Prom

Andrea was able to help her friend Hannah with a personal progress project of collecting prom dresses and allowing girls from the stake to come and choose a dress to wear for the stake prom.  It was a lot of work collecting dresses, but the girls also had some fun trying some of them.  (These first 3 that Andrea is wearing were my prom dresses--check out all the lace & puffy sleeves!)

Too many dresses!

Here are the girls and leaders with over 100 dresses!

Andrea was also asked by the stake to help organize and decorate for the prom.  They decided on an Italian theme.  With help from her friend Niki, Andrea drew and painted these pictures for the walls.

Here are some pictures after all the decorations were in place. 

Andrea did a fabulous job!

Oh, and we can't forget some pretty pics of Andrea all dressed up for the dance. 

I love this talented, beautiful girl!

Fort Bragg

Well, we took our annual after tax season trip with the family.  This year we voted for Fort Bragg.  We could only stay 2 nights & 3 days, so we tried to fit in as much fun and exploring as we could.

  The first day that we were there, we enjoyed exploring the rocks, playing in the the chilly water, and of course we buried Seth in the sand.

We had been to Fort Bragg several years ago and loved it, so we decided to stayed in the same hotel, which was right across from the beach.  It also had an indoor pool which Kiana loved.  Andrea and I also had a lot of fun taking pictures in an underground tunnel that led from our hotel to the beach.

Around the beaches in Northern California there are a lot of signs to warn you about the dangers of getting too close to the edges of rocks. Even thought I was freaking out about them being careful, I don't think my family took the signs very seriously.

Our second day there, we started the day with a short hike down to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.  We were able to enjoy some good exercise and explore not only the lighthouse, but the surrounding area.  Some of the kids thought I had tortured them by making them HIKE!

We also made sure to visit Glass Beach while we were in Fort Bragg.  We loved looking for pretty pieces of glass and trying to find some sea life hidden in the rocks.

While at Glass Beach we were able to see 3 sea lions swim and place themselves on some rocks close by.  It was fun taking pictures of them.  It looks as if they actually posed for several of the pictures.

That afternoon we went to Mackerricher State Beach.  We were still very lucky to have the sun shining so we could have fun in the water and sand.

 It was very hard to say goodbye on our last day, but we know we will visit one of our favorite beach spots again someday.

We will miss you . . .

You have been with us for 10 long years!  You have always kept us safe and dry. You have driven us to countless trips to see grandparents in Paradise and taken many family vacations with us to Utah, Disneyland, Fort Bragg, Monterey, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Oregon, Oceanside, Point Reyes, Table Top Mountain, Marine World . . . the list goes on and on.  You have put up with endless gum wrappers, spilled food, field trips, various car seats, car sickness, endless crying & noise, and a decade of radios tunes.  We will miss you!  May your road be easy and the scenary breathtaking!

(Grand Dodge Caravan--1998)



(Toyota Sienna--2005)

Lookin' forward to good times ahead!

Sacramento Field Trip

I was able to go with Kiana and her 5th grade class on a field trip to the state capital in Sacramento. Their class had been recently learning about the U.S. government and this was a great way to see what it was all about.  Touring the capital was a good history lesson as well as a teaching opportunity for all of the students. I think the kids also enjoyed not having to be in school for the day.

Easter

Saturday we spent the afternoon and evening at my parents house.  Nothing is better than cute dresses, coloring eggs, cousins, Easter egg hunt, lots of chocolate candy & great food.

These are our special Easter photos of the family.  It's still a challenge sometimes to get everyone smiling at the same time and not goofing around.

Even though we had an egg hunt on Saturday, the kids still wanted one in our backyard.  The Easter bunny made sure to hide some hard eggs--Seth was the last one to finally find all of his eggs.

Sunday afternoon we had dinner with the Chatfield grandparents.  Once again we enjoyed delicious food, had fun with some cute cousins, and found more eggs filled with candy. It was a fun-filled weekend.