My New and Improved Ring

Here is my "new" old ring. I got brave and decided to have it rhodium plated (dipped to make it silver). My ring was yellow gold and I've wanted silver for a long time b/c all the other jewelry I wear is silver. Recently, one of my prongs got bent and slipped off from where it used to be on the diamond and would catch on things. I needed to get it fixed b/c I didn't want to lose the diamond. So I ended up getting a new prong head and then took a risk and had it dipped (the risk is that it wears off and doesn't last very long so I may have to get it dipped often). I love it though! I just picked it up tonight and Kyle told me it can be for my anniversary gift- that's an easy way for him to get out of buying me a gift. ha! But hey, I'm more than fine with this gift. Our 9th anniversary is next Monday. Time flies bye. Now I'm treating it like a brand new ring and I'm nervous to hit it on anything. :) It's so clean and shiny.

I had to take the flash off b/c it was too shiny to see, but these pictures are blurry too. Oh well, you get the idea. :)

Tulips, Tulips and More Tulips

Melanie and Milo brought the kids over for the weekend and it was fun having them visit us. Kate told me, "I loved having my cousins come to my house." She kept saying this over and over after they left Sunday night. We were busy with a BBQ, shopping, visiting Tulip Town at the Tulip Festival, playing outside and talking and laughing. All the kids unanimously said playing outside in our little development's playground was the best part. Funny, since that is the cheapest and easiest entertainment ever! It was nice because they played so well together. We had good weather for the most part so that made it even easier for them to play outside.

Kate, Kathryn, Dane and Nathan

I love the array of colors. The fields of tulips are SO beautiful.

Kate wanted a picture of her with the pink tulips.

Goo and Slime

I've been doing a co-op preschool with 2 other moms since last fall, but one Mom moved away in March and that left just two of us. We were fine just doing preschool with 2 kids, but since I've been working more preschool has been postponed (plus me and the other Mom had crazy vacation schedules lately). Today was the first time in a couple months that we finally had it. Kate was really excited. She has been asking me when we were going to have preschool and what letter we were going to learn. I kept telling her that we'd have it again sometime soon. She couldn't wait for preschool today. :)

We learned about the letter "G". We talked about words that begin with the letter "G", practiced writing the letter, read Goldilocks, played a game (Candyland), ate a snack (grapes, goldfish, graham crackers, grape juice and gummi bears), then made GOO! The girls LOVED it. They normally play for an hour after lesson time, but after they were done making and playing with the goo there was only like 15 minutes left to play.

Here is Kate and Alyssa making the Goo. This is super easy to make and they can even choose their own color.

After we were done playing with the Goo, I made slime for the girls too. This was a much different consistency, but it was also fun. Both were super easy to make and I would highly recommend making them for your kids. It's a perfect activity for a rainy day.

When I was online looking at different ways to make Goo it was funny watching all the YouTube videos of these young kids making this Goo. I figured if they can do it I could do it and it was easy. Here are the recipes I used (one recipe uses Borax and you can find it at stores in the laundry detergent aisle).

Goo (like Gak):

Part A:

4 oz bottle of glue

4 oz water

food coloring

Mix together really well.

Part B (use a separate bowl):

1/3 c. warm water

1 tsp Borax

Mix together until Borax is dissolved

Pour Part B into Part A. Mix together with your hands and the Goo will start to form. Have fun!

Slime:

1 c. cornstarch

1/2 c. water

food coloring

Mix well and then play with it. It's solid, but then you pick it up and it will melt in your hands. Cool!

Easter Festivities

Happy Easter!!! It was a busy weekend with lots of fun, family and food at my parent's house. Sara and Derek (her fiance!!! Yes, she is officially engaged!) surprised us and came late Friday night- they were supposed to come Saturday night. They were coming from Rexburg. Then on Saturday, Jeff and Sadie showed up in the afternoon and surprised us all too. They weren't supposed to come until the next Tuesday after Easter so we thought we weren't going to see them. I was in the kitchen talking to my Mom and Jeni when I saw Jeff walk by a window and I'm like "that looks like Jeff! What is he doing here?" I was very surprised. They had left super early from Rexburg and Sadie worked a miracle by changing her work shifts so they could come and be home with everyone this weekend.

Jared up to bat in his baseball game on Saturday. We thoroughly embarrassed him by cheering for him very loudly.

Marci giving almost everyone a ride on the 4-wheeler. We loved how Jeff was squeezed into the trailer and Kevin was hanging on on the front. I love the green grass- spring is here.

Kyle, Kevin, Jeff and Jared talking outside. I love this picture of them all talking outside even though it was dark out there. They were having fun sharing stories and laughing. I'm glad they all get along and have fun with each other.


"Painting" easter eggs (according to Kate)


The lovely family after Church on Easter Sunday. It was nice to be together at Church and celebrate the true reason for Easter. Notice the little girls' Easter dresses that my Mom made for them. They are cute and even have netting to make the skirt poof out. Kate wouldn't stop twirling in hers. (Sara's fiance is on the far left next to her. :) He is Derek Roylance from Moses Lake and they are planning on getting married June 26th in Tri-Cities Temple. My Mom has only 2 months to make a dress and plan a wedding. yikes. Pray for her!)

