Springtime...

So here is what we've been up to for the last couple of months.

Christmas was lots of fun this year.  Ryann liked decorating and redecorating the tree, even though her sisters wanted her to quit..."Ryann! Leave the bulbs alone." or "Mom, Ryann's ruining it!"  But all-in-all everybody survived (as did the tree) and we had a great Christmas.

 For part of our Christmas celebration, we got together with my family and did a little Christmas pageant.  Most of the grandkids enjoyed it, and the singing was superb! (Unless you ask my dad what he thought of it, since Mike was sitting by my dad and singing in his ear)!

 We made a quick trip to Utah the first week in January to visit my sister and her family and to attend her baby's blessing.  While we were down there we were able to go to Temple Square and visit the Conference Center.  We were also able to visit some good friends of ours.  It was good to see them again!

 This winter season was a little bizarre.  We didn't have a white Christmas, nor was their much snow the entire season!  This picture shows about the most snow we had all winter (usually we have a foot or two).
Although, I'm really not complaining, because we didn't have to deal with all the side effects of snow this year (ie. slick roads, below freezing temps, etc.).

 Emily celebrated her 5th birthday.  We threw her a princess party and invited her friends to come.  They made crowns, jewelry, decorated sugar cookies, and danced.  It was a "royally" great time!

 For her birthday cake, Emily wanted a My Little Pony cake.  Hmmm.  Wasn't sure how I was going to manage that one, so this is what I came up with.  I just did a two layer cake and placed a few ponies on top!  As Brooke would say, easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy.  Emily loved it and I guess that's what counts the most!

Brooke worked very hard on her first written report on wolves.  She and her classmates worked on their reports for about a month and then they presented them through an animal parade.  Families were invited to come to the class and walk around and look at the reports and posters that the kids did.  Brooke did a great job and learned a lot about wolves, too!

Over General Conference weekend, we had an Easter egg hunt at my parent's house.  My parents have a shetland pony in the field behind their house.  When Ryann goes outside, she heads straight for the horse.  So, when we went outside to start the Easter egg hunt, I tried to get her to pick up eggs but she didn't want to.  Finally she threw down her bucket and said, "Huh-uh!"  She could care less about the eggs, she wanted to go visit the horse!  When I showed her what was in the eggs, she was a little more willing to look for more eggs (but not by much).

Today is Ryann's birthday, so I'll have to post pictures of her birthday soon.  Happy Spring (if you live around here, don't get blown away)!