H A P P Y E A S T E R

We celebrated Easter this year with our dear friends, the Clark's, at their home in Fort Worth. We had a great weekend full of fun... animals, baking, candy, play, play, play! Thanks Clark's for making it a beauitful Easter. Just think back to the one where the boys were turning two - my how they've grown!!

Kaylie is the first to discover that there are eggs hidden outside!
I thought this was a pretty darn cute picture.

H A T
T R I C K

Taylin had a soccer game today and she pulled a "hat trick!" A hat trick is when you score three times in one game. And that is what Taylin did yesterday in her soccer game. You should have seen the smile on her face... and her dad's face, and my face and even Tanner's face. We were so excited and proud of her! She was playing so aggressive and just really doing super well. Way to go Pooks!

(Okay, I'll admit, at first I thought it was called a "turkey," but I know that is in bowling.)

This picture was actually taken before her game, at Tanner's football game. I didn't get any pictures at her soccer game, but I did get all three goals on film!

Refridgerator notes are best!

Dear Mom, Dad, Kaylie, Tanner,

Thank you for being such a nice family! Tanner, you are the nicesed brother I could ever have! Kaylie you to, also you guys are the funyest brother and sister! Mom, you are a great cook! Thank you for everything you have done! Dad, you are a great cook also! Thank you for everything too!

Love,
Taylin

Taylin is the sweetest girl. She is always leaving notes around the house or writing such nice things in her journal. She loves to write. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you just how cute this letter is. It is decorated with crayon and markers and it has rainbow corners, red hearts all the way around the edges of the paper, the note part is outlined in blue and then it is all colored in with pink and some purple. We love and adore her! This note made me smile today, especially because Taylin took me by the hand (away from the computer, imagine that) and showed me she had placed it there!!

Design Mom

When I was at my sister's house, she told me about this website. It has the cutest ideas for things, yes, just things. She says that she posts ideas "on where design and motherhood intersect." I just love that. You should check it out and then try it out... if the shoes fits.

Thanks Tammy for the fun tip!

S P R I N G B R E A K
camping at Lake Georgetown

What a beautiful time we had camping! The weather was so cooperative and it just couldn't have been a better time. We were able to stay two nights which gave us more time to hang out and enjoy time together. Campfires were a favorite as we made tinfoil dinners (new experience and they were good, but we definately have room for improvement), roasted some hotdogs, made smores, and even tried to bake some cookies. Maybe some of you didn't know, but Huy is a genius. He invented his own cookie sheet and although it took about 10 minutes to bake one cookie, it was quite tasty!


One of my favorite things about camping is enjoying a full course breakfast. You just gotta have the pancakes and bacon and OJ when you go camping. I guess my dad spoiled me growing up on our family camp outs! I think everyone enjoyed it.

The fishing wasn't quite up to par - not enough to actually have a dinner from it, but the kids had fun casting and reeling. The also had a few skipping contests which were more like tossing-rocks-into-the-water contests. They were all winners!

We all had a cushy bed in the tent and even though the wind blew quite a bit the second night, we all stayed warm and survived! Kaylie liked to just go in the tent and lay in her bed, even when it wasn't night time.

My visit to Oregon.

Alone, four days, nice.

This is my sister and most of her family (one of her sons is on a mission in Florida) and her second son, Nic, will be leaving on his mission on the 18th to Sau Paulo, Brazil. I went for a few days to visit them and spend some time with Nic as he prepared to go. We had a super nice weekend. My mom was able to come to so I also was able to spend some time with her. And get this, it didn't rain hardly at all which is truely crazy and almost unbelievable. But notice I said hardly - I think it rained one night while we were sleeping so I never really even saw the rain.
(Pictured above, Doug, Tammy, Nic, Megan and me)

We saw a few movies, did a little shopping (some to get things on the packing list for Nic), did some decorating, planted wheat grass for Easter, played a little pool, and lots of eating - one of my families favorite things to do together! I enjoyed my local favorites, Burgerville and their secret sauce, and Muchas - the have great nachos. Oh, and of course, Tillamook ice cream! Gotta get some of that while I'm there - Chocolate Peanut Butter is darn good, but this time I liked Marionberry Pie. Yum!

(My sister, Tammy, my mother, LeeAnn, and me)

One of the best parts about going was that we were able to attend the Portland Temple with Nic. It was a beautiful session and it was nice to share that with my nephew.

