Here's my girl!

 

Faith has become so much stronger and really loves to do the bars at Gymnastics. She can hold that bridge for the longest time, and isn't afraid to let her legs hurt a little bit!

 

Here she is in her "split". It gets a little closer to the ground every week! Gymnastics was something I always wished I had done. I always wanted to be able to do a round-off back handspring like my friend, Becky, but to no avail! I get just as much joy out of watching my sweet Faith do her tricks!

"I Looked out the Window, and what did I see?"

 

Today, I took the boys to see the famous Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. Even in the rainy weather, they truly were breathtaking and I'm so glad we went!

 

It's fun to have friends around so that I can actually document myself into these outings! The boys had a great time riding in the jog stroller, eating snacks and laughing at their friend, Saxby, who was the lucky walker of the group.

 

To give you a feel, the blossoms were everywhere! It was truly like a tunnel of blossoms at most points along the path (we went about 4 miles roundtrip). By the time we made it to the Jefferson Memorial, the rain was really coming down, but I didn't hear one complaint from the boys. They were having a great time. I also recommend the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. I can't wait to go back (when it's not raining so hard) and see the waterfalls and read all the quotations on the walls.

 

If my history is correct, these Cherry trees were planted by the Japanese over 100 years ago as a gift to the country (please correct me if I'm wrong), and the knotty trunks really showed their age. We had a great morning, leaving at 9:15am and not getting back home until about 1:45pm!

Today was also Faith's last gymnastics class for awhile, but she wouldn't smile for the camera when she received her ribbon, so you'll have to just trust me on this one!

Half Marathon and BOOT Camp

 

Andrew did it! I was so pleased (we shouldn't be "proud") with his accomplishment! He said that after about mile 8, his knees started to hurt, but he finished in under 2 hours and has a much greater appreciation and respect for runners! We both want to do another race to beat our time!

I watched 2 extra kids so our friends, Audrey and Scott, could run the race. So, I showed up downtown after weaving in and out of closed roads, JUST in time for Andrew to cross the finish line! All the 6 little faces were excited to see him, and then Audrey just 15 minutes later!

 

Fort Faith Boot Camp! BOOT stands for Build Our Own Testimonies. Isn't that clever? The kids had a GREAT time, and Clark was ecstatic to wear his camouflage!

 

 

Here's another one of Faith's famous "original" outfits. She is so cute that it really doesn't matter, but I have to laugh because someday she will say "Mom, why did you let me dress that way?" My answer...the same answer as many mothers say...I had to pick my battles - this one was not worth it! She's so fun!

The Easter Egg Roll

 

 

 

 

I love to type!

105 words

http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com">Speed test

I have always enjoyed typing, and hadn't taken a typing test since high school! This was fun!

Spring is here!

Just ran out to the front yard to capture these beautiful daffodils! I love Spring - I love that I can soon pack up all the coats, gloves, mittens, jackets, boots and have order again in my front closet! I love that the kids can jump on the trampoline while I fix lunch, and we can play at the park without 10 accessories on each child!

I love that daffodils grow by the thousands along the freeway and brighten my day, reminding me of the beauty that Heavenly Father gave us! I've thought this before, but now I am convinced - Spring is definitely my favorite season!

Stay tuned for some Cherry Blossom pictures - we're doing the walk around the Potomac River with some ward friends on Monday morning!

Easter Egg SLEEPOUT!

Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but 15+ of us slept out on the lawn next to the White House in order to get tickets to the Easter Egg Roll. We arrived on Friday night at 7pm, and were almost to the end of the line! I'll have some more pictures soon, but wanted to share all of our fun. I have made the dearest friends here in DC and loved every minute of our conversations. I learned so much from these gals and was so happy to be a part of this!

This is Raelynn, Lindsay and I in front of the White House, just about ready to get our tickets. They woke us up at 3am to hand out the Vouchers (hanging around our neck); then we went back to sleep until 6am, when they came around telling us to clean up our tents. BOY can these girls clean up! My 10 person tent came down in about 2 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating! I'll go camping with these girls anytime! After the cleanup, the line wrapped around the entire Ellipse (grassy area in front of the White House) and then around 8:30am we received our tickets. On Saturday night at the Ward Party, we were all smiling from a great night, but SO SO tired! I woke in the wee hours of Sunday morning with the flu! But, luckily it only lasted 24 hours and I'm back!

