Our Spring break trip to branson

Last week Misti and I decided that we were going to take the little girls to Branson for Spring break.  Misti's girls ended up getting sick the morning we were leaving and Brynlee ended up getting strep, but we decided to go ahead anyway!  I'm glad that we did, we had a lot of fun.  Kayla opted to stay behind and stay with dad and grandma so she could do some more individualized shopping.  We had a ton of fun exploring the resort. 

After that we headed to Branson landing.  It is one of our favorite shopping spots.  The girls were excited to go to Build-A-Bear.  We had promised them that would be there reward for their straight A's and great reviews at parent teacher conference.

There is music that plays when the water show is going and the girls love dancing to it.

I let the girls pick out whatever they wanted for their stuffed animal and it was fun to see what they each selected.

The next day we headed to Springfield to shop at the indoor mall and later to go to the Discovery center.  The girls were digging up bones in this picture.

Callie was so brave to lay on the bed of nails!

The girls were able to be news anchors for the evening news.

One of our favorites is the giant bubble maker!

Happy Birthday to our Kayla Mayla

I don't know when I started calling her that nickname, but it's just so fun to say, isn't it?  Kayla turned 15 on Tuesday.  She is a beautiful, tall girl.  We haven't measured her recently, but she must be close to 6 ft now, because I'm about 5 ft 10 and she's got a couple inches on me.  

Things about Kayla:

~ Kayla has developed a real love for volleyball these past couple years and we love going to watch her do something she loves.  

~She has a tender heart for her baby sister Brynlee and I love seeing how close they are. 

~Kayla loves to eat! Sometimes in the morning we find her sitting indian style in front of the fridge with the door wide open, pulling out item after item.  I think our grocery bill has doubled in the past year or so :) 

~She is very social and loves to be with her friends! 

Hippy and Brad's Birthday

For my job I get to plan a group meeting once every 3 months for my coworkers and my Hippy students and their families.  This is one of my favorite parts of my job.  I love throwing parties/planning events.  I decided to have my meeting on "colors".  We made a liquid rainbow for our science activity, sang/read "Pete the Cat", played with a giant colorful parachute, played with colorful playdough and colorful light boxes and did a fun rainbow craft activity.  I also taught the kids about their primary and secondary colors.  I think it was a big hit!

Last week was Dr. Seuss week, this was wacky wednesday:

Sunday was Brad's birthday and now that he is released from his calling he was able to come with me for my calling and go to a unit conference in another part of the stake. It's so great being able to sit with him on Sundays.  I didn't realize how much I had missed that!