A Proud Daddy

I am married to a reptile lover. Lovely, I know. The rule is if you chase mommy with the snakes then she gets to kick them. :) I just don't care for them all that much, but I love Mike. Anyway in our aquarium we have snake-Sam, who is eating the mouse, Snake-Beth eating the fish, snake-baby who is Beths only surviving baby, frog-Java who loves to eat the crickets. The kids in the neighborhood bring crickets and grasshoppers for him and get paid 5 cents each bug. Our new addition, a hermit crab. Plus the millions of fish we have to buy for Beth and baby. This is a video from a proud daddy. Ignore my nagging in the back ground if you can hear it. Mike decided to tape this when we were supposed to be in the car going somewhere.

Spring Break

We had a wonderful Spring Break, the only thing that could have made it better would be the sun. We started out the week going to Midway with the Palmers, we did some hiking and playing at a park the first day, since the sun was out. We rented our timeshare there and the kids had so much fun playing games together. The adults had fun playing games all night also. :) It was a blast. Here are a few pictures from the week.

Katie was so scared to cross this river on a log. She did Awesome though and was very proud when she was done.

Easter

We had a fun filled Easter week-end. Here are a few pictures from our activities.
Sat. morning we went to our Cedar Hills Egg Hunt, Katie did quite well. There were a lot of kids in her age group.

Then we went over to the Griffiths Egg Hunt, since the rain we were able to have it at Pyne Floor Coverings. Katie, Cole, and Clayton being silly.

All of the cousins together.

Then Sunday we were off to the Kennedy family hunt.

Almost everyone was there.

My interview from Katie

Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.Tag other moms with older kids who might have fun with this. :)Answers are by Haley age 3.

1. What is something mom always says to you? I'm not sure
2. What makes mom happy? If Kortney is crying and I hold her
3. What makes mom sad? When dad is mad
4. How does your mom make you laugh? make funny faces
5. What was your mom like as a child? loving
6. How old is your mom? 20
7. How tall is your mom? as high as the tv
8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV? News and Dancing of the Stars
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Sleep and do chores
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? cleaning and taking care of kids
11. What is your mom really good at? playing with me and coloring
12. What is your mom not very good at? nothing
13. What does your mom do for her job? what job?
14. What is your mom's favorite food? diet food
15. What makes you proud of your mom? paints nails
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Dora
17. What do you and your mom do together? color
18. How are you and your mom the same? We have the same toes
19. How are you and your mom different? she has blue eyes and I have brown eyes
20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because she is kind to me
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? His hugs
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Costco

I want anyone with kids who reads my blog to do this. It is to funny. You will have a lot of fun.

Katie and Tucker

Katie loves our dog Tucker, after watching Bolt, she decided she was Tuckers owner. She has been taking good care of him, feeding him, letting him out, etc. all of a sudden. I love it. Then we watched Marly and Me the other night, she got to see a different perspective of a dogs life. Meaning dogs live a shorter life than we do. Katie has been contemplating this the past couple days and asking questions about death, will Tucker be resurrected? Is he sealed to our family? Anyway today she was talking to Mike about how much she loves her dog. She said, "won't it be so sad when we have to plant Tucker." I couldn't help it, I laughed so hard. She was meaning to bury Tucker. I thought it was great, so I had to record it.

Disneyland

Disneyland!!!

I promise this is the last post about a trip for a while. I had to spread them out, there is not enough time to write about it all at once. About 2 months ago Mike got a phone call from my sister-in-law asking if he could come down and do a fireside for their ward. For those of you that do not know Mike has been directed under Elder Ballard and put together a little presentation about the importance of temple work. He shares a little about the family of Joseph and Emma, then he talks about how important it is for us to do our family history. He also explains a little about the making of Emma Smith, My Story. Shares a few stories from the actors etc. Well to the point of my post, I have been begging Mike to go to Disneyland. I figure Katie is 5 years old, a magical age to see all of her Disney friends. So I told Mike that since we are going down South we might as well do Disneyland. I did really good in saving some extra $$$, don't know what happened to it all now though. :) We spent 3 days celebrating Disney. The bummer was that on the first day we took a ton a pictures on the rides and late that evening we rode Indiana Jones, the camera fell out of Mikes pocket, and it still has not turned up in lost and found. I am sooooo sad. I guess I did get a new camera out of it, but we don't have those pictures. Here are a few with our new camera.

Oceanside Harbor

I love it when we got visit my brothers in Vista, Ca. I lived there from ages 5-9, then I went back and went to college there for 1 year when I was 18-19. I love the beach. It just energizes you and gives you a sense of peace. Plus sitting in the sun a little while it is snowing at home is kind of fun too. Katie LOVED the ocean. Last time we were here she loved playing in the sand but wasn't to fond of getting in the water. Well, the water was freezing and she was totally playing in it. It makes me so happy that we can go there every year so that she can have some of the memories I had as a child. Here is a little video of her looking for sea shells, she found quite the collection and they are now in a small basket in her bathroom.

Kortney was only 3 weeks old last time we were here, she was 9.5 months old this time! She also loved the sand, although se loved eating it, but that's ok. I have totally enjoyed Kortney over the last little while. She is learning to explore things on her own and play with her sister. I love how happy she is.

As you can see we had a wonderful trip to California,it was a great excuse to get out there and visit my family. I just wish I had time to visit with friends also. I tell many people that the short year I lived in Vista for school was one that I will always remember. I LOVED IT!! I have moved many times through out my life, 14 times I think. So I have never been in 1 place long enough to make life long friends. Infact when I got married I just had a reception in Utah, because I didn't have anyplace that felt like home and I knew that my close family and friends would be there. Some of my life long friends and fondest memories are from there in Vista and Palomar Institute. I loved the friendships I built there.

Keith and Lisa's wedding

On March 12th Melinda, Haley, Kelsey, Kortney, Katie and I all got into Melinda's van and set off to sunny Arizona for my nephew Keiths wedding.

Not too excited to drive 12 hours with 2 babies under 1, a 3 yr. old and a 5 yr. old, but we did it!!! The wedding was wonderful! Lisa did a good job planning, it was a beautiful event. Katie was so excited to go to a wedding. She explained to Haley while Melinda and I were doing hair that it's ok to sit still for a long time to get your hair done when you go to weddings. Katie just loves the fairy tale that weddings bring to a little girl. Kortney did pretty good also. For a little girl who loves her routine and her bed, she traveled quite well. Here are a few pictures.



All the cousins had so much fun seeing one another and playing together.



I decided that traveling with another woman is kind of nice. Melinda had the same ideas as me. It is so much easier when traveling to get there, unload the car of EVERYTHING, clean out the trash, put things away, then go have FUN!!! You don't have to worry about it the rest of the time. :) Sometimes Mike doesn't understand that.



Keith Jr. has a special place in my heart. He, and his family came to live with us for a year when he was 4 yrs. old. I took care of him, I would walk him to school sometimes or pick him up. He always has had this special place in my heart. (yes, many of my nieces and nephews do) I am so glad to see him happy, to see him all grown up. He looked so handsome in his uniform. Keith has so much respect for all those around him. I wish he and Lisa so much love and joy in their life together.