fAmiLy FuN niGhT!

At Afton's school, they have Family Fun Night. It's kind of like a big carnival that the PTC (parent teacher club) puts on. They have it at her school so we decided to walk since we live pretty close, and we heard the parking was bad. So we walked to her school and participated in family fun night. They had a couple bounce houses, some really fun carnival games, a dunk tank and food. The kids really enjoyed the dunk tank. I don't know how the kids getting dunked were even surviving. It was so cold! The wind was blowing and it was just really cold that night. So much for walking! We froze our buns off walking home. But the kids had a great time. Afton saw some of her school friends there and got to play with them and then we went on a little ride around the town in an old train car. The boys really liked that! Then we got some pizza and decided to call it a night because Jason was freezing.

Afton going down the bounce house slide. She was the only one able to go down it. They had an age limit on it so the boys weren't able to go.

The kids doing the dunk tank. They all got to push the lever down to dunk the kid.

Dax was actually pretty good at this game. I think he knocked all of the bottles down after the second try.

So cold!

Eating our yummy pizza.

pIneWoOd DerBy

As the second counselor in the Primary presidency, one of my responsibilities is scouting. And I feel really bad for the primary age scouts because I don't have a clue about scouting. But fortunately for them and for me the scout leaders are great. We have a husband and wife in the scouting program right now and they are amazing. They love the boys and are so much fun! And they actually enjoy their calling and come to the church on scout night. I'm very very lucky! We had our Pine Wood Derby pack meeting in April and I just had to help decorate and set up. So it was all pretty easy stuff. I like easy! I decided to go support the scouts so I loaded up the kids and we headed down to the church for some pine wood derby action. It was lots of fun! They had an awesome race track this year. Usually they use this old wood one, but this year a local company in town let us borrow their high tech computer operated one. I guess they let all of the troops in town use it. It was great! The kids loved it. They had fun hanging out with their friends and watching the boys race their cars. Dax was pretty excited and kept asking when he would get to race a car.

In the pictures, Afton is with her friend Chloe and Dax is with his friend Tyce.

Sprinkler fun

After Afton got home from school, the kids wanted to play in the little Dora sprinkler we have. Dax had been begging all day to go outside and play in the water. Since it was pretty warm outside I decided to let them go for it. They had lots of fun running through it, sitting on it, picking it up and squirting each other. Even Logan enjoyed it. Last summer, he wasn't too thrilled about cold water, but this year he doesn't seem to mind it.

Hannah Montana movie

Since the Hannah Montana movie had just come out and we had family visiting, we decided to take the girls to see it. As you can imagine they were very, very excited. Afton couldn't wait to go. So me, my mom, Shelly, Emma and Afton (Abby decided she didn't want to go) headed to the movie. Jason stayed and watched the boys and Abby. What a great husband! I think they played mario kart the whole time we were gone. We had a great time at the movie. Afton loved it! I think Emma fell asleep toward the end of the show. But it was a pretty good movie. It was a nice wholesome family show and we had a lot of fun.

the animal museum

We decided to go to Jason's office to see the animal filled museum that he works in. That's what I call it because his uncle has all of his trophy's mounted and hanging on the walls there. The kids had fun checking out the animals, although I think they were a little scared of the bears and the wolves. We also went to a sporting goods store where he has more animals displayed. It's mostly his African animals and I had never seen them yet, so we went to check them out. The kids thought the elephant was pretty cool. After seeing all of the animals and to go along with our theme for the day, we went to the Elephant Bar for lunch.

Emma and Afton pretending to be wolves.

The girls in front of the elephant head. Afton and Abby had matching shirts and they had to wear them.

I had to share this lovely picture of my son. He's the cute one on the end spanking his behind. Yes, that's something new that he has started. Isn't it great?

Logan, Emma, Afton, Abby, Tred and Dax

Mario Kart

On Friday night, the kids were just hanging out playing mario kart. Tred wanted to play too and I had to take some pictures because he was so funny. He was so into the game that he was actually sweating. His entire body was so tense. I think he played like that the whole time and finally relaxed when he put down the controller. It was pretty funny. Dax joined in with him, although he really wasn't playing. He said he was helping Tred win. While the boys were playing Mario Kart, I took some cute pictures of the girls and Logan. I was experimenting with close-up pictures on my camera.

The serious mario kart playing.


My mom got these cute little wood magnetic dolls that came with a bunch of clothes to dress them up in. Emma and Afton were having lots of fun playing with them.

