The new trampoline

Ron and I had decided that our "summer gift" this year would be a trampoline for the kids.  Should I explain the summer gift?  Yes? All of our kids have winter birthdays (this new little one on the way included).  With birthdays in October, November, December and February (yes, I know the next little one should have a January birthday) bikes and outdoor toys just aren't very exciting because you can't DO anything with them.

So, every summer we take a little bit of money (usually tax refund money) and buy the kids something as their summer gift.  Last year it was scooters, this year we decided on the trampoline.

Ronnie picked it up one Friday evening and was up until 10 p.m. setting it up.

The kids put it to good use right away.

The kids love it, but we are not allowed to call it the "tramp." Anytime I do, I am immediately corrected that it is the TRAMPOLINE! :)

Young Women Fundraiser

Our ward had a fundraiser for the Young Men and Young Women to raise money for their respective camps this summer.  As the Secretary in Young Womens and the Beehive advisor, I volunteered to organize one of the items that the girls made for the silent auction - Eye Spy Bags.

While putting these together was really easy and the girls and leaders breezed through it, organizing the items that went inside and figuring out what would be great and still not cost a ton was more time consuming than I thought.  Kendree and Devynee were my helpers as we went to five different stores to take pictures of items so I could break down the cost and figure it all out at home.

Since I was taking pictures of random things (as far as they were concerned), they would hold up other random things for me to take pictures of.  Here are a few of their treasures at the dollar store:

And here is the finished product:

There were just about 40 items to find in each bag.  My kids have loved them at church and we sold out of the 23 we made, so I would say it was a success!

Instagram: April 2014

Enjoying a few jumps on a perfect Saturday afternoon...

Happy Easter!

Our April Announcement

We sent this picture out to family the middle of April:

March 2014 Random Catch Up

Easton wrote a letter to Eric Decker, on the Broncos, with the hopes of getting an answer.  We have not gotten a reply yet, but Decker did leave the Broncos just a few weeks after the letter was sent.

Funny headbands from Grandma Cali.

Daddy loves long hair, and knew that I was going to be having it trimmed in the near future so he took a picture of Devynee's hair wet, so you can see how long it really is...

and a picture of the curls that she has when it is dry.

Cute, dirty girl at Grandma's house.

 Another haircut was in order for Easton, which meant another mohawk, at least for a few minutes.

Ride 'em Cowgirl!

These are pictures texted to me while Grandma and Grandpa Cali were in charge of the kiddos.  I think they had a great time!

Easton earned another "Orange" award at school (meeting 5 out of 5 goals for the quarter). It's really hard to see, sorry.

He's third from the left in this picture, not that you can see him at all...

St. Patrick's Day

Grandma Cali sent these St. Patrick's Day shirts, so a picture was in order.

While Mom and Dad were in Portland, Grandpa Cali helped Easton build this elaborate leprechaun trap.

 Here's the video where Easton explains it all!

Portland

Ron had a law conference in Portland in mid-March and I was lucky enough to tag along. Grandma and Grandpa Cali were kind enough to come up to take care of the kids.

We drove down to the airport, picked them up, drove to get some food and then they dropped Ron and I off and they drove the kids home.

Ron and I enjoyed a relaxing flight with no one to entertain but ourselves and finally got to our hotel around midnight Pacific Time, so we were exhausted.

Wouldn't you know, we were awake and alert at 5:30 a.m. so we decided to just get ready and head to the Portland temple.  It was beautiful and a great experience.

We then picked up some breakfast, and then Ronnie's boss from the airport and were lucky to get to visit Bountiful Farms - the amazing farm owned by my college roommate, Carissa's family.

I heard about this farm for the three years that Carissa and I shared a room at BYU and had never made it out to visit.  I was happy to finally see it all!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of how amazing this place was, but we only pulled out the camera for the shaped bushes, something the farm specializes in. All of the bushes in these photos have been recently shaped, and would need a year or two to fill out and look really good, so you couldn't see the wires anymore.

Amazing butterflies.

Elephants.

They had just shipped a whole bunch of bushes shaped like Shrek characters for the opening of a park in Florida and this was one of the left over Shrek bushes (uncompleted).

Carissa and I on the Gator.  I love this girl!

After a lovely visit with Carissa and her cute family, it was back into Portland for a conference dinner.  The next morning Ronnie had meetings and I did a walking tour of Portland with important stops at Powell's and Voodoo Donuts (no pictures, unfortunately).

That afternoon we did a tour of Columbia Gorge and hiked to the top of Beacon Rock for some pretty great views.

We then drove to and saw a few waterfalls (names have been forgotten, sorry Oregon!)

Finally, we drove up to Crown Point for some more amazing views.

After another dinner that evening, we took an early flight back to Denver and did the airport switch again with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was a great trip with a great guy and the perfect way to get a few days to ourselves.  Now, if only we could have spaced these little trips out over the entire year, instead of in the first three months!

Instagram: March 2014

Home from a fabulous trip to Vegas to this. #hopeigotmyfillofwarmweatherforawhile

I came home from my girls trip to my favorite flowers and a love note from every member of the family.  Its' good for everyone to have mom get away for a few days.

Tea party with my girls this morning. Great way to start the day! (Devynee calls the drink "tea party."  It's my favorite).

Superhero Devynee to the rescue!

It's hard to get a good picture, but Easton fought the sidewalk and the sidewalk won. #gooseegg

13 years ago, I was assigned to live with @carissaplatt in the BYU dorms.  She would go on and on about how gorgeous the Portland temple was.  I finally visited yesterday and discovered that she wasn't exaggerating.

The beautiful Colombia Gorge! I think I could move to Portland!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Easton explains the leprechaun trap that he built with Grandpa Lopez.  (Ron and I now have a LOT to live up to for the next school project). My favorite part? The "Free Gold" signs.