Feeding the Ducks

We have discovered a wonderful park! Sunset Park is awesome! I met my friend, Amy Lacey with her cute kids for a fun play date there a couple weeks ago. There is a really large pond with lots of ducks, so we took some bread to feed the ducks after our picnic.

notice the HUGE chunks of bread, those are Rebecca's first attempts before learning how to break the bread apart.

After feeding the ducks we went to play at the playground and saw this little guy. A groundhog? A gopher? I am not quite sure what it is, but we had fun experimenting to see what kind of food it liked. Results: it likes goldfish crackers, honey nut granola bars, and apples and bananas, it has no interest in processed lunchables cheese, and the lunchable chicken nugget that the kids didn't like either. The kids were fascinated with it. It kept coming up, grabbing the food and quickly taking it back in its hole. Hayden said he was taking it back to his kitchen and putting it on the counter underground.

Hayden and Jacob

Rebecca and Anna

We had such a good time there that we went back the next Saturday with Jerry because Hayden wanted to show him the park. It is a great park, and it was a really fun play date.

Hayden's New Phrase

Somehow over the weekend in Utah Hayden picked up a new phrase that I have heard ALL DAY LONG!!!

What the...

or

What the HECK!

I guess that's what Utah does to you huh. :)

Are we campers yet?

One of the great things about growing up in Logan was that we were just minutes from Logan Canyon. I LOVE Logan Canyon. As a family we would go up the canyon quite often, and I loved camping there. My parents decided we were going to be a "camping family" and bought all the equipment, including the portable potty. My mom and dad went on a camping trip to test out all the new loot and they were attacked by bees. So from that point on the kids would go camping up the canyon and mom and dad would come up and stay a while, but go home to sleep.

Shortly after Hayden was born we decided we were going to be a "camping family" so we bought the HUGE tent that we'll still be able to use when we have 15 children, and some other equipment - not the porta-potty though. And on our first trip we realized that the HUGE tent was not so easy to assemble, and Hayden got sick and ended up throwing up all over that huge tent- 3 nights in a row!! NOT FUN! Cleaning it was not so fun either, but we did it. We tried camping again, about a year later, but his allergies were really bad so he coughed and coughed till he puked again. So we packed up the tent and figured that maybe we aren't campers.

Well, the Father/Son camp-out for our ward was a couple weeks ago. Jerry's idea was for he and Hayden to take the seats out of the back of the van, and just sleep in the van. (Yes, I agree, pretty pathetic.) Hayden said that he wanted to sleep in a tent, and after Jerry's attempts at trying to convince Hayden that it would be so fun to sleep in a van he gave up and realized that the trip was about Hayden, and making sure he had fun. It was so cute watching Hayden help out with the preparations. They made a fun shopping list and went shopping together for their treats, and he helped pack up the van and everything. As they left the house Hayden said to me, "Mom, if Rebecca gives you any trouble call us, but if she's a good girl you don't have to call. Love ya." Such a little man!



They had a blast!! They went to Valley of Fire. He had fun climbing the rocks and playing with all the boys from the ward.

Jerry's brother's ward had their Father/Son planned, but it got cancelled so he decided to take his boys camping anyway, and he invited Jerry and Hayden. They both had such a good time again. This is a good start! We're planning another camp out sometime soon, and who knows, we might just end up buying a porta-potty!

Sydney's new thing!

She has found her fingers and they are YUMMY!

I personally think her earlobes taste better!

Sleepover!

We had our first sleepover party a couple weeks ago. My sister in law & her hubby went out of town for a couple days, so their little boy Tyler got to stay here. Hayden and Rebecca were so excited. They've had cousins stay over before, but their mom and dad were always here. We played, watched movies, played, went to the park, hit McDonalds, and played some more. They were so excited to sleep down on the floor with him. We had a great time with Tyler here. Sleep...no, but Fun... YES! This picture was taken at 11:30 one night. Yes, Rebecca is my little party animal!

My two roomies got married ... not to each other!

When I first moved to Las Vegas, almost 9 years ago, I didn't know a soul. I got offered the job in Vegas while I was finishing my student teaching in Logan. The teacher across the hall said that her sister was moving down to Las Vegas to teach, so we hooked up as roomies. Heidi had lived in Las Vegas a few years earlier and still had friends here. She was a great roommate, and was so great to listen to me cry, pretty much every night my first year of teaching. (It was a HARD year.) After that first year she moved down Arizona to teach. (She had a pretty miserable year as well.) My next roommate Pam also moved down from Logan. (She had been in Heidi's student ward in Logan) Pam was also such a great roommate. She is just as crazy as me, and also listened to me whine every night. (School was better, but every girl has to whine about boys right? And I'm a big whiner.) After years of searching for Mr. Right, and seeing them date some Mr. Wrongs, I thought it was very funny that they both got married just one week apart. Pam got married April 18, and Heidi on April 25. Congratulations girls!!
p.s. when you look at the pictures, be kind, remember I'm still working off all that ice cream and baby! Tee hee!

Me and Heidi!
Heidi and Peter - Sorry Peter, your eyes are closed.


Me and Pam!
Pam and ChadOur group of girl friends, Heidi, Me, Pam, Tiffany, and Rochelle

Once again our group of friends

A Wonderful Moment in a Mother's Life

Today we went on a walk with some friends. As Hayden and Rebecca were riding in the stroller together I overheard Hayden say, "I love you, Rebecca." And she answered, "I love you too, Hayden." Moments like that make a hard job all worth it.

Happy Easter

Hooray! The Easter Bunny still visits when you are in a hotel!! Our Easter was a little low key this year. Easter in a hotel isn't AS exciting, but it was still fun.

I THINK the Easter Bunny was going to hide the eggs around the room, but maybe since we got back so late from Disneyland the night before he forgot and just decided to put some eggs in their baskets instead. It's probably a good thing that they only had about 4 eggs each in their baskets - that was enough chocolate and sugar to get them super hyped up.

Aww, isn't she adorable!?!

We decided to go see the Newport Beach Temple on our way home. It was beautiful. To be honest, I actually didn't realize there was a temple in Newport Beach. It was a nice Easter activity. Because Christ died for us, He made it possible for our sins to be washed away and for us to live again. I'm grateful that we have been sealed in the temple and that we will always be a family, even after this life is over.

CHEESE!!

Don't you love her "McQueen's"? In her opinion they go with every outfit.

It was a beautiful temple and I'm glad we got the opportunity to go see it.