Sweet, sweet, chocolate...

I don't know if I should be embarrassed that my kids love dark chocolate covered strawberries as much as I do. The other night, Amanda brought some to the concert that the kids did at the school. I don't think you have to guess as to whether or not my kids enjoyed them.... I loved these pics.

Sit right here and have another "root beer" in Mexico...

Lori and Ethan - Kickin' back

Sonda and Sherree Chapman- Chillin on the
beach

Cari and Tyler Shields...Tylers feet
are featured in the previous
post.

We recently returned from a trip to Mexico with some of the families from our ward.
It is always a great opportunity to get to know our ward family a little better. It is fun to see them in an environment other than church. Although the weather was less than desireable, the company was awesome and the chat around the fire was the best... :) Here are just a few pics from the trip.

Sweet Feet...

There are few things that I love more than baby feet. We recently took a trip to Mexico with some of the families from our ward and I took these pictures of Tyler Shields feet. It makes me wanna squeeze and kiss those cute little legs and toes! Don't you agree?

Spring Sing 2007... La, la, la, la, la

Rylan, Garett, Ethan, Savannah and Maddie
















Tyler and Ryan
















Tyler, Rylan and Garett















Amanda, Savannah and Maddie... Just the Girls


Spring is such a fun time... everything new and exciting. The kids came home from school yesterday and told me that they had a Spring Sing Concert... that night. So we loaded up our picnic blanket, went and picked up our friends (The Hollowells) and headed to Benjamin Franklin where the kids all sang songs and the families enjoyed the entertainment. It was a great performance and Savannah and Garett did great. We were glad we went.

What a catch...

Catch of the weekend!!

We took the kids to Roosevelt Lake this weekend for Easter. Nathan left Thursday night because I had a Girls Night Out Party and then I drove up Friday morning and we stayed one more night. What a blast! The kids had fun swimming and trying to catch fish :) Nathan loves to fish and had given Savannah a pole with a crazy looking lure on it. I don't know anything about fishing but he told her she had to cast it out and then reel it in pretty fast and just keep doing that. The boys didn't catch anything all morning and so they were messing around in the water

with Nathan. Next thing we know, Savannah is squealing that her line is stuck and her pole is bent looking like it is gonna break. She pulled out a pretty big bass and was thrilled silly. She is the only kid that caught a fish all weekend and Nathan caught two the next day. But it was a fun and relaxing trip and just what we needed.

Savannah's Big Catch!

Get R Done! And warn everyone else to stay upstream. Tyler thinks we need to teach him that he doesn't have to pull his pants all the way to his ankles... I think it's cute!

The Crew at the campground getting ready to go swimming.

The boys... Garett, Tyler and Nathan braving the cold water! BRRRRR! .

Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath in the lake.... Ethan is definitely his own little person. Everytime we turned around he was wandering around singing a song or talking to himself. He is so full of life and love. What a great part of our family to remind us to take time for the little pleasures in life... Like a good splash in the lake!

Compassionate Student...

Savannah was the Student of the Month in her class this month. At Benjamin Franklin Charter School, they choose their students of the month based on which student demonstrates the character value for the month the best. The value for the month was compassion. I am so proud of Savannah... she seems to see in others what they can become and tries to help them achieve that. She is also keenly aware when others are struggling and is quick to help. I love her so much! She was pretty cute tonight and though all of the pictures are excessive... well, what can I say? I'm a proud mom! We all got ready to go to the ceremony (except for Nathan, he had to work) and when we got there, Ryan had peed his pants! So Tyler stayed in the car with him while Garett, Ethan and I sat with Savannah. The boys were all proud of their sister and it was great for her to have a special night. Good job Savannah!

Cheering for both sides...

Garett had another game tonight against one of his buddies... Rylan Hollowell. Rylan's team was the Redwings and Garett is on the Raptors. We couldn't just cheer for Garett...so we just cheered for both teams. Garett was the starting pitcher. The boys are only allowed to pitch 65 pitches before they rotate them out. Garett pitched 61 and threw quite a few strikes. He also got some solid hits. Despite his efforts they lost 16-2. As you can see by the expression on his face in the picture with Rylan... its still just a game and he has fun playing. The other pictures are of Ryan and Madelyn posing at the game and a picture of Garett's biggest fans... Savannah, Ethan and Maddie.

Fishers of Men...

So, we just finished conference weekend and WOW! What a great blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives. The younger kids made it through both sessions on Sunday morning, Tyler listened to all the sessions with Nathan and I. As we were visiting with Tyler, we remembered that in between sessions last year, Tyler went fishing in the canal by our house. He justified the activity by saying that he was going to think about what he had heard or something like that...:) It was pretty amazing what he brought home and the memory made me want to share some pictures that we took of the event. The date shows 2004 but it was last year... We hope that you all know how much we love you . We feel so blessed to have family and friends that support us through this "probationary period" on earth. You help us to not only make it through the hard times, but somehow, we come through smiling. Hope these pics make you smile like the memory made me smile. I am thankful for Tyler and for the way he strives to become a righteous young man. Enjoy!