Over the River...

...and through the woods to grandmother's house we go!

For Spring Break, we got to take a family vacation! We went to Bluefield, West Virginia to my mom's house for a week long visit. It was awesome! Here are pictures of our adventures...

No trip to grandma's is complete without a day at the Bluefield Park. The park has a HUGE playground and lots of grass. There are some walking and biking trails, too, that go around the park along with a creek. If you're lucky you might even get to see a duck or two. So, we decided to take the kids for some fun. Robb went on a bike ride through the more mountainous trails while we played.

A family favorite...the tire swing!
Josh, Jake, and Kate love riding on this.

Watch out! A 3 year old is behind the wheel!

Jake ready for a train ride.

Josh about to slide.

Josh and Jake inside the wooden teepee.

Kate about to run off to her next stop.

Josh and Kate showing what the weather chart says. BRRR!
(It was actually a nice, sunny day.)

All three of my munchkins.

Soaring!

Now, for the covered tire swing!

After we played for awhile we decided to go on a walk around the park. It was such a nice, breezy day. Perfect for taking a walk.

Here's Kate giving me a yellow flower, as she called it.
The lawn had a ton of dandelions and Kate kept saying,
"Mom, look at all the beautiful flowers." It made me smile to know that she noticed.

Along the trail are old non-running railroad cars and tracks. Here is one we stopped by.
The boys climbed up on it. It was pretty cool!

There are also small tanks around the park. We couldn't resist climbing on this one.

Later on in the week, the ward had an Easter egg hunt for all of the primary children. Since we were visiting, they invited our family along to participate. The hunt was at the bishop's house, or I should say, on his farm. The kids got to see some farm animals including cows, lambs, cats, ducks, and even a snapping turtle. The scenery was awesome! There was really nothing but green all around. It was beautiful!

Here are my kids exploring before the hunt started.

Kate giving the kitty some love.

Ready to go!
(Notice I was not prepared with baskets so we used shopping bags.
You can always count on Wal-mart to give you extra!)

And they're off!

Looks like Jake found something!
He has a concentrated look on his face.

It was a little windy. Josh is trying not to blow over as he picks up this egg.

Here's my handsome husband with an oh so serious look on his face.
(Do you see my hair??? Like I said, it was windy!)

Kate showing the camera her find!

Taking a breather...

Wow! He's beat! All the eggs are found!

Robb and I...courtesy of Josh's photography skills.

Close-up

The three musketeers

All the kids showing grandma what they got.

Grandma and Kate

What's in your egg?

Kate chowing on a cupcake with dad.

Josh, grandma, and Jake

If any of you know my mom, you know that there is no visit to her house where there is not a craft of some kind involved. Well, this trip was no exception. There was crafting going on all over the place along with a scientific experiment. She had some fun things planned for us. It was awesome!

Here the kids are making geodes from blown eggs, alum powder and food coloring.
(This is my idea of a scientific experiment.)

Here they are decorating some foam eggs. Notice the spread of supplies.
(There was definitely an egg theme. It being Easter and all.)

While the kids were doing egg projects, I was learning to make HAIR BOWS!
It's a new thing that Kate actually lets me put clips, ponies, and bows in her hair.
I was all over learning to make bows! One of my mom's awesome friends
came over and taught me. It was a lot of fun!
Here are some I made:

Now for the finished egg projects:

Josh's foam eggs...

Jake's foam eggs

Kate's foam eggs...

The geodes. Some turned out better than others and were more crystallized.
We will try this one again.

Up close

Another thing that is a must when visiting grandma's is having popsicles on the big porch. And since the weather was so nice, we definitely followed this tradition!

Kate and grandma

Jake, Josh, and Kate

The week we spent on vacation went by so fast! We had such a fun time! It's always so nice to be able to spend time with family, especially when you have a family as cool as mine.

General Conference

I loved conference weekend. I always love conference weekend. Actually, as I write this, I feel a little bittersweet. I am completely rejuvenated and refreshed after hearing the wonderful messages of conference, but at the same time I'm a little saddened that the weekend is over. Now, I can't wait until the conference issue of the Ensign arrives in my mailbox so I can read and reread these wonderful messages that I've heard over the past few days.

This year for conference, I wanted to make an extra effort to get my kids ready for conference. This past Monday, we had a special family home evening about preparing for conference. Then, I made each of the kids a conference bag filled with things to keep them engaged during each conference session. I have to say that I am very pleased with how things went. The kids actually paid attention and had a good time watching! Aside from the beautiful messages from the General Authorities, here are some of the things I heard that just warmed my heart:

Jake-"Mom, this is fun."
Josh-"Thanks for making these conference bags, mom."
Kate-"Look, mom! It's Pres. Ironman." (When Pres. Eyring was conducting.)
Kate-"I should draw a picture of the prophet."

Here are the conference bags I made...

The contents of the bags...apostle cards, treat bags, crayons, pencils, journal, and a folder with a bunch of different conference activities (coloring pages, dot to dots, mazes, etc.)

These are the Apostle Cards. Each card has a picture on one side and some fun facts on the other. The boys had a great time learning about the apostles. When they saw one of them speaking, they read the back of the card.

Our conference treats. Each bag has a word on it. When the kids heard the word spoken, they could take a treat from the bag. This helped them really pay attention and listen.

It was really easy to make them and the benefits were just awesome! The kids enjoyed conference almost as much as I did. I think this will be a new tradition at our house!

Robb's Birthday

A couple of weeks ago, on March 21st to be exact, Robb had a birthday! He turned 42 this year. We celebrated by having some friends come over for cake and ice cream. I made Robb his favorite birthday cake. The same one he requests every year-Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Frosting! This year I added even more chocolate by crushing up a Hershey's chocolate bar and putting it on top of the cake. It was really yummy. We had a great time with our friends!

Robb with his cake.

A close up of the cake. Simple but yummy.