Pinewood Derby

This nine year old and his Dad worked very hard on a pinewood derby car that looks like a cheetah. And that hard work ended up earning said nine year old a third place trophy! Will was excited to get a trophy, and we were happy that he had a good time! 

Laramie

A few weeks ago we decided it was time to take a trip to Laramie to see our friends, the Bades! We'd had a bit of stomach illness going around our family, but we seemed to be fine Saturday morning, so we braved it. Unfortunately for me, Saturday seemed to be my day to be sick. On the up side I never did throw up, but I spent basically the entire day laying on the Bade's couch being useless, but I had a great time doing it! I got to hang out with my bff, so how could it get better? Well, for being sick, I guess.

Joel, Chad, and Dane went golfing Saturday afternoon in Cheyenne, so they were gone for most of the day. When they got back Sarah and I went out for dinner at Sweet  Melissa's, as always. I was feeling pretty brave, considering how lousy I'd been feeling all day, but I ended up feeling okay and even able to eat a bit.

Sunday we went to church with them, and when we got home the road report was not good. It continued to get worse, and we were literally stuck in Laramie. Interstate closed. Now, I would say we were sad that we couldn't go home that day, but that would be a huge lie. Especially since I started feeling better and could actually eat, walk around, and feel generally normal. So we stayed Sunday night and most of Monday, and we made it home without incident on Monday. 

Unfortunately for the Bades, we were not all done with our illness like we thought, and two of my kids threw up while at their house. And after we left some of the Bades got sick. Curse us! But I'm still so glad we got to see them and spend time with them! Our kids had so much fun together. We got a quick picture before we left on Monday. How is it possible that we have eight kids between our families!? One of my favorite things was listening to all the kids talking during dinner. They were discussing the fact that they aren't just friends, and aren't just cousins, they are friends AND cousins. I thought that was great!!! Thanks for having us, Bades!

Visitors

Over the last month and a half or so we've been lucky to have some family come and visit us! 

First it was Dane, and he came over for a weekend during his spring break. It was great having him here, and of course the kids loved it! This is one of the only pictures I took that weekend. He was showing the boys something about his watch, I guess, and Audrey was interested, too. 

The following weekend Erin and Mycheal came for a visit! Mycheal had a race in Rock Springs that weekend, so they came and stayed with us. It didn't seem long enough, but it was good to see them while they were here. Erin snapped this picture with my girls. Three beauties!

Then a few weeks later, on conference weekend, Grandma R came and brought Gavin and Kelvin. I really fell down on the job and didn't get any pictures of the cousins playing. I did snap this beauty though, of Audrey in her diaper, jacket, and boots, ready to help Grandma take out the garbage. Fun, fun!

Just last weekend, Easter weekend, my Mom and Bill came through town on their way back North for the summer. They got here Saturday evening and left Monday morning. It was great fun having them here for Easter, and I even remembered to snap a picture of them with the kids before they left Monday morning.

 We're so thankful for family, and feel so blessed to get to spend time with them. We love and appreciate them all so much!

Anniversary

Joel and I have been married for 12 years! March 29th was our anniversary. It's been an amazing 12 years, with all sorts of ups and downs. Mostly ups, I'd say. I wouldn't choose to be married to anyone else, and I know Joel feels the same way. Happy Anniversary!

Our Soccer Star

We've got a little soccer star on our hands. :) Adam played soccer in January and February, and he loved it! He loved practices, games, and he hated when he had to sit out of the game because it was his turn. He did really well, and his personal record was scoring 9 goals in a game. He was sad to be done, and he can't wait for outdoor soccer. We are very proud of him!

Barbara

We found out that my dear Aunt Barbara passed away on January, 16. While we were so sad that we won't get to see her again in this life, and we will miss her so much, we are so happy for her. She has reunited with her husband and parents, and is free from her broken body.

We were able to go to Lovell for the funeral, as were all of my sisters. It was wonderful to see them all! The AZ girls flew up together, and Adrienne drove to Green River and rode the rest of the way with Joel and I. We were happy to make it to Lovell safely, especially since we were driving through some really nasty snow. We were thankful not to be one of the cars that we saw in the ditch on the side of the road!

The funeral was on Thursday, the 23rd. We decided to take some family pictures before the funeral. We were all dressed up and looking nice, and we didn't want to wait until afterwards when our faces would be red from crying.

The funeral was lovely, with a wonderful life history given by my Mom and Barbara's children. It was nice to see so much family. I didn't get to visit with as many people as I would have liked, but that's understandable. We were just happy to gather to celebrate Barbara's life.

While we were all together we had a lot of fun, of course. We got to play games, visit, and just have a nice time spending time together.

Audrey was much more pleasant at this family gathering than she was last summer for reunion. She would even play with the Aunts! Here she is with Aunt Amy, playing ride-a-horsey. 

Rachel got some fun pictures of Audrey giving looks and playing around. She was enjoying being the star of the show, I think. She's a lot of fun!

On Friday we were driving around town a bit and stopped at our old house. It's vacant right now, so we made a call or two to see if we could get inside to see it. No luck. But we did snap a picture on the front steps, and we may have walked around it trying to see in the windows. :)

Unfortunately, illness hit us Friday night. Joel started feeling questionable and threw up a few times. Adam had a rough night, throwing up in the middle of the night and continuing in to Saturday morning. Luckily there was no more of that after Saturday afternoon, just a general feeling of unwellness and tiredness. I snapped this picture Saturday evening of Joel resting on the couch in the family room. It was just too cute to resist.

We headed home Sunday morning, and made it home safely with no problems. While we were sad for the occasion, it was so great to see my family.

The following weekend Joel and the kids and I made a quick trip up to Cowley for a baby blessing. Joel's brother, Daniel, blessed his little girl, Lydia! She is such a doll. We went up Saturday morning and came home Sunday afternoon, so it really was a quick trip. But we were happy to be there!

Another Responsible Child

A few months ago I posted about William receiving the responsibility award at school. Well, at the beginning of January Adam was awarded the responsibility award in his classroom! Audrey and I went to the assembly, and she had a great time clapping at all the appropriate moments. I'm very proud of Adam, and I'm happy he's done so well in school. Good job, buddy!