Activity Days and Some March Stuff

On March 10th, our stake had an achievement days activity in Chico with all the girls in the stake. It was so well put together and so much fun! Grace and I had a great time without the men ;) and loved getting to know the other girls and leaders better. The theme was "Reach for the stars" and they were able to use a vinyl tshirt press to decorate their own shirt. She was super excited to be able to put it on right after it was pressed!

 The girls each got to decorate quilt patches which will be turned into quilts for kids in the hospital.

 Our friend Aylee Chatfield was baptized that evening. Grace and Logan joined other primary kids in singing a musical number. It was so sweet!

 Ice cream cones!!

  We sure love our little park!!

 Grace's most recent class project was to take a small milk carton and turn it into their "dream home". They could do whatever they wanted! Grace decided she wanted to make a houseboat! She named it the "Salt Water Taffy" (after we searched for some name ideas online) because she specifically wanted a houseboat on the Great Salt Lake! I only helped a little bit once Grace told me her ideas. It turned out super cute! And we even used kinetic sand to look like the water. 

 New haircut for me! Well it's the same cut I get every time, but it always feels so fresh and sassy right after I get it done.

The rest of February

Love this baby boy. Love that view.

 Ryann Croshaw has been able to come play after school every monday, tuesday and thursday. Together they make some super creative play! They made a restaurant, fit with a menu, a cash register, stuffed animal customers, aprons, and trays for bringing out dishes. They are just the cutest girls with the best imaginations!

 Logan was excited to show off the bridge he made at school. He did a great job and was so proud.

 Boston is LOVING playing with cars. I feel like that's all he does - - just like his big bro was at this age! He has just recently been lining them up. Such a fun stage with him!

 I've been so lucky to call these ladies my friends here in Paradise. Rachel Nelson, Yana Gates, Ashley Watts, Becky Kambourian, Kelsey Wilson, Senessa Tiffany, Tenille Gates, Brynn Chatfield, Alanna Cluff, Sara Hanchett, Kerri Laufer.

 We have been trying really hard this year to implement and STICK TO our family home evening routine. We've been doing pretty well so far and have only missed a few weeks here and there. I've been so excited to get my high school friend's FHE booklet with all her easy, cute ideas. Nothing fancy, nothing over the top. Just basic, fun, easy to put together and teach messages. This week I made a "tattle monster" and we talked about tattling vs. reporting.

 Then I made chocolate pudding and they were in heaven. Especially Boston! It was hilarious to watch him go after every bit he could.

 Isn't he just the most handsome dude!!

 Logan's school did crazy sock day. The best place to find crazy socks in our household is daddy's drawers. Ryan decided to wear the same silly mix-up all day.

 Grace's dress-up day that week was Dr. Suess themed for his birthday. She was Thing 1, and the cutest Thing 1 ever!

Adventures + Friends

To celebrate the beautiful weather, plus a friday off of school, we met a bunch of friends at the Monkey Face hike in Upper Bidwell park. It was gorgeous and perfect! 

All the kiddos.

Boston walked some, but mostly either I held him or his buddy Lilly Croshaw helped take some turns. He's a HEAVY DUDE.

The top of the hike is worth the straight up-hill hike! It sure is pretty.

After hiking back down, we played with our friends at a playground and had a picnic. It was a great day!

The next day, we decided as a family to go explore a neat hiking area called Bald Rock. We *thought* we had the directions to get there (because when you look for places to go in NorCal you go by word of mouth... directions and little-known tourist info is not readily available like in Utah... it's quite annoying!). As we got to the place we were told would be Bald Rock, we realized quickly it was NOT Bald Rock. It was actually a little museum for Oroville Dam I think. haha I can't remember exactly. There was a look-out point where we could see the lake and the dam (which I think is all repaired after it failed last year).

Cute little museum inside where we learned more about the water department and the building of the dam.

We also learned a bit about the local native tribe that lived on this land before it was settled.

After our semi-failure of an adventure, we took the kids to lunch at a mexican restaurant in Chico. Yum! Bottomless chips and salsa is always a good way to make up for things.

We started getting snow that afternoon (so random!! that hardly ever happens) so the kids jumped on the trampoline for a few minutes.

A few days later we got even MORE snow. SO MUCH of it. It was blowing our minds to watch it all falling and getting deeper.

The view next morning. Brrr!

On a saturday afternoon we all went for a walk on the dirt road hiding behind our house. It goes up a big hill and connects to another neighborhood. This town is so unlike anywhere we've ever lived. It smells and looks like we're camping, but then you can walk a block and stumble on beautiful homes hidden in the forest. It's just beautiful and so unique!

Boston and I sure love these Panera lunches with our bud, Jess.

I can't begin to say enough wonderful things about these friends of ours. Pete and Jessica Croshaw are our dearest friends. They have helped us through many things these last 3 years, willingly taken trips with our family (where we showed off our worst selves many times), loved our kids like their own, and have spent countless hours laughing together. Date nights with them are so fun! We especially love going to Crepeville together.