April 2015

April was an awesome month!  Mom and Dad came for a visit and we had so much fun with them!  They got here in time to celebrate Easter with us :)  The Easter bunny made a visit Saturday morning.  (Sidenote-those watermelon peeps were surprisingly good)

 After stuffing our faces with candy, it was off to Parker's school for the annual Easter egg hunt!  The kids always love doing this.

 They were fierce competitors this year.

 Success!

 James didn't quite know what to make of it all.

 But he did appreciate the fact that grandpa was there with him :)

 Jeremiah scored pretty well too.

 Some group shots.  It was such a beautiful day!

 While Parker and Dad went to the Priesthood session, we dyed eggs!  We did the trick where you write on the egg with a white crayon before dyeing it, but it wouldn't work.  It took me way too long to figure out that one should not use WASHABLE crayons for egg dyeing.  Hahahaha!

 Sunday morning of General Conference means one thing - SCONES!  Yum . . . they were delicious as they always are, and this time we had a couple new jams from Costco we tried with them and they were so good!  It was fun to have mom and dad there for this tradition.

Conference watching!!

For our Easter Dinner we had ham, cheesy potatoes, and asparagus.  Mmmm

And then the silliness!  Mom brought these costumes and mustaches for the boys and an angel costume for Lily.  They put on quite the show!

Then it was Christmas in April!  We were planning to go to CA for Christmas, but due to unfortunate illnesses weren't able to make it.  So Christmas came to us!

Awesome gifts for all!!

Grandpa and Jeremiah worked together to put together this puzzle.

On Monday for family night we went on a hike in the beautiful hills by our house.  

Gorgeous views!

And cutie pies too :)

The "short hike" Parker took us on was a bit longer than any of us had realized, but the kids were troopers.  We did see a snake that dad thought was dead until it suddenly and quickly slithered away (yuck!)  and Samuel managed to step on a small cactus requiring him to be carried by one of us for the rest of the hike.

But it was a good time out enjoying the beauty of Arizona and good company!

Reading with grandma :)

Lily and grandma had twinner shirts!  Totally unplanned but looking smashing!  It was so much fun to have mom and dad come for a visit!  We love them so much and are grateful for some good memories made.

Switching gears a little bit, during our visit with mom and dad, Kevin's dad, Tim, passed away from an aggressive cancer.  We felt strongly that we needed to be there for his funeral to show our love and support for Jen and Kevin and the whole Ferre family, who are family to us.  We didn't have the luxury of splitting up the drive, so it was 10 hours straight.  We took a different route, through Flagstaff and Page instead of Vegas and saw some new sights!  Arizona may be a desert, but it really is a beautiful place.

We stopped in Beaver for some ice cream and squeaky cheese.

Tim's funeral was really beautiful.  There were lots of people and each one of the family members that spoke really did such a wonderful job of capturing Tim in each of his roles as brother, father,  husband,  and dedicated church member.  Kevin's comments were particularly touching as he spoke of ways he and his dad were similar.  It was very tender and a beautiful tribute to his dad.  After the funeral there was a wonderful luncheon for all the family.  It was really nice to see and catch up with everyone.  After the meal, they put on some music and brought out hula hoops and it was a par-tay!

Later that afternoon Benjamin got baptized!  And not just baptized, but baptized by Isaac.  I thought this picture was a gem.  Really though, it was very neat to be there for this special occasion.

The crew.  All color coordinated and everything!

Best buds.

Told you, color coordinated without even planning it!

For our stay in Utah, we were lucky to be able to stay with Parker's Uncle James.  He and his family live in Lehi and were so gracious to let us stay at their home.  Here is baby James meeting Uncle James :)

They had a really fun backyard and tons of toys!  The kids still talk about how much fun Uncle James' house is.

Before we headed out of town we stopped in Provo to see Hayden.  He had had knee surgery not too long before, so he was still hobbling around on crutches.  It was good to see him  :)

On the road again!

We sure love family!