Bakersfield and Abby's Baptism

School got out and the next day we drove to Bakersfield for Abby's baptism.  Cousin time is the best time, and all of us were looking forward to being together.

Don't let the cuteness of that milkshake drinking girl fool you.  She is a terrible road tripper!  Stopping in Fresno for a strawberry shake cooled her screams for a while, but all too soon she was back to her screaming serenade.  It won't last forever...right?

 Abby's baptism was so sweet.  I loved the talks and Sammie and her friend played a violin duet that was just incredible.  Noah is the next grandkid to get baptized, and I so appreciate Abby's good example of choosing to follow Jesus by being baptized and just by being an awesome kid.

 We were just missing Charlie in this cousins picture.  Oh, Ohio, you are TOO far away!

Not only is she a terrible road tripper, Leah is also a pretty pathetic sleeper away from her crib.  I'm so tempted to just disassemble that crib and take it with us whenever we travel, because the nights can be bad!  Surviving the exhaustion was paramount to picture taking, but I'm so glad I captured this cute one with Olivia when we went to the park.  Olivia, Sammie, and Abby just take over when we're with them.  They look out for our kids and love spending time together,

 The primary in Bakersfield is a little small, so Luke's age was combined with the Sunbeams.  It was perfect because he and Brielle got to be in the same class.  His lesson was "I am thankful for my eyes," and he thought these glasses his teacher made were the best thing ever.

Baseball: Season Three

We weren't planning on a season three of baseball, at least not for this year.  But at the very last minute Noah wanted to play, and we were able to make it happen.  It was too late to get on his team from last year, so it was a bit of a gamble to end up on a team of unknowns.

But these coaches and parents were awesome.  All season long it felt like Noah had ended up exactly where he was supposed to be.

Opening Day back in March is always my favorite.  There is so much celebration involved for little kids playing baseball.

Nate had to work, but Luke and Leah were a great cheering section as we watched the parade and cheered for those Braves.

Every season Noah improves.  This season his hitting was fun to watch as it transitioned to coach pitch.  He was usually 3 for 4, which I'd say is a pretty good start.  He worked incredibly hard to earn the game ball, and, oh boy when it finally happened he was all smiles.

He thought receiving a medal instead of a trophy at the end of the season was awesome.

I love this boy, and I love watching him play, whatever the sport is!

Last Day of School!

As the last week of school approached Noah said, "Mom, guess what?  Mrs. Chan said on the last day of school we get to come and just play.  Can you believe it?  Just play!  No learning or anything!"  He could hardly wait.  Actually, all of us were excited to welcome summer and the fun that awaited.  I couldn't wait for him to walk out of that door and be done with kindergarten!

I coordinated the last day of 'just playing' with Mrs. Chan.  Being the room parent this year has been more work that I expected, but I've loved being involved.  And Noah has told me over and over how much he's loved that I'm doing it.  It's been awesome for both of us.

So, naturally, I couldn't miss the last day.  I was too busy running the snack station to see Noah do much else.  But I did make sure he got seconds (and thirds) and as much whipped cream as he wanted on his treat.

This boy has grown so much.  He's a fluent reader, a whiz at math, and (my favorite) he's just a good friend.  I have loved watching Noah grow and experience the magic of learning at school.

These three other cuties are in primary with Noah.  We had to snap a picture of the sixth ward kindergartners before the fun was over!

City Works Day

Once a year our awesome city fills up the parking lot by the library with all of their working trucks.  It's little kid heaven: a street sweeper, garbage truck, fire trucks, ambulance, a city bus, police cars and motor cycles, a rescue boat, the list goes on.

I wondered how Noah would handle missing it this year since it's in the morning, but thankfully he also had something fun scheduled at school that day.  So Luke, Leah and I headed off for a morning of fun.

By the pictures it looks like the morning was all about Luke, and I guess it kind of was.  The easiest way to manage Leah was to keep her contained in the Ergo.  So I held her while Luke ran from vehicle to vehicle and I took pictures.  It was perfect!  Look that this cute bus driver!

 I had no idea that our police department has an armored SWAT truck.  I sure hope it doesn't get used often! ;-)

 The street sweeper was Luke's favorite.  He thought it was so cool that there were two steering wheels.

Easter

There was so much involved in getting our house ready that I was thankful Easter came along and 'forced' me to think about something besides cleaning, organizing and perfecting our house.

While Nate worked on Saturday the kids and I tried out the city's egg hunt for the first time.  The crowds of people were amazing, but so was the number of eggs Noah and Luke collected.  It was such a fun way to spend the morning!

We also soaked in as much cousin time as possible.

On Saturday afternoon we met up at Nana's house for egg dying.

And Easter Sunday we tried to (mostly) leave the Easter bunny behind and focus on the Savior.  I tried to get a picture of the kids, but Leah kept running off.  So I scooped her up and joined the picture. 

April's Bits

March ended and April began with me being in Utah for Gram's funeral.  With just a few exceptions like having babies and an overnight stay in San Francisco I really haven't been away from our kids.  And it's almost embarrassing how long it had been since I'd been on an airplane.  Yep, since having kids I've been pretty home bound with the occasional road trip and pretty happy about it.  But I have to say, getting away and actually being able to focus on my mom and my task of cleaning out Gram's house without interruption was kind of amazing.  

And, of course, Nate did great, with the occasional phone call or text just making sure he was doing things right. ;-)

I loved getting pictures of the kids happy and enjoying their time with just dad.

Noah's first turn at being catcher came while I was gone.  I don't know what it is about putting on that gear, but every kid feels like they've hit the jackpot when the coach says it's their turn.

Everybody stopped in at the hospital to see Kristina and baby Connor.  Oh, I was having a hard time keeping my jealousy in check!

Moving on, Leah found her reflection in the pots while I was making dinner.

Noah is usually at school when I run errands, so it was kind of a big deal for him that he got to ride the tractors at Lowes.  It's been a while.

Our house went on the market.  This was a tough decision but for sure felt right.  In the end we had ten offers after the first weekend and accepted one that was too good to pass up.  With a 60 day rent back after the close, we are hopeful to find something a little bit bigger that still feels like the perfect place for our family.

But getting your house ready to sell during busy season is no joke.  I was responsible for the majority of it, and it was a ton of work.  And it was often like two steps forward and one step back with our queen of curiosity and messes not far behind.

This fence will probably stand for forever.  Nate and Grandpa Pebley built it years ago together, and silly as it may sound, it's going to be something we really miss after the move.  I guess it's not the fence as much as it is a great memory of Grandpa, his skill, and his desire to always teach precision in your work.

We knew it was impossible, at least for us, to keep the house clean and have an open house so we headed to Tahoe for the weekend while it was happening.  There was still plenty of snow to play in!

Leah was not thrilled when her brothers rigged up a trapeze/zip line off of the bunk bed to practice for their circus performance and she wasn't invited.

But those brothers balance wanting to do their own thing with loving on their sister quite well.  I turned away from the shopping cart to grab something and came back to Noah and Luke smooching their sister in the meat department.  This is one loved little girl!

I don't get many moments like this anymore.  Leah loves to sleep.  In fact she'll lead the way into her room when its nap or bedtime.  But snuggling up in my arms and falling asleep is a thing of the past -- unless she's got a cold.  I held on to this girl for a while and just soaked in my not so little baby.

One day during spring break we finished off errand running with ice cream.  Luke ordered up a scoop of tart orange blossom and loved that it colored up his tongue.