Devon is such a "BIG BOY"!

Devon is at a great age and is really into being a 'big boy'. About a month ago he finally decided that using the potty was okay and he hasn't looked back. Not long after he also decided that riding his 'rocket bike' like a big boy without training wheels was cool, too! Ryan had to fix his bike which resulted in him removing his training wheels and then we just didn't put them back on. We thought we'd let Devon try it out and he was really quite good at it from the beginning so we decided to leave them off. In a matter of a couple of weeks Devon was riding circles around me and zapping 'abominable snowmen' as he raced around on his 'rocket bike'! It is fun to see such a little kid riding around so well!


Here is Devon showing me his "buff muscles"!



He loves to ride his 'rocket bike'!

Happy Easter!

I was so excited to dress Sawyer and Devon in these outfits because this is the first real matching outfit we could get them - Sawyer had to reach 6 mos before his clothes would really start to match Devon's 'big boy' clothes.



Easter morning after the hunt - you can tell what Devon's favorite part of Easter was!



Sawyer was content to watch his older siblings run their tails off trying to find all the eggs!



Yesterday, our community held an Easter egg hunt - Marissa made out pretty well this year. You can see her here already planning her next move!



Devon pretty much rocked his egg hunt - he was in the 0-3 years old age group so while all the 'babies' were too busy drooling over one egg, Devon, a.k.a. the 'rocket', was rakin' them in!

Flagstaff Trip!

Ryan had four days off in a row so we said, "What the heck...let's go to Flagstaff!" Here are some highlights:

1. Only a 4 hour drive passing by several outlet malls!
2. We spent a day at the Grand Canyon. We hiked the South Rim canyon trail which let us have a view of the Grand Canyon the whole time and it was paved!!
3. We went to the Lowell Observatory and the kids got to see Saturn through a huge telescope as well as the star 'Sirius'. Marissa especially loves this kind of thing and has been asking us questions such as "Is Jupiter a dead planet like Mars?" ever since.
4. We saw the remains of Sunset Crater Volcano after which Marissa was full of questions.
5. We visited the Wupatki Indian ruins during which time we decided that the rooms in their buildings were way too small. Ryan's favorite part was seeing (and feeling) the 'blowhole' (see picture below).
6. Devon fell into the toilet at the hotel, which gave us all (except maybe Devon) a good laugh!
7. You might read this and think all we do is go on trips and while that may be true for the time being it's all thanks to Uncle Dan and $39/night rooms at the Marriot!
8. The hotel had an indoor pool that the kids would have liked to frequent daily if we'd have let them and a cozy fireplace outside in the courtyard!



The Grand Canyon - as you can see Sawyer is really enjoying the view!



The canyon trail was lined with big rocks that the kids liked to walk along. They also like to run ahead of us on the trail and then hang out on the rocks. We could push Sawyer in the stroller, the kids never got tired, and we had an awesome view of the canyon - this was the perfect hike for our family!



Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument



This is the 'blowhole'. Air gets trapped underground and gets pushed up with some impressive force. It was surprisingly cool as well which led us all to wonder why in the world the Native Americans didn't build their buildings around this for some natural air conditioning!



The boys in front of the Wupatki Ruins.



From this view it really looks like the rooms are tiny...admittedly, when we walked right next to them they were bigger than they originally looked.

Trip to L.A.!

During Marissa's spring break we were able to meet Grandma and Grandpa in L.A. for a week. Three of those days we went to Disneyland (pictures of this fun event are still to come:). Here are a few of the highlights from our trip:

1. Although the weather at this time wasn't particularly warm, we were still able to catch some beach time which is always a self-entertaining activity for the kids!
2. It's always fun to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa!
3. These pictures represent the 'down-time' we had that week which was some much needed time to counter-balance the crazy 'running around' time we had at Disneyland!
4. It is only a 7-hour drive to get there!
5. I didn't have to make Marissa's lunch for school all week!!
6.Sawyer had his first introduction to sand and the judges were out on this for awhile but in the end enjoyment won out!



"I will crush you just like I did this rock!"



Devon is sneaky mode - "What? There's nothing in my jacket."



"Studious Devon"




The more kids we have the harder it is to get a decent shot of all of them - you take what you can get!



Our sweet Sawyer!







"What?! Where'd Sawyer go!" If only Sawyer hadn't snuck off we could have had a family picture!





Marissa was in 'model mode' today! Check out that smile!

Itty Bitty Open

Nice follow through!



Nice hairdo!



Like father like son!






Our parks and rec program put on an itty bitty open where they had kids come to a golf course and gave them each their own set of plastic clubs and visor. They also had "holes" set up for the kids and the pro golfer at the golf course gave them some instructions before they set out on their course. The kids had a great time and it got Ryan and me thinking that we needed to shorten some of our own old golf clubs for them. The kids love going out and teeing up their balls and smacking away!

Daddy Daughter Sweetheart Dance!

Marissa's school had a daddy daughter dance right around Valentine's day and Ryan was off work!! Marissa was so excited for the dance and loved having her hair done up all fancy. Ryan came home that night afterwards and was totally impressed with the event. They walked in and every girl got a rose made of cloth and a light up ring to keep. While there, they had snacks and lots of music for dancing. They came home a little before the dance ended and I was surprised to see them so soon, but Ryan said Marissa was tired - apparently, she had worn herself out dancing the night away! He showed me a video of her dancing and really getting into it and I wasn't surprised she was tired after that! They both had a great time while Devon and I got to stay home and make some valentine cookies!

Devon's a big boy!

This birthday was all about being a "big boy" for Devon. There are Devon's undies next to him in the picture that he was going to start wearing when he turned 3. He was super excited about his birthday, but not so much about those undies! Even though, according to Devon, he is always a "big boy" he still can't decide sometimes to wear those big boy pants. He had a great birthday, though, filled with legos and trains - every little boy's dreams come true!