April iMoments

Robbie and Kris brought their family out to Utah during their spring break. It'll be the last time we see them before they move to Ohio...and then the visits we be a lot less frequent than we've been used to! 

It was a rainy Conference weekend, but this rainbow on the drive home made it worth getting a little wet at the Conference Center.

Joey has come to love bath time. Is there anything cuter than a baby in the tub?!

Haircuts for all three! I haven't been abel to give Johnny a decent haircut in a long while, so I took him to see Breanne and have her cut it...giving me some pointers along the way. As it turns out, the probably was not me! Johnny as some serious cow licks, and they even gave an experienced girl like Breanne a significant amount of trouble. But she managed to get him the faux hawk he wanted, and I learned some things along the way. And the girls, as always, look gorgeous in their glitter!

We tried cheesecake in the Instant Pot! We made an Oreo cheesecake and a salted caramel cheesecake for our special dinner guests, the Schultz. The verdict? Todd said it was the best cheesecake he had ever had. :)

Stetson and Joey. My goodness, these boys are too cute. And every time we see them together we see their big brothers there too. 

Joey just keeps getting more and more independent and grown up. And he's looking so sharp in his new birthday clothes! We took this picture for Grandma Candy so she could see how cute the outfit she got him is.

I do a fair amount of work on the computer in the kitchen during the day. Joey has taken to hanging out underneath the desk. I love it. :)

I made cupcakes (all store bought) for Joey's actual birthday. I think they look adorable!

Soccer season means Joey spends just about every night of the week standing by a camp chair or sitting in our laps. Good thing he looks cute doing it! 

My dear friend Beth stopped by our house with her son Matt on the way back to California after dropping her daughter off at BYU-I. It was so good to see her! We enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs and lots of good conversation...but it's never enough time. We miss our Lancaster family!

Aunt Jenny and Joey on SnapChat...

...yields some really cute pictures of Joey!

Saturday mornings are the best, and seeing our kids in their jammies on our unmade bed just makes me happy. 

Joey was having a rough morning one morning. I was trying to get the kids off to school, but Joey just wasn't having it. In exasperation, I took him back to my room and we just got back into bed. Sometimes, you just need a few minutes in bed. :) We cuddled for about ten minutes, and then he was happy and ready to start the day. I love this baby boy!

Soccer season has made for a very hectic schedule during the week. Danny pointed out to me that even though we've barely had time to eat, I have managed to have a healthy dinner ready for our family every single night. We've not had one pizza or one drive-thru meal in six weeks of soccer. Go me!

It has been such a wet, windy, and COLD spring soccer season! We're so grateful Dad sets up this little tent for us. :)

At the beginning of the school year, I signed up to help Sophie's second grade class by playing the piano. Apparently, I was signing up to play for a friendship assembly at the end of the year. :) It was really fun to help Sophie's class, and to see my sweet girl during the school day once a month. She was so thrilled to have me and Joey there, and I was thrilled to be a part of her second grade experience. I love my Annie-Anne-kins...she's the absolute cutest second grader ever.

It happens to every kid, and I love it every time!

We got a starter for Amish Friendship Bread from some neighbors, and Johnny was so excited! For 10 days, he took care of that dough. He followed the instructions, squeezing the bag and adding ingredients, until finally he was able to bake it! For some reason, ours sunk in the middle. But it tasted pretty darned good. 

Uncle Kenny came to surprise Braxton with a visit...but that turned into a double surprise when he brought Michael! We all loved meeting Micheal, and Joey had so much fun playing with a cousin his own size. :)

Idaho Falls Temple Open House

One of our most favorite things to do as a family is to attend temple open houses. We've made it to quite a few in recent years, and I love the tradition it has created. If the temple is within a day's drive, we're there! And so we found ourselves getting our tickets for the Idaho Falls Temple a couple of months in advance, and anxiously awaiting our day-trip to Idaho. We left early on Saturday morning and a short 2 1/2 hours later we were in Idaho Falls. Easy peasy. :)

This temple is special to Danny's family. His Lovell grandparents were sealed there, and his mom received her endowment there. The outside of the temple remains the same, but they updated the entire interior. Though everything is new, they kept the 1940s feel...and it's unique and beautiful. Especially the hand-painted murals in every instruction room, where specialized restoration artists were brought in to repair and freshen the murals. The kids kept commenting on how Great Grandma Lovell was married there, and I could tell they felt the family connection to this temple. Johnny was especially excited to see his favorite part, the baptistry. And this was the first open house where he was able to walk around the font and be face-to-face with those twelve magnificent oxen. Sophie's favorite part were the chandeliers, which were shaped in star patterns and were breathtaking. Claire's favorite part is always the Celestial Room, and this temple did not disappoint her. And each of our children look forward to looking in the mirrors in the sealing room and seeing our family extend into eternity. And me? Well, I love how familiar and comfortable our children are getting inside the temple. I can't wait until we can do baptisms together and they can really partake of the spirit of that holy house.

Because we were in Idaho Falls and had all day to spend there, we finally took the opportunity to visit with Larry and Karen Rounds. Larry was an advisor of Danny's at BYU-I during his time at Badger Creek. That time there was very impactful for Danny, and Larry took Danny under his wing. You can look back in your life and see the times the Lord placed someone, and angel, in your life. For Danny, Larry was one of those people. We always want to stop and see them on our way to and/or from the cabin, but it never seems to work out. We were so excited to get to spend the afternoon with them! And I know Danny was excited to show off his family. :) They were kind enough to feed us lunch, and then their grandson took the older three kids on some rides on the four-wheeler. After lunch, Larry took us to see their pigs. I was shocked when all of a sudden my children were in a pig sty running around on pig poop playing with pigs!! We did not bring the right clothes for pig-play. :) But when in Rome, right? The kids had a ball, and Johnny even managed to ride a pig for a few steps! It was such a fun experience, though Joey was frustrated he couldn't play too. :)

What a wonderful day we had! We are so grateful for the blessings of the temple in our life, and for the blessing of good friends and family. Danny and I drove home with our hearts full of gratitude for the abundantly blessed life we are privileged to live. And we are truly blessed.

Spring Soccer

We tried something new this year. We registered Claire, Sophie, and Johnny for spring soccer! I didn't know exactly what we were undertaking at the time, but we ended up with the girls playing every Monday and Wednesday and Johnny playing every Tuesday and Thursday. So we had soccer virtually every night of the week! It kind of ruled our lives for six weeks. And the games were mostly cold, windy, wet, and kind of miserable! But somehow we all had so much fun!! Johnny loved playing the most, I think (not really a surprise), and the girls definitely enjoyed their time and improved a lot during their season. It was great experience for everyone.

Here's a look at each of their last games. It really captures the season for each of them! Johnny was beyond enthusiastic on the field...and the highest scorer on his team. Towards the end of the season, Danny finally heard the comment we were all waiting for... "Who let that 12 year old play with kindergarteners?!" Yup, that's our John! Sophie's last game was in the driving rain...poor girl. But she played with all she had! Grandma and Papa came to every game they could, whatever the weather. It was so nice of them to support the kids like that! Sophie had two good friends on her team, Abby and Kalia, and she loved having friends to play with. And Claire was so brave, getting to know new people and making friends! I think my most favorite soccer picture has to be the one I caught of Claire getting nailed by the ball. Priceless! And Joey was such a good sport, being bundled up and held when he'd rather have been out playing soccer himself. :)

Having kids is the funnest adventure ever. I wonder what we'll do next!