The Douglas Family Does Texas

We were SO HAPPY the Douglas family (Nikki is Russ's older sister) had some flight vouchers, and that they decided to use them to come to Texas!

While here, James discovered his new favorite game, Pandemic.

Instead of Gingerbread Houses, we made graham cracker Beach Houses. 

Team 1: Russ & Brenna

Team 2: Jason and James

Team 3: Bekah and Kaylee

Team 4: Anne and McKell

Team 5: Nikki and Ashlyn

We got to take them to one of our favorite places - Six Flags.

I think this was the only ride all 10 of us went on. It was so fun!

Nikki and Ashlyn were the only ones brave enough to ride SCREAM!
Ashlyn says, "What's the big deal? This ride is like a walk in the park."

We went to the movies to see "LEGO: The Batman Movie".

 We went swimming. Twice. James isn't a huge fan, but he loved the challenge of the lily pads.

McKell also tried the lily pads for the first time, and made it all the way across on her third attempt!

We had such an awesome week together and were sad to see it end.

And some of us were completely worn out by all the fun.

Birthday Girls and Girls Camp

We've got another double-digit aged child in the house! Ashlyn requested lots of Harry Potter and Paris themed items for her birthday. When shopping, it's usually pretty easy to spot something she'll LOVE!

Kaylee's birthday celebrations began a few days early with a "heart attack" from the Young Women. Is she really old enough to be in Young Women?!

And her real birthday began extra early, as she took off for Girls Camp!

She has to borrow a few fingers from someone else to get enough to count her age!

She had an awesome time, but was SOOO tired when she got home Friday night. 

The day after she got home from camp we had her family birthday celebration. (I think these kids should stop growing up!)

Marvelous May

McKell's preschool had a Cinco de Mayo field trip to a local restaurant to learn about and make their own tacos! McKell's taco had the following ingredients: cheese.

Mother's Day was lovely, as usual. I got in trouble for taking a shower before the girls could bring me my breakfast in bed though. Oops!

McKell and I got to watch Ashlyn and the other 4th graders at their end of year track meet. It was held at the high school stadium. Now every time we drive by McKell points to the stadium and reminds me that is the place we watched Ashlyn do her track and field. 

Ashlyn's events were the standing long jump and the frisbee throw. She was also chosen as a member of the group that sang The National Anthem as the day began. 

Ashlyn also had her 4th grade promotion ceremony in May. We're so proud of this cutie, and excited for the adventures that await her next year in Intermediate School.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit right after the girls finished up the school year. Hooray! We love visitors. And we also love the treats they brought us from the BYU Bookstore. :)

Matchy-matchy for Memorial Day!

Doug, Emily & Isaac

Our Christmas gift from Doug, Emily & Isaac last year was a promise to visit us in Texas! It finally happened the end of April. We were SO happy to have them here, especially Isaac, whom we haven't been able to spend any real time with since he was born a year and a half ago. It was so fun to watch the girls interact with him and to get to know his fun little personality.

Uncle Doug is always a good sport, up for anything the girls want to do - games, art projects, playtime, beauty parlor, dance studio, etc.

We planned a "Moana" movie party for the only full day we were all together.

We feasted on tons of tropical fruit, played a "You're Welcome" guessing game, entertained Isaac with our animal shape shifting, tried our hand at coconut bowling, and built our own boats.

Here are the boat building teams:

 The boat built by team Russ/Kaylee was the only one that held up under the maximum weight we filled it with. Good job!

Such a handsome little guy.

The other Christmas gift Doug and Emily gave us was a Cinderella theater set which came all the way from London! We saved it for their visit so they could construct and act it out together. Bravo!

We're so thankful for wonderful family members who make time to come and see us. :)

Easter

The week before Easter McKell had some fun activities at school. Because it's a private, church-run preschool they can teach about the real meaning of Easter, which I love. I came to pick her up one day and they were all standing together with big paper palm leaves acting out the story of Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

The school is next to a retirement home, so the kids got to walk over there to present a little Easter program for the residents, followed by an Easter egg hunt. 

And a few days later they had classroom Easter parties and another egg hunt outside the school.

McKell really liked the two Darth Vader eggs she found.

At home we did an Easter devotinal Friday night, which included making the Resurrection Rolls we discovered last year. Then Easter baskets were enjoyed and eggs hunted for on Saturday morning. And Sunday, of course, was Church. (By the way, it's getting REALLY hard to find dresses for Kaylee that have sleeves AND are longer than her mid-thigh.)