Tyler's Hockey Camp

During the month of May, we signed Tyler up for an ice hockey camp our friends told us about.  The best part was it was completely FREE!  They loaned out all the equipment, and for all the Saturdays in May they ran a clinic for the boys.  

It was quite fun to watch these boys out on the ice with all their gear on.  It was quite the production to get ready for ice hockey.  Here is Tyler with his buddies Jaden and Ben.  (Tyler is in red.)
His favorite day was the last Saturday when they set up the goals and let them have "free play".  They set out a bunch of pucks for the kids, and Tyler loved scoring goals.  (It wasn't too hard to do with all the pucks out there.)  The funny thing was he kept track of every single puck he hit into the goal.  The first thing he said when he saw me after he was done was "Mom, I scored 47 goals!!"  He was so excited.  
This kid sure loves to play.  We hope his love of sports continues, and we love to watch him try new things.  He thought the hockey was fun, but wasn't interested in pursuing it anymore.  (Good thing since I think it's a pretty expensive sport to play.)  Good job, Tyler!!

Father's and Sons Outing

Dave got to take the boys to the Father's and Son's camp out.  They of course had a great time, and were happy to have that special time with their dad.

One of their favorite things they got to do was to ride in the back of the Nelson's truck up to the water tower.
Once they got there, they were excited to go up to the top.
They thought it was pretty cool to be up so high.
These boys sure loved being together, and of course their dad loved it, too!

And while the boys were out, of course the girls had their tradition of going out to dinner together.  This year we chose Carrabbas, and it was yummy.  We finished off the night shopping, and then renting a movie.  We love this yearly tradition and can't wait to do it again next year!

Jessica's 12th Birthday at Disneyland

We just got back yesterday from spending two days at the happiest place on earth.  It was a great trip, and even more special since Jessica was able to spend her 12th birthday at Disneyland.  She even got a gift card from Disneyland for $69 that she could spend on whatever she wanted at the shops.  She was nice and shared a little with Ashley and Tyler since they wouldn't get the chance to be there on their birthdays.

Here is the birthday girl.  I can't believe she is 12 years old!  Time flies.  She is growing up into quite the young women, and I'm so proud of the person she is.  I tell her all the time, but I hope she truly knows how wonderful she is.  
It was pretty funny how Kyle had to stick his arms out like his big sister did in her picture.  He sure looks up to his older brother and sisters, and wants to be just like them.  Good thing they are such good examples for him.
It's pretty scary to think she will actually be doing this in 14 years.  Good thing it's still a ways off!
We waited in a short line, and was able to have our own special time with Mickey.  Kelsey wanted NOTHING to do with him, and screamed the whole time.  As you can see she is trying to get as far away from him as she can.  It was pretty funny.  She did not like ANY of the characters she saw.
Dave's brother Jeff and his family met us at Disneyland and the kids loved hanging out with their cousins.  These are the girls waiting for everyone to get off of Space Mountain.  Kyle had never been on that ride and was tall enough, so we took him on it.  It was the first ride of the day, and he was so excited.  Well, he got a little scared on the ride, and after he didn't want to go on any more rides.  Luckily we convinced him to go.  Every ride we had to reassure him it was a "happy" ride, and not dark and scary.  I guess we should have waited till later on in the day to do the fast, dark ride!
My sister lives close to Disneyland so we stayed a night with her.  She was able to join us both days, and we had fun hanging out with her and her kids.  She is a trooper going with her three little ones, and little baby she would wear on her chest all day!  Thanks for coming along with us, Denise!  It's always so fun to see you!
Here are my handsome boys!  Tyler was excited because he was finally tall enough to ride the Maliboomer in California Adventure.  He loved it and luckily the lines were short they were able to do it a few times.
As we were leaving, Tyler asked to have his picture taken in front of the big "A".  The girls kept asking him why he wanted his picture taken in front of the "A".  He said "because there isn't a 'T'!"  Makes sense.  I think the "A" is a pretty cool letter myself.  We went over to get a picture and sure enough there was a line of 2 or 3 people waiting to get their picture taken in front of the "A".  I guess it really is a popular letter........

And if you haven't had the chance to go on a roller coaster in a while, go ahead and click on the video below.  This was taken by Dave on the California Screamin' ride.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year.  We were lucky and had family come into town.  My brother Matt and his wife Eleisha came with their two boys, and we had a great time with them.  They hadn't been to the Easter pageant before, so they came out and we were able to go.  It was great, as usual, and we enjoyed spending time on the temple grounds.  We also did lots of fun things, including going to Makuto's Island, visiting the zoo, hunting for eggs in the dark, and playing in the backyard.  We were so glad they could come visit.  We love visitors, and don't get them enough!

After church on Sunday we went in the backyard for our annual Easter family picture.  Kyle was not in the mood, and we finally convinced him to look at the camera, even though he would not take his head off my shoulder.  Oh well.

I think this is the sweetest picture of Tyler with Kelsey.  He is such a great big brother to her.  He loves to play with her and make her laugh.  
This one turned out great, too.  I know Jessica and Kelsey will treasure this picture when they are adults.  I love the pictures of me with my siblings when we were younger.  Having two wonderful sisters myself, I know how special sisters are!  I'm thankful my girls have each other!
Another fun sibling picture.  I think Ashley was playing with a beach ball, and we didn't get many pictures of her with her siblings.  Next time......