What a beautiful place! Pictures will be coming of the Easter Egg Roll. We got to the Roll and realized that our camera didn't have a Memory Card in it! AGH! But, never fear, our dear friend, Nicole, came to our rescue with a GREAT camera and captured us with the Easter Bunny RIGHT in front of the White House. Somehow, Nicole is always around when we need her, whether it's in church, or even at the White House. Thanks, Nicole!

Easter Prep

Clark had to wait a few minutes for his turn in the tub, so he said "I can just wear Faith's robe!" Well, Faith was not happy about that, and Clark had NO inhibitions about wearing a pink robe with a crown on it. Just an overall funny situation! Faith sure makes GOOD "mean" faces, doesn't she? (I have to admit - this was a little bit staged!)

Easter Egg Prep on Thursday was fun with our neighbor friends, Olivia and Julia, and ward friend, Maddie. They each had 5 eggs to color and each had their own way of going about it: Clark had to dip into EVERY color with EVERY egg; Faith was very careful with her eggs to make them nice and dark; John would crack EVERY egg in his hand. I think he loved cracking them more than he liked coloring them. It made a nice effect when he'd put it into another color AFTER cracking!

Here's our little group at the kid table BEFORE the mess started.

And this is what every one of Johnny's eggs looked like.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We are on Spring Break this week, so we celebrated St. Patty's Day at the National Aquarium in Baltimore! We had a great time with our friends, the Maxwells and Jami and Ellen! We're sitting here waiting for the dolphin show to start. Notice the green! (psst...Clark has green on his underwear and John had some green star stickers on his shirt!)

We sat in the splash zone, which is exactly what I made my parents do when I was a kid. Fortunately, Grant was the only one who got soaked when he volunteered to "help" down by the tank. I loved seeing Clark's big wide open mouth in amazement when the dolphins would do a trick!

This is the Children's Discovery Center where the kids were touching shells and learning about Welks. No matter how high you push up a child's sleeves, they will still get wet! I love the age of the kids right now. We had no stroller, just ran around all day long, exhausting our cute single friends, but having a great time!

These Bubble tubes were so fun for the kids, and I loved the color they produced! Wouldn't that be theraputic to have in your front room?

Our weekend!

We had a surprise visit from Andrew's cousin, Cannon! He was so darling with the kids; reading them books, being interested in them and carrying them all over the place! He was a delightful houseguest! He loved the kids so much that he accidentally missed his plane, so we got him for even longer! Thanks for coming, Cannon!

Blue and Gold Banquet on Friday night - Potato Theme! The kids made Potato people and had a great time!

Here's the view from my world! 4 darling kids in the back of the van. Faith's photogenic even in her carseat!

Grant's FIRST Blue and Gold Banquet! He doesn't actually turn 8 until May 23rd, but they invited us to get him excited. And with the kind of reader he is, he has already immersed himself in the "Wolf" Book! I love that boy!

V is for Violin

No posts last week because Mommy was sick, but now we're all feeling better (except an occasional stuffy nose of course)! Today was our preschool day: V is for Violin! The boys each learned how to bow while saying in their mind "hippopotomus" and coming up with a smile. They also learned how to hold the violin - we didn't bother with the bow hand, as you can see.

They LOVED playing! After I had explained the parts of the violin and bow, it was Johnny's turn to try it. He turned to me, holding the bow and said "Mom, is this made with horse poop?" Horse hair, horse poop, same difference, right? I laughed so hard and knew my mom and sisters would get a kick out of that one!

Here's our little group of boys. Clark, John, Andrew, Owen, David and Jack. They are eating V...V...Vegetables! We love our little preschool group!

10 Things about Faith

I was going to sit down and type my "Tag" info, but Faith wanted to do some about her. Isn't she wonderful? My little girl is my little buddy!

1. I'm cute
2. My favorite thing at school is "Choice" (usually sandbox or computer)
3. I like "Magic Tree House" books
4. I like to play babies. My favorite one is "Purple" baby
5. If I could go somewhere, I would go to Utah.
6. My favorite friend is Roxana.
7. At school, my friends tell me I look like Hannah Montana.
8. I love Hannah Montana.
9. I love Mommy because she's a girl.
10. i like barbies.

The Wii Party!

This is Grant's Primary Class having a Wii Party on Saturday afternoon. Their teachers, Dave & Margaret H. are just so sweet to let them earn this reward through good behavior over a few months. They ate pizza and played their hearts out for about 2 hours! What fun!

Andrew's Gift to Vanessa

Here's a video that we surprised Vanessa with a little while back. I love the words of this song and have wanted to use it to make a movie about her forever. The lyrics just fit her.