March 2015, part 2

Harriet had her first piano recital.  Even though she's been taking lessons for 3 years, this was the first time her teacher had enough students to hold a recital.  The recital was at our church.  She played "White Horse" by Taylor Swift and did a fantastic job.  We are so proud of her for choosing the piano on her own and being excited about playing it.  We are also grateful for the gift of this piano from my Grandma Pearlie.  She sent it to Harriet.  It is the piano that my dad learned to play on when he was a kid.  My Grandpa San bought it sometime near 1960.

Harriet with fellow piano students and teacher, Carrie, on the right.

Then, Grace went to the State Geography Bee!  This was a cool experience for her and for us.  We are amazed at the knowledge of the kids who made it to the finals and won.  Grace did not win, but she learned a lot and had a ton of fun doing it.  It was pretty intense!

Grace performed with a bunch of schools at a huge orchestra concert:

Harriet performed with her cheer squad at "The Pit" at UNM.  She was super excited because this was her first time to get to be a "flyer" in the routine.

The whole squad on the back steps of the school with coaches, Monica, Kristen, and Gracen.

 I have mentioned the close friends Harriet has made this year.  She has never had sweet and loyal girlfriends like these before.  This was her friend, Ellie's, birthday party at a little art place.  They all got to paint a canvas together.

Grace got a special cape for Stryder for her birthday from Aunt Em.  He has another one from his Denver cousins too.  Totally a Ute fan.

Kitty and Hattie continue to be best buds.

 Albuquerque continues to be gorgeous.  This spring was the nicest we've ever had.  The wind wasn't very bad this year, so we could actually enjoy the nice weather and it even rained a bunch!  My flowers really liked that part.

 Harriet outgrew her bike (again), and so she got to choose her own bike for the first time instead of getting a hand-me-down from Grace.  She picked the pretty purple one, of course.

Then, to finish out March, Aunt Emily, Aunt Jessica, Sloan, and Lyla came for a visit!  Emily hadn't ever been to our house in ABQ and Jessica hadn't been in a long time, so it was extra special to have them here.  Harriet had been having a fit ever since no one came to see us at Christmas (and we didn't go see anyone either,) and she was especially upset that everyone else in the family was getting to spend time with Lyla while she was a baby.  So, everyone did what they could to get Lyla to our house for our spring break.  Whew!

Emily took the girls on a big bike ride.

Harriet held Lyla, night and day, as much as Lyla would let her.

Hattie passed on some cheer moves to little cousin.

Sloan tried his best to learn to say "Albuquerque" but decided it sounds better to say "Apple Turkey."

Traditional cousin shot in front of the coral reef at the aquarium.

Lyla loved the glass tunnel where she could see the fish above her.

Other traditional shark tank photo.

Somehow we found time to run to the zoo too.  

I can't believe all we got out and did with the little tykes.

Traditional tile chair at the zoo photo!

The cool thing about the timing of their trip was that Easter Sunday was just in a few days.  They didn't stay for Easter and we had a trip to White Sands planned for Easter weekend, so the Easter Bunny took the grand opportunity to come a little early and let the cousins hunt eggs together.  (S)he left some cool baskets for everyone.  It was a pretty unexpected surprise!

Lyla had to get Hattie out of bed.

 Grace (still!) gets excited over Easter baskets.  Well, who doesn't?  I want a big bucket of Cadbury Eggs too!

 Harriet found Shopkins in her basket.  Lucky girl.

 Sloan is at the age where he doesn't understand the hunting part.  He just gets the "pick up an egg and eat what's inside right now" part.

 Lyla got a pretty soft bunny in her basket.  Of course, she ate it.

Their last (sad) day here was Wednesday, April 1st.  We decided to take the kids hiking up the volcanoes.  It seemed like that was a hit with everyone, and we even found some nice strangers at the top to take our photo.  

Harriet was dying to pull off a great April Fool's prank, so I helped her the night before to prepare a pan of brown "E's" (a brownie pan filled with brown paper cut-outs of the letter E.) At the end of the hike, we got everyone excited to go home and eat a brownie.  Even Jessica fell for it.  She was so excited to get a brownie and so mad that there was only paper E's in the pan.  Hattie was thrilled for her successful joke.  Then, we made some real brownies, of course, because by then we were ALL dying for one.

