Happy Easter

"One of these kids is doing their own thing. One of these kids is not the same." You guessed it, Cole was sad that I wouldn't let him bring his hard boiled, colored, easter eggs to church with us.

Fun in the Mexican Sun!

The Anderson's and Steele's invited us to come to Mexico with them over spring break. It was the first time the kids and I had been to Rocky Point and Jon hadn't been there since high school. It was amazing. We stayed in the most beautiful condo, at a resort right on the beach. It was incredibly relaxing! Chris dragged all the kids on the banana boat. When I asked Kade what his favorite part of the trip was he said that was it. But, he never wants to do that again. Funny! They got tipped off several times and because it's only March, the water was sooooooo cold.

Jon puts sunscreen on just to go and get the mail. He burns really easy. The first and only thing he bought was this hat on the beach. What's up with the Corona band? I made him take it off.
Cole and Abby show off our beautiful view of the sea and swimming pools.
We ate breakfast on the patio. What a gorgeous view!

Sea Creatures!!!

The highlight of our trip was our adventure at La Cholla bay. We followed the tide out at dusk and we found all kinds of sea creatures stuck in tide pools.Under every rock was a fun surprise.
Crabs, sea cucumbers and starfish!

Cool shells! Octopus!
And the best find of all was a baby octopus. All the kids, who wanted to, got to pick it up and hold it. It was cool when the tentacles would stick to your hand. We can't wait to go back and find more treasures.

Mexican Food!

Tortillas and beans are staples in our house. So we really enjoyed the authentic Mexican food. We brought most of our food with us (I have had some bad experiences with getting sick in Mexico) But, the few times we ate out we really enjoyed it. Riley was brave and tried everything even the HOT HOT sauce.
Cole's favorite thing was the fresh cherry limeade. It was bigger than his head. He danced to the mariachi music while he ate. He loved the music!

We had our own b-que the 2nd night we were there. We had steak and fresh shrimp that we bought from the fish market by the pier. Flavio's was Fabulous!
The Taco Shop was yummy.

We made our own tacos with pollo, lime, onion, rice and beans! YUM!

Uncle Ryan's Visit!

Ryan came to stay with us March 3rd - March 8th. We had a wonderful time. We went to movies, shopping, the Temple and of course, if you figured it out from the photos, we went to the zoo. We rented the bike carriage. And we were a bigger spectacle than the animals. Everyone stared at us. It was so much fun. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. When we started the emergency brake was on and we didn't know. We got a huge work-out going up the first hill. Finally we figured it out and we really enjoyed cruising around the zoo. We saw almost the whole zoo in 45 minutes. Cole enjoyed waving to the people as we passed. It was hilarious.

Ryan and I have the longest legs ever. Maybe that's why people were looking at us weird at the zoo. The funniest thing happened when we went shopping. Ryan needed jeans, bad. He only had one pair that he owned before His mission. And He has the same problem as I do when looking for jeans, THE LENGTH! We walked into American Eagle and asked the clerk if they had any jeans in Extra long. She asked," For men or women? And then we said, "BOTH". The clerk got a kick out of that. We both lucked out and actually found some jeans. Amazing! We got a good laugh. Thanks for the fun visit Ryan. Come again soon!

March Madness!

Just two friends (Callen and Kade) sharing pinewood derby tips.

It has been a month since I posted last. I can't believe how time flys when your having fun. On March 1st we had the Pinewood Derby. I don't know who was more excited Kade or Jon. They worked really hard on their car and it was FAST. Great job guys!!

Grand Canyon Fieldtrip!

15 Parents of children in Kade's 4th grade class put their names in to go on the Grand Canyon Field trip. 4 were picked out of the hat and Jon was one of them. He was still sick so I got to go in His place. I had never seen the Grand Canyon so I was so excited. It was incredible. We met at the school at 5:00 A.M. and loaded everyone on chartered buses and headed towards the Grand Canyon.

We took the train from Williams all the way to the Canyon. It took about 2 hours. They had some fun entertainment the kids had so much fun. On the way back we even got robbed by some mean cowboys. The kids handed over their goods (mostly candy).

There was tons of snow as we hiked two miles along the rim. It was a beautiful day. I lent Kade my old Canon camera and He took the most amazing pictures of the Canyon. He is a great photographer.

I was in charge of four boys including Kade. Thank goodness their teachers scared the heck out of them before we got there. They were very careful about the edges. However, I spent most of my time counting them and making sure they stayed on the trail. I couldn't believe some of the drop offs and it was slick. Scary!
After we spent the night in cabins in Prescott, We woke up and giant snowflakes were falling from the sky. We decided to skip the hike and head to Montezuma's Castle and Well. It was fun seeing the dwellings of the ancient Sinagua Indians. We learned about how the women built this amazing structure located on the banks of Beaver Creek using 5 different ladders. 30 people lived in this 5 story indian dwelling and 100's more lived in the valley below.
After we went to the castle we drove another 11 miles to Montezuma's well.
Montezuma's Well is a sinkhole, a collapsed underground limestone cavern filled with water. More than a million gallons of water a day flow continuously, providing an oasis in the midst of surrounding desert grassland.The well is a unique ecosystem with several plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. There are leeches, amphipods, water scorpions and turtles that live in this closed ecosystem. However because of the conditions no fish live in the Well. This remarkable habitat is perhaps due to the receiving and the discharging of large quantities of warm water (76° F) that enters through underground springs, keeping the environment within the well very stable. As we stood their in the cold rain we felt the water and it was very warm.
These were dwellings of the ancient Sinagua Indians found at the top of the Well. Sinagua Indians still live among Arizonians today. Everything we learned about them was very fascinating. Kade and I had a blast on this field trip. I also got to know Kade's friends, teacher and principal better. What fun!

This is a poem written by Kade:

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon looks huge and colorful.

The Grand Canyon smells sensational.

The Grand Canyon sounds like the rustle of leaves.

The Grand Canyon tastes like hot cocoa.

The Grand Canyon feels wonderful.

The Grand Canyon is orange, red, yellow, the color of the desert.