San Francisco

Here are some of our pictures from SF. It was cold and windy out on the boat. The Golden Gate Bridge was beautiful!

Grammy's House

After Lake Tahoe, the kids and I went to my mom's in Sacramento. We did a lot of swimming and made a trip to San Francisco. In SF, we went to Pier 39 and Alcatraz Island. We had the BEST clam chowder at the Blue Mermaid, sourdough bread at Bodine's and a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli Square. The sea lions were hilarious!!! The kids loved going on the boat to Alcatraz. My brother's dog, Moab, came to cool off too. He weighs 150 lbs. and is the biggest baby!

Camping at Lake Tahoe

We had a great time camping at Lake Tahoe with 5 of Ryan's siblings and their families, including dogs. We swam (or put our feet in) in the freezing cold lake, played games, took some nice short hikes and just spent some time together. It was fun for all the cousins to play together.

Candy Man

Amy got to perform with her dance team at the half-time show at the St. George Blitz game. They are our local football team! They had a lot of fun!!! This is Amy's friend, Jessa.

Pine Valley Mountain

We had a fun drive to Pine Valley Mt. just an hour from our house. It was so beautiful! I wish I could live there forever!

Our Garden

We are trying to grow tomatoes and cucumber this year in pots. We're still in our rental with no dirt to use. We got a few tomatoes last year so we're doing more this year. They have already grown a ton! The girls love to go out each morning and water the plants and flowers.

Senior Ball 2009

Derek and Ling had a great time with friends at Sr. Ball. They had dinner provided by the parents at the Cox Mansion in our stake. It's a huge house of a really great family in our stake. It's not called a mansion, but it's as big as one and fancy too. They are very generous to let people borrow whatever they need. This is in the basement. Not a typical basement, it has a bowling alley, puppet show venue made of solid wood and a full kitchen and bedrooms. The basement alone is bigger than any house I've ever had. Thank you Sue!!!

Easter Sunday

We had a fun Easter weekend. We had an egg hunt in the backyard on Saturday. The ward also had an activity that day. It was cold and rainy so they had it in the gym but it was fun. The Easter Bunny came Sunday morning. Amy now knows who the real bunny is but has sworn to be a believer since Katie still believes. Amy knows if she tells, there will be no presents for her.

Wyoming

For a few days of Spring Break, we went to visit friends in Wyoming. We had a great time going to the park one day for a picnic. The kids (and adults) loved all the toys that went around and around. I got pretty dizzy. It was interesting coming home. We hit light snow in Evanston and by Park City, it was a white out. Just after leaving Evanston, the windshield wiper on the passenger side fell off and flew away. Ryan wrapped blue paper towels we got at the next gas station around it so it wouldn't scratch the window. We barely found the Wal-Mart in Park City. Then on a potty stop a couple hours from home, we walked into the gas station that had no power. It was pitch dark in the bathroom so we used a flashlight. We made it home safely and we were happy to see our friends.

Saturday Drive

We went for a drive to look at some dinosaur tracks about 20 min. from us. The kids loved 4-wheeling through the sand in Ryan's truck. We also went to Fort Pierce, an old Mormon pioneer fort that was used to keep the Indians away from the water source.

Cousins In Town

Ryan's brother and his family came to town from Reno. We went to Zion for the day. The cousins had a lot of fun together.

Cleaning Is Cool!

Amy and Katie were cleaning the back sliding door. They are never happy to do chores but Katie ending up making it fun.

And the winner is....

Amy's piano teacher, Amanda, was in the Miss Washington City Pageant last night. She was the 1st attendant last year and this year....she won!!! The girls and I had so much fun! There were five girls from our ward. They got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Miss Congeniality, Most Photogenic and the Community Service Award. Our bishop (also Amanda's father) was very proud.

Our Animals...They're Part of the Family

We love our animals! They do some funny things!

6 of 6...tagged

1. go to your photos file

2. go to the 6th file

3. go to the 6th picture

4. put it on your blog

Easy! I bet you thought it would be of my kids or something, but it's an office building in St. George that my husband built.

CONTEST

Thanks to my friend, Stephanie, I got this from her blog. I am SO excited! Read and enter this fabulous contest...you know you want to! The deal: The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. To you! It will be my choice and made especially for you. Just so we’re on the same page, here are . . . The details: No guarantees you will feel absolute true love, but possibly happiness, fervor, or chocolate. What I create will be just for you. It will be done sometime this year. You have no clue what it will be… cookies, a photograph, a piece of homemade jewelry. It may be some other random thing I am capable of making or doing that would be enjoyable to you! I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you! That’s for sure. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The fine print (which is actually the same size, but whatever):You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. When you get your lovely homemade goods from me, post a picture on your blog so I know my love arrived without a hitch.OK, thanks Stephanie, for letting me copy this from you! I'm ready get the ball rolling, but a little nervous!

Christmas 2008

We had a fun Christmas just hanging out as a family. We went to see "Marley and Me" with all the family that was in town.

Katie's 1st lost tooth

Katie came home and announced she had a loose tooth. Two days later she came home with it in a bag. She pulled it out at recess and said it "bleeded".

Winter Wonderland

We got a few inches of snow overnight. St. George is not equipped to clear the snow so we had a "snow day". The kids had fun playing in the snow. I love the snow, mostly to look at it. A few inches is just my speed.

Family Pictures

Here is our attempt at taking our own family picture. It didn't turn out too bad. I think we got some great ones of the kids. We took them down by a stream in old Washington City.