A Fun Filled May

We have had a really fun month of May. It has been packed with lots of excitement!  

Braden and Susie and I took off the first week of May for Cedar City. From there my mom joined us and we headed up to Salt Lake to see my Aunts and cousins. We picked up my brother, Mackenzie, and  traveled up to Idaho to see my Grandma and Grandpa Garbett, and Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth. Susanna fell in love with Mackenzie instantly and didn't leave him alone the whole time he was there! It was great seeing everyone. It's been a long time! We made lots of fun stops on our road trip including our favorite, Gosners Cheese Factory in Logan, Ut.  I showed Susie the geyser in Soda Springs. It was great fun. I loved being back in Soda. It is one of my favorite places on earth and it made my heart happy to be there!

After our fun road trip to see family, Mom and I headed back down to Cedar City. We spent a week there. We went on lots of walks in the canyon and enjoyed spending time with my siblings. Tiffany gave me a short haircut. At the end of the week we all drove back to Phoenix to attend a wedding. My good friend Michele got married in the Gilbert temple. Mom drove with me to help with the kids (what a girl!) and I spent the day at the temple and then the luncheon and the reception at night. It was great fun and such a happy day.

Bright and early the next morning Paul joined us and we headed back up to Utah with a car full. (Whew, lots of driving!) I surprised Paul with a graduation trip to Washington DC. We went there right after I graduated from college in 2009 so I thought it would be fun to go back again. So mom watched the kids and Paul and I took off. We got to spend some time with Paul's brother Jonathan and his family, and his sister, Jennifer and her family. We went to see monuments and memorials the first night we were there. The next day we spent together exploring the city. Kylee knows someone who works for Rand Paul and she set up a private tour for us of the capital building. It was VERY cool! We got to see some neat secret parts of the capital building. We went to the Botanical gardens and rented a paddle boat near the Jefferson memorial. Our journey home was long.... we flew stand-by and got stuck in the Chicago airport ALL DAY! We finally made it back to Cedar City at 4am the next day. We did have a great time together though! 

The day after we got back from Washington, Livy graduated from high school. I'm so glad I got to be there. We gave her a trash bucket full of things for college. She is going to BYU-Idaho in the fall. Olivia is such a good aunt. Braden and Susanna love playing with her. We went to the Pizza Factory before graduation. The next day we stopped at a gas station and guess who is on the cover of the newspaper... Olivia! Pretty cool. 

Now we are packing up and getting ready to move to Flagstaff. It is going to be a hard move for me because I love so many people here in Phoenix. We are excited for a career and a new adventure though. 

Easter

So Easter was 2 weeks ago and I'm just now getting to these pictures. We have been busy around here. We are trying to take advantage of the time we have left with our Phoenix friends and are hanging out with them a lot. We are also busy looking for a place to live in Flagstaff. We still haven't settled on one, but I hope we are getting close. 

We had a wonderful Easter. We loved teaching Susanna about Jesus and how he was resurrected and what that means. We talked about it throughout the week as we did different Eastery things like dye eggs. Then I would ask her, what happened when Jesus was resurrected? She told me, "Jesus die. But then he all better!" She gets it. They had a great lesson in nursery on Easter and sent her home with a few cut outs of Jesus and the tomb. Susie used them to teach the lesson for Family Home Evening all by herself. It was so sweet.

Susie has been looking forward to dyeing eggs for a LONG time! So she was thrilled when we finally got to it. We didn't let Braden participate too much. Sorry bud, better luck next year. 

We also had fun with our Easter baskets. I found so many cute things at the dollar store! Score!

I love getting the kids dressed up for Easter. They just look so adorable. Check out Braden's little bow tie. Just so cute. I curled Susie's hair for the first time Easter morning. She actually liked it! 

For Easter dinner we had some great friends over. This is what happens when an amateur tries to take a group picture with a timer. Sorry Susie, you didn't make the cut. These have been our good friends. Both families have children the same age as our children, which as been so fun. It's so sad to leave good friends when you have to move.

Braden, Graham, and Adam

Gracie, Susanna, and Isla