Busy Weekend

The morning came way too early after a late night out with Emma, but we were on our way out to the airport for 7:30am to help with the Fly-In breakfast.  It ended up being a record breaking year and we fed close to 200 people and had between 250-300 people at the event.  They'd had a bbq and a movie the night before too with people camping over, so there were people, cars, tents, and airplanes everywhere!  They had door prizes and draws for airplane/helicopter rides.  They even had Batman come take pictures with kids and skydivers throughout the event.  

 I didn't get a chance to sit down the entire morning and definitely didn't get anything to eat.  We ran out of yogurt within the first hour, sausages shortly after that and eggs about 45 minutes before we ended.  By the end, we had pancakes available and nothing else.  It was nuts!

As we started cleaning up, Roger's boys wanted to ride in Grandpa's airplane... but Lennard had taken someone up for a ride.  They got the next best thing... one of Grandpa's airplanes that they are currently building! (Murphy Rebel).  Emma and Jeffrey loved it.  Liam - not so much!

We finally got home around just before noon.  Lennard ended up with a flat tire on the truck, so we filled it and got home as quickly as possible before it went flat again.

We took a few minutes to relax in the afternoon and then got to go over to James & Dina's place for a brisket and rib dinner that James had smoked all day.  We invited Cody & Shannon to come with us, so it was quite the party.  (We'd bought the dinner at our recent Youth Auction.)  We didn't stay too late as both kids were extremely overtired from their late nights out the night before.  Lennard and I were ready for bed the same time they were!

Father-Son Camp

Ben was SO excited to go to the annual Father-Son camp that our ward puts on.  He informed Lennard that this year he wanted to sleep in a tent!  Lennard tried to talk him out of it... but he was determined.  They packed up their sleeping bags, our small tent and headed out to the SpringGlen campground in the early afternoon.  

 Ben had so much fun playing with all the other boys, roasting hot dogs over the fire for dinner and most of all - sleeping in a tent!  I guess when it was time to go to bed, he turned over to Lennard and requested some stories about Grandma Nichols... so they spent an hour sharing stories.  So sweet.

I love that these two get to have this event every year to spend together.  Ben loves it and so does Lennard (even if he has to sleep in a tent!).

Mommy-Daughter Date

Since the boys were off at their annual Father-Son Camp, Emma and I decided we needed to do something fun too.  We invited Shannon and her girls to go to Lethbridge with us.  We were going to go have a picnic at a park and let the girls play on the playground, but it ended up being a really windy/chillier day.  

 Shannon picked us up about 4:00 and the girls had SO much fun playing in the back seat together on our way to Lethbridge.  They are so silly together!

We stopped at Payless Shoes where Emma got some cute little runners and Shannon's girls got some sandals.  Then we popped over to Costco, got some groceries and sampled as many things as we could.  The girls loved the huge camp chair!

 Burger King ended up being the pick for dinner... because there was a play place for the girls to play in!  While Shannon and I sat and visited they played!  Win, win!

 We then took the girls mini-golfing.  It was interesting trying to play under black lights... the kids had a blast though, so that's all that matters.

 Frozen Yogurt was the next stop.  We each got a bunch of different samples to try.  Yum!

After a stop at Value Village, where Emma stocked up on a dozen new books to read, we finally headed home.  It was almost 10:00pm when we got home!  We had such a fun night though.  It was great having Shannon and her girls with us.  We'll have to make a tradition out of it now!

Game Night

The kids had soccer tonight.  Lennard was tired, so I took them - and froze!  That wind was cold!  It was quite entertaining to watch the kids.  They all wanted to be goalie... and then just played around with the net!  They had lots of fun though, so I guess that's what it's all about.

FHE

The next four weeks are going to be CRAZY with either swim club, baseball and/or soccer every single night.  We took the chance to go walk around the temple for our family home evening.

 The couple in the Visitor's Center asked us if Emma and Ben are twins.  They are so close to the same height now!

 They offered to take a family picture for us, so we took the chance!

 The kids took turns taking pictures of each other.  Ben was just happy to give me bunny ears - he was giggling so much that I knew exactly what was going on.  Too funny.

Sure love this forever family!

New Bishopric

We had a new bishopric called today!  Cody Toone is our new Bishop.  Duane French is his 1st counselor and Jeff Redford is his 2nd counselor.  Lennard is the Executive Secretary and Greg Salmon is the Ward Clerk.

My parents came in for Sacrament meeting (with Rachel's kids) and then, afterwards, mom took the kids home to feed them while Dad stayed with us for Lennard to get set apart.

Once everyone was set apart, I left Lennard at the church - since he still had to do tithing!  The craziness has started!  He didn't get home until after 5:00 and then had to go out again to meet with the previous Executive Secretary for some training.  Busy, busy, busy!

Piano Recital

The kids had their piano recital tonight.  My mom came in and brought Lauren (she's babysitting Rachel's kids) so she could see them.  

Ben did a number called "Half-Time Show".  It was cute watching him keep time by bobbing his head in time to the music.

 Emma played "Haunted Mouse" and did a good job.

The kids love Kaci as their teacher.  We'll get her for one more year and then we'll have to find a new teacher.  She's getting re-married in June!

 

 The kids have done so well with piano this year.  They both had their pieces memorized and we couldn't be prouder of them.