Our first homemade apron

Erin and I were invited to a bridal shower for a girl that Erin has looked up to for years. When we were discussing what we should get for the present, Erin asked if we could make her an apron. I searched for a cute pattern without any success, so we ended up making our own pattern based on my apron from Anthropologie. It ended up turning out great and Erin can't wait to make another one for herself!

Erin's Choir Festival

Erin had her first ever choir competition. She kind of begged me to chaperon, so I got to go and enjoy their performance and then spend the afternoon with Erin and her friends at Knott's Berry Farm!

My little camera didn't do such a good job during the performance, but the group was great!

The chamber choir earned gold so they will be competing at the invitational next year!

Erin and her friends had so much fun riding all the fun rides without having to wait in long lines!

I'm so glad that Erin asked me to come along. I count my blessings that my teenage daughter actually LIKES to spend time with me!

Parker receives his Arrow of Light

We are so excited that Parker has finally earned his Arrow of Light award - the highest award in cub scouts! It's been a rough road this past year, but he was determined to get it done. Our stake does a great ceremony twice a year for the boys who have earned the award. It's usually held outside, but the rain moved us indoors (I was glad to not sit out in the cold). I think they did a great job of turning the cultural hall into the outdoors.

This is the first pin that I KNOW I deserved!

Parker stands by while his arrow is shot

Walking over the bridge to get his arrow

Akala - giving the scouts encouragement

Parker with Akala and his braves

Emmett and Dallin came to support Parker

Now we get to start on the hard stuff - Boy Scouts!

Gardner in training

Rick has been anxious to teach Bryant how to mow the lawn. Without a self-propelled lawn mower, Bryant needed more strength before he could push it. Well, he's finally strong enough and Rick now has a buddy to do the yard work with. **Rick is very protective of his lawn, so he's still mowing the front while Bryant will be mowing the back.

Mormon Battalion Visitors Center

Our spring break was less that exciting this year. With my sprained ankle, our options were limited. So on the last Friday of spring break, I convinced Rick and the kids to take a quick trip to San Diego to tour the new Mormon Battalion visitors center. Rick wasn't too keen on going since he was remembering the old visitors center that was a bit boring - but he ended up being glad we went.

There were quite a lot of people visiting, so instead of starting with the new and improved movie, we headed to a room where we had our family picture taken, played games, and learned about different individuals that were in the battalion.

After dragging the kids away from the games, we headed outside where Parker couldn't wait to pan for gold. Erin and Bryant said they didn't want to participate, but they sure were interested in what Parker was doing.

After panning for gold, we went back inside and took the movie tour which was really cool. Then we went back outside to pan for gold some more. After we'd found enough fools gold, we took a few pictures in front of the visitors center and then headed for home - by way of Fuddruckers, YUM!

Visiting Rachel

Linda invited me along to visit Rachel in Santa Barbara and to pick of her dog, London. It was so fun to see where Rachel lives and walk around downtown Santa Barbara.

Standing in Rachel's backyard....not bad!

Rachel's room with the furniture her dad built for her

We stopped by Ruth Chris Steakhouse where Rachel is a hostess

I'm a bit envious of Rachel's college life. There probably isn't a more fun place to be.

Who's got my back??

Today we had a delivery from UPS. The kids rushed to get the door and wanted to open the package to see what it was. Since it was addressed to Rick, and my birthday is next week, I decided it would be best not to open it until talking to him.

After finishing making lunch (if you call fresh strawberry crepes lunch....), I called Rick and asked him about the package. He told me that he didn't know anything about a package and it definitely wasn't a birthday present. With his permission, Erin and I opened up the package. You can imagine our surprise to find a blue box inside.........Rick really didn't know about this??? We took the box out, looked at the card - it was blank, and then read the shipping label. It appears that Tiffany Co. has my back! They sent my husband a gift card wrapped in a really pretty box just in time for my birthday......lucky me!

If only it was more than a $25 value ;)

Cousin boot camp

Bryant and Parker love it when they get to see their Chase cousins, especially Brandon. This time during their visit, Brandon decided to teach the boys some exercises he does when he's training for wrestling. So he put the boys through his "boot camp". The boys LOVED it!

**Grandma Lynnie told us during her visit that since Rick and Bobby are identical twins, our children are technically considered half siblings.......my boys can't wait until their next workout with their big brother!

Easter

Our family is enjoying this Easter time together. With egg decorating, yummy treats, great General Conference talks, reflections of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and lots of family coming to visit, we have so much to be thankful for.