graduate

On Monday May 17th Savannah graduated from preschool. They had it at her preschool Monday night, they sang songs, then were presented with their diplomas (she even curtsied after she got her diploma, which was really cute because all the teachers always tell me how good she curtsied so I told her it would be cute if she did it), recognized the teachers, had a nice little video with pictures throughout the year and then served us cake and punch.

I will admit I cried during the video...my baby Savannah is growing up way too fast and the songs they had playing made me think about her and what a joy she has brought into our lives.

We are so proud of you Savannah. Congratulations!

Happy 34th!

We Love You Daddy!

1st taste

Austin's 1st taste of rice cereal and of course he LOVED it.

Waukee YMCA teachers

Miss Sarah, Savannah, and Miss Suzanne


Miss Cathy, Madilynn, and Miss Leslie


Savannah and Madilynn went to the Waukee YMCA preschool this past year (Savannah went last year too) and loved it. Savannah went every day in the afternoon and Madilynn went Mondays in the morning. It was a long year driving everyday to preschool but the girls loved it. Their teachers did such a good job and are very fun, sweet ladies to work with.

Savannah and Madilynn are going to miss their teachers very much and all the friends they made.

remembering

Sometimes I look at my kids doing something and wish so badly that I could remember that moment forever. There are many of these moments and I feel like time is going by so fast that my memory can't keep up. I wish I could have a video camera filming their every move. I try and take pictures and write things down but it is just not the same. I know these are the best days of our lives and I feel like they are flying by, I don't know where the time goes. In fact every day night time comes to quickly, I feel I don't get enough time in a day. I am trying to treasure every moment that I have. Sometimes life gets crazy and the kids get put on the back burner (like when we are trying to find a place to live for the next 5 years), I feel really bad and cannot wait until I can watch and be with them. I cannot wait until this week ends and school is out so that we don't have any obligations in the day time, it was a long year taking Savannah to preschool every afternoon but it is almost over and the fun will begin.

They are wonderful children no matter what is going on and I love them more than they will ever know. xoxox

Mother's Day!

I LOVE being a MOM, it brings me so much JOY!

date with dad

( (Olivia, Savannah, Madilynn, and Jason)

Jason took the girls to see "How to Train Your Dragon", in 3D, while I went shopping.

This is what I found later on the camera...Looks like they had a great time.

shopping

The girls love to shop. So about a week ago Savannah found a necklace at Target that she really wanted. I told her that she would have to get her money and buy it herself, thinking that she would forget about it. Well a few days later she asked again and of course her sisters wanted it too. Jason was home and said he would take them if they had enough money. So we counted the money, found purses to put their wallets in and they were off.

Jason said that he let them all pay individually, which was slow but they love getting reciepts. They were so happy when they got home as you can tell by the looks on their faces.

what a cool place...

April 16th and 17th We decided to take a family trip to Omaha, NE. We have never been there and thought it would be fun to take the kids to see the Winter Quarters Temple and go to the Henry Doorly Zoo.
Friday we picked Savannah up from preschool and drove into Omaha and up to the temple.

We walked though the cemetery, which was a very peaceful place. It made me reflect again on all of the wonderful people who sacrificed so much for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how grateful I am for that sacrifice.

Then we went and saw the beautiful temple. The stain glass window was absolutely gorgeous!


After dinner we went back to the hotel and swam...which is always a favorite. Savannah and Madi did great in their life jackets and had a great time jumping off the edge. Olivia was still a little unstable and held onto her dad or had him catch her when she jumped in while Austin hung out with me and watched.

Then the next morning we headed off to the Zoo. I had heard that it was a cool place but I didn't know how much there was to see and do there. They had so many different exhibits and so many different kind of animals it was really a fun place to visit.

These are just a few pictures of some of the different exhibits.

The Desert



The Jungle








The penguins. I have never seen a penguin exhibit like this. It was awesome we could have stayed there all day. They let the kids get right up to the glass and the penguins will swim right up to you.

The sky safari. Savannah, Jason and Madilynn when on a sky safari. It was cool but really scary.

The giraffes from the Sky Safari


Olivia, Madilynn and Savannah on the train ride

Austin on the train ride

The Aquarium

Madilynn, Savannah and Olivia checking out the Orangutans

The tigers. They had so many tigers and lions. They were up and moving and it was fun to watch them. They even had a white tiger. The funny thing was is that they kept spraying their scent on people.

We could have stayed there a lot longer but the kids were getting tired and we needed to get home.
Savannah's favorite part was the Butterflies, Sea Lions and the pretty Peacocks.
Madilynn's favorite part was the Tigers and the Ostrich.

Olivia's favorite part was the Bears.
Austin's favorite part was just being outside walking around.

Good times!

Branch Party

Tonight we went to our Branch Party at President Pences' house. He owns a bunch of land and so we all went out there for a party. He has so much to do out there (paddle boats, fishing, swings, trampoline, tree house with a huge slide, land to play football on, gardens, etc.) and the kids love it and President loves it too...he pulled out his lawn mower and pulled the kids on a hayride around his property and I don't know who had a bigger smile the kids or him.) President and his wife, Debbie, are some of the nicest, most generous people we know and they would do anything for you.

I found Austin's first two teeth tonight too.