April

We had a late winter storm hit here on April 13th...

Emily playing in the snow

Ryan and Emily working on a snowman

Nathanial, Ryan, Emily, and Christopher

Our first snowman of the year: April 13, 2014

After building the snowman and coming inside for some hot cocoa and cider Ryan and I started to talk about the polar bear swim.  Nathanial thought it would be fun so we told him to go run out side and do a snow angel in the snow.  We didn't think that he would do it but we were wrong...

Christopher was sent downstairs to clean the play room, I went down to check on him and this is where I found him...

...asleep under a beanbag.

The Easter Bunny Came!

We had a wonderful Easter this year.  We were invited to our friends, the Anderson's, for Easter dinner in South Dakota.  It was fun to get to see them and talk to them. Our kids play so well together.

After Church Ryan needed me to take a picture of him to submit to the Area Seventy.  Our Stake was getting a new Stake Presidency and part of the process of calling a new Stake Presidency requires ALL members of the High Council to submit a 2x2 picture and a bio of themselves along with recommendations for a new stake president.  The Saturday before Stake Conference all members of the High Council had to go in for an interview with the Area Seventy, Ryan had an interview with Elder Nielsen. After these interviews they submit a name to the First Presidency and call a new Stake President. The new president then had a few minutes to decide on his councilors and they were called the next day, talk about short notice.  To ensure that Ryan wasn't called as the new Stake President we submitted this picture...

Not really, but it would've been fun to do.

Easter Pictures...

Emily with her mouth full of gum

Christopher always sleeps in the strangest places...

...in Emily's basket of animals.

For the weekend I let the kids make a fort and sleep in it, they had a lot of fun!

Nathanial and Christopher 4/26/2014

On April 29th Nathanial had a music concert with all the first graders in Whittier. Ms. Holman is amazing with the kids!

March

One day Nathanial was sitting around not doing anything and all the sudden he says to Ryan, "Daddy, so did you know in "father" there is a "fat" and a "her"?" I was laughing so hard!

Here are some pictures of the kids...

Emily

Christopher

Nathanial

 Emily loves to help me cook and eat what we make...

 On March 18th we headed to Utah for Ryan to finish his implant course in Heber City.  While I was telling our babysitter about going on our trip she offered to come along with us.  After Ryan and I talked about it we thought it would be a great idea to have her come with us since Ryan would be in his course all day.  She was an amazing help to me. She sat in the back with the kids for the 16 hour drive and helped take care of them.  We stayed in a really nice resort in Midway, Utah, called the Zermatt Resort.  It had a really neat hot tub and swimming pool. The hot tub had a waterfall and the pool had a little passage so that you could swim inside or outside.

Benjamin's first time going swimming

Ryan, Benjamin, Christopher, Nathanial, Paige, and Emily

The waterfall

Clay, Karen, and Lanie came down from Idaho while we were in Utah. Ryan placed an implant for Karen. The kids and I stayed busy. I felt like I was in the car more than I was out of it.  Wednesday was a relaxing day when we got to Utah we went shopping and bought Ryan a much needed pair of shoes for work. Then we came back to the hotel and went swimming. Thursday Paige, the kids, and I headed out for 12 hours of shopping :), yep you read that right 12 hours.  We were done by the end!! Friday Keshia and Bill were sealed in the Bountiful LDS Temple by Grandpa Hopkins.  Paige watched the kids so that I could be there. It was fun to see the Miles Family! Paige went to Idaho with the Miles' to stay the night with her sister at BYU-Idaho. On Saturday the kids and I headed to Idaho for my mom's wedding.  It was fun to see all my family!  After the wedding we drove to Rexburg to pick up Paige and head back to Utah.  We got there late and went swimming. Sunday we checked out of the hotel and went to Salt Lake to go to Church with Scott's family.  After church we started the LONG drive back to Iowa.