Happy Easter!! He Has Risen!!

What a beautiful day!!!  It was a wonderful sabbath day.  Dad had no meetings today and was able to spend the WHOLE day with us.  What a treat!!

 The kiddos in their Sunday best.

Our little family after church.

Sunday night dinner prepared by Dad & Sara.  We enjoyed a ham, roasted asparagus (especially requested by Daniel), layered jello, homemade bread (special request by Jared) and a veggie tray.  It was a lovely meal!

Peep Jousting 101

Every year around Easter the kiddos like to do a something we call peep jousting.  It's a joust involving marshmallow peeps (chicks or bunnies), toothpicks, and the microwave.  The peep to receive be impaled with a toothpick loses and gets eaten by the spectators.  There's always lots of cheering and speculation as to who the winner will be along with a running commentary during the joust.  Oh the great fun that it is to blow stuff up in the microwave!

If you've not enjoyed the sport of peep jousting, here's a quick tutorial to get you started.

Peep Jousting 101 part 1 or 2 

Peep Jousting 101 part 2 of 2

Peep Jousting 102  the introduction of riders coming soon

Gingerbread Houses

Every year we have a hard time saying farewell to our gingerbread houses.  This year the houses made it until mid-February before they were tossed.  We are already looking forward to making more houses in December!

Jared ate most of the candy off his house long ago

Daniel house is full of interesting  little details

I think Sara ate more candy than she used to decorate her house.  But she sure had fun with the process!

Easter Breakfast

Bryan woke up very early and surprised us all with a delicious breakfast. Of course, the kids wanted a picture of their beeeaauuutiiifuuul pancake creations. ♥

4th of July Flag Raising Ceremony

We love the 4th of July!! In the morning, Daniel participated in the flag raising ceremony at the church. Then we enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast and chatting with friends. In the evening, we drove over to the radio controlled airplane airport to see the cool planes light up the night sky. Good times!!

Daniel looking sharp

Homemade Valentines

Last year for Valentine's Day we made crayon hearts so this year we thought we'd try something different. The boys and I made little chocolate candies in the shapes of hearts, roses, fish, and coins. We enjoyed a fun couple of days with dipping chocolate and decorating Valentine cards. The Valentine packages were so cute, too bad I forgot to take a picture of the finished packages. Oops! Sara, of course, discovered the chocolates and put her 'Swiper' skills to work, snitching the chocolate every chance she got!

Jared hard at work decorating his valentine cards.

Daniel checking his list while

Mom fills little bags with chocolates.

Chocolates for Daniel's classsmates.

Our little chocolate taster!

4th of July Flag Raising Ceremony

Daniel turned 8 years old on July 2nd making him eligible to participate in the cub scout program at church. The afternoon before the 4th of July, the cub scout den leader called Daniel and invited him to participate in the flag raising ceremony the boys were doing at the church.

Daniel was so excited!! Of course, Sister Haynie mentioned that Daniel didn't need to worry about having his uniform put together or anything, he was welcome to just attend and be part of the color guard.

Great!

Uh-oh, not so great?

Participate without a uniform? Not really an option in Daniel's mind, so off we went racing into town before the scout store closed. We pulled in just minutes before the store closed and quickly gathered everything a new cub scout might need. The store clerk was very helpful and incredibly patient considering I'd forgotten Sara's stroller and she was into everything.


Here's our handsome little cub scout.....

Our little boy is growing up!

Daniel & Bryan

unfurling of the flag



Getting a little bored, maybe?

Easter Egg Hunt

Because we were on vacation in the the week leading up to Easter we didn't host our annual Easter Egg Hunt & BBQ. Instead we hunted for eggs as part of our family home evening activity.

Dad helps Sara fill her basket.

Daniel, Jared, & Collin (our neighbor) show off their finds.

Sara discovers the chocolate hidden in the eggs.

Christmas Party at Church

Earlier in the month we had a great time at our ward's Christmas party. After a very tasty meal we were dazzled by some great entertainment.



Daniel is just an amazing little boy, seriously not normal. He actually volunteered to participate in the variety show!! He did a great job!! He was by far our favorite act, although the "Dancing F. Family" came in a close second.



Sara's not too sure about the guy in the red suit



Jared and his wonderful smile

Veteran's Day Weekend

These photos were taken earlier in the month and I forgot to post them until now. Oops!



For Veteran's Day the boys had a little break from school so we decided to have a little fun. We took a quick camping trip. Don't the boys look proud of the fire they helped Dad build? Personally, I thought the fire pits at the campsite were fabulous!!!



Happy little campers waking up.

Unfortunately, Aimee had to get back for a rehearsal so we weren't able to spend too much time at the camp ground. Because of all the cool things we didn't get a chance to see, Aimee & the kids took a day trip back to the area with the B family. The kids ran all over the place trying to accumulate all 18 punches on their treasure map. They visited the two gift shops, the museum, the petting zoo, dressed up in period clothing, they panned for gold, took a hike, explored a butterfly garden, and saw the entrance to the bat cave. Of course, if you ask Jared what he remembers most, he'll tell you all about the bees that tried to join our picnic!! Good times!!!

Veteran's Day

One of the things I love about Daniel's school is the way they celebrate Veteran's Day. It's wonderful that our children are encourage to recognize and express gratitude for the service given by the members of the military. The wonderful freedoms which we enjoy did not come without a price. How grateful I am for the freedom of religion. Thank you to the men & women of the military and to their wonderful families!!

Here's a excerpt from our local paper.

*** Elementary School celebrated Veterans Day Friday by inviting local veterans to a ceremony at *** Park, ***.
Teachers and staff led about 700 students to the park, where they sang patriotic songs and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
"These kids need to know what it's all about," said Luther Robinson, a veteran whose grandson Justin Lund is a fifth-grader at ***.
Robinson, 82, said it is a "great tribute to the school and educational system" that *** is teaching students "how many people it took to give them what they have today."
The school honored Robinson and 14 other veterans by calling their names and pinning ribbons on them.
Additionally, 13 students received ribbons for veterans among their family or friends who could not be at the ceremony.
"It makes you feel good that they appreciate what we do and recognize us like this," said Jeff Pinsonneault, one of the veterans who received a ribbon.
Pinsonneault, 47, has been in the Air Force for 27 years and returned from Afghanistan in January. His twins, Miles and Madison, are first-graders at ***.
Another veteran, Jamie Harwick, said it shows how much the school supports the military. Harwick, 31, has been in the Air Force for 11 years and returned from Turkey in April. He has two children at *** — first-grader Rebecca and kindergartner Kailyn.
It was the second time that ***, ***, held a Veterans Day celebration, said Kelly Pinkerton, student achievement teacher.
But it was the first time the school invited veterans to the event. "This year, we wanted to get community members involved," she said.