Becca Heading to National Competition

Becca has been competing at FCCLA State competition this weekend and just let me know she and her friend won 1st place  Gold in the Food Innovations Competition so she and her friend get to go to Nationals this summer!
She definitely has spend a lot of time and weekends perfecting her Fiber filled "Fi-berry Flapjacks" (pancakes with raspberry sauce) by adapting the ingredient list numerous times to get the required fiber amount, texture and flavor. 

One of the first "flops" experimenting with pumpkin

Easter with Family and BFF 2016

Spring Break Adventures

 We started out Spring Break with a trip up to our new homeland so Becca could meet up with the school counselor to explore scheduling options and the other kids could tour their schools. She was happy to learn that instead of taking Calculus (which I think is pretty useless) she can fit more electives in her schedule that she's actually interested in.  I'm definitely excited about the education elective options at the kid's new schools that just seem to fit their personalities and interests better. 

  We had some fun at the Craze Fun Zone but the best part was discovering all of the fun features of the vacant land behind our home now that the snow has finally melted enough to see the ground.

Our house is the light tan one just below Jacob's right hand. Pretty sure my kids are going to have a blast hanging out with the neighborhood kids in this fun tree fort although it could definitely use a little more reinforcements.  The large flat area behind him could make for some fun 4 wheeling tubing fun to break up the long cold winter when everything is covered in snow.

 Near this small thicket of trees it looks like a small creek might run by during some parts of the year.  I had so much fun wading and exploring in the creek with my cousin Kami during summer vacations.  I sure hope it takes the developer a long time to get moving on to the next phase! The homeowners were kind enough to let the kids take a first peek at their rooms on a quick walk through of the home when I had just asked if I could take some pics of the backyard to plan my garden/swingset spaces.  They filled us in on some of the other fun features of our neighborhood. Right now (until they build the next phase) I'm told we have a beautiful view of the Rexburg temple off in the distance from our family room window.   I think we'll adopt the current owners tradition of floating the river nearby on the 4th of July.  Hopefully that will make up for losing our awesome view of the fireworks from our current backyard.

 Old tree stump and apparently a construction dumping ground are "out of sight" beyond a berm and past the 4 wheeling trails.

Joshua - So Big!

 Joshua has been so excited to celebrate his birthday this year.  He was lucky to have grandma and cousins visiting to celebrate with him for the weekend.  Becca made him a scrumptious Texas Fudge Cake because I was super sick in bed for the day (+4 after that).  I love his sheer delight with simple things.  He was pretty elated to get more truck toys although the Peppa Pig Family and Thomas Puzzle at the store almost took his sights off another set of wheels for a few minutes.  He still gets showered with plenty of hugs and kisses being the baby of the family but I'm thinking pretty soon my "big boy" is going to insist he's had enough.

 Some pics from his 3rd year

This week he fell asleep in my bed and I looked over adoring his peaceful expression.  About a minute later, he rolled over, fell off and was howling after he bumped his head on the nightstand. I scooped him up and consoled him and then noticed blood dripping all over my arm... he got a nasty nick on the back of the head that bled a lot but fortunately healed up nicely by the next day.

Falling into Place

I mentioned on fb that we listed our home, got an offer, found a home and made an offer all within one weekend.  I feel so grateful that things are smoothly falling into place because keeping a home immaculate and ready to show and making decisions are two things that are challenging for me.  I don't think it was just a coincidence that we already had plans to see homes with our realtor the day our new home listed, had already attended the ward, and met up with a couple from our new ward in our sealing session at the temple that we could bounce some questions off of that even further confirmed our decision that this is the right place for our family.  We made a really quick decision, because we both felt completely at peace the moment I walked into the entryway. 
 Here are a few pics of our new home that is less than a mile from Jared's work!

This bedroom wall is perfect for the BYU loving sports fans in our home :)  But I hope to add a little more meaning by sharing with them this talk.