Wrapping up our crazy April

At the end of April we made the long drive to Utah for Tom and Fawn's wedding. We were so glad to be there, it was worth the trip. My awesome sister in law Angelena took this picture of our family on the Monticello Temple grounds. You can see the horsehead on the mountain in the background. It looks like it's sitting on my head for those of you who have never seen it before.

Congratulations Tom and Fawn! We love you guys!

You can't tell in this picture, but it was snowing. There wasn't enough to stick around but the kids got a kick out of it.

My wonderful cousin Brooke and her family often let us crash at their place on our trips to Utah. It's always so fun to see them and the kids have a great time together.

Sutter's Fort

In January Emily started taking after school classes once a week to learn all about early pioneer life in California. These classes would eventually culminate in an overnigt visit to Sutter's fort. The day they spent there they would act as if they were real pioneers in the 1800's. It was a really great experience for her and Geoff who also got to play the part of early California settler. The rest of the kids and I along with Poppy, Christi and Taylor joined them for dinner that night. What a great experience!

Happy to see "Eny".

and Daddy..

Enjoying the sack races.

Ending the night with dancing!

Ryan and Kate wanted to stay in the sleeping bags so bad. It was lots of fun dragging them from the fort kicking and screaming.

Ryan turns 4!

I am going to make an effort to get this blog up to date. Forgive me for my ineptness. :)

Our little Ry guy turned 4 on March 7. Where does the time go?!? He's such a funny kid and is always entertaining us. We are so grateful to have him in our family.

Is his birthday cake rockin' enough for you? It tasted as good as it looks. Since at this age it's more about what's on the cake then what the cake tastes like I decided to try a recipe I saw on my cousin's blog. It was worth the effort. Here's the link if you're interested, Chocolate Cake Magnifique

It's all about Star Wars for this little guy.

Just part of the keeping us entertained talent.

One of my favorties. I love this guy!

I feel bad that I have not been updating my blog as I should, sorry Grandma. We have been existing and doing lots of fun stuff so I'll try and get everything up to date. This was our trip to Portland at the begining of April to see my sister Amber and her husband Shayne. We had a great time visiting the Tillamook cheese factory (of course I forgot my camera), trying out ice skating for the first time, building lego sets and eating Pine State Bisquits, so yummy! It was just the beginning of a whirlwind month! Here's a few of the pics from the trip.

Nate decided to really test the tooth fairy's abilities and lost his two front teeth while we were visiting.

Kate waiting for us to finish skating.

The kids and I decided to try out ice skating for the first time. Darn those olympians, they make it look so easy.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's Nate trying to break his arm.

Hanging out with Uncle Shayne and Aunt Amber while Ryan sticks something up Nate's nose. Thanks for letting us crash your place! We sure had fun!

The End of 2009

I am so very behind in my blogging. Here is what happened the rest of our Christmas vacation. For New Year's we headed to L.A. We had loads of fun with lots of Adams' family cousins. We visited the L.A. Zoo and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. A good time was had by all!

The tiger is coming, here's their scared faces.

Some of the cousins at the zoo.

Emily vs the California Condor, LA Zoo

The view from outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It was seriously gorgeous up here.

That is Air Force One in the background. Surprisingly it's not as impressive inside as I thought it would be. (Reagan Library)

At the Reagan library before they told me to quit using my flash.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks, that's Geoff rocking out to Rock Band.

The Before Christmas Fun

As always it was crazy busy before Christmas this year, so here's a run down of some of our "pre" Christmas festivities.

The Sunday before Christmas, all dressed up.

The kids annual Christmas piano recital.

Granny and Poppy with most of their grandies.

Our little gift Kate.

The annual Christmas Eve, just opened their new pj's so let's take your picture in front of the fireplace and get your butt's to bed or Santa won't leave you anything picture.

Nutcracker 2009

The kids participated in their schools annual Nutcracker performance. This year Nate was part of the Reed Flutes and Emily was an Arabian dancer. It was fun to watch; however, Nate was not going to hold his partner's hand no matter what. Luckily the mom of his partner is a good friend and didn't kick Nate afterwards. It's always fun to see a school performance. You never know what you're going to get!

After the show.

Thankfully they were supposed to pull the pouty face.

Em the Arabian dancer.

You can almost tell what she's thinking, "How did I get stuck with this guy? Just grab my hand for crying out loud!"

And just because it's Kate.

Emily also earned her Faith in God award at church. Her leaders sure know how to motivate these girls. That is the biggest cookie I've ever seen.