Last California Adventure :(

        Well, the kids and I are leaving for Utah in one day...our house is all boxed up... and we close on our house in Missouri in one week!!  I guess this really means our one year California adventure is over! California is truly a beautiful state and there is so much we didn't get to see and do. But we have truly enjyed our time here and have gotten to have so many wonderful adventures!!  Before we go, we managed to fit in one more little adventure :)

           First, I had to honor our sweet little Beckham!! We worked together all year to read, read, read in order for him to be  Padan Power Reader and get a GOLD medal!! He was one of only four kids on his TK class to get it :)  He was so excited to get his name called and go up on stage to get his medal and certificate!! Way to go Beckham!! 

 Back to our last California adventure!! We decided to explore some more of San Fransisco. First, we decided to go to the China Tea Gardens.  It was a lovely, overcast day and that made the colors around the gardens so vibrant and beautiful!!

 I was surprised at how much fun the kids had here.  They climbed up and down this bridge about 10 times :)

 There were pools of water all over the place and tons of very unique plants. There were so many different shades of green.

 And lots of cool architecture!

 The kids each touched a Coy Fish and thought it was the coolest thing ever.  We sort of monopolized the entire bridge though :)

 Elsie had so much fun walking around and exploring!!

 A really beautiful rock garden...

 Even Elsie loved the gardens!!

 Annnnnnd then we did the bridge again :)

 Then we went to China Town. Ryan tells me the China Town in San Fran is the biggest China town outside of China :) This was a neat band playing oriental music.

 Another cool little group let Jane and Beckham play with them!!

 Here we are getting lost down a creepy allyway trying to find some lunch.

Our lunch restaurant doesn't look like much bu it sure was yummy.

This fortune cookie factory is the only place where the cookies are still made by hand.

Yum!!

Ryan bought us each a Gerber Daisy from here:)

Lastly, we just had to see the Full House house before we leave Cali! Beautiful!!

We have loved our time here in California...but, its onto another place with new adventures for us :)

My baby is 1!!

 Well, the dreaded day came...I did not want our sweet little Elsie to grow up so fast...but she went and turned one in the blink of an eye!! Though I am sad my baby is growing so fast, she sure is an adorable, goofy, super fun 1 year old!! The kids and I always love an excuse to party, so we had some fun for Elsie's bday :) We decorated with all pink and girly colors and had our most favorite cupcakes!!

 All day, Elsie wore her birthday girl pin! She got lots of love from everyone as we dropped off and picked up Jane and Beckham from school. I help out in Beckham's classroom every day so all the kids and teachers know Elsie very well. So, when we got to class they gave her a crown and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her!! It was adorable!

 Once Ryan came home we were finally able to have a little celebration for our sweet Elsie! She seemed pretty excited to be getting her very own , entire, cupcake to eat!!

 She wasted no time, and dug right in- haha!!

 We had to give her a bath right after because she got the cupcake all over her and was breaking out in a rash. When she was all clean, she got to open a few presents!!

 Grandma and Grandpa Dick gave her some darling summer outfits!! She couldn't wait to try them on :)

 We gave her a few special things as well :)

 Goodness, we just absolutely adore Elsie! She has been the most perfect addition to our little family and she makes us all so happy! She is such a goof...staying in line with the rest of my kids:) One of her favorite things, is when I lay out freshly clean laundry to fold!! She loves playing and rolling in it! It is just so funny to watch and keeps her entertained for a good long time! :) I snapped some pretty good pictures of one of these "laundry fun" sessions :)

 Happy Happy Birthday to our darling little Elsie! We just love her like crazy :) Sometimes I wish I could freeze time- but since I can't, I am trying to enjoy every moment with my amazing kiddos :)

Easter!!

 Easter was wonderful!! It is crazy for me think that at Easter last year, we had a brand new little baby join our family.  Now, here we are one year later...with a toddler, in a new state, and nearly ready to move again! Life moves way too fast for me sometimes. Anyway, Easter was just wonderful this year! It was lovely to be able to watch Conference with our traditional Conference breakfast before we began the Easter festivities. I can't think of a better way to spend Easter, than to listen to our Prophet and apostles speak and to be reminded on Christ :)

Long before Conference began, the kids were up bright and early, excited for their Easter baskets!! Jane's basket was filled with My Little Pony items...she was beyond thrilled!

 Beckham's basket was filled with several things that he loves... bubbles, silly string, balloons, markers and this cute little froggy!!

 After we ate a delicious breakfast of eggs, crumb cake, cantaloupe and orange smoothy and watched conference...the Easter bunny paid our house a visit. The kids were so excited to hunt for Easter eggs!!

 The kids did this cute Easter craft that was in their baskets :)

 Elsie just did her usual thing :) But,the day was made so much more pleasant because this darling little lady was toddling around, getting into everything and making mischief!!

 We ended the day by, of course, having a delicious Easter dinner!!

 This year we started a new tradition!! In order to really focus on Christ and the resurrection this Easter, we did a week of family home evenings that focused on the last week of the Savior's life. We started with palm Sunday where we talked about the day Jesus came to Jerusalem.

 Next was "mad Monday" where we talked about when Jesus sent away the money changers from the temple. The kids each drew pictures of the temple!! Next was"teaching Tuesday" where we talked about some of the lessons and parables Jesus taught the people. Jane and Beckham each got to pick a parable and teach it to the family. Jane did the widow's mite...

 and Beckham and I did the 10 virgins.

 I don't have pictures of the rest of the days but put up reminders of each of the days on our mantle as we went along. We did "Spy Wednesday" where Judas makes a deal to reveal Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, "passover Thursday" where we talked about the passover dinner and the first sacrament, "Good Friday" where Jesus suffered and died, "Spirit world Saturday" where Jesus went to the spirit world and then of course there was Easter where we talked about Jesus being resurrected.

Our week of remembering the savior was a huge success!! I was so impressed with how interested Jane and Beckham were in learning about the last days of Christ's life and with how they remembered what each day was called!! We sure had a lot of fun this Easter combining old traditions with some great new ones!!