Happy Hunting!

Well, the Easter Egg hunt was a hit as usual! Nana Emerson has the perfect yard to hide tons of eggs in. You can probably hide at least two dozen in the ivy alone!
Lincoln was much better at finding the eggs himself this year. Although, he was still more interested in just walking around asking us what everything was! He is talking so much these days, it's so cute. But it also makes me realize just how much he is growing up! This time really does fly by!

We also got to spend time with Justin's family. Lincoln fell asleep on the way to Nana Fe's house. But he did wake up enough to find some more eggs. He really liked finding the eggs here because they were full of fun things like candy and cars!

Here is a picture of all the Vegas kids in their new Easter clothes. My Mom sure does an amazing job. The girls each had an English Smocked section on their dresses. And each one was a little different. Oh and don't forget the ties for the boys! (I have to take a little pride in those since I actually sewed them. There was a lot of instruction from my Mom, but I did put them together with the help of my sewing machine! Maybe this will be the start of a new hobby! I doubt it, but you never know!!)

Dyed Eggs and Hands!

Easter means it's time to dye Easter Eggs again! It is always an interesting experience with the kids. They are usually very excited, but in the end the adults tend to do most of the dying! And I guess considering there were 9 dozen eggs to color, that is to be expected.
We gave Mabry and Lincoln there own eggs and color. Which for some reason sounded like a good idea, but turned in to a giant mess! In the process of trying to get our cameras ready and things set up both the little ones dove right in--literally! Before we knew it Lincoln had a blue hand and Mabry had orange! Thankfully, we were able to get the colors off there hands in the tub!

County Fair

Justin and I experienced another first today! We took Lincoln to the Clark County Fair. And by the time we were through we were very grateful that he was not big enough to think he had to do any of the activities! It could cost you a pretty penny to take your family out there! For Heavens Sake, they wanted $6 to ride the ponies! Lucky for us Lincoln did not know what he was missing. And there were plenty of free things to do, so we still had a lot of fun.

There was an animal extravaganza show, they had tigers and a monkey as well as a few other varieties of cats. Lincoln was enthralled with all the animals, and it was a free show, so it was well worth it! There was also a large warehouse full of animals-all of which had been entered in the competition. So there were lots of chickens, rabbits, goats, and pigs. Lincoln liked everything except for the fact that he was not allowed in to the cages with the goats! (I think he was remembering his experience at the Zoo!!) He also wasn't too fond of the giant mommy pig that brushed up against him when he was looking at her babies. I actually think it was a reaction to another child's intense dislike of the pig that caused him to think he needed to react in the same way!

There were tons of food vendors and rides. But we pretty much stayed away from those. We did break down and try Deep Fried Oreo's, and lets just say they were an experience!

Taking it Easy

I can not believe it is already Thursday, that means Spring Break is almost over!! :( I must admit it has been a pretty full week, and we got quite a bit done. For example, Justin fixed the sprinklers in the front yard, well added some in more than fixed. There was an entire corner that had no sprinklers, which has made it almost impossible to keep anything alive over there. We also put together the bookshelf we bought at Ikea, and I have gotten some of the Spring cleaning items on my list marked off. This was on top of all the fun we have been having together. So I guess it is not a bad that we kept the activities to a minimum today.

Lincoln and I went to the park, and he and Justin got a haircut, other than that we stayed pretty close to home. Lincoln loves the park! He could probably stay there all day if we let him. He also loves to be one of the big kids and will basically try to do anything the other kids are doing. Today, it was just him and a little boy who was probably 8. Lincoln just about mimicked everything that little boy did. Or at least tried to! There are still some things he is just not big enough to do!

The Vegas Zoo

Okay, If you did not know about the Zoo here in Vegas you probably are not the only one. But the image of a Zoo you have in your head, probably needs to be modified a little bit for this Zoo. First, it's is hot in Vegas so there are no animals on Display that aren't able to handle the heat. Second, the Zoo sits on 3 acres of land, so there really is not a lot of room for any large exhibits.
Now prior to today, I had only been there once in my life. And my memory of that place was not a great one. So I was a little apprehensive about taking Lincoln there. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Now, once again this is not a place I would go in the summer, as I imagine it would be a hot, smelly place. But it really was not as bad as I remembered. It is no Denver or San Diego Zoo, but Lincoln had a great time, so that's really all that mattered.
There are lions, otters, monkeys, turtles and tortoises, ostriches, emus, and a few other animals in exhibits. But the biggest attraction for Lincoln were the birds. And not the ones in cages! There were tons of pigeons that have attached themselves to the Zoo, as well as chickens roaming free. Lincoln thought it was hilarious to chase these birds around. He chased those birds form one end of the Zoo to the other, laughing the whole way. He nearly trampled some of them as they did not move very fast!
He also had a great time in the with the Goats. It is the interactive area where you can feed and pet them! He was not scared of them at all, and found quite a bit of joy in running back and forth on their bridge! (If you have not noticed, running is pretty much how Lincoln gets everywhere!) He also got to feed the birds, which he loves to do. He is not very good at it, but he loves it anyway!

Redrock & Swimming

We got a pretty early start to the day this morning. Nothing like when I have to actually go to work, but pretty early for a vacation day! Our first adventure of the day was a hike with all the kids up in Redrock Canyon. We opted to complete the Children's Discovery Hike for two reasons, one we had a time limit and two we knew all the kids could handle it. And since we still only have one child carrier it was not a good idea to take an unfamiliar route where Lincoln might not be able to walk on his own.

It was Lincoln and I, Rachel and her 5 kids, and our friends the Meads. So we had a pretty large group. What was nice is we arrived so early in the morning we actually got a parking spot , usually when we go we have to park along the side of the road. And we only saw one other couple on their way down as we hiked up. So when we arrived at the water fall, our kids got to enjoy the area by themselves for most of the time. What was so crazy is we all made sure to take our jackets, but we definitely did not need any of them! It was quite warm.