Emma

Afton with her cute doll

Logan. I love his chubby cheeks.

Logan eating his car. He still loves to put things in his mouth.

This picture of Emma turned out so cute. I love it!

She was so great about taking pictures.

the boardwalk

This spring break, Jason took the young men to Santa Cruz again. On Wednesday, my mom and sister and I and the kids headed over to the beach boardwalk to meet Jason. The kids were very excited to go to the beach and ride some rides. We got lunch and decided to eat on the beach. Bad Idea!! The wind was blowing and most of our lunch was covered in sand. It's definitely not fun to eat sand with your lunch. The kids didn't seem to mind much. They had fun playing in the sand and throwing it. They also got to stick their toes into the very cold ocean water!

I love taking pictures by the ocean. They always turn out so cute! I love this one of Logan with his hair blowing in the wind.

Shelly with the kids. (minus Logan)



Afton, Abby and Dax. I was trying to get one of Afton and Abby together and then Dax jumped into the picture. Which was fine by me because he was actually smiling.

After playing on the beach we went to the boardwalk and let the kids ride on some rides. We went on a fun little cave train ride and then I rode with Afton, Abby, Dax and Emma on the freefall. They were all so excited when we first got on the ride, but when we actually started moving I think they got a little scared, well except for Abby. She giggled throughout the entire ride.

The FReeFaLL!! Getting ready to go up.

Dax and Emma were a little scared so I decided to hang on to them.




After our fun-filled day at the boardwalk, we headed back home. On the way, we stopped at Old Navy. My sister wanted to find some clothes for her kids. On the way out of the store, Afton and Abby had climbed up with the mannequins so I snapped a picture of them pretending to be a mannequin. It was hilarious!

Abby, Afton and Emma posing with the mannequins.

bye bye Daley's, Hello Phillips

Jason's family left early this morning. We had a such a great time hanging out with them. Thanks for coming to see us. We had tons of fun! We miss you guys already.



Not long after they left, my family drove into town. My mom and sister, Shelly, and her kids came to visit. It was Spring Break for Afton and Abby so we thought it would be a great time to have them come visit. Afton and Dax were so excited to see their cousins. When they pulled into the driveway, Afton and Abby ran to each other and wrapped their arms around one another in a big hug. It was the cutest thing! It's so fun to have cousins your age. We're so happy to have them visiting with us. It's so fun to have family come to our house.

shopping, the wharf, and an A's game

On Monday, the 13th of April, we headed out with Jason's family to have a fun-filled day. Misty, Adam and Dylen tagged along with us. We first stopped to do a little shopping at one of my new favorite stores, H&M. My sister-in-law, Kari, introduced me to the place and I love it. After some serious shopping, we headed over to San Fransisco to Fisherman's Wharf. We had some yummy lunch, took some fun pics of the kids and then watched the lazy seals on the platforms. The kids were very excited to see the seals. They loved watching them and they'd giggle when one of the seals would make their barking noises or fall into the water. Pretty entertaining!

Eating lunch at the wharf.



She's so great at posing and taking pictures.

Afton and Dylen

I love this one of Logan. He is so darn cute!

yeah, this is pretty much how my day was. One sweet little girl and two boys who didn't want to listen or cooperate.

Dylen, Kya, Afton and Dax

Afton and her grandpa Rex

Dax and Dylen were having fun jumping down from these boxes.

Poor little Logan. I strapped him in the stroller and wouldn't let him out. He kept wandering off and it was getting really hard to keep an eye on all three of my kids, so into the stroller he went and he wasn't very happy about it.

Watching the funny seals. Dax was very entertained by them.

He loved them!

After hanging out at the Wharf, we headed back to Oakland for an A's baseball game. Jason wasn't able to come with us during the day, but he met us over at the game. They were playing the Boston Red Sox and there were more Sox fans than A's fans. It was ridiculous! It's ok though because the A's won. Dax was into the game and some boys sitting in front of him kept giving him high fives when the team would score or make a good play. We had a great time at the game, but I was ready to go home and go to bed. I was exhausted from a very long day.

The kids were very excited to watch the game.

Afton, Logan and Jason

One of Jason's friends from high school (Josh aka "Beav") met us there with his wife, Sarah, and their little boy, Mitchell.

Doesn't Dax look so happy to be taking a picture? It would've been a perfect picture if he would have smiled and opened his eyes. But that's my little Dax for you.