Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Enjoying North Carolina!

Jonah thinks he's a teenager & should be able to pick up his "little" cousins. Here he is w/ Tyler, who's 3&1/2. Cute! (this was at 1 of the 2 graduation ceremonies for my bro)
Slliiiiiipp! Slip-n-slide!

...it has multiple uses. Thirsty?

Alli (me) with my adorable twin nephews - Ben (on the left) & Dan.
Rachael & I have had to relinquish the Burton Twin thrones to these two! It's a good thing they're cute!! :)

Watching Jared play w/ all the kids on the trampoline, us grown-ups (if you can call us that) realized that all the youngest grandkids here are BOYS!!

Jonah still couldn't let go of the whole saluting idea. :) So here's to you, strawberries of North Carolina. You are so yummy. And we salute you.

Merrik w/ his bucket 'o berries.
The Fam. (poor Merrik looks like he's about to sneeze - bless you!) I've made the long drive south to visit family many, many times & it's usually just the boys & me. So this time, we were THRILLED to have Jared with us! Yay!

Arrg! Shiver Me Timbers!

M & Jonah were invited to a Pirate birthday party. Man, were they disappointed to have to dress the part! ...needless to say, they had a super fun time!

Quabbin Reservoir!! Google it. :)

Another favorite hiking spot - the Quabbin Reservoir!
If you google this, you'll find all kinds of really cool historical facts. But the gist of it is - this huge reservoir supplies Boston & it's surrounding towns with water. Back in the 1930's, 4 Massachusetts towns were leveled, burned & flooded to create this amazing reservoir.
We brought Flat Jake so he could learn all about it!
This is above one of the dams that supports the reservoir.


Easter Fun!

*These pictures are out of order, but...*
AJ, Rach & Alexis came to visit the day after Easter. So we extended the fun & had an egg hunt with them, too! This was at the end. Boy, are they worn out!
This was Easter afternoon. Jared, the boys & I went to the noon session of General Conference & then to lunch at Bill & Dolores's house. Here are the cousins! Merrik, Jonah, Jacob & Jisela with their bags of newly found eggs! (some even had money in them - cool!)

Jonah & Merrik with "Flat Jake" - he's our visitor from Colorado! (a self-portrait of my nephew Jake, visiting us for the month of April for a school project - he's come to learn all about Massachusetts!)

On our way to church Easter morning, we made a pitstop at Buffumville Lake to show Flat Jake all the crazy floods we've had! Yes, that is a submerged roof just behind them. Yikes!

At home on Easter morning. M is clearly excited about his new coloring/sticker book! Yeah!

Oh yes, and don't forget the chocolate bunny!!!

The Easter Bunny was very good to the boys. Looks like fun!


Rock Wallin' Alli!

Why yes, that IS a real rock wall I was climbing!!
OK, so maybe not. Our Young Women's (youth group) that I work w/ at church went to the local YMCA for one of our activities. It was loads of fun. I've never done this before. It was a blast.
Nothin' makes your butt look big like being strapped into the harness. Nice. :) But man, was this fun!

Let's Bowl!! ...& later we'll eat Cake!

* * * * MERRIK HAD A BIRTHDAY!!!!!! * * * *
Yeah! High-5! :)
We went bowling to celebrate (Merrik's choice).
Here Jonah is watching for the inevitable crash while M works on his dancing moves!

And - the next evening was cake time!
Happy 4th, Merrik! We love you!!!!

Looks like a repeat from the family gathering we did just one month ago for Jonah's birthday! Thanks for coming out again, everyone! :)

...To The BatCave!!!
(OK, so he's wearing Superman. They're all friends, right?)

Our Young Women Olympians!

Last month we had our Young Women New Beginnings program at the church.
Did an Olympic theme. Above all the girls have their olympic medals on, which we inscribed with our annual scripture theme. It was a great night!
If you want more details, I'm happy to share! Just let me know. :)
Our Olympic cupcakes! :)

Beauty & the Boys

Just a beautiful picture of the lovely area where we live. :)
This was on our hike at Buffumville Lake

Merrik & Jonah just finished sliding down this grassy hill about 27 times on their bums.
Thank heaven for good laundry soap. :)