Easter 2011

Easter weekend started out wonderful with beautiful weather, our great little family, and a visit from our awesome friends.

Lisa, Paul, Karlee and Hudson Price traveled up from Salt Lake to spend the holiday weekend with us. We went bowling, the guys had their movie night, the girls had their dinner night, and we ended it on Sunday with  an Easter dinner made by everyone.

Easter morning all the kids woke up to their Easter baskets from the Bunny.

Cole enjoyed his first Easter without candy but with some fun dinosaur toys.

Later that afternoon, our neighbors John and Sandy Embury, invited us over for an Easter egg hunt.

After all the eggs were found, the kids found puzzle pieces inside a few of them.

They put together this beautiful picture, "Little One" by Jay Bryant Ward. We were so thankful to have this sweet moment bring such a wonderful spirit into our hearts this Easter.

The candy monsters after the hunt.

Pumpkin Carving

This year we had our neighbors Jayden, Leah and Trevor help us carve our pumpkins...

Funny faces.

They were more than happy to get dirty while cleaning out the pumpkins.

                                              

Jeremy discovered a faster, but messier, way to carve out the pumpkins.

Palmer's Harvest Party

This week we went to the Palmer's Harvest Party with our neighbors Betty Jo and Ernie Allen and their grandson Trevor. We have all gotten to be very close friends and enjoy spending time together. The party was awesome with superheroes jumping out of an airplane before candy was thrown out of it to the children on the grass below, face painting, hayrides and hot dogs and hot chocolate.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 started with a surprise. We weren't sure if the weather would cooperate with us enough for us to travel to Utah and back home on Christmas weekend, so we made no definite plans with the family. But thankfully, it looked like Christmas was a perfect time to make our way down there and surprise everyone.

Our first stop was to Grandpa Dowland's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The girls snuck up and rang the doorbell and surprised Grandpa Bob enough to bring him to tears. It made the trip all worth it.

After dinner and a visit from Santa, we were off to surprise Nanna and Papa.

That night we stayed at Nanna and Papa's house and got up early in the morning to have breakfast at The Grand America in downtown Salt Lake.

The cousins had a blast playing with each other and being silly.

Then it was back to Nanna and Papa's house to open up the presents from Santa and from the family. It was a crazy, fun madhouse.

Christmas night we all spent the night at our friend's the Price's. The relaxing time we had there was heaven sent and it was wonderful being able to catch up with them.

The next day we went back to Nanna and Papa's house where Lorelei, Meredith, and Hailee spent almost 2 hours in their grandparents bathtub, being spoiled rotten with popsicle after popsicle.

That night the girls were ecstatic to spend some quality alone time with Grandpa and Grandma Dowland while their parents went out to dinner. They spent the time making gingerbread houses, eating pizza, and cuddling up while watching a movie.

It was a whirlwind of a trip and we were so glad that we were able to do it.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend we took the girls and their friend, Trevor, who lives next door, to Eagle State Park. They had fun playing in the Boise River and making sand castles.

Dive!

Lorelei jumped off the diving board for the first time at our friend Tawna's house. It was completely unexpected and I was so proud of her! She kept wanting to do it over and over. I tried to take a picture but our camera was too slow. Meredith just enjoyed lounging on the pool...

The Price Family Visit

Our great friends, the Price family, came to visit us for a few days last weekend from Salt Lake. We had an awesome time catching up and just being together.

Jeremy and Paul went to go see Harry Potter and had some male bonding time the first night.

The next day got up early to walk around the Farmers Market in downtown Boise and then got some good old fashioned hamburgers.

Then it was a girls night out with pedicaures and manicures and going out to dinner. Lisa was so sweet and treated us all! It was heaven!
At the beginning of their visit Meredith got her first kiss from handsome Hudson, who's name I suggested to his mom before he was born, so of course I approve! The day they left we tried to recapture the magic...

We miss them already and can't wait to see them again!