 Saying good-bye to baby Lyla is never easy.

 Grace and Sloan settled on knuckles over tears and smooches.

Ahh, March.  Always a full and fun month.

March 2015, part 1

March was big.
David turned 40.
Grace turned 12.

Ski season in NM turned out to be a pretty big flop, but we looked north to Colorado, and Wolf Creek was getting some pretty nice snow.  David decided that he would like to spend his 40th birthday on a ski trip.  No surprise there.  (No way would he have been happy with a cheesy surprise party where he had to foot the bill to feed a bunch of people he barely likes!)

snow-filled desert drive

 heading up to the resort - pine trees!  snow covered roads!  looking good!

So. Much. Snow.

Such. Cute. Offspring.

Grace Glamour, post-ski-helmet.

Never a cuter hot-chocolate sipper.

Never a better 40.

So, the snow was relentless. It literally snowed the entire time we were there - for 3 days.  We would ski on fresh snow to the bottom of a run and by the time we got back to the top of the lift, the snow would be completely fresh again.

 The mountain conquerors.  David and Grace skied so many black runs, I couldn't believe it.  Harriet and I followed them down one.  We all made it, but just barely.  At least the snow was deep so you didn't get going super fast. Grace wiped out once and disappeared into snow so deep you couldn't see her.  The kids were just in heaven to be in that much snow.

 Ice-cicle eaters

We really don't have a ton of pictures from the trip because it was so cold, it was hard to take your hands out of your gloves to get to your phone.  Then, half the time, it was too cold for your phone to even work - had to go heat it up in the lodge.  Then, if you actually did get it out and get a shot, the snow had your phone wet before you could put it away.  Plus, all the skiing - no time for pics!

Happy 40th, David.  Thanks for inviting the three of us to your party.  We feel pretty lucky.

We came home from the trip exactly on Sunday, March 1st, and invited David's parents and Christine over for birthday dinner.  Everyone looks so tired in these pictures.  It's because we had just gotten back from the most epic ski trip we've ever taken.  

I made David a carrot cake and decorated it with LEGO guys doing his favorite things - skiing, biking, and 4x4 driving.  Grace got a stack of her favorite lemon bites.

 Grace - sporting her new hat from Wolf Creek.  Sign of the times: we have a child who wears flat-brimmed hats.  David and I resist the urge to grab the brim with both hands and bend it properly!

Pretty sure David already got his birthday wish, but we let him blow out the candles anyway.

Then, of course, David was gone the next day.  He has traveled so much this year.  He was on a work trip for Grace's 12th birthday.  Since there was no daddy to wait for opening presents at night, Harriet wanted to open presents with her before school, so we took them all into her bedroom and Hattie climbed in with her and they dug into them.

Harriet gave Grace some cars for her new hot wheels track!

Aunt Em sent the favorite gift - best U of U hoodie ever.  Grace put it on, and literally didn't take it off for a week, except to shower.  She wore it to school and to bed and everywhere in-between.

12 is a pretty big deal for anyone, but especially in our church.  Having Grace move from Primary to Young Women's was a cool transition.  She was so ready to be done with the kid stuff and has taken the YW by storm.  She loves being in there, and for the first time, loves having girl friends in her life.

The next weekend was Grace's turn for the epic party.  She requested a pok-e-ball cake.  I still have no idea what it is, but I totally made it!

She had her friends over for pizza and cake on a Friday night, the day after her birthday.

Harriet loves her sister so much, she can't handle it sometimes.

Not sure I know anyone who loves their birthday as much as Grace does.  

She considers it a national holiday.

 Entertaining kids as they get older gets harder and harder to do at the house, so we took them all to Blades to ice skate.  I wasn't planning to skate with them, but I ended up renting a pair to skate with Harriet.  I didn't have a hat, so I borrowed her Hello Kitty beanie!

Grace.  Still in her U of U sweatshirt.

Carter, Quintin, Aiden, AJ, Nico, Grace, Kayla, Harriet

They all seemed to have a blast.  Even the kids who fell 100 times were begging to come again.

Happy Birthday, Grace!  We love you and are so glad you have been in our family for 12 years.