Nic spent a few weeks with my family here in Texas a few years back and ever since then, he has been a University of Texas fan (which is kind of funny since our household is not - Huy won't conform just because we live here)! So... his mother believed he needed an apron to take on his mission. And as you'd expect of most 19 year old boys, he insisted he didn't need one until one day after church while eating his lunch, he spilled on his nice, new suit. It was then that he finally agreed that maybe it would be a good idea, but only if he could have one that had "a UT something" on it. It then became my assignment to find one and it really wasn't that hard - those fan stores have everything. He proudly used it while I was there when he made french toast for us!

Nic is a great nephew and I will miss him, but I know he will do wonderful on his mission and have so many experiences that will bless his life, the life of those he teaches, and the lives of his family back home. Good luck Nic. May the Lord bless you. Be good and be safe.
AND WRITE YOUR MOTHER!!!



Thanks for a great time Tammy and Megan!!

And thanks to my sweetie for making it possible for me to go and for taking such great care of the kids while I was away!

Holy Cow, my boy is 10!

I can't believe that more than half of his life in my home is over. My days of teaching him are being numbered so I better pray that he's learning only the good things from me!

He got a new BMX bike. I think his words were, "It's sweet!" He went with his dad to help pick out the one he wanted so we were sure to get it right. He's a new man on that thing and has been begging to go to the BMX dirt track. Mental note, we've got to do that.

We had to come up with yet another idea for some kind of football cake. With the help of Karmen, we made the cake pictured above. It was a 3D football and Tanner had asked for a chocolate and yellow cake so we put a cutting board in the middle of the pan and poured half of each on each side. It was pretty tasty.

Tanner got a large Transformer from Grandma and Grandpa, the Transformer 360 Xbox game from Aunt Linh and Noah and Luke, nice clothes and a gift card from Ba Noi and Ong Noi, Ravin' Rabbits Wii game from the Clarks, his bike from Mom and Dad, knee and elbow pads from his sisters, and the very thing he wanted, a pillow! Thank you everyone!

Tanner invited a few friends (Tanner Walker, Ryan Schroeder, and Connor Kaup) to go with us to Dave & Busters for dinner and then they played some arcade games. After loading up on sugar packets, it was everything we could do to not get kicked out of the joint! Boys make me laugh.

Princess for a day! Again!

Kaylie celebrated her 1st/4th birthday on her first real birthday... Leap Day! She had seven little princess friends come to her party and they all got little princess shirts that said "pretty" and Kaylie's shirt said "princess." (Being the talented mother that I am, I sewed toole around the hem to make them look like princess skirts. Not all the girls wanted to wear them so I never really got a good picture of them, but they were darn cute if I do say so myself!) We read the book "The Frog Prince" and then played Pin the Crown of the Frog Prince. We also played musical pillows because princesses don't sit on hard chairs. And we also played Pass the Frog, but in all honesty, it doesn't work very well to tell little girls they have to sit out of a game! I think they had fun - or at least I want to believe they did.

Kaylie got clothes from her Ba Noi and Ong Noi, PollyWalks from her Aunt Linh and cousins Luke and Noah, a gift card from her Uncle Vu, a two-wheel scooter and helmet from her Grandma and Grandpa, a musical toothbrush from her Aunt Tammy and cousin Megan, a princess plate, bowl, and cup set from Tanner and Taylin, Polly Pockets from Mom and Dad, the Island Princess elephant from our good friends who came down from Fort Worth, the Clarks, a Littlest Pet Shop magnet case from Brittany, the Barbie movie Mariposa from Morgan, a High School Musical keychain, bubbles and candy from Kyla, and a Barbie phone from Nicole. With each gift she opened, it was proudly displayed as high above her head as she could get, standing on her tippy-toes accompanied with a huge smile! Thanks everyone for making her day so wonderful!!

This is the cake I made (so proud of it - pat my own back) and her invitation which reads...

Hey everybody, it's time to cheer,

It's 2008 and it's a LEAP YEAR!

It's my birthday and I'm here to say,

I've waited four years to celebrate my big day!

It's 2008 - yep, it's my LEAP DAY,

And I'd like you to celebrate with me in a very special way!

I'm planning a princess party so come with your hair in a bun,

Because I'm turning four, but technically just one!

You see, Leap Day comes but only so often,

And usually my birthday isn't on a calendar, how rotten!

It's my LEAP DAY birthday this month on the last day,

Come on February 29th where fun will be the way.

So come one, come all,

We're sure to have a ball!

On Bamfield Cove at 1503,

From 4:00 to 5:30 - it's the place to be.

If you want to come to my party for kicks,

Have your mom pick up the phone and call 246-9026.

Use a marker, a crayon, pencil or pen,

Just mark your calendar, hope to see you then.

Your friend,

Kaylie