Channing is 11!!

Channing celebrated her 11th birthday this week and she was very excited to do so!

The day before her birthday she got to celebrate at school. I came to have lunch with her and bring her class cupcakes. I love how excited she still is to see me. 

The night before her birthday she invited a couple of friends to go see the new movie "The Bad Guys" and go to Culvers to dinner afterwards. She is surrounded by lots of good girls, and I am glad she has friends who have good values. 

These girls could put down some food! Haha! They were eating the whole time!

This is Channing, Meg, and Sophia.

Saturday morning was her birthday! She woke up to a birthday sign!

We had to hurry and eat donuts before her 8 a.m. soccer game!

We went to her and Deacon's game and my parents and sister Natalie joined us to support the kids. Then we went to sonic to get a treat for her birthday and have my parents celebrate for a minute before they had to go to their temple shift.

When they left we did whatever Channing wanted on the schedule for the day! So, first we watched her favorite movie "The Parent Trap"

Then she wanted to help me make her cake since she loves to bake. 

Finally her dad and brother got home from reffing soccer games so we could open presents. 

She got a karaoke machine which she was exited about and we each took turns singing!

She was just so happy it was her birthday all day. Her happiness is contagious! At 12:41 when she was actually born she danced around the house cause she was officially 11 then ;) haha

Hopefully her wish came true!

Channing is a beacon of goodness. She brings kindness and happiness wherever she goes. She is so thoughtful of others and always wanting to make people happy and is a people pleasure by nature. She is always writing sweet notes and thinking of ways to be creative and kind to others. She always wants to help me in the kitchen or with the laundry or wherever she can so she can be with me. She loves singing and writing. She loves music and piano. She is in soccer and just loves being a part of the team and having something in common with her brothers and dad. She is not much of a dessert person and saves her candy and treats for months, but she loves chips! Especially hot Cheetos and takis! She is a very good student and has great grades. She is on the Math Olympiad team and is competing this week in a competition. She loves to watch t.v., Jesse and Victorious are her favorites right now. She is doing a literacy girl club with some friends where they are reading the Felicity books and putting on a small play where she is Felicity. She loves jewelry and sparkly things and she has several pairs of converse shoes which are her favorite right now. Every night she comes out of her room and says she doesn't feel well. I think mostly it's that she doesn't like to be left out of what is going on and wants to see what she is missing ;) She is brave and confident and I am so excited to see the girl she will become. We sure love you Channing!

Easter

I love Easter. The message of hope it gives me deserves far more than just one day to celebrate! We did some of our usual Easter traditions with dying Easter eggs. 

Deacon wasn't too excited at first, but then he dyed some eggs. 

We were in charge of dessert for Easter dinner, so the girls made fondant to create bunny cupcakes :)

I attempted egg fruit pizzas. They tasted better than they looked, thankfully. 

We went on a small Easter egg hunt for their baskets and eggs. 

We got to have a wonderful Sacrament meeting and then headed over to my parents house for Easter dinner. 

I sure love this family of mine. We had a nice dinner and celebration with my family, parents, and sister Natalie. This Easter has been one where I truly have to cling to the knowledge of the gospel. I have to hold on to the knowledge of our Savior being able to make everything right and allow forgiveness and hope. My brother Chris' family we haven't seen since last year as we have been told we are unable to contact them. It has been very difficult and even harder on the kids as days like Easter they desperately want to be with their cousins. I miss my brother and I miss who he was to me. I pray that the Easter feeling won't be forgotten and I can keep that hope that someday our family will reunite, truth will be restored, and we can be a whole family again. I am grateful the Christ gave His all for that to be possible. I love Him and am forever grateful for that gift. 

Cavin's 14th Birthday!

Cavin turned 14 this past week. He is getting so grown up and is towering over me. It's so sad! The night before his actual birthday he played his first Timberwood soccer game of the season. They played their rival West Lake who is typically really hard to beat. They won and we were all super excited!

He played great defense and his grandparents and Aunt Natalie got to come and support him and take him out to ice cream for an early birthday treat after.

On his birthday morning he got the pleasure of going to school :) He likes school and so I don't think it was too bad.

We had a birthday donut and I brought him lunch to school.

After school it had been raining, so all the soccer practices for all the kids were cancelled. We were able to eat dinner together, play games, and open presents. 

He got a phone which he was excited about. 

Some games, a couple Nintendo games, and a few board games. 

He got an FC Koln jersey from his grandparents in Germany, and soccer shin guards and cleats from his other grandparents. 

We ate his favorite red velvet bundt cake.

Then we played games. 

