Trip to Sacramento

Although it was a sad occasion to attend Grandpa Patton's funeral, we enjoyed spending time with family. This was a trip to California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate Chelsea's birthday.
Brandon poses with Ella. She is such a sweet little girl!

The kids enjoyed coloring while waiting for their food. Restaurants are so smart to do this. It definitely helps to keep the kids from getting as restless. Ella with her Grams. She is a really fun baby. She has such a fun laugh.

This is everybody walking into the restaurant. The kids were so excited to be spending time with cousins.

Sweet little Jane. She has such a sweet little voice and pretty smile.

These are pictures from our flight out. The kids love to fly and were very excited that night.

Playtime in the Backyard

Lindsay loves to play in the mud. We have gotten so much rain this year that there has been a lot of mud to play in.
The cleaning-up process is not as much fun. I need her to use the clothes she has already ruined rather than new clothes each time she gets muddy.

The kids put in their own garden this year. Some of the seeds they planted have sprouted with all of the rain we have been receiving.

I wonder if they will be such hard workers when they are teenagers.

Jonathan had a really fun time on the slide. He was sliding things down and making inventions with cement blocks, walnuts, rocks, etc.

Hiking Y mountain

On Saturday Michael and the kids hiked Y mountain with some of their Higbee grandparents, some cousins, and aunts and uncles. My stomach is still a little woozy from the morning sickness so I stayed behind to rest and take a much flatter walk.
Her is Jonathan with his cousin. They took a break from hiking by climbing on some rocks.

The kids loved spending some quality time with Dad.

Here is the family at the top of the Y. It is not a really long hike, but it is very steep so I was proud of the kids for doing a good job. Michael even reported that there was no whining or complaining on the way up or down. The boys even hiked or jogged down without any rides from Dad or anyone else.

The grand kids posed for a picture with their grandparents after getting to the top of the Y. Michael's family is really good about making sure that pictures are taken of every event so we can have the memories to look at later.

Spring in Utah

Michael's parents came into town on Friday. They spent some time with us this past weekend. Luckily my father-in-law had a card reader and took some pictures with his camera that we were able to download onto the computer. These were taken Sunday morning and I wanted to get them posted so my parents could see the kids in their new church clothes. I think they look fantastic, but I am only a little biased.
Spring in Utah has been very slow to arrive. Sunday was in the 60s, but still cloudy. Tonight it is pouring rain and chilly. I am really looking forward to some warm sunny days and I think the kids are too.

I love each of these children and am so grateful for all they are teaching me. I have so much to learn and improve upon and they don't seem to be staying small while I try and figure it out.

My crazy, happy, funny kids

I thought it would be fun to put in some pictures the kids have taken in the last few months. They are just silly pictures of the kids being their crazy happy selves.
They have discovered bunny ears and think it is hillarous to put them on people, especially their mom when she is doing just about anything.

These two are characters. They have lots of personality stored up in those little bodies.

Evan likes to get a little crazy for the camera when Laurel is taking the pictures.

This is a very interesting face. Any conjectures as to what she is thinking?

Jonathan really likes to help bake especially when it means he is going to get to lick the whisk.

What is going on here? I don't think I was in the room and Lindsay was taking pictures.

Jonathan, what are you doing on the ground? Does that remind you of anything Grams and Grampa? Do you remember playing the "what are you doing on the ground?" game with Laurel and Lindsay when they were really small?

Clogging Competition in November

The kids had a clogging competition up in Salt Lake at the beginning of November. This was the boys very first competition. They had only been working on these solos for about two months before they had to perform them. It was fun to watch them. I was just amazed that they didn't freeze and do nothing up there.

The next video is of the girls clogging. They are two levels higher than last year. The teacher had them jump up a little higher to give them an extra challenge. They are doing really well. It is fun to watch them dance.

They each did really well and will have their next competition in early March. Uncle David and Grandmommy were in town and were able to catch some of the performance. It was fun to have them there.

Fun At The Planetarium

We flew back from CA early on Saturday morning. Michael picked us up and we went straight to the planetarium. The kids look a little ragged from their early start, but Evan asked to go for several months before we could make it there.
The kids liked watching the pendulum knock done the tiny metal sticks as it swung back and forth and back and forth.

Evan tries out some cool demonstrations. He really liked all of the cool stuff they had there.

Dad helps Jonathan with a telescope.

The kids with their Dad on the planet Mars. Jonathan likes to share the cheese.

These are my five greatest treasures. I am so very blessed. We have our moments but we are family and we love each other.

About this time the early morning flight was starting to catch up with them.

Lindsay is walking on the moon.

The kids traveled from Mars to the moon in just a matter of seconds. Space travel has really improved.

Evan and Jonathan loved this thing. They watched the balls drop over and over again. We had a hard time getting them to look at anything else in the museum.