EASTER

A week after we got home from CA, the church play was on for 4 nights.  Jim has been overseeing it's production for the last 6 months. It was called "Savior of the World, Act II".  It was well done. Jim was a singing angel in the choir and Kevin was on the stage crew moving the set.

Jim is singing near center top of group.

The next weekend Jim had his siblings over for some family business. Paul, Jim, Annie, Pat and David is missing due to illness.

The next weekend was Easter.  Crystal's family arrived Easter evening, just in time for dinner.  But first things  first. The kids wanted a ride on Aunt Kelly's quad before eating.

Grandma Darla and Uncle Matthew came for dessert.

Pittmans came by to get Alex and Kenzie.

 We also had an egg hunt after dinner.  About 1/2 the eggs had money and here's Payton's reaction.

Kelly's family went to the Bay Area for Easter dinner with Chris' grandma and parents.

We actually dyed eggs on Monday and had a fun time.

  For the first few days, they did a lot of resting and hanging out. They all got the flu.

Tuesday was a little better.  They did some exploring around the yard. 

 By Wed., we went and did some fun things and that will be on our next blog. Hope your Easter was fun and filled with gratitude for what our Savior, Jesus Christ did for us.

FUN IN CALI

Jim and I went to CA the first week in March.  Kelly was presenting a class at a work conference, so Jim and I attempted to "hold down the fort".  It began with Sophie's VB tournament in Sacramento.  Kelly was still home for this.  We had a great time.  Sophie's team THE DEFENDERS are a very good team.  They play every weekend and do quite well each time.

 Action shot.

 Nearly every day, we entertained the troops at the park.  We went to Crystal's house and  her 2 would head out to the park, just 1/2 a block from her house. Our train of bikes, scooters, and motorized tractors would travel to the park.

 Grandpa Jim and his playgroup.  He chases them all over the play structures and they LOVE it. Sometimes other people at the park stare, but we ignore them.

 THIS IS the most fun pet store I have every been to.

 You can feed the fish and practically pet them as the surface for the feeding frenzy.

 You can open several of the doors and pet the animals.

 This one was having a bad hair day.

 They wander all over the store and you can see Dylan really likes the big tortoise.  This one goes slow,

and in this video the lizard looks slow, but the potential for fast and furious was freaking me out a bit.

 We took Dylan to his first T-ball practice.  Uncle Ryan was coaching and Payton and Owen are on the team also.

 Two Rookies.

Last minute words of advice from dad before Dylan goes up to bat.

 After Kelly got home from her conference, Jim and I were supposed to go visit Jim's aunt Lorna, who lives in Nevada.  It is about 3 hours away.  But we were super disappointed when a storm came in and dumped 10" of snow over Donner Pass. We decided it would be better to go over the 7,000 foot pass later in the year, with nicer road condition.  Instead, Jim and I took a little road trip down "memory lane".  My parents used to take us to the Nut Tree, in Vacaville, when we were kids.  It is a many mall shopping outlet now, but it just had one store when I was a kid.

 I used to ride the rocking horse.

and the train.

 The Jelly Belly store is new and American Gothic is one of my favorite pictures.  This is done all in jelly beans.

 The "sugar monster", otherwise known as "Mr. Sweet tooth" really liked this store.

 After shopping and lunch at the Nut Tree, we headed to Napa, where I grew up.  This is the side of the house.We didn't have the fence when I lived there.

 And the front.  The address is  1 Chapel Hill Drive

And it was across the street from the Mormon or LDS church, were I went to church.

We visited the cemetery, where my grandparents and parents are buried.

 Grandpa and grandma

 dad and mom

 We visited my junior high, Silverado and my high school, Vintage, home of the Crushers.

 Then we went and visited my sister and  her family and had dinner.  It was a really nice day, touring down memory lane.

 A few days later, we left to come home. All the grand kids were great, Addy, Sophie and Dylan we love you!! And Alex, Payton and Owen, thanks for helping grandpa and grandma entertain your cousins.

MARCH ALREADY!!

Oh, my goodness, one fourth of the year is almost gone!!  Time has flown.  It seems like we just had Christmas.  In an effort to catch up, this is our New Years Eve.  We were at Kelly's house.  The kids made a gingerbread house. Fun for all.

 Finished!  Beautiful, in a sweet sort of way.

 We watched the ball drop in Time Square.

 Happy New Year!!!

 Sophie wanted to order a pizza at 11:55pm. When the pizza guy came to deliver it, (which would be after the new year), she wanted to say, "You want me to pay for a pizza that I ordered LAST YEAR?!"  But Kelly said "no" to that idea.

 The new year always kicks off a bunch of birthdays.  Sophie, on the 8th

 Chris, on the 26th

 Kelly on the 29th, then Crystal on Feb. 5th

February also brought, Valentines Day and my honey went all out!  A sweet card, gorgeous flowers and mmmm dark chocolate mints.

 The grand kids went and had fun in CA (dare I say without us).  They are lucky to have such fun parents that take them to fun places.  On Presidents Day they went to SkyZone. A huge place with trampolines everywhere. Sophie diving into the foam pit.

 The park, HI HO Silver and away.

 Dentist trip for Dylan, that can actually be fun.

 Railroad exhibit at the expo center.

 MONSTER TRUCKS

 Sophie's Volleyball team.  She is really doing good and loves it.

 They have games every Saturday in Sacramento.

 There's a few signs of spring here with the daffodils blooming and the grass beginning to grow.  We went to CA in the first week of March, but I'll be putting that into another post.  Hope your spring is beautiful.