{Photography Gone BAD}

I can't stand school pictures!  Really do people honestly frame these things???  I mean how unnatural to have a fake waterfall backdrop!  

I never purchase them, so I don't keep track of when picture day even occurs.  So when my boys eagerly brought home their school pictures to show me, I immediately started laughing as I saw them!  

Drew is at the age where smiling just doesn't come naturally!

 Ian is wearing a shirt that is old and small!  It even has stains on the front and I am embarrassed to see that he even wore it to school!

Gotta Love Owen's holey jeans and his hair that never got brushed that day!

I mean I do think my boys are adorable, but these pictures do not do them justice!!!  However, I do think they are funny and wanted to share them so that my boys will appreciate the wonderful pictures we have taken every year by a professional photographer, who captures their natural, happy, non-forced poses!

These capture their cute individual personalities and are adorning the walls of our home!

We'll go to Hawaii if we want pictures with waterfalls!

{MOO}

We bought a COW!!!  The kids were so excited when I told them we bought a cow and that it would be arriving today!  They were a little disappointed when what they were expecting to see (a four legged animal, with a tail, that moos) did not walk up our driveway!  Instead they were met by our friends the Newmans and a big cooler full of cow!!!!

Ty was so awesome to deliver the cow to us from Utah! 
So grateful for wonderful friends who have family ranches where their animals are not filled with hormones and are organically fed!  

 We have a years worth of fresh ground beef, steaks, and roasts! 

And to think that I was a vegetarian for five years!!!

Not only were we able to have fresh meat, but fresh chicken eggs too!  Our neighbor Yarnida, is the proud owner of chickens and she is sharing them with us!  They were so big and delicious!!!  I love eating clean and hope to provide my family with the healthiest food that I can!  My next goal is to start grinding my own wheat and making homemade fresh wheat bread....wish me luck!

{Failure}

In my previous post I mentioned my attempts to sway Drew's mind on owning a snake by introducing him to a tortoise.   I took him to the library in hopes of checking out books on tortoises.  I helped him look up books on tortoises on the computer and sent him in that direction, while I helped Mya.  I came to the table and saw this......

Attempt FAILED!!!

{Last Week's Loves}

Last week I LOVED that Ian received a Good Citizenship Award!  It said that he is positive and full of enthusiasm!  He is definitely our most "Spirited" child!  He is very determined and likes to do things his way and he can be heard throughout the house!

Ian, 2nd Grade

Mya went to play with Jonas and I LOVE the pink highlights she came home with!

She looked at her hair in the mirror at least 20 times!

There has been a lot of LOVING on the dogs lately!

not by me....

 Owen LOVES taking the dogs pictures.  I am constantly deleting photos off my phone of the dogs!



Drew is in LOVE with snakes!  He has only been reading books about snakes and spends hours researching all about them online.  He is trying to decide which snake will make the best pet....

I am hoping to avert his LOVE of snakes to tortoises!   He was introduced to Chuck Norris (the tortoise) and fell in LOVE with him!  

Wish me luck that I can convince him a pet tortoise would be much cooler than a snake!!!!  I'm heading to the library tomorrow to check out all the books they have on tortoises!

{Off the Beaten Path}

We took our friends the Doussett's with us on a hike up near Fish Head Rock.  We packed lunches and ate them on our beloved rock and then hiked up to the top of the mountain.  We decided to "take the road less traveled" and find our own way up to the top.  It resulted in scratchy arms and legs and lots of lifting of the little ones through the brush, but it was still fun!

 We of course stopped to climb on rocks and to try and catch lizards! Luckily, no one fell off the rocks on this adventure!

 We made it to the top and it was quite a sight to see the beautiful American Flag waving freely to greet us!  There is a can on top of this mountain with several old notebooks of peoples names and the date they hiked to the top.  We added our names and had fun discovering a Banning Veterinary business card inside the can, with Dr. Summers name listed on it!

I love hiking and being outdoors with friends! I am grateful we made it to the top and that Mya loves Courtney and wanted her to carry her the whole way and not me!  Don't worry, she might look tiny, but she is one buff chick!  We were smart and took the nice relaxing trail back down.  

