Thank Heaven for Spring!

While I was in CO, it snowed in Utah. Thankfully we were in Colorado and had pretty good weather (except when we went to the zoo!) My mom and I took the kids to the park and it gave all of us spring fever! It's officially spring now...so hopefully there will be many more days at the park soon!
Look at how big my kids are getting!

She is a very good climber...

Happy Birthday Kassi!!

Kassi turned 3!! on March 14. I can't believe it! She is such a sweetheart and so much fun! Since we were at my mom's house just the week before her birthday, she got 2 parties! One with my mom and dad and another with daddy on her birthday when we got home. These are the pics from the Colorado party. The others are still on my camera! Happy birthday my little princess!

My sister is learning the ins and outs of cake decorating and made the beautiful flowers for the cake! Thanks Loo it looked great!

Kassi was also spoiled at grandma's! (she is the only granddaughter so far....)

The Colorado Springs Zoo

Lions and tigers and bears...oh my!! Just a side note...the day we decided to go to the zoo, it decided to snow. I was only in CO for one Saturday, we we decided to go anyway! The kids were cold...and we found out later that Ty had a dual ear infection...but the animals at the zoo were great! I have never been so close to the animals or seen them so active before. It was a great trip even if the kids cried most of the time!
The moose and us

Two major grizzly bears...just on the otherside of the glass....amazing!

Fishing inches away from us!

Yep, those are grizzly claws just on the other side of the glass!

Again, just on the other side of a piece of glass...a pride of lions. One actually got up, came over to the glass and got up on her back legs with her legs on the glass. Kinda scary since one of the glass panes was cracked....we didn't get very close. :)

The most amazing...the giraffes! And yes...we were THAT close!

There were SO many too!

In fact, my dad and Kassi paid $1 to get some crackers...and actually fed the giraffes! Look that that big long black tounge! It was pretty crazy cool.

In reverse order...but this is my dad, mom and little sister Laura with the kids heading into the zoo! If only the kids would have come OUT of the zoo this happy.

Playing at Grandma's

Kassi and Tyler are pretty easygoing kids...so just playing at grandma's house they had a blast!
Putting her shoes on all by herself...what a big girl! Getting ready to go out.

Again...Ty with the phone

On the rocking horse...good old fashioned toys!

And the playhouse...

Grandma's house day 1

Spring Break at USU was March 9-13, so the kids and I loaded up on Thursday the 4th and drove to my mom's new house in southern Colorado for a week. (They moved there from Tennessee in December). First was the drive. On mapquest it said it should take about 10 1/2 hours. I didn't take any pics of the kids and I loaded up in the car, but it was a long day! I had invested in a DVD player that has 2 screens...so the kids watched movies almost the entire time. They were great! The next day we took it easy...
Riding horses with Grandpa! (She loves to play dress up!)

Playing with the phone...this and their door were probably his favorite toys in the house!

Jumping on grandma's bed and then crashing into the pillows was also a favorite!

...or playing with the light switches from grandma's bed

Playing dress up with grandma's make-up, and filing her nails...such a girl!

A Family Forever!

Yesterday my family had the opportunity to take our little family to the Draper, Utah Temple Open House. It was great! We have been waiting a long time (since the beginning of December when we got the tickets) for it to be our turn. Our time was for 1:00, so Ricky and I decided to leave Tyler with my sister. I thought about taking him so we could all be there together as a family, but I'm SO glad I didn't. He took a nap and was quite happy at my sister's house. Instead we were able to focus on Kassi and teach her more about the importance of the temple, and that through the blessings of the temple we can be a family forever! She was SO good! From start to finish....all she was excited for was to "see the cows!" (aka...oxen!) Here are some pictures from our fun day at the temple!

Kassi and I on the bus up to the temple!

Kassi with her good friends Blaiz and Miriam, on the bus!

Kassi and daddy! She loved that she got her own pictures of the Temple! ...this is why she knew there were "cows"!

The beautiful Draper Temple!

Waiting for the bus to come get us.

The bus ride back to the church. What a great day!