Going for a Ride

The kids thought it was so fun to push Lainey around and give her a ride. She didn't seem to mind.

Lace up Your Boots

We had our annual Grandkid Luncheon today at my mom's. It turned out so great.

I love this picture because little Ethan is peeking out from under his hand.

Our theme was Lace up your Boots, taken from one of the life examples of Elder Robert D. Hales (one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of our Church). He shares that in flight school he learned a valuable lesson from properly wearing his flight boots. Sometimes he wouldn't lace them up and other times he wouldn't even bother to put them on. Then he was assigned a new trainer who had graduated from West Point. As they were suiting up, the trainer noticed the way that Elder Hales was lacing up his boots and corrected him. The trainer showed him the proper way and said, "You don't know when you're going to come out of that airplane and when you do, you don't want to ruin your career because you can't walk anymore." And it was that very day that the fire warning light came on and Elder Hales had 10 seconds to get out of the plane. Lacing up his boots properly and tightly saved him from breaking his ankles.

I had my brother Kent share an experience from his life where he had laid the foundation of preparation in his life and had spiritually laced up his boots. He talked about paying tithing. He'd always seen my mom and dad do it and was taught that paying tithing is what we needed to do. Well, when he was out on his own trying to go to college and pay his bills in an apartment and so on, it came down to paying his tithing or paying rent. He called my mom for advice and she told him to pay his tithing and he would be blessed. So he did. It was just a short time later that he got a job and was then able to pay for the cost and expenses of living on his own and going to school.

So we related that to the kids. Sometimes...all the time, it seems like we hear the same counsel-read your scriptures, pray, go to church, obey your parents, don't drink or smoke or use bad language, increase your faith, learn of Jesus Christ. But if we do these things and what we know is right, we will be spiritually lacing up our boots so that when trouble comes, in all of its forms, mild to intense, we will be prepared to meet it and overcome.

Poured Garage

We stopped by the house.

They poured the garage and the front porch! Ye-ah!

They were hanging dry wall

when we were there-very loud!

Checkin' out the upstairs...

This is my absolute favorite of Jason and Lainey!

Chico's

We try to make an annual trip to Chico's pizza where all of the family gets together. This year it was in honor of my oldest sister's birthday. All I have to say is yummy!

One napkin dispenser said, If you only use one napkin, it isn't Chico's. So true!

Lainey loved the pizza. She gummed a whole piece.

She also had fun with Grandpa's hat.

The kids loved the arcade games. Emma had the great idea to have them do jobs to earn quarters for the games. You didn't have to ask me twice.

I know these two are blurry, but I could NOT get them to keep their eyes open! :)

Spring Break Fun

We got to spend a lot of time with our cousins!

A little work out

Claire & Charlie

We know where the stash is!

Waiting for the popcorn

This is REAL entertainment

Lainey had a blast crawling into the cupboards of the entertainment center. She wasn't too thrilled when she couldn't stand up though.

Tents for Conference

We love when General Conference comes. We make our tent and listen to the talks, eat our snacks, and play bingo.