Family Pic Prep

We finally got our family pictures taken yesterday after 3 years of procrastination.  Coordinating outfits and schedules is not easy for me and I remember each time I do it why I've waited so long!

I snapped a few shots  before the photographer came.

 I'm certainly going to miss the beauty of my spring flowers and budding trees when we move. 

The rain threatened above but I was glad to get a super speedy session in at this convenient backdrop just a few steps away from home. We have made so many memories here.  When my boys were just little they loved watching the entire construction process of our church take place next door. 

Beautiful "popcorn popping"on the apple tree.

L'il Kangaroo

 Josh loved this cute kangaroo costume so much while playing at the neighbors that they gave it to him.

 His best attempt at a sad face.

Color Run Fun

 Becca decided to join up with her friends to do a color run 5K and had a great time.  I love how she's willing to try new things.

Sunshine Flower Race

These girls had a great time racing to fill up their buckets with sunshine flower heads (dandelions) all over our yard today.  I've never seen kids so excited to pull weeds before!  Then they celebrated with some ice cream and water games.  I love this summer weather :)

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.