Easter Sunday and General Conference 2016!

Easter Time this year came at the end of March and we were so glad to spend such a special time of remembering the sacrifice of our Savior and that He truly lives again with each other! Always love Easter Sunday!! (This is our 2nd year of matching Easter dresses for the girls...they needed the next size up dresses anyways, so I like waiting until Easter-time to get them to last for the whole year and then some!) So happy to be smushed together with this bunch!

The Saturday before Easter, we prepared our eggs in our traditional homemade egg-dying excitement! 

Then, after church on Sunday, we let the kids explore their Easter/Savior Baskets with a few simple treats- this year it was a cookies n cream bunny...mmm!, silly gak, a styrofoam airplane with parachute guys, two gospel quiet books, and a spring-time fun activity of water shooters! woo hoo!

Gracie lucked out with a cute Easter doggie!

Joshua was just happy and smiles to be together! Love that calm-natured smiley boy!

Nathan and his slinky!

Yay for our newest family picture with everyone looking! So thankful to capture these sweet memories and small moments!

The next weekend, we were so excited for general conference!! We kept up our family tradition of doing sugar cube temples during the break between sessions on Sunday and came out with some of our most beautiful temples!

 AND cute smiley faces too!

March Tulips! 2016

We tried to make the most of Daddy being back home with us again! So that same week, he took some time off, and we ventured out to a nearby Tulip Festival to take some pretty pictures and take in the beautiful flowers together!

Katelyn- 7 years old! She is so beautiful, lovely and sweet! We are so proud of the thoughtful, kind and loving girl she is becoming! We love Miss K!

Nathan- 4 yrs old, This handsome boy sure keeps us on our toes with his energy and accidents recently (accidentally knocking a front tooth loose, and then completely out from a collision with the couch, and having the entire white part of his eye fill up with blood from a trampoline injury, all within the same week!! We are SOOO THANKFUL his life has been preserved and to have this sensitive, thoughtful, caring, and speedster boy around! Love you bud!

Gracie- 2 years old! She is just the sweetest little angel! She is our little June-bug, and is so sensitive, thoughtful, such a quick learner, mindful of others, loving, happy, cheerful and giggly! She loves the color yellow, and her soft doggie, and anything that has to do with doggies! She brings such a peaceful, calming love from heaven into our home and lives! We sure are blessed by this sweet girl!

I am so thankful for my sweet husband and that I get to be on this journey of life with him! He is such a strength and loving, patient, understanding friend and companion to me.  He helps balance me in so many ways and is such a faithful, hard-working, and fun guy to have around.  So glad you belong to me and for all the sunny and not-so-sunny days we've shared and that I'll get to keep smelling the beautiful flowers and walk in the sometimes sticky mud with you! Love you honey!

Our greatest blessings in life! We are so thankful for these little ones! We love them and are so thankful Heavenly Father allowed them to come to our family to help teach, learn from and love everyday!

So sweet! They actually really do love each other! hehe... =D

Our newest family picture complete with baby Joshua at 5 months too!! We sure loev that little ray of sunshine, peaceful spirit and snuggly baby in our lives! So thankful for family, one of God's greatest blessings of all! 

Everyday joys in the journey. March 14-March 24, 2016

We were so excited for the day that Daddy was coming back after his long Australia work trip!! When it's warm outside, what better thing to do then do a lemonade stand sale! One of their favorite "efficient" in their eyes lol...way to use their time.  These kiddos take after their daddy who was always figuring out a way to start his own business...haha...they actually did quite well, a couple neighbors came by and a family looking at the house next to us actyually gave them $5 for 2! Wow, hopefully their lemonade was well worth it! I am sure it was, who couldn't resist these cute smiles and enthusiasm, regardless of how sweet or sour it actually tasted!! hehe :) 

Daddy came home early Monday evening, just in time for Family Home Evening!! We learned about Unselfishness and Sensitivity, and acted out the story of Ammon saving the sheep from the wicked Lamanites.  We talked about how he was always doing what is right and thinking of others.  Yay for acting out scripture stories!!

PLUS, it also happened to be PIE DAY....so of course, since I am a math enthusiast too...always have loved Math...quirky and weird perhaps, but we still love it! So here is our yummy key lime avocado pie to celebrate!! FHE treats for all!! =D

Katelyn's soccer team got to walk on the field with the High School Varsity team!! We cheered Miss Katelyn and her good friend Eily on from the stands!! Woo hoo!

For our friend art class, we learned about Japan and my sweet friend Tamara brought girls festival celebration day to life (since she also served her mission there!! So awesome!) with Kimonos, candy sushi, Japanese cherry blossom art, and we even ate like they do....on the low floor tables!! So fun for these girlies!

Liz and I got to go to a Homeschool Convention together the weekend after Jonathan got back and it was AMAZING, so inspirational and encouraging! So many incredible curriculums, books and learning material! Best of all---super helpful, relaxing and encouraging tips from other homeschooling moms and families who have gotten their kids to college and provided awesome feedback on how to make the most of our time with our kiddos and making every ounce of at home play and learning count! :)

Playing frisbee with Daddy at a local park after I came back early from the Convention Weekend! Love these people!

Preparing for Easter Week!! Here we are acting out the triumphant entry for FHE on Monday night! Love Easter time and traditions that help us remember our dear Savior.  :)

Here are our lentils and pita bread, complete with grape juice, goldFISH, grapes and olives for dinner on Passover Thursday! (PLUS...we did this all in ADDITION to soccer practice too! Crazy packed night, but I am so glad we started the tradition this year! What precious memories and important gospel lessons we get to learn as a family!! Love traditions and our dear family :)

Katelyn performing on her bells for us! We all love music!

Mr. Joshy baby amazing us with those strong tummy muscles....he hasn't minded tummy time ever...I know, crazy, right!!??! But what a strong, sturdy, smiley little guy we've got! Love him!

Making muffins! Fun learning and baking time together!

This sweet tired boy, just ready for a nap. :)

Love these snuggles.  I want to cherish these moments forever.

{Also, I wanted to post these in there too! The first one is Nathan when he was 3 months.  The second is Joshua when he was 5 months.  They have similar noses, eyes and facial features, but Nathan for sure had a longer forehead and more hair, while Joshy is more round faced, still so adorable! Love my boys!}

All in a days work. haha...I laugh sometimes at how much we can sweep up in a day with these playful and often messy kiddos...good thing they like helping sweep and try** to do their part in cleaning it up too! ;)

Gracie's 1st dentist appointment! Everything looked great! Way to go Gracie!!

I am hoping this post gives a glimpse of everyday life for us...everything from lemonade stands, FHE nights and memorable loved traditions, smiles, SUPPER messy floors and sweeping jobs, soccer practices/games, frisbee time with fam, appointments and lots and lots of precious snuggle moments that fill our hearts up and over the brim with the simplest, purest love. So glad we have each other. :)