Joseph turns 7

Jacob won a contest at the orthodintist's office.  The prize was a gift card to Pattison's roller skating rink.  Jacob gave it to Joseph for his birthday and we surprised all of the younger kids by picking them up from school and taking them skating!

 

 

The whole 9 yards!  Pizza and Cupcakes!  Private party room!  Presents!  Does it get better than this?

 

I'm pretty sure that is the cutest thing ever!  Once we discovered the option to rent a "skate trainer" there was no getting Gracie off the rink!

 

 

 

We all safely made it to the bench by the wall!

 

The boys loved it!

 

Yeah, Mel ate it right after I took this picture.

 

I loved roller skating when I was a kid.  Every time I looked at Malorie out there skating I could totally picture myself - helps that she looks so much like I did at that age! 

Easter

Easter weekend Megan received her Young Womanhood Recognition Award.  It's a program that the young women in our church work on from age 12 - 18.  It's a series of goal setting and skill development.  She worked really hard on this and we are very proud of her!

 

 

Of course we colored eggs...

 

Of course Joe is a ham!

 

Funny that when asked to show their favorite eggs - they both chose the same color.

 

 

The Easter Bunny came and left baskets while we were at church.

 

 

Easter Dinner!  (my favorite)

Jason's Doing Well

We hear from Jason once a week on his preparation day (p-day).  He emails and is able to send pictures.  This is a picture of him with his cousin, Spencer (who is going to Japan).  So cool that they got to spend time together in the Missionary Training Center (MTC).

 

 

And here he is with just a few of the other Elders in his Zone.  He loves them.  He loves the MTC.  He loves the work he is doing.  I love him.

Gracie turns 5

What perfect timing!  We celebrated Gracie's birthday a day early because the kids were out of school.  As luck would have it, Jason's birthday card arrived just as we got started with the party!

 

 

It's so hard to believe she's 5 years old.  She will start kindy in the Fall.

 

Grandma and Grandpa came and scored major awesomeness points!

 

 

Gracie's birthday was five weeks ago (yes, I'm that far behind on the blog) - and she STILL tears through the kitchen on her scooter!  She's fearless!

 

Thankfully, she's still soft, too! 

 

Goodbyes.

The final week!  Eeeeek!  We held a family "thing" at our house the Sunday before Jason left!

 

Never a dull moment we the fam gets together!

 

Marilyn!  The other-mother!

 

Rachael!  The babysitter...wow!  We've known these two wonderful people for a LONG time!

 

Good bye Auntie Lindsay...

 

Good bye Mardi...

 

Good bye G...

(I'll be right back, there's something in my eye.)

 

Goodbye Grandma Janet...

 

Goodbye Cousin Seth - who has to wait until July 28 to leave for Brazil!

 

And this...this was a really, really hard day.  It was a great day! We are so happy for Jason and so proud of him - but crud, it was hard to say goodbye.

 

 

And now we're counting down the days until he's facing us coming back down the ramp!