The Itsy Bitsy Spider...

Last night I was peacefully sleeping when I felt I tickle on my neck. I thought it was just my hair and I went to brush it away. But it wasn't my hair...I flung it off and jumped out of bed. I lifted my pillow up and a little spider went scurrying under the bed. I moved the covers and tried to find but no such luck. I tried to go back to sleep but I kept envisioning that little spider crawling back up and attacking me.
The best part was Bill was sleeping the entire time. He didn't even budge, even when I was ripping the bed a part and throwing my pillows on him. I wish I could sleep that well...

I just wanted to let my dad know what an amazing father he is. Everyone thinks that they have the greatest dad, but I truly believe that no other dad would have been able to do the things that my dad has done for me. My dad has one of the biggest hearts. He is always helping people without asking for anything in return, or expecting recognition for the things he does. I can't thank him enough for all the things both big and small he has done for me and my family. My dad's passion for life and enjoying the little things has made me passionate about the things I do in my own life. I find adventure and joy in the little things which my dad has instilled in me. Everything from cooking a meal to a spontaneous weekend adventure. His testimony and knowledge of the gospel has been a strength in my life. And to watch him continually learn and educate himself makes me want to strive to be a better friend, daughter, mother and wife.
I love you DAD! Happy Father's Day!!!

Nature Park

I went to a baby shower the other day at the Nature Park, and discovered another fun little place to take my kids. We took a Sunday afternoon stroll through the park and fed the ducks. It was perfect because it has been raining for the past two weeks and the sun came out long enough for us to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine.

It was cute, Ellie was trying to smell the flowers, but the picture looks like she is trying to eat them.

Look at those guns!

My sister Chelsea and Ellie enjoying the scenery.

Jared turning a simple park toy into a rodeo ride.

Jared actually standing still for a few minutes to enjoy all the things around him.

Rachel looking for fish.

The kids feeding the ducks.

My parents come for a visit.

How horrible am I? My parents come to visit and I don't have a single picture of them. Sorry mom and dad. You will have to e-mail them to me. It was great, they stayed at a hotel here in town. It was mother's week at BYU-I when they came up so hotel rooms were slim pickings. They ended up with a themed room. It was a space moon theme. We all had to go over to the hotel to check it out. It was a quick trip for my parents. They got here Friday night and had to leave early Mon. morning. So, we crammed as much as we could in the little time we had. Saturday we went to Yellowstone National Park. Sunday, we took a trip to Bear World. It was a lot of firsts for my family. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming up!

Ellie in front of the antler arch in Jackson hole Wyoming. What a cutie!

Bill and the kids in front of the Tetons on the Wyoming side.

Walking through all the hot springs, and mud pots.
This one was particularly pretty, and deep.
Old Faithful. The kids were amazed and continued talking about it all day.
Ellie and Jared checking out more steam pots.
Ellie trying to show me something.
Bear World...this is a baby cub. My mom got to feed a baby bear.
I need one of those...One of the Grizzly Bears. We got to feed them from a huge truck. It was really cool because it stood on it's hind legs.

One of the wolves.

Jared had an Arther's Tea Party for his end of year party for Kindergarten. The kids sang a few songs and then each kid read a book they had written. Jared wrote a book about going to the zoo. I was so proud of Jared. His book was so creative. Jared far exceeded my expectations this year. He is definitely more of a social person. So, I was concerned about the whole academic thing. But he did GREAT. Jared is such a wonderful kid and I am so lucky to be his mom.

Family Picnic in Utah

For Memorial Day, we headed to Payson, Utah for a family picnic. We stayed at my Aunt Sandy's for a couple of nights. My kids loved the basement, being from California my kids have never experienced a basement. I got to see a lot of my cousins that I hadn't seen in a REALLY long time. It was good to see them and see their beautiful families. We got to visit my Grandma Crooks grave while we were there and tell my kids about how much I love her.

Rachel & Jared walking with Great Grandpa Crook.

My Grandma Crooks headstone.

Aunt Sandy, Grandpa Crook, and Uncle Brent.

My family and Grandpa Crook.

My cousin Sandy, and her family. We forgot to take pictures the whole day. By the time we remembered my cousin Sandy's family and her family were the only ones left.

Sandy, Chelsea, Grandpa Crook, and ME.

Splash Park

There a few things that I love about living here. The Splash Park is one of them. Unfortunately, there haven't been too many days that have been warm enough to go. But the Rachel & Jared have a great time. Ellie, is still a wimp when it comes to cold water. Even as a baby the water had to be warm enough or she would scream. Ellie has yet to get really wet at the splash park. Maybe by the end of summer.

Rachel having fun in all the water spouts.

Jared coming down the slide.

Ellie, enjoying it from a distance. She wouldn't even take her dress off.

