May 2014 - Full of tons of fun!

In May, Josh was gone for awhile, to India.  But that didn't stop our fun!

May brought our first fishing trip!

I absolutely love this picture of Brayden fishing.  He really loves doing things like this.  He does a great job too.  He actually has more patience for it than any of my other children.  He's happy doing stuff like this.

We didn't catch anything, but we saw a lot of cool stuff and had fun trying!

 The twins wanted to visit one of the tall buildings in downtown Des Moines, so I arranged a lunch with Grandma Debbie (Cobb).

They loved going to visit her and going to lunch with her.  It was a fun.

Later that same day, we went to see Evan's poster presentation on Gregor Mendel.  He even had to dress up like him.  He did a fabulous job and had fun doing it!

May also brought Evan's soccer,

and our planting of a garden!

Andrew did a really great job planting the corn in this row. He was really focused!

Evan had his own space to plant.  That was the fun part!

We also went to their elementary carnival.

And for some reason, Addison really wanted her hair curly one Sunday, so we did it! 

 She's super cute!

It was even cute when it fell out a little!

The twins and I went to the living history farms one day with some other friends, but this was our only picture!

 Then, one Saturday after Josh got home, we decided to take the kids to the Omaha zoo.  We had heard some really great things about it, so we thought we should give it a go!

In the desert.

With the fish.

Beautiful butterfly's.

Gondola like ride across the zoo to the other side.

Can you say Gorillas?

Rain forest area.

There was a lot to see and a lot to do!  To explain every cute picture wouldn't change add anything, as there was so much to see and do.  The kids were really tired after, and maybe one day we will go back, but we will see.  It was a nice day.

May is really fun!  We made the most of every wonderful spring day!

April 2014

April brought us Easter!

We went to the Easter egg hunt at the zoo.

Addison got this face painting.

Evan did this one.

 Brayden chose one that would stay on a little longer, on his arm, it stayed on about a week.

And this kid chose not to have any.  He doesn't like his face painted or anything like that!  

 We found the Easter bunny.  Notice Brayden showing off his dragon painting. . .

Evan really loved his dragon.  He wished it would stay on for longer than one day.

 Then, instead of hiding eggs all over the zoo, they have this small square of pretend grass laid down with thousands of eggs on it.  You fill your bucket, go give the eggs to the volunteers, and they give you a grab bag full of nothing really that cool!

 They all had fun though, so that was nice.

Then another day, we decorated our eggs.

And made cupcakes.

dressed up pretty for church

Oh ya, and split a lip open.  She was playing instead of sleeping and fell and split it open.  She ended up getting 3 or 4 stitches, I can't remember!  

 Overall, it was a fun month.  I like April, it leads to May and the beginning of warm weather!

March 2014

March brought us Spring Break!  In my opinion, spring break is a little early this far north.  Maybe April would be better, things start warming up by then.  We did go a little south down to Nauvoo.  The kids LOVED it and it wasn't crowded!  So it was super fun!

This was the horse that took us on our ride.

This was the rope they made together.

The beautiful temple.

And, kids got put in jail.  Actually just the three kids who were not throwing a tantrum.  The 4th child needed put in jail for real, but of course was to grouchy to comply!

Evan in Carthage Jail

Brayden in Carthage Jail.

Addison in Carthage Jail.

 And just like that you know which child was causing problems!

I did get them all in for a picture under the window that Joseph Smith fell out of when he died.

 I actually really like Carthage Jail.  The feeling is a somber one, but it's also reverent and powerful.  I love going every time!

Here are the kids outside the temple.

And just opposite the temple are these statue of Joseph and Hyrum.

Notice my cute twins, and the photo bomber hiding in the background.  Oh, and notice anything funny about Andrew in the next three pictures?

Yup!  The whole time he was standing up there taking pictures, he had his finger in the horses nose.  EVERY PICTURE I HAVE!!!!  So funny!

Yes, this cheered him up!

January - February 2014

So, January 2014 these things happened. . .

Brayden had his third grade concert. . .

Not much goes on in January!  It's overall a boring month.  Hopefully next year I can do something to spice it up a tad!

February things get a bit more fun. . .

 Valentines are made for school!

Here is Evan's

Here is Brayden's

 They were fun and fairly simple to make.  Without worrying about the ever growing concern over wether or not you are sending in appropriate candy to school!  The list is long and annoying, so avoidance was the best option!

Then there were these.  Brayden was happy!

Grandma Debbie (Cobb) had a birthday as well.

We made this picture holder thing.  It turned out ok.  

 My mom (Grandma Dance) also has a birthday in February, but since she was in Idaho, I have no pictures of her!  Hopefully she had a good day as well!

Then, there was the cub scout silent auction.  I made this cake for auction.  It was a fun night!