April

Mike and I went on a 15-year-anniversary getaway to San Diego for 3 nights and this picture is on our first day trying to adjust to the bright sun after leaving rainy Portland!  Hooray for palm trees! They automatically make you feel like you're on vacation!

We stayed in a hotel at the Gaslamp Quarter which was walking distance to lots of restaurants and on the first night we found Ghiradelli Chocolate and Ice Cream Shop! YUM!  Yep, we went back the next night too.

After an endowment session in the gorgeous San Diego Temple, we visited La Jolla beach. (It was funny hearing our GPS trying to pronounce that one!)  The water was cold, but there was sun and lots of people trying to surf.

Mike on La Jolla Beach.  We were a little surprised at how close the houses were to the water (don't they ever get big winter storms or tsunamis?) and a local person told us they easily sell for several million dollars!

Right next to Old San Diego is The Mormon Battalion.  This visitor's center is very well done and we really enjoyed it.

Then for our big event, we decided to take a "kayaking cave tour." Which really turned into an open-ocean kayak photoshoot.  The photographer started with us on the beach and taking lots of pictures.

The water was So Cold, that in this picture I'm dancing back and forth trying not to let my feet spend too much time in the frigid water!  (Our guide told us it was 58 degrees.)

More "frolicking on the beach."

Then out we go over the breakers to kayak in the ocean! I got splashed pretty good on this one!

I was a little nervous if we would make it through the breakers without tipping...

Our guide got really excited about the big waves crashing on cliffs behind us.

We could get somewhat close to the caves, but since it was morning and the tide was in, we couldn't go through them. 

Coming back in was a little more tricky...

The terrified look on my face should say it all! But we did make it safe and sound and didn't tip once.

Afterwards, we drove to The Flower Fields in Carlsbad and met up with my sister, Ginger.  She was pretty brave and drove an hour to see us with her kids, including her newborn 5th child.

Flower Fields in Carlsbad

The gorgeous flowers were in full bloom with vibrant colors!

The next day we went to Balboa Park.  It had several museums and free gardens to walk through.

A nice fountain at Balboa Park.

The Desert Garden

Rose Garden

Easter Lilies

We could see the ocean on both sides of the highway as we drove to Point Loma.  Here we could see Coronado Island which is home to a naval air station.

Here is a statue of Cabrillo at Point Loma.  He arrived here in So Cal 50 years after Columbus sailed and claimed this land for Spain.  What an amazing view!!

We had a really nice trip and came home to happy kids who had been taken care of by Grandma.

7 months pregnant

Easter Sunday we went to Ellen's house because her tree was blooming very nicely and we thought this would make a great picture:

Nicholas (10), Zach (8), Brooke (6 in 2 days), and David (3)

And with Grandma

Brooke turned 6 2 days after Easter.

She preferred a chocolate pie instead of cake.

Opening a basket that attaches to her bike.

Magic School Bus and Junie B Jones books from Aunt Sara

On to Science Fair Projects:

Nicholas saw in a book how he could charge an MP3 player with an onion and Gatorade.

After soaking the onion in Gatorade, he plugs in the MP3 player... Unfortunately, it didn't work in the book either, but he tried it a few different ways and came to realize it needed metal to actually charge.

Zach's project was to figure out how many ping pong balls it would take to lift a sunken ship off the floor of the ocean:

So he used a two-pound weight and 45 ping pong balls in the bath tub.

Since the Titanic weighed 92,656,000 pounds, Zach calculated it would take 1,111,872,000 ping pong balls to lift it from the ocean floor!

Brooke took a 1-day dance class with the high school dance team for their fundraiser and really loved it!  They put on a little performance for the parents at the end:

Brooke is 2nd from the left. (white shirt)

Mike and his friend Randy ran a 10K race together.  Mike enjoys running with Randy so he went a little slower than his normal pace to stay together...

They were both surprised at the end of the race to find Randy actually came in 1st place and had beat Mike by a second!

Randy laughed and told them Mike had ran slower than normal to run with him, so they both got a 1st place prize of these nifty blankets!

Mike got more good dirt for our garden, ended up with too much, so he loaded it on a tarp in the back of the Suburban to put in his mom's yard.

Brooke's birthday party:

Girls and their fans: (back row) Sarya, Lilia, Isabel, Victoria
(front row) Paige, Briana, Brooke

After Christmas, I got fed up with the selfishness in our home and told the kids they could have a friend party for their birthdays but no presents, or no party at all. (They will receive something small from Mike and me and I didn't put any restrictions on grandparents.) We talked about how many kids don't even have enough money for food, let alone birthday presents, so if they chose a friend party, I would write on the invitations that instead of presents, we were asking them to bring a canned food donation.  Brooke and I would then take the food to a food bank and volunteer for a 2-hour shift.  Hoping to instill some gratitude for all the things they do have. After the initial shock, Brooke had a pretty good attitude about it, especially as other adults complimented her on this very kind act.

Brooke trying to "pin the necklace on the girl" (she's a little off)

Lilia was a little closer...

The finished "Pin the Necklace on the Girl"

Brooke chose cinnamon rolls instead of cake and the girls got to decorate their own.

We played "pass the present when you hear the word 'princess' in the story."  The girl who was holding the present by the end of the story got to unwrap it, which had candy for everyone in it.

The girls anticipating the word 'princess' and passing the present.

Paige hitting the pinata.

And then dancing to "Just Dance" on the Wii.  Each of the girls got to pick a song to dance to.

Pinewood Derby:

Nicholas and Zach with their cars before the race.

Zach's car (on left) winning a race.

Nicholas' car (on left) winning a race.

Zach's car beating Nicholas' car.

Zach the Grand Champion!

Talent Show:

Zach playing "Maple Leaf Rag" at the school talent show.

I was pretty proud of both the boys for doing a great job on the piano and even memorizing these difficult songs.  I know, a video would be better than a picture ... I'm working on it!

Nicholas playing Jon Schmidt's "Dumb Song" at the talent show.

All of the 3rd grade students participated in a Wax Museum.  They each picked a person in history, researched them, wrote and memorized a script about them, and they "came to life" and recited the script when someone "pushed" their red button.

Zach as Harry Houdini