A Surprise for Papa

Papa sent us an email saying it was awfully quiet around the house with his wife off traveling the US. He said he would love to have K come up and liven things up a bit. We decided while we were in the neighborhood that we would oblige him. We stopped by for a surprise visit and hung out with him for a couple hours. We went down to the horse barn to feed K's horse, Red, and Grandma's horse, Spud, some carrots. (I forgot to bring the camera, so no pics, sorry.) On the way to the barn, we saw a baby mole moving around in the grass around the horse track. It was pretty interesting, none of us had ever seen a mole up close before.
After feeding and petting the horses, the girls played on the rock pile and sand pile by the barn. They took turns running up and down the piles. Then Papa got a great idea. He found a cardboard box and let the girls slide down the piles. They had lots of fun doing that. After a while we headed back down to the house where the kids played on the swing set for a while. It was a wonderful visit with Papa and hopefully it gave him some excitement to tide him over until Grandma returns.

K on the rocket swing in her stylin' cowboy hat.
I tried it on too and everyone said it looked really good.
I think there may be some cowboy hats in our future.

Dad swinging on the bench swing and Papa looking at something.

The girls and Papa had fun playing on the swing set.
Papa was impressed at how high they could go.

L loves to hang from things. She can do it for a long time.

Here are the flowers K picked for Grandma.

No trip to Grandma's is complete without a trip to the cookie store.
K picked out a butterfly cookie with sprinkles.

L picked out a pink flower with sprinkles.

Butte Creek

It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we decided to head to a new area to go for a hike. We headed up to Salem, thinking that it would be just as nice there, however we were wrong. When we got to the place we wanted to hike, it started to downpour. So we headed over to Grandma's neck of the woods. We stopped by our favorite place to eat, The Home Place, and grabbed some lunch. Then we headed to Butte Creek in Scotts Mills. When M was a kid he used to swim there in the summers. There is a great little watering hole above the falls that is pretty shallow. But the creek below the falls is pretty swift in the winter time. I have never gotten an up close look at the area, just seen it as we drove past. But today we got out and walked through TONS of blackberry bushes out to the edge of the water. The creek was moving very fast so we stayed away from the edge, but the sound of the water was relaxing and enjoyable.

M standing with L were the water flows toward the falls.

The view from above.

Here is a little background information about this spot.
I found it very interesting, especially since Scotts Mills
is not much of a town. Maybe this is why.

Daddy carrying both the girls through the blackberry vines.

K sitting near the water's edge.

Mommy and L staying away from the water's edge.

A view of the falls from below.

New Beginnings-Virtue Academy

We had New Beginnings for our girls on Wednesday. Our theme was Virtue Academy and the girls helped out a lot. They worked on a skit to perform, made backdrops, and helped decorate the room the day of the event.
I conducted the meeting and did the Welcome, Sister Wright talked about the changes to Personal Progress, Natallie and Emily both gave talks, Ally gave the Mutual Theme for the year, and Avery gave the Young Women's Theme. Then they all did their skit and did a fabulous job! Afterward, we had snacks of pbj sandwiches, apples, pudding cups, and juice. I also gave everyone a little tile with our theme on it for this year which is from Joshua 1:9-Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with ye withersoever thou goest.

Here is our table with books decorated for each of the YW values.
The tiles for each girl and the incentives each girl can get if she works on her
Personal Progress and finishes experiences and projects.

The banners were made by Sister Wright and have each of the YW values
on them. On the piano are the lockers the girls colored for part of their skit.

Here is my 1st Counselor, Kristy, looking amazing as usual
and the other banners and backdrops for the skit.

Becca, Ally, Emily and Natallie came to help decorate.

Emily giving her talk on How Young Women's has effected her life.

Natallie giving her talk on How doing her
Personal Progress has helped her in her life.

Natallie, Emily, Avery, and Kaeley talking about Divine Nature.

Sierra, Stefanie, and Ally talking about being good examples.

Stefanie, Sierra, and Becca talking about modesty.

Drift Creek Falls

Yesterday we headed to the beach for some fun family time. Before leaving, M found a nice trail head that led to a waterfall we could hike to. We loaded up the van and headed to the beach. On the way, K got sick and threw up in the car. Luckily we were able to get it all cleaned up and it didn't really smell. I think she just got car sick from all the windy roads we were on. She felt better after we got out of the car for a while and didn't get sick again. So that was an adventure to start out our day.
We got to the beach and dropped our stuff off at my aunts beach house then headed to the trail head. We got there around 1:30pm. The hike is about a mile and a half through a beautiful forest. I still can't get over how green and pretty the forest's are around here. Anyway, the hike was nice and there weren't a lot of people so we could listen to the woodland creatures and the babbling brook. K found a stick at one point and used to to "walk" with. She mostly just poked it at things. L did a decent job of walking but about halfway down to the water fall she broke down in a tantrum because she wanted to be held. After a while she realized she would have to walk and was fine.
When we got close to the falls, we found there was a cable bridge you had to walk across to see the falls. M had purposely left this out when we discussed going here because he knows how scared of heights I am and didn't think I would go. He walked about halfway out on it and I decided to venture after him. The bridge was swaying in the light breeze and once I was away from land, my equilibrium started getting all wacky. But I persevered and made it across the bridge. He was very proud of me and so was I. We went down to the creek and had a little snack while daddy ventured off into the creek bed to get better shots of the waterfall. While we were eating, some curious and hungry chipmunks came to visit us. They were very brave, getting within inches of our feet. The kids were very curious but I was a little to nervous to have them so close so I would shoo them away when they got too close. M was able to get some very good pictures of them. After the snack, we hiked back up to our car. It was a great day and a fun adventure.

L walked most of the way up and down but
here I am carrying her when we started.

K with her walking stick.

L taking a little rest.

Daddy and L by Pheasant Creek.

Such a cute family.

The bridge.

Here is a picture of the falls and the bridge in the background.
See how high off the ground we were?

Waterfall from the ground.

Drift Creek Falls.

Eating our snack.

One of the three chipmunks.

From above.

Conquering my fear.

Daddy and L on the way to the van.

Easter Morning

Easter morning the girls awoke to overflowing baskets in their rooms. Inside they found a scripture bag for church, sidewalk chalk, a gardening hat, a my little pony, a hollow bunny and tons of chocolate flowers, eggs and bunnies. They also each found a gardening tool. K received a green rake and L a red push broom. They were both very excited about their gifts and spent a good half hour or more going through their precious haul. After they were done, we all went downstairs where they searched for Easter eggs.

L checking out her basket contents.

Dumping out all of the candy.
In case you are wondering, she won't be eating that candy.
It will probably be me, but what fun is a basket without candy?

L excited about her basket.

The girls playing with their stash.

K showing off her stuff all lined up against the wall and hamper.

K's frog gardening hat.

L's ladybug gardening hat.

Using their new gardening tools to pile up the candy.

K finds an egg.

L was so excited when she found eggs.
Although she kept breaking the shells every time she got one in her hand.

The hunt is over and each has some eggs.

Coloring the Eggs

We had the girls decorate their eggs with crayons this year. It worked well for K, but L just poked holes through the shell and pretty much destroyed her eggs. After K and M decorated what was left, there were only about 10 eggs. I wasn't happy with so few eggs for them to find so after we put the kids to bed we boiled some more and dyed them the old fashioned way.

K is drawing herself with an Easter basket under the clouds.

L before she jabbed her crayon through the egg.

All the pretty eggs before they were hidden.
M used a pencil to do a few of his and they turned out quite nice.