Happy 9th Birthday Samantha!

Happy Birthday to our Samantha!  She is sure a special girl and we are so grateful for her.  She turned nine years old today and she had a really nice day.  She started off with a birthday breakfast with the family before school (and dad even drove the girls to school so they didn't have to ride the bus!)  She took some treats to her classroom and her classmates celebrated with her which made her feel extra loved. 

We had a birthday dinner of hot dogs, pistachio salad, and grilled pineapple with chocolate pudding for dessert.  We always let the kids pick out what they want for a birthday dinner and this was what Sam requested.  Then it was on to birthday presents...

....a door mirror, a chalkboard with chalk, batting gloves for softball, new jeans, and a sketch pad.  She also had several cards from aunts and uncles who always remember her on her big day!

Yesterday at her Activity Days at church her leaders gave her this framed picture that she has set up on her dresser.  They are wonderful leaders who care a great deal about the girls.  Samantha's day finished up with phone calls with grandparents and a birthday spanking!  Hopefully she has felt how much we all love her!

Easter 2014

We had a busy Easter weekend with a funeral, yard projects, Easter egg hunts, and family get togethers.  Saturday night we were able to squeeze in some time for egg decorating before bedtime.  This was the first year that Clara was really interested in the eggs, and more specifically, the egg dye.  She's a rascal for sure! 

We only did one dozen since we were leaving town on Easter Sunday.  They were a great addition to the Easter baskets that the Easter Bunny left. :)

I was able to grab a quick picture of the girls before we headed to Church.  The weather was gorgeous and the sun was out - what sweet girls we have!!

We drove to Kennewick to be with the Logans and the Edwards family.  It was loads of fun being together!  (Hopefully we will have more pictures to post soon.....)  Happy Easter!

Respectful

The elementary school held their 3rd Quarter awards assembly yesterday.  Each classroom gave out awards for achievement in reading, math, being safe, being responsible, and being respectful.  Samantha was chosen from her class to receive the Respectful Award.  This is a big accomplishment for her and we were very happy to watch her receive her award.

Here she is with all of the kiddos from the third grade.....the tall one in the back. :)



Great job Samantha!

Spring is Here!

Spring has finally arrived here in La Grande and we are loving it!  This week our flowers and plants have started to bloom so I thought I would take a few pictures.  These are some flowers in our front yard.

These pretty flowers are in our backyard.

This is one of our rose bushes in front - I love being able to see all the little blossoms.

Here is our Lilac tree.....

And a pretty bush out back....

The raspberries are also turning green - hopefully we'll have a nice crop this summer!

My dear hubby planted me a second apple tree this past weekend.  It is a yellow delicious tree and we are definitely looking forward to this harvest!

Hopefully we are through with winter here but knowing the mountains of La Grande, we might have one or two storms left.  But we are soaking up the lovely weather as long as we can.  Hurray for mother nature!!!!

We Are Monsters

As part of their participation in the Union County Childrens' Choir, Emma and Samantha performed in a play last night called "We Are Monsters."  It was adorable!  It's a story about monsters who put on cabaret shows and humans who are hoping to discover monsters that they can be friends with.  They started working on it in January and they have worked hard between rehearsing speaking parts and learning all of the songs.

Emma played the part of a Vampire named Valik.  She was the leader of the vampire group and also sang a solo.

Samantha was a Werewolf named Furr-Ball.  She did great - she had a solo part and even did a little dance.

The spring performance marks the end of the the choir for the school year and since this is Emma's last year to participate it was a little bitter sweet.  She joined when she was in 2nd grade but she is ready to move on to new things that she can do in Middle School next year.  Sam still loves everything about it and will continue to be a part of the choir come September.  Good job girls!

Grande Ronde River

After General Conference ended on Sunday we decided to take a drive to the river since the weather was so nice.  There has been so much rain lately that we were anxious to be out in the sunshine.  Hilgard is one of our favorite places to go to to skip rocks and have picnics.

The river was running pretty high which is great and Mark helped the girls find good skipping rocks.  Nobody was there so we had the river to ourselves for a while which was nice.

We are looking forward to many more outings there during the spring and summer!