Cavin is a good kid! He is now 5'9 1/2 and 150 pounds. He has grown a lot this past year, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. He is a lot more confident and not afraid to speak up or make people laugh. He has a very funny sense of humor and we loves his comments or jokes. He is the top student at TMS and if he gets below a 98 he redoes his work or test :) haha. He is very intelligent and has become a hard worker. He practices his cello often and just loves to sit and play. He is still in the chamber orchestra and plans on playing in high school. He is reffing soccer for money and playing for the school. His favorite color is orange, his favorite food is white macaroni and cheese or cheeseburgers. He loves Fanta or Flirt drinks and loves to sneak snacks from the pantry ;) He is still best buddies with his little brother and I love watching them together. He has a good testimony and works hard to fulfill his calling. He is thoughtful of others and kind, and his interest in girls and being social has definitely increased this year! We love Cavin and are so proud of who he is and who he is becoming! We hope it's an awesome year for him!

A quick visit with Daphne!!

This past weekend Daphne was able to fly in from Utah and spend a crazy, busy weekend with us. We sure miss having her live so close, and were so glad to have her around. She was a good sport and joined us on many of the events we had for the weekend. 

Friday she and I went shopping and visited Ragnar at work. She got to meet a couple of his coworkers and their dogs and even brought treats for them! We brought her to Hippo burger after for lunch. That evening Ragnar, Cavin, and I had stake soccer so she came and cheered us on as we played.

Saturday we started the morning with our traditional donuts! 

They got in a few games, then we headed to Cavin's solo and ensemble performance. He did awesome and it was a tender mercy that he was able to be moved up so we could all watch him before the soccer games.  He ended up scoring a 1 which is the highest. His judge told him that his piece was very difficult and she didn't even get to play it until college. He is a great cellist and practices a lot. 

After his performance, we hurried over to the fields to watch Deacon and Channing play. They both played well and won their games.

Deacon scored 3 goals and Daphne took some fun pictures. 

Ella painted a gift for a friend and chatted with us, then we went to Sharky's for dinner. 

Finally, Daphne went to watch the dress rehearsal of the "Lamb of God" that Ragnar, Ella, and Cavin were in. 

We got to see it the next day and it was beautiful! I am so glad that Ragnar's love of music has filtered down to our kids and they love to play as well. 

It was a great way to get into the Easter spirit. 

Daphne left early Sunday morning. I wish we had had more time, but it was nice to see her. We sure miss her and wish she was still 4 hours away. We are so grateful for an amazingly supportive aunt and sister/in law. 

Spring Break and Birthday Week In Destin!

This past week we had the pleasure of being invited by our friends the Larsen's to join them at their parents beach house in Destin, Florida. I was a little hesitant at first because of the amount of people and the chaos, but it really ended up being a wonderful week. We went with the Larsen, Wharton, Brown, and Hatch families. They are great families and they each have some of my kids best friends in them. 

The drive to Destin went pretty well. We left Saturday morning. We had some traffic but overall it went well. Ella even drove an hour and a half of the way there and back and did a really good job. 

We got there in time for a perfect sunset.

The house was right on the beach and was perfect. 

We did a nice sacrament meeting together on Sunday morning and then relaxed and played games. Monday was a nice beach day. The weather was still a little chilly, but sunny and beautiful.

Family beach photo!

Cavin found a way to still play soccer on the beach with his friend Audrey.

Ella and Katelyn were best buds all week!

The first few days Jennie's friend Helen joined us. It was nice to meet her and she was sweet. 

I love the boys relationship. They love to be together. 

The sound of the waves and the sunsets almost make it worth the sandy mess ;)

The kids played cross net and in the pool.

We built a lot of sandcastles.

Channing had a sweet set of girls to hang out with all week. 

I had some pretty awesome women as well!

This was Sharlene, Nikki, Jennie, me, and Rachael.

Deacon was so excited to find tickle crabs. 

The first day we made the bat mobile. 

The kids really enjoyed boogie boarding in the waves. 

Tuesday was raining so they played games and hung out all together. Wednesday was my 39th birthday!

Ragnar got 5 dozen donuts to celebrate. We went on an early morning run together. 

We spent the day at the beach and then the adults went to dinner. We tried in traffic to get to a restaurant and then it took an hour and the wait was 2 more so we ended up at a Greek restaurant but that was fine cause they had a nice burger!

We came back and my friends Jennie and Shane sang a cute song they made for me and then the kids all did karaoke. 

The last beach day on Thursday was perfect. It warmed up enough to really swim and it was a great day out. 

On the last beach day we spent hours making this Destin sign. So many people came to take pictures with it, so that was fun. 

The boys!

The girls!

Here were the couples, minus Jordan who couldn't come. 

Ella's friend Cayden made a "sandman" Olaf with her. 

Our whole group!

We went to Alvin's to get matching shirts/sweatshirts. 

They had smores and made sugar cookies. 

On the last day we got to go to the Rainforest black light mini golf place and meet up with my friend Candice Waters. 

It was so good to see her!

Tyler and Cavin used to be the best buddies!

They live in Florida now and I have missed her so much! She is the best. 

We drove home Saturday and made good time. It really was a great trip with so many fun memories. We had great company, food, weather, and fun games every day! We loved Destin and were so glad we got to go.