Another St. Patty's Day!!

When I started our little St. Patrick's Day traditions several years ago, I never could have imagined how much my kids would look forward to making and setting their leprechaun traps :) Who knows how many more years I have of them loving these little traditions? So, I am trying to enjoy every second of their sweet excitement over such simple things!! We had so much fun this year doing it. And I was quite impressed with my kids' creativity :)

Here is just a darling picture of Jane and Beckham having a sleep over :)!!

Both Beckham and Jane were both quite determined to catch a leprechaun :) and worked real hard to make their traps extra enticing for the leprechauns!

 We make our leprechaun traps this year as part of a very special Family Home Evening where we learned a bit about our family history. We are doing an FHE like this once a month! It has been fun so far! We read about my great grandma Horrigan's life! My family is part Irish, so talking about some of my heritage seemed appropriate for St. Patty's Day!  Here are the kids with their traps all set up and ready to catch an unsuspecting leprechaun:)

 I loved their clever trickery. Jane's was filled with gold she cut from paper and put a sign on it that said "leprechauns invited- silver and gold store"

 Beckham had a tree in his to make his trap feel homey, I guess, for the leprechauns! Hehe!!

 Though we did not catch a leprechaun...the kids did wake up to a lot of mischevious messes from the leprechauns and chocolate gold coins!!

 Of course, I made Corned beef and cabbage like I do every year...however, I am starting to realize that I may be the only one who really likes that dish- hehe:)

 I just love St. Patty's Day so much!! And I love that my kids have so much fun doing our little family traditions :)

Just this past week, Jane got two awards at her awards assembly!! Way to go Jane!!

Little Elsie is just growing so fast!! I cannot believe she is going to be 1 in just 2 weeks!! She has a super fun personality and we all just adore having her in our family!! She has started to walk really well lately! She is super busy and determined, so I am not surprised she has been my earliest walker. She just looked so cute in her jammies, so I had to snap a few pics of this sweet little lady!! We sure love her!

Beautiful Kids!!

 I must admit, I have some pretty amazing kiddos!!  And they are growing up so much faster than I want them to. Beckham is 5 and is attending a transitional Kindergarten class. His teacher just raves about what a good boy he is in class :) Jane is 7 and is in 1st grade...she will be getting baptized this year!! And last but not least, our sweet little Elsie  is almost 1!!! Our time in California is almost over and we will soon be on our way on another cross country adventure to our new home in Missouri!! However, I will always remember California as being the place where my baby grew into a toddler :) and we had to capture our beautiful kiddos at this sweet moment in time!! So, this past weekend we did a photo shoot!! I styled it and Ryan (who really is a very fantastic photographer) took the pictures!!  I must say we make a pretty great team, because I am thrilled with the way these turned out!!!

Ryan was a trooper when I made him take this picture with Beckham- hehe!! It was just too cute to pass up :)

 This one is one of my favorite!! Just look at these adorable kiddos!!!

 This is Ryan's favorite...I admit its pretty funny:)

 Here's a very cool one of just our "superman" Beckham!!

 We tried out the timer on our camera to see if we could pull off a family pic...and we managed to get a pretty good one :)

 These too are getting too big!!

 I loved these ones of Elsie with the bubbles!

 Such a sweetie:)

 These ones are so neat!! We love the ladder on the tree in the background!!  Like I said...Ryan has some serious photography skills!!

 Another favorite!!

 What a beauty!!

 sooo handsome!!

 This one is to die for!!

 A few more of this darling baby!!

 And one last one of this stud in the cool tree!!

It was a beautiful California day for a photo shoot and though we all wanted to kill each other at least once during this process :)  it turned out to be fun and they look amazing!!  What a magical year in California this has been!!

Hiking, Frolfing, and Babies!!

We whipped out an oldie but a goodie for our weekend fun this week!!  In Utah, Ryan and I used to LOVE hiking around the many beautiful canyons around Utah County- that is something I will always miss. And there was a time when Frisbee golfing was a minor obsession of ours and a main  source of free fun for awhile :) Well, we brought all that back this week and we had a blast. We went to a beautiful spot nearby our home called Pena Adobo and enjoyed some Nor Cal hiking and frisbee golf!

 

 The weather was so beautiful and the sky was oh so blue!! Seriously a perfect morning!

 There's good ol Vacaville in the background :) And two darling kiddos in the front :)

 Elsie sure loved her hiking backpack and being out in the sunshine!

 Beckham showed us his super speed many times on this hike!!

 We only got to play a little frisbee golf. But it brought back some fun memories and the kiddos sure loved it!!

 They weren't half bad either...

 After burning lots of calories hiking, we packed em right back on with some burgers and fries and ice cream...totally worth it!!

 Last weekend, Ryan had to work so I got to go meet my brand new little niece, Anne!! She is so beautiful. There is nothing better than holding a brand new baby straight from Heaven!! I can't believe how fast they grow up :( We had such a fun visit.

 We even got to take my niece and nephew, Charlotte and Edward, to our house for a sleepover!! We had such a blast eating pizza, watching movies, jumping on the trampoline, coloring with chalk and just playing real hard :) Here are all the cute kids right after getting home from church!!

 I have to add a few words about our sweet little 10 month old, Elsie!!  She is just so fun and sweet these days. She is a classic third child and is just super patient and sweet. She loves Jane and Beckham so so much and thinks its especially fun to play in their rooms with all their stuff!  Beckham's kitchen hasn't gotten this much love in a while :)

 Elsie is so goofy and fun! She makes her goofy face on command and it is just too cute. She is a busy lady- crawling around everywhere, walking behind her walker, eating everything she sees and just getting into all sorts of mischeif! She is a super smart lady and a fast learner like her daddy! We sure love our little Elsie and having her in the family is just a joy!!

I thanks Heavenly Father every day for my wonderful husband and three amazing kiddos!! We have so much fun together and they make me so happy!