Easter Party

Our neighbors (also in our ward) put on a fun Easter party last Saturday. They provided food and entertainment! We just brought a dozen eggs for each kid with 2 'golden eggs' for everyone. The golden eggs had money in them. That was a new idea to me, but the kids LOVED it! We had a great time. There were about 5 other families there. We enjoyed their company and the kids ran around like crazy in their park-like backyard.

Some action shots! Thank you neighbors!!!

Play Group Easter Egg Hunt

The week before Easter, our playgroup (organized by the cute blond lady pictured below!) had an Easter Egg Hunt. Claire was beside herself. It began with her not super willing to share the eggs we brought, but she came around and we 'hid' the eggs on this huge field at the park. I derive such joy from watching these little ones run around and the sheer pleasure they get from the simple things in life. It was terrific to be there and enjoy the lovely day!

Chris is home....Enough Said

Home for Easter!

Making the Atonement Personal

Easter Sunday we heard talks given by Shana and another woman in our ward, Gabby. The topic was (something close to) 'How the Atonement can be Personal in our Lives.' It was an excellent Sacrament. His sacrifice is magnificent, overwhelming and wonderfully hopeful. We also enjoyed the most beautiful musical number I've heard in a long time. Everyday I'm seriously looking forward more and more to the Savior returning and bringing peace to the earth. Sounds fantastic doesn't it? It's my hope I survive to enjoy it.

Kickin' It

One of the days during Spring Break was over 90 degrees. We tried to provide a little bit of every type of weather while Audrey was here. We had cool weather when she arrived, spring weather, summer weather, and we provided some stormy, humid weather to top things off.










The afternoon of 90 degrees, around 3pm the kids asked if they could get their swimsuits on and play in the hose. It sounded pretty good to me! We filled up the baby pool for Claire and Sophie, gave the hose to the older kids and caught some rays ourselves.

I'm looking forward to warmer weather, but.....over 90 degrees...not so much.

A Little History on the Big State

Texas State capitol here we come! This is the statue that sits a top the Capitol building in Austin, TX. She is the 'Goddess of Liberty' and was given to us by the same artist who designed the Statue of Liberty. (That's a Texas star in her hand.)

Inside everything is so ornate. It's beautiful. This building began construction in 1882 and was completed in 1888. It's pretty incredible.

Some Texas favorites...

A little interesting note....the star pictured in the lower left hand corner is at the very top of the dome (pictured in the middle row, far right) The star is 8 feet from point to point, and the letters are 14" high. Now you know! Also, I loved seeing...'In God we Trust' Some of the amazing art that hangs within this building has been there more than 100 years.

Dressin' like some real cowboys and cowgirls! Yee-HA!

One more interesting thing I noticed were the door hinges. Through-out the building each door was hung with 2 or 3 of these custom door hinges (pictured at the very bottom left)..You might not find that of interest, but again...it was built in the 1880's. We had such a great time. I think everyone should visit here!

The Little Giant

The other morning I asked Claire to jump into her carseat and buckle up...when I came out to the garage she'd buckled herself into Sophie's carseat. We thought she looked like a giant in there! We got a good laugh out of it. She thought she was pretty tricky too. :)

S'mores

Who can resist a s'more? We sure can't!! Grandma and Grandpa provided the supplies and we built our dessert. Here Logan and Taylor display their edible works of art.

This was our pyromaniac moment. We all lit some marshmallows on fire and watched as they exploded into black bubbles and then shrank like shrinky-dinks.

I think this was Sophie's first introduction to marshmallows. I think she liked them?!?

Grandma's House

We visited my parents one night and played outside in their backyard. There's something for everyone.

Whole Foods

While Audrey was here, we had to take her to Whole Foods. Austin is the headquarters for Whole Foods, so they have a huge store downtown. We have other Whole Food stores here and there, but this is the Mac-Daddy of stores. They have 3 separate dining areas, one for BBQ, one for Seafood, and another that encompasses every other type of food you could imagine. They also have a huge bakery...with tons of candies as well. On top of all that it's a regular grocery store with a tremendous produce department and fresh flowers. It's an adventure.


It was overwhelming to decide what to eat, but we finally got some fresh baked pizza, some panini's, some roasted pork tenderloin with rosemary potatoes, some lobster bisque and a wedge salad. It was delicious. We ate outside and enjoyed some live music from a musician here for the SXSW concert.

This great little creek runs outside the market. If there's water anywhere, my kids have to investigate and play in it.

That's Love

Does this picture capture how these two feel about each other or what?

Block Party

Wednesday evening....(still enjoying this Spring weather!) we had a block party. Audge made these wonderfully sinful pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with frosting (that were to die for) which we took. We tried to balance the snacks with the fruit salad we also brought. ;)

Here's Sopher-Loafer doing her Grandpa proud and riding the John Deer.
Claire's turn!
Even Abby joined us. It was a fun party...Thank you to Shawn and Brad...and everyone else for the sides. It was so nice to end a long day with dinner outside with friends. We took the kids in at dark....gave them baths and Audge and I had a quiet evening together!