Memory Making Week

There were several memory making moments the past couple of weeks.  I found the cookie cutters and Andrew said he wanted to make cookies.  Why not?  So we made cookies together and he loved it.

A bit of heaven with my littlest man.

The boys were supposed to go on a camp out that ended up being cancelled due to weather, and Rebecca and I had a Girls Night (even if the boys came home).  Make-up, nails, hair, movie and chocolate; what more could you ask for.

My tween

We got a little pottery wheel for Christmas that Andrew wanted to try, it ended up being pretty hard for me to figure out.  When the clay finally dried a few days later, he wanted to paint it.  As you can see he did a great job painting everything except the pot.  That made me laugh.

Good thing that paper was there.

Our friends invited us over for an egg hunt.  The children had so much fun.  They are such great friends.  We are thankful for good neighbors.

Ready to go out and find eggs.

The children were all so sweet to guide Andrew to find eggs.

Saturday we did chores and then settled down for the rest of the day to devote to General Conference.  This is how we set it all up:

Excited to listen to the Prophet and other church leaders.

Sunday morning Easter baskets found!  Then on to eating way too much candy.

We found this Easter egg in our neighborhood.  Anyone know what kind of bird egg this is?

Happy Easter!    Wish you were here in Paradise with us.

Favorite Things

Spring is here!  This morning I just couldn't help myself in admiring my yard.  I see new life growing everywhere and it is beautiful.  Although we don't experience winter like those of the rest of the country, I can't explain how much I have missed the growing season.  I love seeing the trees and plants waking up up and growing once again.

Raspberries soon to be eaten

Sitting on this bench and smelling my flowers

The first signs of blackberries

Can't wait to taste our bananas

Beautiful sky

Our baby maple

Blueberries!

The first time our little Ponkan Mandarin is flowering

The garden is sprouting once again

Cute bundles of baby grapefruit

One of our hisbiscus has been blooming a lot and it is beautiful

It must be Spring, the Cyprus has woken up

These flowers make me want to fly away.  Beautiful Bird of Paradise bloom.

These are a few of my favorite things as Maria from the "Sound of Music" once said.  I feels so much gratitude in my heart when I see how beautiful nature is around me.  God has given us such a beautiful world.

Birthday Weekend

We had a busy weekend but were able to have some fun in spite of it.  I was finishing a dress for Rebecca and had David help me by letting me see what length I needed to make it.  That reminded me of a picture of him years ago doing something similar.  That is when I found some pictures that made us laugh.  We saw this picture and laughed so hard that David hasn't changed much at all.  So I had to capture him imitating himself and this was the result:

October 2008 to Feb 2015

Benjamin wanted me to "post" a picture that he dressed his penguin up.  He is such a silly boy.

The cake that almost didn't happen.  Sweet girl made it a special day just by being who she is.

She actually went to a school friend's birthday party at a science lab and came home with treasures and balloons to share.  It really did feel like a birthday party after that.

After I made a picture for David's birthday, Rebecca said she wanted one too except it be a Pegasus instead of a unicorn.  My birthday gifts are pretty simple, but I love how much they appreciate them.

Birthday morning surprises from Grandma and Grandpa Rowe!  Thank you!

I finished Rebecca's dress and even though there are some flaws, I think it turned out wearable.  She is going to wear it to church. 

Making Memories

Most of what we remember in life really has to do with what we record in our "memory books". Although life is full of many things that are tough, decisions and such, we mainly remember those old good days because we have those wonderful pictures journals that help us remember all those amazing things we did. Our family doesn't pay a lot to make amazing memories, but I feel so rich when I look back on pictures like this. Such a fun time we have when we do it together.  It really doesn't matter what we are doing, as long as we are doing it together and having fun!

We went to see these amazing sand sculptures and enjoyed the ocean breeze.  We had the city to ourselves as it was still pretty early in the morning.  I loved it and I loved being together as a family.  They are the greatest gift I have ever been given.

I love this picture and will treasure this memory.  It is so funny to capture it as such a serene memory because there was a lot of silliness in those funny children.  Such a beautiful memory as I could see most of them feeling what it might be like to see the baby Jesus.  I hope they always remember this tradition that the reason we do it: 

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
-2 Nephi 25:26

Now I need to go write in my journal to capture these memories there as well so that I won't forget it as easily.

Winter Break!

We are so excited to have it be winter break!  Clark needed the van for work yesterday, so we had fun at home watching a movie and also pulled out our tent to have fun camping (like we did for Thanksgiving).  The children were so surprised at how warm it was.  Rebecca fell asleep right away, but the boys felt too warm and came in.

Perhaps we will try again tonight, after all it is winter break!

Since Clark didn't need to car today for work, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take a trip to the Lion Country Safari.  The children had so much fun.

All decked for Christmas!

Sledding!

The funny story about the picture below is that Rebecca found a token at this park months ago and saved it.  We always forgot to bring it with us and today she remembered and used it on this fun ride.  She was sweet and shared her time with her brothers as well.

Riding together even though they where the only ones on the ride.

Carousel ride and a cute "photo bomb".  Rebecca laughed as she said, "I photo bombed your picture".

Since we were the only ones on the rides, we rode them as many times as we wanted and tried different animals.

The sleigh on the carousel.

On the boat ride.  David decided to wait on the shore.

Bird sitings on the boat ride.

I bet you have never seen an orange flamingo!  (or maybe it is just my old camera)

Miniature golf:

Farris wheel:

Potato sack slide.  Andrew was so excited to be tall enough for this.

Benjamin and Rebecca

David and Andrew (Andrew's first time)

Our traditional picture.  All tired out and starved, ready to go home.

Wish you were here.