Tyler's baptism and Easter

Tyler was able to be baptized on Easter weekend this year, which made it extra fun to have family come to visit.

 

My mom bought the kids cute, cute easter outfits and I almost forgot to take pictures of them.  So here's the best we could get after church. 

Seconds later.... this is what we got.  This is more like it!

 

 

 I love this picture of Tyler looking at the baptismal font before it started. (Wish I could get the pics to rotate on here).

 

 In their whites.

 

 Egg hunt time

 

Tyler with one of his best buddies, Collin that happened to be getting baptized on the same day.

 

Ty looking sharp in his suit with Grandad Butler

 

Some cuddle time with Gramma Suzie

 

 

McKinley got to go to the Olympic Training Center with Nate and cousins.  As you can tell, she was pretty excited about it :)

 

 The Lincoln girls are all champions in my book

 

 

OK, this was too perfect....caught red-handed!

 

 

What the??  This is what my kids do on spring break, how about yours? :)

Pinewood Derby....on ice!

 Tyler entered the world of scouts this year, which brings with it the adventures of the Pinewood Derby.  This is a day Nate has been waiting for.  He and his dad made some epic cars back in his day.  Unfortunately we didn't have hardly anytime to spend on it, but Tyler and Nate were still able to make a pretty nice car.  Nate also helped four other boys make their cars.  Our garage was hopping that day.    Tyler's is the aero-dynamic looking one.  He came up with the design and cut it by himself.

 After all of it, Nate decided he had enough extra supplies that he made a car of his own for fun.  His is the one that looks like a big toe.  Get it...  "Toe-truck" ?  I like the painted toenail.  It also has knuckle creases cut in.

 

Tyler and his friend Josh (one of the boys Nate helped) waiting at the finish line.  Some of them were a photo finish.

 Before his race

 Tyler's is the one just pulling ahead. 

 It was a fun evenng, although a lot of people's emotions were quite high.  Tyler ended up getting third place.  Most importantly he had a great time and had some bonding time with dad.

 

 

 

 

In April, we decided to drive to Denver and surprise the kids by going to Disney on Ice.  I think it was a success :)

 Lion King was a sight to behold!

 

 

 Headlock or hug??

 

 Jasmine and Aladdin on the flying carpet.

 

Cool action shot with Goofy and the fabulous original four

 

On the ride home. I can't remember the last time all four kids were sleeping at the same time in the car.  It was pretty awesome!

Real men wear pink & other events

For Valentine's Day, my friend threw a Pinkaliscious party for her daughter and her friends.  Well Colton and McKinley are good friends with her daughter so he was invited too.  Everybody was supposed to wear pink and as you can imagine Colton owns no pink.  So my super talented friend made Colton this "Real Men Wear Pink" shirt so he didn't feel left out.  I warned Colton that she had made him this shirt and he didn't want ANYTHING to do with it.  I never knew he was so vehemenently against the color.  He did eventually warm up to it and had a lot of fun at this pink party.  He then gave the shirt as a present to his brother Tyler who appreciated it very much!

 

 

                                             "One of these is not like the other one" :)

 

On a very wet and cold afternoon, the kids and their good friends Charlie and Dylan got quite creative with all the things they could find outside and built a fort.  Not sure it would be approved by any homeowners association, but they were sure resourceful.

 

Oh I love two-year olds and dress-ups

 

In February (on Lexi's birthday) we flew out to Phx and look who was there as the welcoming party....

                                      

We can sure bring in a crowd!  Actually there was a family reunion going on of all my many relatives on my mom's mom's side.  It was pretty neat how it worked out because we were only there for two days, so it was kind of like one-stop shopping to be able to see so many relatives at once.    It was also neat because in this group there were four people whose birthday was on that day, so we all got to sing to them and have a big cake.  Lexi felt pretty special.

 

 

One of the things I look forward to every year is our kids' school art show.  The art teacher there is AAAA-MAZING!!  We're always so impressed with what she helps the kids create.  This year's theme was the history of Colorado.  Lexi's class created things that the Ute Indians may have used. 

 

She decided to sew this little doll out of canvas and then she just kept going and adding more and more and more... She made this cradle board and blanket for it and all sorts of other accessories for it.  Lexi also made this little clay pot filled with rice and corn.  She chose to really get in the spirit and dress up herself for the art show too.

 

 

They had a Native American drum group there to entertain as well.

 

They had a place for people to dress up in old fashioned apparel

Tyler's class did metallic paint landscapes of Garden of the Gods (he even included the kissing camel rocks)

 

These lizards were 3D, it was cool looking

 

This was a pastel that the art teacher did.

Birthdays galore!

As many of you know, February is our busy birthday month.  We got to kick off the month with Tyler's 8th birthday!! 

 

 This is an important year for him because in our church at 8 yrs. old you can get baptized if you decide to.  Tyler has chosen to be baptized and has been studying a lot to know exactly what this special promise he is making.  We're very proud of Ty and the great kid he is!

 

Gramma and Grandad bought Ty this slick looking suit.  He's been so excited to dress more like dad at church.  Wish I could figureout how to  flip these pictures on the blog, but he is pretty darn cute!

 

The lego cake Ty requested, complete with lego cangles and the kids' lego creations.

 Tyler got to have a party with friends this year and he chose to go to Skate City after we did cake and presents at our house.  While all the boys were out skating, McKinley was standing on a platform shaking her booty to the music and entertaining all the on-lookers.

 

Not a great picture, but you can see Tyler and his friend doing some "serious skating"

Colton even gave skating a try this time.  This was one of the brief moments he was actually up on his feet :)

 

 

 

Lexi's birthday was soon to follow a couple weeks later.  This year we were actually traveling to AZ on her birthday then on to Disneyland, so we had a quiet celebration at home a day early. 

 

I can't believe my first baby is entering the double digits. Madness!! She really is turning into such a beautiful, intelligent, funny and loving young woman. Now stop growing up, you!!

 

 Here Lexi and Tyler are "jamming" with their paper jam toys they got for thier birthdays.  Lexi got this cool microphone that has all these features like adding vibrato and harmony and even auto-tuning.  So basically you can have the worst voice on the planet and this makes you sound like a rock star.  Ironically, Lexi actually has a beautiful voice without this.  But it is fun to play with!

 

 

Since she got to share a big cake with her aunt and cousins (that share her same birthday) at our family reunion in AZ, I made her a "pizz-ookie" at home before we left.  I kinda wish my kids would request this instead of a decorated cake more often. 

 

 

We were also traveling from CA to AZ on Nate's actual birthday.  My mom was so nice enough to make Nate a cake, though so we could celebrate with them for the few hours we were together. When we got back to our house the next day, we celebrated with an awesome ice cream cake. Thanks Baskin Robbins :) 

 

His big surprise were tickets for Nate and his basketball buddy to go to an Air Force basketball game.  They had great seats and it ended up being one of the best b-ball games in Air Force history with them winning my 1 point at the buzzer.  Nate even caught a ball that they threw out into the crowd.