A Beautiful Girl!

All the moms got roses after sacrament meeting for mother's day and when we got home I felt inspired to take a couple shots of Kiki with on of the roses I got.

Just being silly!

Mother's Day!

I just love being a mom.  It is not a hard thing to say when you have the most wonderful children in the world. I am so blessed to have Julien, Logan, and Kia Ora (and Jon, although he is not my child I am still grateful for him) in my life. They are so sweet, kind, funny, smart, talented, and oh so darn cute. They make me proud to be their mom. I love them so so much. And as Logan would say I love them to infinity and beyond, or love everlasting love (he actually writes never lasting in his notes to Jon and I, but we know what he means.)

This day not only reminds me how lucky I am to be a mom, but it also reminds how lucky and blessed I am to have the most wonderful mother myself. She is the most selfless person I know, always putting others first, serving, and caring for anyone but herself. She has made so many sacrifices in her own life to help, serve, and tend for the needs of her family, and friends. I am grateful for all she has done for me and continuously does. She is always there for me, to encourage me, give me advice, and support me. I hope I can follow in her footsteps, and be more kind, loving, and charitable. I love her very much.

 My awesome family. 

Kiki very tired after a long day at church.

Crawfish Boil!

Friday on of Dow's vendors invited us to a crawfish boil. They are quite common down here around this time of the year. In fact towards the end of April all through May, there are crawfish boils every weekend. It was a fun even with all you can eat crawfish, sodas, and hot dog, and chips for the kids (since the crawfish tend to be spicy.) They had also bouncy castles for kids to play on, and gadgets to take home.

Jon showing Julien how to eat a crawfish.

Logan trying his first crawfish!

The verdict was good, but spicy.

Kiki enjoying the food too.

Easter Sunday!

I decided to prepare a nice dinner to celebrate Easter. It was so good everyone enjoyed it.

 The highlight of dinner was definitely desert! A bunny carrot cake with coconut cream cheese frosting. YUM!

 I surprised the kids by putting their swim team shirts with their names in their Easter basket. They really liked them.

Tri-Ward Hunsville Campout

 The Angleton Ward, Lake Jackson Ward, and Brazosport Ward put on an annual family campout in Hunsvillle, TX. The wards reserve 30 to 40 campgrounds, bring sail boats, canoes and hang out for 2 to 3 days. It was an absolute blast. The kids loved hanging out with friends playing games, while the adults hung out and relaxed.

 Kiki loved digging in the sand.

Julien and Jacob playing cards.

Julien and Logan going out on the lake with their friend Korben.

On Saturday morning, Sister Collin's planned an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Both old and small enjoyed chasing after the eggs.

Kiki loved looking for eggs, she did not want to stop.

Logan going as fast as he can.

Julien

 Happy as can be for all the candy they found.

Jon and I took to canoe out several times It was so nice to be out on the lake. It was so relaxing.

Funny story, that was not so funny as it happened. An hour before leaving, Jon and I really wanted to take the canoe out one last time to go look for alligators. Logan and Kiki decided to tag along with us.  Kiki not really having the choice in the matter. We arrived at the place where I had seen an alligator earlier that day while going on a 6 mile walk around the lake with some of the sisters of the tri-ward with Kiki in an umbrella stroller (might i add that the trail was not paved)...Yes! That was fun! (although my tone is sarcastic it actually was a lot of fun, just really really long to push her and carry her thirty and hungry and tired).
Anyhow, we arrived at the spot where I had seen an alligator earlier that day,  and the canoe capsizes with all of us inside. I slightly freaked out, because I could not touch the bottom of the lake, and kiki screamed being scared with her life jacket not fitting quite right, a little worried for Logan who knows how to swim but it is more difficult to swim with a life vest on, all the while in the back of my mind thinking that there was a gator in the exact spot 2 hours earlier.
Jon calmed me down, asked Logan to swim shore which was no more then 25 yards away, and asked me to help him push the boat back to shore.
What did we do with Kiki might you asked? Well, worry not for as I was fluttering my legs in an attempt to swim to shore while pushing the boat with my left hand, my right hand was gripping, lifting Kiki's life jacket up trying to keep her head above water.
After arriving to shore, Jon and I flipped the canoe, got everyone back on the boat with all of our limbs intact and headed back.
That was quite an adventure.

The Hunsville Tri-Ward campout was awesome. We can't wait til next year!

Bobo Daddy!

Sandcastle practrice

Last year, Jon participated in a sandcastle building competition. He liked it so much that he wants to participate again this year. Every two weeks, a practice/ tutorial get together is held at the beach. It was pretty fun. The boys had fun carving, and swimming of course, while Kiki dug in the sand with a puppy.

Work before fun. Here the boys are prepping the sand.

 

They learned how to carve letters.

  

 

 

 

Here is Kiki playing with the dog.