Sun=Zoo

 The nicest day of Easter Week was when only Josh, Kristian and Dani were here. So we took advantage of the sunshine and went to the Boise Zoo. Thanks to the Ricky and Stephanie we have a zoo pass so we get in for Free. It was a great afternoon we meet up with the Barnett's after Alli's adoption and explored for a few hours. We hadn't spent much time with just them so it was great to just stroll around and talk.

 

Obviously she was more interested in her snacks than taking a picture with me.

 Safari Girls

 B was pointing at the Lion basking in the sun.

Playing on the Giraffe slide, dad was having a hard time capturing the down the slide picture.

 Going home to make Breakfast for dinner!

 Stretching with daddy after his workout class

 Yum, can't get enough of those hash-browns, thanks Uncle Josh!

Special Day

This is Allyson she is a little girl that Brooklyn has become friends with from swimming at the YMCA over the last 6 months. She has been a foster child to Stacie and Rob since she was 5 months old she will be 2 in May.  The foster family has been blessed with the opportunity to Adopt Ally into there family and we were invited to be apart this special day.

We walked into the courtroom 2 min before the judge walked in, lucky us! This is the same Judge that has seen them for every court date up to the final one. Such a great family for Ally to be apart of. Her birth mother is a very messed up teenage girl so she is in a much better place.

The girls love to see each other. When they do they give each other hugs and are full of smiles it was an instant connection.

We are so happy for your family. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this special day, it has been a long time coming and you will be forever blessed for taking Ally to be apart of your family.

The weather was amazing that day. It was the first sunshine we had had in a while, all the flowers were blooming it could not have been a better day.

Spring Break Fun

The Barnett's and Givenrod's were here for part of there spring break. The weather was not so great until the end of the week of course when they were leaving. We still managed to have a little fun while they were here.

Kalie being the momma to Jenna and Brooklyn. Little relaxing in the morning.

Little fun at Monkey Bizness for a few hours. B was not so sure of the huge slide at first but warmed up once the girls were going with her.

Kris finally made it up the famous Camelback hill that we like to go take hike at. It is quite a trek good job!

We saw a bird's nest along the trail.

A Little Playground fun after hiking for a while.

A nice lunch on Hwy 21 headed to Idaho City at Kodiak Grill that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri ( we seem to have a few places in Idaho featured on this show). Pretty good food and service. Mike and Nicole suggested going it was a good choice, think it will be a repeat place.

Brooklyn was enjoying the ketchup and fries!

Easter Festivites

This Easter was a busy one for us, we had a house full of people. On Saturday night we dyed eggs with the girls and played some games after the kids went to bed. 

 

Easter morning Dani gave us a little program about Jesus and the meaning of Easter. They made a little project at school that she presented to us. It was cute and a good way to go away from all the baskets and candy for a while. Thanks Dani you did a great job.

 

Getting Easter dinner ready was a little stressful for me this year. I am used to having everyone over when the house is clean, table set, and food is about ready. Thankfully Cara was here to help with getting the food, house and help with Brooklyn before it was time to eat or dinner would have been delayed a while. We had the Barnett Family (3), the Givenrod Family (4), the Wheeler Family (4), Mark and Cara and US. I felt like mom when we would all show up.

The new way to dye eggs with little ones, saw it in a magazine. Put the egg in a wire whisk and it does not get you messy and the egg stays uncracked. 

 B was quite proud of her pink egg with her name on it. She had to show it to everyone. 

 All the girls, don't know who had more fun the adults or the kids? 

Brooklyn getting her first Barbie in her Easter Basket.

Thank you for the pretty Easter dress Nana. Doesn't she look so grown up here? Her baby face is going away, well the cheeks aren't but she is starting to look older to me. Sad

What is the face all about?

Playing outside before dinner with Garrett. They are at the phase where if the other kid has it they want it.

Some of us at dinner

Watch out!! I see eggs must get them.. our little egg hunt after dinner.
Before it got really cold.

Garrett would drop his eggs out of his basket and Brooklyn would be right behind picking them up. She was serious about those eggs.

All the egg hunters.
Thank you all for coming and spending the holiday with us it is always great to spend time with close friends and family. We are blessed in so many ways.

Uncle Mark and Cara Visit

Uncle Mark and Cara, hopefully Auntie Cara ;) came to visit over Easter weekend. To bad the weather for the weekend was cold, rainy/snowy, and sometimes cloudy, basically not fun weather for company.

We hadn't seen Mark since last summer and had not seen Cara for over 10 years when they were just friends in High School. It was great to get to know her better and to see how happy they are together. Brooklyn instantly took to Cara and was nervous of Uncle Mark at first with the beanie on his head. It didn't take to long for her to warm up and start playing Wii with her Uncle, she knows how to pull at his heart with video games.

After lunch on the ski lift benches. We had a few days to spend with them before more company came to visit as well. It was a crazy long weekend and week, but always good to see family and friends.

 Patiently waiting in the cold for the Easter Egg hunt to start at Ricky's subdivision on Saturday before Easter. They put one on every year it goes quick,but is fun. unfortunately it has been cold the last few years so that makes it a little hard, but the kids still manage to have fun. Our nieces and nephew were there along with Garrett, but it all happened so fast I did not get any pictures of them at the hunt.

Once B discovered there was something inside she was all over getting those eggs. Her and Uncle Mark were all over the place gathering those eggs. It is so cute to see them together he loves her so much. B's favorite stuffed animals are the two that he has given her so it is a perfect connection.

She was on the hunt to find as many as she could, yes I forgot to bring her easter basket so we used a bag. Oh well can't think of everything before walking out the door.

 

After the egg hunt we had a picnic lunch at the park, it was a little cold, but it was great to be outside. Cara took her to the slide and she LOVED it. Usually she is a little fearful, but she has gotten over that apparently and could not get enough.