TIme Out For Women

I had such a wonderful weekend with my girlfriends at a women's conference called "Time out for Women" a few weeks ago. The theme was "Becoming...." a better wife, mother, neighbor, friend, mother, and ultimately like our Savior Jesus Christ. It was very inspiring and made me want to "become" a better person. It was so fun to get away for a night with great friends. Eliza (and Ryan) did great without me too.

Easter Sunday

We were pretty pooped from the Saturday's fun. The kids woke up and found their baskets and then we rushed off to church without talking any pictures of our cute outfits. After church we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner cooked mostly my Nicole. The kids got to play a little more and then Adam, Nicole, and the girls took off back for a long drive home. We sure are glad they came. I am also so thankful for the reason for Easter. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, his sacrifice for us, and for his resurrection. I love Him and know He lives.

Star Wars Exhibit

At the end of the day we went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. It was the end of a long, fun, day and we may have spent longer if we were not so tired. It was very cool, none the less. There were many authentic costumes and artifacts from all the movies. Connor asked me to take his picture in front his favorites.

Real Lightsabers!

Seattle Sightseeing

After the Easter Egg hunt and lunch, we ALL (that's right...Nicole and I squished our bums into one seat!) packed into the minivan and headed to Seattle. Luckily all the kiddos slept on the way. We visited Pike's place, rode the monorail, and saw the Space Needle. The only bummer was that we didn't find a good place for dinner. It was a beautiful Saturday and the fish and chips place we wanted to go to had a 9o minute wait-so we had nasty food court food while in Seattle--oh well!

On the monorail

In the flower market.

Yummy mini donuts!

I think these two look like they could be brother and sister.

Beautiful Family

More monorail...

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

We had a jam packed day of fun on Saturday with our cousins. It started with Connor's baseball game followed by the Tumwater Highschool Easter Egg Hunt. Notice that the sun is shining and the kids are not wearing rain boots?? I think this is a first in 7 years that we have lived here. Hooray!

Day One of Westover Cousin Visit

Adam, Nicole, Madison ,Avery, and Sarge, drove all night to come see us Easter weekend. We were so excited to have them.

The girls and Connor had so much fun playing together.

At the water in Downtown Olympia

At Lattin's Cider Mill and farm.

Eliza And Uncle Adam at Farmer's Market

Such cute cousins

Feeding more goats.

Sadie turned Four ...(way back in April)

So I have postponed writing about Sadie turning four, because it is frankly, its hard to put "four year old Sadie into words. I want to remember lots of things about Sadie at this age so here are a few... Sadie is so fun and so challenging all at the same time! When she is happy and cheerful, there is no one more joyous to be around. I love how much she loves life. She has lots of quirks that make her her. She LOVES to pretend play. Sometimes it is with toys like her "critters", Barbies, princesses, or stuffed animals-sometimes called "kids." She loves to play with friends, Connor, and Ryan and I-but is content playing by herself a lot of the time. (I really should sit down and play with her more.) Her story lines with the characters she plays with are very creative and often include "love triangles" between two princesses and one prince-or two Barbie's and Ken. She has a little "shrine" by her bed where she stores all of her little keepsakes.

Sadie and Connor are either best friends or worst enemies. She can dish it out, but doesn't take it very well. She has lots of friends and gets along well with them most of the time. Sadie is an angel for other people (i.e. preschool,dance, church, friend's houses). She has recently become more of a daddy's girl than she used to be, but prefers me most of the time still. She is very good at remembering to pray and read scriptures. She pretty much says every family prayer and meal blessing that we let her. She is fascinated with Jesus and Heaven. She asks many questions like "How exactly do we get to heaven...do we drive, fly, run, or walk? Do we eat in heaven? Do we get to see our friends in Heaven? Will we get to be with Cooper in Heaven? What kind of clothes do we wear in Heaven? Do we sleep in beds in Heaven?" She talks about how she "can't wait to hug Jesus."

Sadie is a wonderful big sister and loves Eliza. She does get in trouble at times for loving her too much. I love to see her make up songs for her and play with her. Without fail, when Eliza gets up from a nap, or bed time Sadie is sooooo excited to see her. She also throws fits when she doesn't get to properly say good night to her.

A few other random facts...

• Sadie loves to dress up, and dance but tends to be embarrassed if we watch or notice her.
• She is a big breakfast eater and loves "pink"(strawberry) cream cheese bagles and just about any cereal with milk.
• Lunch time favorites include "peanutbubba" and grilled cheese sandwiches-especially if accompanied by Cheetos.
• If we call her beautiful she says , "No I'm Cute!"
• She is sooo loud! Her scream makes me want to pull my hair out. We have talked about having her hearing checked, but I know that she can hear just fine.
• She is a little (or a lot uncoordinated) and gets hurt a lot. I am surprised she has only had stitches once.
• We LOVE our Sadie Lady to pieces and feel so blessed to have her!