the BRAVES are back!

Baseball season is here again and that is about all we have been up to! Nick is on a team with Ben again and they have most of the same players from fall. Last season was pretty rough for their team, but this season they seem to be a whole new team! They have won every game so far. Nick has improved so much. He is hitting every time at bat and last night he got his first home run! It was pretty awesome. I was so proud a couple of tears came to my eyes. I am glad that Nick has found something that he likes and that he is able to do well at it!!

Stake Track Meet

Last Saturday was our stake's 2nd Annual 5k and track meet. We woke up nice and early and headed over to Desert Oasis high School. For waking up the kids they didn't do to bad. Nick wanted to run with a friend so Chris was voted the parent to go with him! Chloe somehow convinced Jenny to carry her the whole way, Cooper got to take a ride on "horsey Grandpa", when my dad would run, Cooper would say "yeehaw cowboy!!". And Alex was running until he tripped. It was all over after that for him and he had a nice ride in the stroller. I totally took it easy with my mom. I think we were last, not that it really matters or anything!!
Chris ran the whole thing and came in in 32 minutes. Pretty impressive for not running or exercising for months. Nick ran/ walked and came in at about 40 minutes.
It was lots of fun! I can't wait until next year!

easter weekend

This year we had a picnic with my family on Saturday to let the kids have their egg hunt. They always love being with their cousins. So I think my mom decided she wants to make this a tradition.

On Saturday afternoon we colored some eggs. I haven't had any energy lately so we only did one dozen and were very simple, some color and stickers. Lucky for me that was good enough. The kids were happy!

Easter morning the kids woke up to find what the Easter Bunny left them and then emptied their baskets to find the eggs he hid in the backyard. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a conference tradition and we watched some General Conference. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy listening to conference, but it just didn't feel like Easter this year not going to church. None the less we had a great relaxed weekend!

Discovery Museum

This morning we went with some friends from our ward to the Lied Discovery Museum.

My kids love all the role play activities they can do there. All 4 of them spent quite a bit of time playing in the grocery store. Cooper got his coke and he was ready to go!

It has been about a year since the last time we went there. They changed some stuff and added a lot of new stuff. The kids could have stayed there all day (if we could have eaten lunch there)!

We got a membership so there will be lots more playtime at the museum!!

The Lichty Derby

This last week the youth in our ward had their own Pine Wood Derby. Chris made him and I a car for the race and the kids were feeling a little left out, so he made 4 more cars. We cut, painted and decorated cars for family home evening. They had fun picking what stickers went where and what LEGO guy they wanted to drive.
Chris' car came in in the final 8. The rest of ours were just there for decoration! Nick was a little disappointed that he didn't win. I told him that when he is in Boy Scouts that his dad will help him build a winning car. So Chris better get busy!!

We ended our trip by going to the beach with Jordan, Amber and Mavrik. Chris, Jordan, and Nick rented boogie boards and a surf board. The waves were giant that day and Nick was pretty terrified. I was going to try and show him how to boogie board, but one big splash sent me running back to the blanket. IT WAS FREEZING!! Chris and Jordan gave it a try for a while and caught some good waves.

I pent my time digging holes to bury my kids. They got a real kick out of it, doing it over and over.

It was a great way to end our vacation. Hopefully we will get back to the beach before this baby is born!!

I know!! Picture overload!!

We spent the entire first day at Disneyland and boy were we pooped! So much to do and so little time. We thought we picked a great time to go, but it was California's spring break so it was pretty busy.

We still had lots of fun waiting in line and chasing characters around.

Day 2 was St. Patrick's Day! My mom got all of us matching shirts to wear, so that was fun. I am still a little bummed that we never got a picture of everyone together. It was kind of funny, lots of people would see us walk by all in green and say " I guess today must be St. Patrick's Day."
I guess so!

Chloe got an autograph book and loved trying to collect all their autographs. And I was really excited that all my kids would go see them. I was shocked that Cooper wasn't scared. He absolutely loved seeing all them. Sometimes he even tried to cut in line he was so excited to see them!

Now that I have 4 kids that all have their initials in CALIFORNIA it was very important that our new baby start with one too! (So next visit it will be N- C- A- C- A)

Next time we take a trip to Disney we will have to devote a whole day to character chasing!

Thanks MOM & DAD for a fun trip!! We had lots of tiring FUN!!