My Dad's birthday was on Easter so we celebrated that too. My Mom made a 3-tiered german chocolate cake! Mmmm... Both sets of grandparents were there along with my Dad's 2 brother's and their families. It was fun to see everyone.

Kate is cracking a confetti easter egg on her head (My aunt Sherrie made them). These were her favorite eggs to find. Whenever she saw an egg she would ask if it was a cracking egg. She was more excited for the cracking eggs than for the plastic eggs with candy inside.

Preston concentrating really hard to open this egg. I love his little fingers. He's getting to be very independent and wants to do things on his own. He'll even throw a tantrum if needs to.

It was a little windy and chilly this Easter so Kate was cold, but she refused to wear a coat. Oh well... at least her outfit is cute thanks to Grandma Dee Ann.

Videos

This video is of Preston on the pink motorcycle. He loved it.

This video is of Kate riding the motorcycle. She looked backwards more than forward. ha!

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas

We had a fun visit to Grandma Dee Ann's house in Las Vegas. Since we got home yesterday, Kate has been playing pretend acting like she is going to the airport to go to gma's house. She even got us involved tonight and had us "go to the airport" with her and bring our luggage. She's funny.

This was during our take-off from Seattle. Kate was SO excited to be on a plane. She liked how fast we went.

This was her most of the plane ride. She probably had a stiff neck the next day. :) When the plane would turn she would yell out, "we're crashing! Oh no! We are falling!" Probably not something other passengers wanted to hear. ha! Both kids did really good on the plane. We were nervous about Preston because Kate did horrible at his age, but he did great- thank goodness! The only bummer is that we left our DVD case with all our favorite DVD's on the plane!!! We are hoping to get it back.

Our first day there we went to the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. It's like an amusement park inside. These casino/hotels down there are HUGE. They are like mini cities inside. Kate liked the rides and Kyle and I felt like kids again riding roller coasters and twirly rides that make you sick.

Kate was liking this ride at the beginning...but not when they sent them in the air. She was SO scared. It was kind of funny. She ended up smiling towards the end of the ride and keeps talking about the "frog hopper".

Another day, we went to a casino that had this free aquarium and the kids loved seeing all the fish. I thought this picture of Preston pointing at the glass was cute. He did this most of the time. He was fascinated by all the fish.


We took the kids to the Vegas strip one night. This is Kate at M&M World. She was excited to go here and insisted on black and red M&M's. When she saw the wall of all the different colors of M&M's she wanted every color almost. With a price tag of almost $12/pound, she got 2 or 3 of each color. :) We went and saw the lions at the MGM Grand, they were sleeping- boring. Then we watched the water show in front of the Bellagio. Beautimous! If you go to Vegas this is a must see. Love them. Kate was like "wow!" when we were watching the water show. The Excalibur Casino looks like a castle so Kate said that is where Snow White lived. It was fun to take them at night so they could see all the lights.

We checked out the Children's Museum in Vegas. Target was sponsoring this Clifford exhibit. They had this red door that Preston played with most of the time. It was a cute exhibit.

Kate LOVED shopping in the "grocery store" at the museum and was in heaven placing the things on the conveyor belt to be checked out. She likes to help me do that in the stores so she really in her element. ha! I think she needs a bigger basket...

Gma Dee Ann with her grandkids. Kate is on a pink motorcycle (it's battery operated) that Dee Ann's boss bought for her. Kate had fun with it and Preston would steal it any chance he got. It plays a dumb song and Kyle and I can still sing the melody- it was played way too many times.

We did a lot and had a good time. Now Kate knows where Grandma Dee Ann lives. She already talks about going back. :) Thanks Dee Ann for a fun time!

"I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane"

We are "leavin' on a jet plane" to visit Grandma Dee Ann's house. Woohoo! Kate thinks Grandma Dee Ann lives at the airport so it will be good for her to see where she actually lives- in Las Vegas. It's been 2 yrs since we were last there so she doesn't really remember it much. We will soak up the sun, maybe catch a show, go on a date, probably shop and play with new toys that Grandma Dee Ann has. It will be fun!

Yesterday, during my lunch break I went to the bank to deposit some checks and the lady informed me that my license was expired! I was so glad she noticed and said something because we are leaving today and the aiport requires your ID and I didn't know if they would accept an expired one or not. So this morning I went to the DOL right when they opened and my co-worker's husband actually works there. I barely sat down and he waved me to come up to him. He let me cut and totally helped me out first. It was awesome. No waiting for me. In 10 minutes I was out the door with my new license. Bummer thing... I got a zit the day before. Great, now I have to be stuck with that picture for the next 5 years. Actually, you can't tell too bad, phew.

The other day Kyle bought me tulips and when I got home from work I didn't even notice them right there on the counter! I was so concentrated on getting dinner prepared that I just didn't notice. I was working around them and even talking to Kyle over them! ha! Kate pipes up and says, "Mommy, do you like the purple roses (they were really tulips) that we got you?" Then I noticed them! Embarrassing! I felt bad and Kyle was laughing at me. He was just waiting to see how long it took me to notice them. Funny.