Nicole's Wedding

We had a wonderful opportunity last week. David had one week off between last semester and the semester that started today. My sister Nicole kindly planned her wedding to take place on the week we had off. So, we flew out to California! We got in real late Monday night the 20th. Tuesday was my birthday so we just relaxed and enjoyed time with family. Grandma Jo (David's mom), made a delicious strawberry shortcake to celebrate. Yumm :) 

Peter and Evelyn had sooo much fun playing with their cousins. Anne's kids, Ryan, Natalie Jo, and Jason, played real well with our kiddos. They enjoyed swimming in the back yard and just being kids, playing and running all over.

My older sister Vanessa was able to fly in with her two little ones! It was so great to see them. I got to meet her newest addition, Jackson. He is 6 or 7 weeks old. He is adorable and such a happy camper. He's real easy going. It was great to chat and catch up a bit with Vanessa. I wish they didn't live so stink'n far away!

David, Anne, and Grandma Jo ran a 5k Saturday morning. They all exceeded their goals set for time. David came in 2nd overall. Anne came in 2nd for girls. And Grandma Jo can sure move. They all did great!

David and I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing Nicole receiving her endowment and being sealed in the Fresno, CA temple. It was by far the highlight of our trip to California. Nicole planned out a wonderful reception. My mother, sisters, and I were busy the days up to the wedding preparing food and gathering supplies. Everything turned out beautiful.

Fun at the Reynders

We love baths...

We love blocks...

We love kisses...

We love smiles...

We love tickles...

We love to dance...

We love to eat rocks???

We love to play outside...

We love to explore and have fun!

Garden

 My entire childhood I had the opportunity to help my grandmother in her garden. She is so good with plants! She really had a green thumb. I remember all of her fruit trees, her rose garden, the stocks of corn, beans, strawberries  tomatoes, snap peas, squash, zucchini  pumpkin, watermelon, etc... my grandma did it all! I even remember slinging manure in her yard one year to help the grass grow better. That was actually not so fun... Any way, since we have been married, I have dreamed of having a garden, but have not yet lived somewhere we could establish one. Well, a neighbor of ours who is also a member of our church helped encourage me. She asked if we wanted to do a garden with them. We had a good spot in our back yard, so we decided to give it a go!
The first picture shows what we had to remove to have a suitable spot for a garden. It was full of tall mounds of grass and weeds.
The second picture was the start of the clearing. Peter loves to help in the garden. He would say, "Mommy, I want to go work in the garden." I am so excited for him to be able to learn as we garden this year.

This last picture shows how much we cleared. Now that the weather is nice again, we will plant seeds very soon :)

PS: It snowed May 3rd! I guess it has been 70 years since it has snowed here in May! The craziest part was that just 2 days before it was over 80 degrees!

Shoe Fettish

These two kiddos love shoes! Evelyn especially. I don't know what it is, but if there is a pair of shoes in sight they will try them on. Evelyn has really been into shoes lately. She knows where her basket of shoes is and will periodically bring one or two shoes out saying, "Shoe, shoe." I love it! However it's not so fun finding random shoes all over the house :)