ensign ranch, part 2

The horses, canoes, and wagon ride of Ensign are huge highlights of the trip.

Wagon

Horses

We walked through some deep horse manure to get out to the horses. Layla found it quite fascinating to take pictures of horse poop.

We got out to the horses and, what do you know, Perry decided that this year he was going to get on that horse! We quickly got him on first before he changed his mind. The entire time he was up there, he told Eric he was scared, but he did it!! I'm so proud of that boy.

Layla was happy as could be to ride a horse again.

We practically forced Kyler and Kacin to ride the horses one last time. Led rides have lost their appeal, but trail rides weren't open yet so that's what we had.

Canoes

On an impulse, Kyler and Collin jumped in.

spring break at ensign, part 1

This little church property is one of my favorite places to be in Washington.

Our car was jam packed with stuff, and excitement, when we traveled there during spring break.

We ended up with 6 families--some of our dearest friends here. How incredibly fun it was to play, talk, and eat together for three whole days.

Nap time! :)

Some of the girls organized their own party one night. They passed out invitations to the rest of the older kids to come and play. And they all gathered every snack and treat they could find to share. The adults checked in on their party a few times, but we knew we didn't have to worry too much when we walked in to the cabin to see them all playing musical chairs to the song "I am a child of God". Love these kids!

two more feet

We had this incredible spring break vacation at the ranch last week. I planned to upload all of the pictures onto the blog today.

But late last night two new little legs toddled into our house to stay for awhile. I don't know how long she will be here, but my heart is swelling with joy today because of this opportunity to serve and take care of her. If only for a few days.

My children love playing the role of older sibling. They are helpful and sweet. Layla, especially, is in heaven being the "big sister".

Bringing another child into our home helps me to see better. My perspective shifts. I notice each child's unique and impressive personality and character as I spend a little more time watching them all interact. I reflect on our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. I see my priorities more clearly, and feel my purpose and joy. I feel deeply lucky and grateful for my life of safety and love.

It's remarkable how quickly you can love another little human being that comes into your life. She is important. I look in her eyes and I know it.

It does not matter how long someone will be a part of your life. Love them.

She will most likely not remember me after she leaves us. That's not important.

But each and every little life is important. And Eric and I feel blessed to have five precious lives under our roof tonight.

new office

The thing with microsoft is that they move the offices of their employees around a lot. Eric has basically stayed in the same group since he started working there three years ago, yet he has moved office buildings three times. And I know he moved offices within a building at least once. 

This last office move happened during our spring break. Perfect timing for us to meet dad at work for lunch one day and check out his new office. He was still waiting on his book shelves and hadn't had any time to unpack his boxes yet so the room looked a little bare. Well, until we drew pictures for him and taped them on the wall.

We sure love this guy and that he works so hard for our family. And that he puts up with our crazy in the cafe surrounded by colleagues. Let's just say, you don't see many families with kids eating together at the microsoft cafe chugging chocolate milk after chocolate milk like we were.

General conference

As the oldest, Kyler was the first to benefit from our family tradition to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City and attend General Conference when 12 years old.

Eric and Kyler left Friday afternoon and drove all night, only sleeping in the car for a few hours. They spent the entire day on Saturday on Temple Square. They watched two sessions of Conference in the Conference center and one session in the Tabernacle. They spent time in between at the visitor's center and enjoying the beautiful temple grounds.

They drove back home on Sunday. It was such a short trip, but I know they both had a super great time together.

I was at home watching conference with these three.

There was lots of coloring, eating, magnatile and lego building while we listened to the beautiful messages of our beloved church leaders. In between sessions, we went on walks and stopped at parks. 

Look at the picture Perry colored! He told me trees are green. He wrote his name (do you see that beautiful "P" all by himself?). And he told me he was 5, but he wanted help writing his number. Love this!

My family messaged back and forth a little during the sessions. My sister sent this picture of my cute nephews and niece enjoying conference.

At one point, I sent them the above picture of Perry's picture . . . 

Aww, my sarcastic sisters. hahaha

All sarcasm aside, there were so many great talks given at conference! I am REALLY looking forward to studying them during my personal study like I did the last 6 months. The talk on Fatherhood and the talk on Family Councils stood out to me this time.

April 1st

I pulled one April fools joke. When Kyler pulled down the sun visor in the car, yellow confetti fluttered down and around him. He called me and said "ha ha. very funny, mom". Eric didn't bother to try to use his sun visor after that.



Kacin got new glasses. He graduated out of the kids section, too. Such a handsome lad.



Layla asked me to pull the car over so she could run the rest of the way home. Perry loves doing this, too. So we stop at the corner and they climb out of the car. It is a race home!



Perry pulled a big fat trick on me last night to end our day. A huge refusal to go to bed. Finally, at 9:30pm, an hour and a half after we started the biggest bedtime battle of all time, he consented to sleeping on my bed with me.