April/May

I let the onions growing in the garden get a little big. Kimball loved the 4 ft long stalk (or was it an onion sword)

Swim lessons/swim team in the neighborhood pool is still a little chilly at the end of April, but the boys were very brave, and did great with their wet suits. Kimball loved his shark cap (I made him wear it see if it helped the poor rash on his scalp)

For a few weeks Kimball loved to "wash" the cars. He would squirt it down with the water gun and then smear it around with the sponge. I was just happy it entertained him for hours on end. That made packing a lot easier!

Mid May Kimball and I did our last round delivering for Meals on Wheels in San Antonio. It was sad to say goodbye to dear friends.  This is Maria McSpaiden (in the Blue) with her sister in law who comes to help out. Every week she would find some little treats for the boys. It was such a great experience, and we will miss those dear friends.

For Mother's Day Joey made me this amazing cake. HEB-the grocery store comes to the elementary school (Raba) and lets the kids decorate for their mom. A boy after my own heart, he piled on as much frosting and sprinkles as he possible could. He said it fell a little, but right after he was done, the frosting was about 4 inches high. Thanks for my delicious cake Joey!

The next morning I got a wonderful breakfast from my 3 sweet boys.

Oh how I miss this yard! Especially since I feel like the Arizona desert creatures are out to kill us.  Last night we came home from a primary dance party and found a scorpion in the kitchen, We looked it up online and found that it it's venom is fatal to infants and small children. Then this morning Peter found 2 black widow spiders on the patio table/chairs (again, fatal to infants and small children). Needles to say I am having nightmares.  Can we go back yet?!?!

Those were the best climbing trees ever!

This past year I planted gladiola bulbs in the garden beds in honor of my Dad. I always remember the beautiful gladiolas he would grow each year, and loved when he would cut a few down and bring them inside.  They are just so beautiful!

April

In an effort to convince Peter to get rid of a few things, I took some pics of boy scout memories :)

Decorating rise crispy Easter eggs

He just can't resist making silly faces. All. The. Time.

Our Traditional General Conference 7-layer Dip--yumm

Decorating Easter Eggs

Our backyard hunt

One of the best parts after all the candy has been found, is the Cascarones. It's so fun to smash the confetti filled eggs all over everyone.  I hope they sell those in Arizona too.

The boys were SO happy to get cotton candy (their favorite) in their basket Easter morning

Kimballs cute note to Dad from his birthday.  It was so cute for a little 4 year old

One of the backyard tree (which had been slowly drying), blew over during a micro-burst. We chopped it up and had a big bonfire in the backyard.

Let me just say, Roasted Peeps are one of the most delicious things on the planet.  All the sprinkles on the outside get caramelized, and it tastes way better than a regular marshmallow. I got a few clearance packages after Easter. Next year I will buy everything on the shelf ;)

Another Kimball picture. I tought he did a great job with that little train

The boys wanted to play outside one day (which they always did), so after a few minutes I came out to check on them. They had ingeniously rigged up a little "mountain climbing system." Somehow they got a rope tied up to the tree branches and were scaling the van. I was so impressed with their creativity. I was just really glad they tied the rope securely enough that no one ended up crashing to the ground.

Another Gurr boy original creation. They took the exercise resistance bands and rigged up a little course in the living room. The challenge was to jump over the rope with out touching it. I'm so glad they think of creative ways to stay busy. One day Joey, you will be glad I never let you play video games--look what you would have missed :)

On that note, a couple of months ago we were really having a tough time with Joey and him getting so upset and hating the world. One night Peter took Joey to his room to talk with him, and Peter mentioned about maybe starting to "ground" Joey so he could have LOTS of family time until he learned that his family did have pleasant people in it. Joey just looked at Peter and said, "I have already been grounded. I have been grounded from video games my WHOLE LIFE!"
It made me laugh. He has gotten to play lots of games on the ipod on road trips, I just don't want video games in my house.

Another masterpiece by the boys

One night Peter yanked Joey's tooth out with some floss. Joey was traumatized and will not allow that again

Afterward Peter read the boys favorite book at the time in his best silly voices possible.

Lindsay's birthday. It was great to spend it with wonderful people. Peter made me a delicious dinner!

Joey couldn't get enough of the yummy icecream cake Peter made! Ella thought it was pretty funny.

Everyone was a little messy after that great treat

I was so proud of my front flower beds. I planted lily bulbs and was so happy to see these beautiful flowers pop up. And then the rose tree I planted (and thought had died) came out in full bloom again.