Monday was supposed to reach 80 degrees. That is hot here. So we packed up and headed to the lake. Ella is my little water baby. She’s never been afraid of the water. But, my days of having her sit with me on the blanket and eat are over. She loved the water. (She’s in the orange swim suit with green bucket.) Jameson found the raft I bought at the end of the season last year, and played on that the whole time. (He’s on the raft in the first picture.)

I soaked up as much sun as possible, and ended up with a slight sunburn. You wouldn’t think a sunburn would feel good, but it feels good to know the sun was finally reaching us here in Washington. We also finally got to use the wagon the kids got for Christmas. It was awesome. I don’t know how I will fit everything plus a baby, but we’ll figure that out later. For now, I was content to be the beached whale. And now, I actually have a a few tan lines. Who knows when it will be warm enough for the beach again, but we loved it.

After a fun filled Saturday, Sunday was Mother’s Day. Last year, I was out of town with the kids for Mother’s Day. This year was a little better. Kevin got up early and made me breakfast. He made me waffles, which he doesn’t like, and cut up a bunch of fruit. He even arranged it nicely on the plate, all decorative! He had to wake up the kids (they were still exhausted from Saturday), and we all had a nice breakfast.

Then, Kevin had to pack and get ready to catch his plane. He had to leave again to do testing for his project. So, I got to haul everyone to church by myself. Luckily, the kids did pretty well. Ella went to nursery with her nursery leader so I didn’t have to deal with her fake crying. Jameson was supposed to give his testimony in primary, so I went with him. The whole morning we were talking about what a testimony is and what to say. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea, and kept telling me he didn’t want to. When we got to the primary room, he said he needed to sit in the front to give his testimony. When it was his turn, I was helping him, but trying to help him come up with something on his own. I asked him why he loved Jesus and his response in the mic was, “I don’t know.” So we wrapped it up pretty quick after that. After church, the kids had Mother’s day presents for me. They had drawn on kitchen towels for us. So cute, and useful.

Jameson wrote his name, a tree with apples, a fence, grass, and I think it was a wolf. His teacher also helped him make me a cookie. She told me he wanted to make me a big cookie. That he did.

Ella’s towel had her hand prints on them plus some doodles.

The back had a quote about motherhood. I’ll have to update that later, though. So even though Kevin was gone, it turned out to be a nice day.

While out shopping for birthday presents, Jameson saw this mask and had to have it. Since he had been pretty good after I dragged him around to a bunch of stores, I said ok. In fact, he wore it throughout the rest of the mall. Lovely. Ella loves it, too.

Kevin got home later then expected Sunday night.  We were out in the back yard enjoying the nice weather May brought us. He walked in, and Ella spotted him in the house. They were so excited after not seeing him in a week. I was too! They went around the backyard and found dandelions. Kevin was trying to teach Ella how to blow the seeds from the stem.

Something they frequently do is lay on the tramp and watch for birds. Or airplanes. Ella gets so excited when the planes go by.

We might need to upgrade to a larger trampoline. These kids love their daddy.

I wanted to get a picture of the kids at the temple while the flowers were still in bloom. So, we took of after church and headed straight to the temple. Of course, by 4 in the afternoon, the kids are not going to cooperate with me, especially since Kevin was out of town again. I was on my own. Trying to get these two together for a picture was ridiculous.

After investigating the front of the temple, I took the kids around to the back side. I’m not sure I have ever brought them over to the temple. We drive past it all the time, but never stop to walk the grounds. We’ll have to come over more often.

Ella didn’t want to leave. When I finally gave up on taking a good picture, and we were ready to go, she took off the other direction. Do you see her running on the hill side? She’s the little dot by the street lamp.

Crazy girl. At least they had a good time, and it was a gorgeous day.

Jameson has gotten big into playing “restaurant.” Saturday, after we had some friends over for a birthday bbq (their birthday not ours) I found this set up in his room. Him and his friend had set up their restaurant. They had all the stuffed animals set up with place settings and food. I didn’t realize it at first, but then realized what they did. Pretty clever kids.

Uncle Paul was here for a visit, so I made good use of his time. I have been bugging Kevin about a swing set on and off for a while now. Well, he had to go out of town for work, Paul was here, and I found some swing sets. I sent emails on two different ones, and only got one response. So, we negotiated a price, and I told Paul he got to move a swing set for me. While we were disassembling it, the other person emailed me, so I asked my friend if she wanted the other one. We finagled some deals and pick up times. Then, the next day, rented a trailer and set Paul to work. We picked up mine, came home to drop it off, then Paul headed out to pick up the other one. In order to get it in the backyard, Paul took apart our fence. I asked the missionaries if they could come help, and they were more than happy to oblige. Jameson had to go get his tools and help, along with Ella.

After we got both swing sets in the backyards, Paul got the treat of putting them back together. Lucky for him, the next day it rained, so he got to take a couple days off. He got our friend’s put together first, then finished ours on Saturday.

Once they were all together, we decided a bbq was in order to test them out. The kids loved it. Here is Ella and her best bud, who she also calls Ella even though that is not her name, getting their chance on the swings.

It has been heaven. Well, when it’s nice enough to send them out to play. The first few days it was nice weather, and the kids went out first thing in the morning. I can actually make dinner without them in the kitchen or fighting. I told Kevin it was totally worth it, and the bright side was, he didn’t have to do anything. It just magically appeared… thanks to Paul.

I had asked Jameson if he wanted to go to the park and he replied, “Mom, we don’t need to go to the park. We have swings right here.” Awesome. When Kevin got back in town and he saw how much the kids love it, he finally admitted it might be worth it. 🙂

It is not uncommon to find Jameson like this. His imagination never stops. He was showing me some karate moves.

I do love this child.

Thursday, April 19th, we started our journey home. It was a big travel weekend. Mom was headed to Utah for Paul’s graduation from BYU, Weston was headed to Idaho to go to prom with his girl friend… yes, you read that right, and I was starting my drive home. Luckily, my cousin was able to ride with me so I didn’t have to make the long trip by myself with the kids. We left in the early afternoon, and made it to Medford a little after 8 pm. We got a hotel for the night, where none of us slept well. Well, maybe the kids did, but Jen and I didn’t.

We got up and got back on the road. The kids did pretty well, until nap time. Ella will refuse to take naps on trips. You just have to let her break down, and then she gives up. We did pretty well, though, and made it home just after 6 pm. The kids were so excited to see Dad, and I was so excited to have everyone in their own beds again.

We had a great trip, and will now be home bound till at least July. My doctor wasn’t too thrilled that I drove that far. But, we got out frequently, and walked around so everything was fine. I had a doctor appointment a few days after getting back, and everything was looking good and on track. We even made it with no one getting car sick on the way home. Success!