Ward Picnic

Finally Saturday comes and I get to hang out with other adults... wink. We had a ward picnic at a park area the church owns here. The kids had a really good time playing outdoors and I was happy to let them run! Hooray!

Boys!

Go figure I'd find the little boy in the water. He was so funny to watch. People were cleaning up and washing stuff off at this faucet and he stood a couple steps behing then watching closely to see how it worked so he could do it himself. When he thought the coast was clear up he went but had no success turning the water on. I came to the rescue at this point and turned it to a slow trickle and boy was he in heaven!

Ladies man

Payton with the ladies...

Swinging

Here is Angela, Shayne, Gabe and I doing the swing thing. Weeeee!!

Mock Orange

I have no idea where this kid got dimples but I love em! In his hand is what he calls a "ball ball" but some call it a mock orange. It looks like an orange but I've heard they aren't for eating cause they are really bitter or sour. Gabe didn't care... it threw just like a ball, therefore, it was a ball.

Smiley Payton

Kinda an up the nose shot, but he was so happy i had to put it on here.

Dinner

Our alternative to the five 'o clock shadow...

Spaghetti!!!

Party of Four at the Park

And to think I was starting to believe that there are NO flowers here. I'm not sure what bush this is it was just a welcome sight here in desert. Here's the three kids and I at a park nearby. It had this man-made small lake at it and the kids were dying to get in it... yikes. There was a man in an electric wheel chair there that was really out-going and friendly. He was admiring my troop when he turned to me and said, "You are very blessed. Do you know how much God has blessed you?" He was refering to these three beautiful kids and he was right. All I could say was, "yes, sir, I do." Just when we think our plate is too full, it is then that we realize that it is not a plate after all, but actually a cup and that it runneth over.

Beautiful Princesses

Awe! Now this is one of the best parts about having a little girl. The times when she even looks like a princess. Here's Shayne and Elina in their beautiful dresses. I forgot the dress we had planned to use at home and luckily Ariel found some clearanced the day we got there.

Looking for eggs...

Here is Shayne and Gabe looking for eggs. Shayne was so funny cause you could point right at one and she wouldn't see it. I got some eggs that look like balls and Gabe was so excited about them. He threw one and when it hit the ground and popped open to display a candy inside I'm pretty sure he was in heaven.

Chef Gabe...

Here's one to make a daddy proud. Ha ha... he was having so much fun playing in the little kitchen set that I had to put the apron on him. Is that cruel or what? Maybe he's a future chef.

"New cousins"

The Kids had so much fun with their "new cousins", Elina and Noah. Here's a good display of what big sisters are for. They are so cute.

Playing outside

We went to my cousin Jason and his wife Ariel's place for easter. The weather was so great. It was perfect for a weekend of playing outdoors and hunting eggs.

Look at my hands...

And the finished product? Maybe she could've had a little more supervision... She loved it though. She actually looked forward to it all week. When I bought the dye and eggs a week earlier I had no idea I was in store for an egg coloring request every day. She would say "who wants to color eggs today?" So diplomatic.

nice lips

Now here's the picture of the day... Ariel had these cool new things for decorating eggs. Its a q-tip with the color in the plastic center and it runs down into the cotton end so you can paint with it. Well, she gave the purple one to Gabie and by the end of egg decorating gabe had the greatest purple lips in town. And to make matters worse, it wouldn't just wash off. It faded into this hot pink color! Thank heavens it wore off before church the next day.