We also spent some time coloring Easter eggs.  The kids made some pretty colorful ones, and we enjoyed eating deviled eggs for the rest of the week.  :)

Tyler's face cracks me up in this one.  What a goof ball.  Tyler loves to make people laugh.....
Zac and Kyle LOVED playing together all weekend.  It's fun having cousins the same age.
Kayden loved being pulled around in the wagon.  It got a little tiring, so Kyle was kind enough to help out!
And we thought it was pretty fun that we found this in our backyard on Easter morning.  My sister-in-law Eleisha said "Oh look, there is the Easter bunny in the backyard" and of course I thought she was joking.  Then as the kids started gathering around the window, I said "You're joking, right?"  And sure enough, she wasn't joking.  The rabbit was hanging out in the backyard.  The kids thought this was the coolest thing, and put out some carrots and lettuce for it.  That thing hung out in our backyard all week.  Ashley and I tried to catch it for fun (really I was trying to scare it away so it would never come back) and luckily it worked.  The rabbit ran faster than I could have imagined, and scooted under the fence, and we haven't seen it since!  (I'm not a pet person.  I don't even want a stray bunny hanging out in my backyard pooping and eating my grass!)
It was a great Easter, and we are always grateful for the chance we have to reflect on the atonement, and the great gift that is in our lives!

Kelsey Turns Two!

Kelsey celebrated her 2nd birthday on the 26th of March.  She really enjoyed her day, and loved the presents.  I wasn't sure she would know what to do with the wrapped presents, but once she realized there was stuff inside, she loved it!  

She loved her princess crown, dress up shoes, and earrings.  She always grabs for my jewelery and wants to put it on, but of course she can never get my earrings on.  She thought it was very fun to have her own pair.  
Every time I told her to smile for the camera she kept giving me this cheesy grin.  It's quite difficult to get her to smile with her eyes open, unless you catch her doing it without her noticing.
Here she was in front of her cupcakes before we lit up the candle.  She was excited.
Once we lit the candle, she started getting worried.  She did not like the flame at all.  She realized it was hot and fire, and was pretty upset.  She just looked at it like get that thing away from me!  Needless to say we had to help her out with blowing it out since she wanted nothing to do with it.  Once the flame was blown out, she was happy again.  See, she's a smart girl.  She already knows not to play with fire. :)

Happy birthday Kelsey!  We love you and are so glad you're in our family.  You are such a sweet girl, and we're lucky to have you!

Tucson Trip

For spring break this year, we didn't really have any plans.  We usually go to California and this year we decided to stick around here.  I have a hard time not going ANYWHERE for the break, so I made reservations through Priceline to stay at a hotel in Tucson for a night.  We had never been there, and had a few things we wanted to do, so we decided to get away.

We stayed at the JW Marriot there in Tucson, and they had some fun hiking trails by the hotel.  We took the kids on a short hike, and it was fun to see all the cactus in all the hills.  It was really pretty.
Dave got to carry Kelsey and she loved it.  Kyle kept saying he wanted to go back to the hotel.  I should have brought a carrier for him!
We had a great time at the pool.  They had a lazy river and a water slide they even let the little ones go down.  It got a little overcast and windy while we were in the pool, but it was still fun.
The next day we headed over to Kartchner caverns and it was AWESOME.  Those caves are amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone.  The kids thought it was really cool being in a mountain, and seeing all those amazing formations.  No cameras allowed so we didn't get any pictures there.
Then we decided since we were already down that way, we'd check out Tombstone.  We'd never been there either and it was fun to see the little town, but there wasn't that much to do that didn't cost money.  We did eat lunch at this place where you could sit and watch a gun fight.  The kids thought that was kind of fun, but we did have to explain to them how the guns weren't real, never play with guns, and all that fun stuff.  Kyle hated the noise the guns made.  I told him that was good because guns are BAD!  Hopefully I scared him enough.

After the show the kids went down on the set and got a picture.  It was fun to see Tombstone once, but I'm not dying to go back there anytime soon.  

We had a great time, and I would definitely go back to Tucson and stay at this place.   I told Dave next time we'll have to come there with just us.  There was golf and a nice spa, I could have spent some good relaxation time there.  

It was nice feeling like we had a family vacation without all the drive time we usually have.  

Finally a Basketball Court!!

When we moved into our house almost 6 years ago, we were so excited to have a big backyard.  We had an area in the corner we thought would be perfect to someday put a sport court in.  We have always talked about "when we put the basketball court in" and I thought that day would never come.  We have a roll-a-way hoop we have to move in and out of the driveway since our homeowners wont let us keep it out there, and it is such a pain to move!!  So, after getting sick of rolling it, we finally put in the court about a month ago.  The kids LOVE it, and so do we!  We have already gotten tons of use out of it.  I love that the kids just can walk out the back door and shoot some hoops.  

Ashley is playing on a basketball team right now, and she seems to be the one to use it the most.  She is getting to be quite the shooter!  I'm hoping her love of the game sticks and she'll continue on in the sport, since it is my favorite!!

Anyone want to come over and play some ball????