Rachel's End of Year School Program

The 2nd grade put on a really cute program for the end of the year. They dressed up in something they wanted to do or be when they got older. Rachel dressed up as a ballerina. She loves to dance. Here is a little video of a song they did. She is on the bottom row the second from the left. It was funny, she kept waving to me during the program and then she would forget to do the hand motions. Rachel did a great job and looked like she really had fun.
Rachel had a rough transition this year but she ended up having a great year. I'm so proud of how far she came this year.

Jared's new bike.

My parents are so amazing. I told them that I wanted to get Jared a new bike for his birthday and my Dad hunted down the one I wanted to get him, which wasn't an easy task. (I would have been happy with another one) My dad has a way of hunting down and getting exactly what you want. It was perfect timing and arrived on his birthday.
Jared loves his bike more than I had hoped.

Party, Party, Party

We had Jared's 6th b-day party on Sat. We had some neighborhood friends over. Can you guess the theme he wanted? Pirates! We had the kids go on a treasure hunt throughout our little neighborhood. As they got the clues there was pirate items to pick up along the way, such as the eye patch, bandanna, and of course the dagger. We had a buried treasure...which was a pinata.
Sorry there are lots of pictures for the grandparents.

Bill thought it would be great to get a Keg of Root Beer to go with the Pirate theme.

Rachel reading one of the clues to the treasure hunt. She looks so serious.
Wactch out for these Pirates!Digging up the treasure.
May taking a turn with the pinata. Isn't she adorable.
Ellie taking a swing.
Kylah taking a swing.
Hunter didn't want to wear a blind fold, but had a creative alternative.
Rachel taking a swing.
Jared taking his turn.
Finally, the goodies fall. Bill was actually the one that broke it. He was "supposed" to make a crack in it to make it easier for the kids. But bashed the pinata so hard it exploded everywhere. It even hit our neighbors window and broke Jared's bat. Who's the kid?
Jared's Pirate Cake.The many expressions of Jared as he opens his presents. He was very excited to get more knives, swords, and even a bat mobile.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day. All of the hugs and kissies and all the fun cards they've made at school. Bill went all out for dinner. He made chicken cordon bleu, asparagus, mashed potatoes. I'm so lucky!

Homemade Lemonade

I bought the kids a fun cookbook with lots of easy recipes for them to make. One of the recipes was Raspberry Lemonade. The kids did a great job and it was SOOOooo Yummy! Rachel Cut the lemons, Jared squeezed the lemons, and Ellie squished the raspberries.

Fishing!

We went fishing with all the kids, Chelsea & Alysa. Poor Bill spent more time untangling lines than he did fishing. I even have to admit I got my line caught. Oops. It's been so long since I've been fishing. It's not very productive going fishing with all of the kids making all the noise and scaring all the fish. Hmm...maybe we should have used the kids as bait.

Summer is getting closer...

Nothing like chowing down on watermelon and riding your bike. Yum!

We finally broke down and bought the first watermelon of the season. It was still a bit expensive but the kids inhaled it.

The Day we were saved by a cowboy!

It all began on one of a few beautiful days in Rexburg thus far, we couldn't let the day pass without getting outdoors. I had the wonderful idea of attempting to find the ice caves. We asked a couple people how to get there and I even looked up the directions on the internet. The directions went something like this...Go 7 or 8 miles past the sand dunes, go east on a dirt road, go 4 or 5 miles on the dirt road, when the road forks stay to the left. It will dead end into the caves. Sounds easy enough...right?!

Well, let me tell you, there is not just one dirt road that goes east. There are several. We attempted a couple. But they weren't the right ones. We were getting a little discouraged, so we thought we would ask the cow for directions. The cow looked like it knew the area better than we did.

One of the roads dead ended into a ranch. We didn't know where to go. And over the horizon, on horseback came this COWBOY! He was super nice. We were with Alysa's roommates (my brother's fiance) and the COWBOY asked "Are you looking for the ice caves?" Wow, was it that obvious that we didn't belong on a cow ranch. haha
These were his directions. Go back on the main road and when you think you've gone to far...keep going. You will come to a dirt road with a wide entrance with some rocks stacked and one of them is painted yellow. Turn and go until you think you've gone too far and keep going. You'll eventually run into the caves.

The COWBOY saved the day. We made it to the ice caves. It was a lot of fun but the caves were still covered in ice on the cave floor so it made for a slippery time. It was super dark and we only had 3 flashlights for 9 people. I had to carry Ellie the whole time, I was just praying I didn't end up on my back side.

This is right as you get into the caves. Ellie looks happy now, but she did not want to get down.

Rachel, Ellie & Jared. It was also pretty cold in there. Some college students had been in there and the put glow sticks everywhere. They had broken most of them so the liquid inside was coming out. Jared picked one up not knowing it was broken and swung it around. It got all over him. Jared had splotches all over him. It was funny when he glowed in the dark.

This is just a funny picture of Chelsea. It was really dark in the cave and you could barely see with the flashlight.

Our van was covered in mud. I wish I would have gotten a picture...what a day!