{Easter Festivities}

We were thrilled to celebrate Easter with the Dunn's!  They are our good friends from Utah and every time we get together, we have a blast!!!  Our boys hit it off with their son when they "joined in" on playing Minecraft together on the i-phones and i-pads.  It is very popular with the kids these days!  You might even say that it brought them together!  

Mya and Sophie were inseparable from the minute they were reintroduced to each other!  They spent hours putting on shows for us and playing house.  Mya loves having little girls at our house!

Easter eggs were dyed and letters were written to the Easter Bunny

I love that Drew asked the Easter Bunny if he knows the real reason we celebrate Easter!  A proud mommy moment indeed!!!  I also like his warning about our dogs!

Owen, kindergartener, letter to EB (Easter Bunny)

Of course my kids woke up early and were ecstatic to see every room of the house decorated with eggs!

They quickly started filling up their baskets. 

Ian purposefully kept crossing his eyes!

All the kids were pleased with their loot!  Which they should be after I had to slip gift cards for i-tunes in the older boys baskets after I realized that Stephanie's Easter Bunny filled her kids baskets with much cooler things than I!  Lesson learned if we are celebrating Easter together next year...coordinate baskets!

The Easter Bunny not only left the kids tons of candy.  He also answered their letters and left some surprises of his own!

The kids were screaming when they found this little treat!  (Jelly Bean droppings)

He changed the milk pink and left us his favorite cereal!

We had a nice church service where we heard about the Resurrection of our Savior and were spiritually edified!  We attempted to get a quick family photo, however my kids were on a sugar rush and it wasn't easy!

This is where Owen was hiding as we were all gathering for a photo.  Shirt untucked, tie being swung around like a weapon, and belt unbuckled!

Not the "Model" family photo I envision, with us squinting as we face the sun and Owen's belt around Kenny's feet, but it is what it is!!!  I LOVE It!!!

Taking time to smell the flowers!

I can't lie, I really love getting Mya all dressed up!  Easter dresses are way more fun than ties!

I can't imagine my life without this little girl!  I adore her!!!

Mya, Sadie, and Sophie Dunn

I am so grateful for the wonderful Easter we had with our friends!  We are truly blessed and I am so grateful to know that Jesus atoned for our sins, so that we might return to live with him again!  I love my ETERNAL Family!

{A NIGHT OUT}

The weather has been beautiful and warm, so we decided we should dig out the camping supplies and go out to White Water before it gets too hot!  The kids thought it was the perfect way to start their Spring Break.

The kids favorite thing to do is to feed the fish.  However, they had to work for fish food!  They were told by the park rangers, that if they collected trash, they would take it in exchange for fish food.  The kids ran all over the camp looking for trash!  

 Drew didn't care that much about feeding the fish, he just wanted to catch a fish!  He was surprised when he got his finger bit twice, but it didn't stop him from trying!  After several failed attempts, he finally was able to hold on tight to the slippery little sucker!

The older boys lately have been obsessed with climbing trees!  

 Do you spy the 3 Men and the Little Lady in this picture????

Drew and Ian obviously do not have a fear of heights!

Owen just likes hanging on the lowest branch!

Mya on the other hand would love to follow Drew and Ian up to the top of the tree!  She was mad at me for not hoisting her up any higher in the tree.  

Do you see that blue in the very top of the tree?  That was Ian and the top of the swaying tree!  I was just waiting for another big fall!

 We had a blast going on a night hike along the river!  We got each kid their own head lamp to make our adventure more fun!

Mya dancing in the moon light!

 I love our family explorations!!!

 We found all kinds of creatures on our camping endeavor: ducks, fish, toad, mouse, caterpillar, birds, centipede, rabbits, squirrel, beetle, and a raccoon!!!!

 We stayed up late playing games and eating popcorn, which attracted the coons!

In the morning, Kenny and the older boys went on a long hike.

While they were away, the younger kids and I were left to play! 

It started with a simple soaking of our feet in the water.
Which led to...

 Shorts coming off.....

 and then more clothes came off!

When the boys finished their hike, they jumped in to relax and play also!

Drew continued to explore!

 Jumping for fun!!!!

Our camping trip was the beginning of our fun spring break!  I love having my kids home from school and not having to stress about school projects and homework!  I love my family!!!