Signs of Spring

It feels like Spring took a long time coming this year. In fact, it feels like Summer is nearly here and I somehow missed Spring.

Tulips - what I call God's gift to Mothers.
They come back every year whether I get out there to garden yet, or not.

I love the contrast. It's a good thing I took these pictures the other day,
because Adam practiced Tball on them a few days later.

Flox - my favorite. (also just comes back each year - yeah!)

Spring Band Concerts...

Nathan and Lena had a great time being in band together this year.

The Monster Concert included 7 schools, including Caylee's,
so Lena got to be in the same concert as her cousin.


Spring Pictures

Braces... can't believe she'll be all done before she even hits jr. high.


Nathan's sweet innocent smile.

Sam's funny smile. He loves school.


Jacob said the photographer told him to hold his earlobe
and so he squeezed it until it hurt.


End of Spring Soccer means...

soccer cupcakes...

2 1/2 dozen of them!

YUM!

Date in the middle of the day.

This is one of the few modern art exhibits that I actually like. 80,000 pounds of books stacked meticulously. My dream library.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Wow

This was unreal

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Nathan's Emigration Report - David Richards

Nathan's Emigration Report was due today. I was impressed by how neatly and carefully he colored and wrote. He had to handwrite his pedigree chart and report and do a poster. He really enjoyed learning about Wales and his great great great grandfather, David Richards.

On this line, he had to go back to the 6th generation to find the relative that emigrated. The baby in the picture is Elsie Richards, Nannie's mother. She and her husband Albert Kohler lived on the farm in Midway where we go play and camp each summer for the Kohler Reunion.

Thanks to Aunt Raeann, we found a picture of the boat they came on in 1860, The Underwriter, plus other information about the trip at http://www.lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/person.php?id=91784&q=David%20Richards. Thanks to Nannie we already had his history and some great pictures of he and his family. We found that history as well as his journals, and Nannie's account of visiting Wales herself on http://welshmormonhistory.org/.

Nathan learned that Wales is one of 4 countries that make up the UK: Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The longest river in the UK, The Severn, is in Wales.

And he really loved drawing this dragon (the Welsh Flag). He did an impressive job on his artwork, just looking and sketching. I don't think he knew he could do that.

Christmas Card in March!

I was going to post an electronic Christmas Card in December, and here it is March! But, I've been sick for 6 days now, and my head feels better when I'm sitting up, so I'd might as well start blog catch up, right? (Since I haven't posted much since the last Christmas Card!)

The Lindsay Top 10 of 2010~ 10 years with Kids

1. Adam is the center of the family, and he seems to know it. He is so fun and keeps us all smiling. He loves books and isn’t afraid to expect a lap and a story from any visitor or family member.

2. Disneyland- This time was especially fun, since the kids were a little older to enjoy more rides. They wanted to stay way later than we expected and loved every minute together.

3. Weston’s Graduation from Regis University with his Doctorate of Physical Therapy and Fellowship in Manual Therapy. The whole family made a trip of it to Denver, Colorado and had a good time.

4. Cousins : We are so lucky to have a lot of family nearby. We love playing games and celebrating birthdays together. We also made it to visit families in Denver and San Francisco whose homes we had not made it to, yet.

5. Hiking! As the kids get older, hiking together gets easier and easier. They do an awesome job and are real troopers. Lena and Weston hiked Timpanogos and made a great memory together.

6. Four Kids in Elementary School. Jacob entered Kindergarten this year and is loving it. Sam is in 2^nd grade and gets “schoolsick” when there’s a holiday. Nathan is in 4^th grade, started the clarinet in the band, which seems to be just his thing. Lena plays the flute and they enjoy practicing and going to band together. Lena is in 5^th grade, getting ready to start her 4^th science fair project and has won first place for 3 years straight- no pressure, right?

7. Soccer keeps us busy, from REAL games to the kids’ games, to Elaine coaching, & Weston reffing. In February, we went to St. George together for a tournament for Lena and enjoyed the “warmer” weather and did some hiking.

8. Primary & Sports are our church callings and they keep us busy. Elaine enjoys being involved with the kids at church- Primary’s a great place to be. She also enjoys doing some church sports together with Weston, like Ultimate Frisbee and Coed Volleyball.

9. The boys’ room. Our newest, biggest project we’ve undertaken has been a lot of learning as well as rewarding and the 3 boys enjoy their cool Space Room.

10. First Marathon Together. In September, Weston & Elaine did the Top of Utah Marathon. To continue with the training in 2011, they signed up for the Ogden Marathon next.

Christmas Card

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create modern Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

It's that time of year...

Ah, Christmas Cards. Each year, I think, “I’m just going to go digital and skip the post office.” But, then I remember all the friends and family that enjoy an actual picture and update in their hot little hands. And, of course, I love the pictures I receive and being able to put other people’s Christmas cards up as part of the holiday decorations. Plus, this year, rather than taking all the kids one by one to get their yearly picture taken, (and not own the copyright to them) we went up to their Great Grandparent’s one morning in the fresh 9 inches of snow, and took our fun pictures. What a great memory! They love playing there in the backyard, and these pictures are already a fun memory. My cousin Julie lives close by and did a great job being our photographer.

So, now I can do whatever I want with my photos. Yeah! My cousins’ wife shared on her blog about Shutterfly’s great cards and their deal for 50 free ones, so I decided to try it, plus it got me back on my blog! But, I’ll have to hurry if I’m going to get them out for Christmas. I’ve done a few things with Shutterfly in the past. I love photobooks. They make the perfect gift for Grandparents. Last year I did a book with pictures from all of my siblings’ families and it was so easy to pull off just getting photos from each family. I remember past projects for special occasions and how much harder it was to pull something like that off. Now, we can make something once, and order as many copies as we want. Love it. Shutterfly is easy to use and it will even put your pictures into an entire book and then you can just make the changes you want. I haven’t made the total digital scrapbooking switch, but have played with it. I think it is such a fun and efficient way to go. They take up less room, and making multiple copies is feasible. My cousin’s wife (different one- I have a lot of great cousins through marriage) does a digital scrapbook and “publishes” it by each year. It’s so fun to see the hardbound picture books their kids can flip through and remember their family adventures.

As I was deciding what to do for my Christmas card, I looked at a couple of different photo websites and Shutterfly had the best layouts for what I wanted. We have 5 kids and I wanted to include each of their individual pictures as well as our family shot. They had several ones to choose from that included 6 photos, other websites didn’t seem to think anyone needed that many pictures on a Christmas card! I’ve narrowed my Christmas card down to these layouts I liked the best: Family Wall Red, With Love Chartreuse, Pictures in Red Christmas. So, check back closer to Christmas, and I’ll have posted my digital version of my Christmas Card here to share. Good luck with all your fun photo projects!