The kids also had a good time playing with all the caterpillars we found along the trail. I have no idea what type of caterpillars they are or what they will turn in to later, but there are hundreds of "nests" writhing with them among the bushes. Lincoln was the first to spot one on the trail, but from there I think every child was able to touch a live caterpillar, that is those that would actually touch them!

Lincoln has learned that Mabry despises having someone touching her stuff. So his new passion is to annoy her at every turn! If she is sitting in the high chair he will walk over and grab the edge, if he is in the car seat next to her in the car, he will place his hand on her chair. He doesn't need anything, but he knows it pushes her buttons. And the more she complains and tries to push him off, the more determined he is to keep his hand there! I have no idea how to get him to stop, or how to tell Mabry to stop letting it get to her, so I hope he grows out of it soon!

We also went swimming in Worthen Circle this afternoon. The pool is indoors and heated, so although it has not been warm enough to heat most pools, we were still able to enjoy the water. Lincoln loved it and had a good time jumping in. The only problem was the tiles in the pool area are very slippery, so there were quite a few times he slipped as he tried to jump from the side. It did not seem to slow him down very much but it made me a lot more nervous. He also went down the water slide. Which although he initiated the climb up the ladder, I don't think he was too sure about it when arriving on the top. But he went down without much hesitation. I caught him at the end, and although he did not go down again, I think he liked it!

Needless to say he took quite a good nap this afternoon. He was a very tired little boy!

Cleaning Up & Springs Preserve

What a day! I spent the morning straightening up a few odds and ends around the house. I even got to clean out the bathroom cabinets thanks to Lincoln hanging out with his Aunt Lorina and Christina this morning! That's a job I am pretty sure he would not have willingly let me do alone if he had been here! He loves to open those drawers!!
But no worries I got to do something fun too. Rachel and I took the kids to the Springs Preserve. This was our first trip to the preserve, so we were not really sure what to expect. Because money is tight for everyone and we brought along some extras, we did not actually pay to enter the main buildings. Instead we took advantage of the free areas. And in case you were wondering just how many kids we had with us for this little adventure- there were 9!!
They have a large playground type area for the kids with rocks to climb on and a train to ride. The train does not actually go anywhere, but that did not seem to matter to Lincoln. He had a ton of fun steering the train even though it was not moving! He even got to see what it might be like to be a turtle!! And there was a giant rattlesnake that would hiss and rattle every so often, which was very exciting to Lincoln. So much so, that he would join in with the hissing!
After letting the kids play for a while we walked through a small part of the gardens. They are pretty nice and they identify the plants for you so you don't have to wonder what the plants are. We did not get out to the actual trail area, so maybe we will get to that area next time.
On the way home we stopped at 7-11 and bought the kids some slurpee's. There is nothing better than that on a hot day! And if you have not tried the new Mutant Berry I highly suggest it! It's yummy!!

Spring Break

Spring Break officially starts tomorrow! I am so excited to have the time off, hopefully I will be able to get everything on my to do list done! I should probably be in bed already if I am ever going to have a chance to do that, but here I am!

My Little Daredevil

Congratulations Lauren!

We were so glad we were able to make it up to Rexburg to celebrate Laurens baptism with her. (Even if it was freezing cold, at least by our Vegas temperature gauges!) It was a great time and our only regret is that we could not stay longer!

Lincoln did really well considering the number of hours he got to sit in his car seat. We tried to keep him entertained, but there is only so much you can do from the front seat of a car. You would think the car ride would put him to sleep like it does to everyone else, but he really did not sleep much longer than usual. Shorter even maybe on some days!
We did split up our driving into two days each way, so that probably helped out quite a bit in keeping ourselves sane. This of course did not allow us to stay in Rexburg as long as we would have liked, but we filled as much fun as possible into the time we had as possible!
The kids swam in the pool everyday we were there. and I think Lincoln has found a new passion. Last summer he was still pretty small so probably has no recollection of swimming, although he has done it before. He is now old enough to really become an active participant in the act of swimming. Although, I think he likes the jumping part of it more than the swimming part. I got a total upper body workout as I caught and then lifted him out of the pool over and over again! (As you can see in the video!) He started out a little hesitant about the whole thing, but by Sunday night in Cedar he had no fear whatsoever!
The Baptism went well, although Lincoln was not very reverent! He escaped under the bench in front of us (which was completely empty) and before anyone could stop him proceeded to run back and forth in front of the baptism kids and their Dads who were sitting on the front bench. I was stuck in the middle of the row so could not get out and for some reason Justin went to the back of the chapel thinking he would run the full loop, which he did not. He just kept running back and forth between the two aisles. Luckily, Landon finally grabbed him and handed him back! Hopefully, they have all forgiven us for the small disruption! :)
On the way home we took Lincoln to Valley of Fire. It has been a long time since either Justin or I have been there, so it was fun to experience it again. Lincoln seemed to like climbing on the rocks but he was probably most excited by the Lizards, he just could not understand why they did not want to stay and play! They have a new Visitor Center, with a few live animals (snakes and scorpions) that Lincoln was quite excited to see. All I know is it is probably not a place you would want to go in the summer as it was pretty warm and it was only March!!
Overall, we had a great time on our little vacation. We might not get a chance for much more than that this summer as Justin does not get any official time off until after his year mark with UPS. That's not until November!! :( So we are going to have to make the most of our weekends this summer as we can.
**Since I don't have my brother living close, I have to make due with purchased furniture so we purchased a new bookshelf at IKEA that we get to put together for our Bedroom. The original bookshelf has been taken over by Lincoln and all his toys in the Living Room!