More April

We went to the Rugby national championship game with the Konold's at Rio Tinto. It was a close game, but BYU came out on top. We were surprised to find our picture in the Daily Herald online edition the next day.

Another great season for Damon's soccer team, the Cougars

Little monkeys as fans

The last game ended in PK's and we lost. It was well after dark when it ended.

Preschool boys at our house. They loved it!

McKay always gets the worst of play time with sisters

One morning, we found a stray dog that tried to adopt us. After several hours of no show, we finally called the pound to have them take him away. It was fun to have a dog for a while. 

Pretty April in the 801

This cute girl turned 10 the end of April. She loves music and is turning into a great songwriter. She just doesn't want anyone to hear her songs. 

April was a pretty time to play soccer

Damon learned to sew a button back onto his suit jacket

New clothes for Easter, although they didn't get to wear them for a couple of weeks

Sleepy boy in church

Colleen and I took a quick trip to St George to see Eric in The Drowsy Chaperone in Hurricane. He was so good!

Allie and Kyla were in their school's production of Jack and the Beanstalk. They had a lot of fun.

Soccer ended for Kyla and Allie

And we had Allie's birthday party with friends

Including Aunt Edna

Spring Break

The trip I look forward to the most every year with the kids is our Arizona Spring Break trip. This year was no exception. We had an amazing time!

It seems like it's been Easter quite often when we visit Scottsdale, and it was this year, too. The Easter Bunny managed to find everyone Sunday morning!

After the Trapnell egg hunt, in which Kyla was one of the lucky winners who found $10, I wrangled the whole crew for some family pictures. 

It's tradition!

There was also a small petting zoo put on by the Marriott and the little kids were happy to oblige

Laurie found some funny suckers for the kids, too

Tuesday night, while the boys all went to the baseball game, the girls went out for dinner and Cinderella in the movie theater. We ended up in the nice reclining chairs, and the girls were in heaven!

Wednesday the older kids got to go cave exploring. Allie was prepared with her helmet!

Thursday we did some rappelling near the Salt River. It was prettier than I expected it to be. 

The food tastes yummy, even if it's covered in dirt

Friday we spent swimming some more. Macy had her mermaid tail that the girls went crazy for, especially Kyla, She made a great mermaid!

The little boys and I spent some time at the baby pool, and had the place to ourselves. 

What you can't tell from all the smiley pics is how dry and leathery our skin got after a week in the sun. Carter, particularly, struggled with a sunburned neck and hated applying sunscreen every day. 

We benefitted from free root beer float day at the pool

Carter finally had enough and had to catch a nap

McKay enjoyed some pool

And then he enjoyed THE pool

We had an amazing time, and I already can't wait to go back again next year!

McKay's Four!

My baby is growing up, although I beg him to stay little. This year, we celebrated McKay's birthday with the Shurtz family, because Heidi's birthday is on the 14th (pi day).

We had a lime cheesecake and a peanut butter pie. Yum!

McKay got a few presents, including a pony, a helicopter and an airplane. Again, Carter has a hard time finding the camera with his eyes. 

He had swim lessons

And then chose a lemon cake for his actual birthday. 

McKay is a wonderful boy. He is a great mix of sweet and sensitive and rough and tumble. Spending all those hours at the soccer field have offered him the opportunity to learn how to play soccer himself. He is excited about playing on a team with Carter in the fall.

He loves ponies and superheroes (ponies a little more), lip gloss and balls, and all kinds of books. He doesn't like a lot of breakfasts that I make, including eggs, hash browns, or biscuits and gravy. He does like hot and cold cereal, and actually cheered when he found out we were having oatmeal rather than eggs. He is not typically a picky eater, but if he doesn't like something, he won't eat it. He's not flexible about it. 

He still looks to Carter for nearly every decision he has to make during the day--what show to watch, what toys to play with, what clothes to wear...he is very eager to please, and Carter is truly his best buddy. 

I absolutely love this littlest guy of mine. He is polite and caring, and always willing to share. He is observant and complimentary, and really loves pretty girls. I can't believe he is already four! 

Busy Family

Since Damon is in junior high, his basketball season ended with a tournament. After a really great season, where they won more games than they lost, they ended up taking second place in the tourney. Damon really improved so much during the season, and even hit several three point shots in crucial games. And although he is growing fast, that shirt won't fit for quite some time. Haha.

Krispy Kreme Donuts gives away free donuts for good report cards. Each of the older three kids got a half dozen glazed. They were happy to share with the rest of us. 

Soccer was still going strong in March, and sometimes we had to drive to American Fork for games. Carter and McKay used these opportunities to practice their synchronized sleeping. 

McKay started swim lessons at the Provo rec center to get ready for Spring Break. He really loved going and is really coming along with his swimming skills. 

Kyla gets really busy during soccer season, especially when she has something to do for school. One day, she had to go to tumbling....

Quickly change for her dance performance with her second grade class...

And then hustle down to the soccer field for her soccer game. 

She had a great attitude about all her activities and is always easy to please.