Surviving Lower Lena Lake

Nathaniel braved taking the three older boys on an overnight hiking trip for Spring Break.  They went to Lower Lena Lake in the Olympic mountains, this is a shorter hiking trail so Jesse could go for the first time. All of them survived without too much injury and nobody fell in the water!

Just about to begin the 3.2 mile hike.

Joshua led the way of course.

Taking a break. Jonas asked to take a break almost every five minutes.

Campsite on the bluff overlooking the lake.

Joshua and Jonas enjoyed trying their hand at fishing. They got their April Fool's joke in for the day by pretending they had a fish on the line when they had nothing!

Dinner was roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Breakfast was oatmeal and pie!

Trip to NJ/NY!

Nathaniel and I had the best week visiting Mama and Papa Burt back in New Jersey. I never thought I would get the chance to go visit New York City or see the church history sights in New York! We are so thankful we had a great time and the kids were safe at home with Granny and Grandad Dooley.

Manhattan Temple early the morning after we arrived.

Lunch at the Shake Shack in New York City

9/11 Memorial

Cool building downtown

 9/11 memorial on the Jersey side

Actual beams from the twin towers.

Tear Drop memorial from the people of Russia

David Whitmar Farm

Hill Cumorah Monument

Joseph Smith Log Cabin

Palmyra Temple

Bricks where Joseph Smith hid the gold plates from mob

Sacred Grove

Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty

First Torch now inside Museum at base of Statue

Birthday Update!

I know it has been almost a month since Logan's birthday, but things were so crazy that week I think I am now recovered! Nathaniel had to attend another meeting in Aberdeen and was gone from Sunday-Wednesday(Logan's birthday). While he was gone, the baby and Jonas got the stomach flu! Since we had sickos, it was just a small family celebration for Logan. He enjoyed his balloons and his birthday gifts. His cake was a pokey monster (I will post pictures later). Anyway, now on to Nathaniel's birthday. He got a new camera a week before his birthday and decided to start using it instead of having me wrap it up. So, because he had the camera early, he figured he could open his birthday cards early too! On his actual birthday, the boys had swim lessons to go to, then we had cake and sherbet. The boys did paint some picture/cards for Nathaniel to have on his birthday. He didn't get many gifts because his big present was buying the plane tickets to NJ, we leave in a week!!!

Snow and Sickness!

So, the one Sunday that we don't have 1:00 church we have to leave by 9 for Stake Conference. That day is today and we woke up to snow!! Of course the boys had to go play in it (it will most likely be gone by tonight) before getting ready for church, but then Jonas threw up! Nathaniel was going to leave this afternoon for another two day work meeting on the coast, so he decided to be the only one to attend stake conference and then just leave from there to work. Jonas seems better and went outside to help build a snowman. Hopefully nobody else gets this stomach bug! I really enjoy seeing snow on the trees, all the blinds and curtains are open so I can enjoy the beauty of freshly fallen snow! 

http://youtu.be/7i9NGq28J80

Catch-up

I finally downloaded the pictures and videos from New Year's Eve and our trip to Pacific Beach. I forgot how much fun we had with our cousins on New Year's Eve! David and Kristi invited us over to their place for a party. We played limbo, orange rolling race, blowing ping-pong game, and much more!

 During Winter Break, we were going to go play in some snow in the mountains, but there was NO SNOW! So, we decided to head to the beach! We went with David and Kristi's family to Pacific Beach and stayed in a very comfortable cottage at the military resort. They had a building that had a huge hot tub, movie theater, and a fun zone that had toys, games, climbing wall, etc. The beach was really windy and rather cold, but we braved it for the kids sake. Wesley's favorite game was to toss the football and then run after it as the wind blew it away! On the way home, we stopped at a place that had go karts and bumper cars. Lots of fun!