up just days after we left Brentwood back in November. We were up bright and early Thursday morning and had more than an hour to play by ourselves before other people arrived.

Bebe the kindergarten monkey got to join us on this trip and is in pretty much every picture that Cal's in. 

Thursday and Friday were pretty much our only days to play since Saturday and Sunday were busy with General Conference listening. The kids had fun crafting, playing out in the boy tub, in the blow up pool, at the park, reading, and playing with all of Gram's fun toys!

Elle and Cal went to the movies with Gram one afternoon while Madi, Papa, James and I went shopping. 

We celebrated Cal's birthday with Gram and Papa. 

Got some car washing lessons from Papa. 

A trip to Gram/Papa's wouldn't be the same without haircuts - all 3 boys and a trim for Elle!

It's always a trick to find good distractions. 

Spencer flew in Friday evening to join us for the weekend! 

Everything is always better when we're with dad!!

And Gram & Papa!

James fell in love with Gram Rox and loved when she'd stop by to play. Roxy also took Madi to the church and gave her her first organ lesson. Madi did awesome and picked up on it really fast.

I just love watching my parents love on my kids and I love seeing the strong relationships they share. I walked in the door from my morning run to this site - my mom snuggled under the blanket reading stories to Cal and Elle, while Papa and James were snuggled under another blanket talking and laughing. Makes my mama heart so happy and full. 

Thanks Gram and Papa for the awesome spring break/Easter/conference visit!

March happenings!

After celebrating James' birthday on the 1st, I was finally able to accept that it was already March. We had more birthday celebrating for Calvin at the end of the month as well as spring break in Brentwood, both which deserve their own post. Here's just  a few other things that kept us busy the first 3 weeks of the month. . . 

Cal and Spencer worked hard at building their very own sailboat for Cal's kindergarten transportation museum. My original thoughts were to give Calvin some cardboard boxes and let him go to town building whatever he wanted. I'm so glad he has a more creative dad who was willing to take the time to help make the project a success!

 Macee's cute project:

We had to say good-bye to the Millers at the beginning of the month. I wasn't super close with Brandi, but Cal and Chase were such cute little buddies and always played so good together! Plus, Ben and Brandi were teaching Madi's primary class, so she was especially devasted about the move cause they are dynamite teachers! They will definitely be missed! 

Sickness hit our house during a week Spencer was out of town. It went through every single one of us - and lasted about 2 days for each person. Just fevers, chills, body aches - no throwing up thank goodness. 

Needless to say, we were all VERY excited to have Spencer home!!

 Madi got her braces off on the 12th! Very exciting day! Bummer it's just her first phase though. 

Before:

 After:

 More rain to Camarillo meant an after school trip to In-and-Out for an early dinner and hot cocoa!

 Cal's reading has totally taken off. This library trip was when we got his first chapter book and then proceeded to read the whole book in just a couple days! 

Friday pizza/movie night! Just had to take a picture cause I'm constantly in amazement at what a big boy James is now. He's totally one of the kids.

My handsome boys after church! SO cute even with Cal's too short church pants and James disheveled look. 

The kids (Elle and Cal) wrote notes for the leprechaun but he didn't see the notes until the end of the day, apologized and left some coins and treats.

These 2 girls are dynamite babysitters! After babysitting 3 nights in a row for Spence and I, I decided they deserved a little treat out with mom! 

Easter Sunday for our ward was March 18th since Easter falls on Conference Sunday this year.

Adrienne Freeland and Carolyn Brown spoiled them like crazy!! Tons of treats and toys. I'm just trying my best to make sure they don't become bratty, entitled kids. . .

Just a little park outing with the Watie kids. My girls adore their girls. Elle and Rebecca are cute little friends, but Madi just spoils Allie. I love watching how sweet and nurturing she is. Made packed all sorts of treats and gifts to give Allie when we met up with them at the park.

Then this leads us up to the start of spring break. I always love watching how my kids spend their days off school... many times they are spent playing school!