Visiting with friends

 In the middle of March the Porters stopped by for a quick visit.  We were so excited to see them!  They got here on Thursday evening and stayed the night at our house.  We got them settled and then Beth and I went to Café Rio to meet up with some friends and visit.  Thanks to Reed and Eli for putting all 8 kids to bed.  The next day I let the kids stay home from school and we spent some time playing and having fun. 

Alan, Alex and Mara

Building a fort:

 Eating some candy Legos:

 We went over to the Campbells for lunch.  Here is Emily, Hirum, Josh, Ephraim, and Conner:

 In the morning we went to the park.  The little kids: Doug, Emily, Micah and Brooklyn

We tried to get a picture of all the kids on the slide.  I found that it was impossible to have all of them looking at the camera:

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again:

And then just give up, because it is not going to happen.

We all were happy to see them again and sad to see them go.  I wish they lived closer! 

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house

 We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bassett at the beginning of March.  The kids love to check for eggs:

Found one!

Grandpa also helped the boys make swords - they were in heaven!

They had a lot of snow at their place so we enjoyed it and went sledding down a hill in their back yard.  Grandpa going down:

 Alan getting a push from Grandpa:

 Reed starting off:

We tried to see who could go the furthest, without falling off the edge.  Some of us got pretty close:

 While we were there the temperatures were quite warm, which caused the snow to melt very quickly.  This turned Grandma and Grandpa's road into a quagmire...:

 And caused massive flooding.  The creek that runs below their house flooded its banks and made the pasture below their house look like a lake.  The water came very close to the underside of the bridge:

 On our way home we came across a road that had a couple of inches of water flowing across it.  We had fun driving through it a couple of times and watching the water spray up.  The kids still talk about how cool the "free car wash" was.

Random pictures from February

 Here are some random pictures from February:

Alan with his new scriptures:

The boys really like to do this for pictures:

 Conner celebrated his one hundredth day of school:

 Micah covered his eyes with stickers - funny boy:

 We celebrated Reed's birthday.  He wanted trifle instead of cake.  Make a wish!:

 Micah fell asleep on our kitchen floor after church.  Every once in a while I let him skip his nap and this is always what happens - he falls asleep in random places later in the afternoon:

A look back

Wow, it has been hard for me to believe that Alan is 8 years old.  He is just starting to look and act so big now.  I didn't start writing in this blog until Alan was almost 2 so I decided to post a few pictures of Alan as a baby. 

Alan was born a week after his due date.  He was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long.  

A couple of weeks old:

Alan's blessing day, 6 weeks old:

4 months old, Alan was generally a pretty happy kid.  I do remember having to walk him around some nights, but as I look back I wonder if some of his hard days were due to my lack of experience with keeping him warm enough, swaddling, getting on a schedule ect.

6 months old - on a hike with Reed and I

7 months old

9 months old - making a fishy face after we gave him a dill pickle

Alan enjoying cake on his first birthday

Looking for Easter eggs - 15 months old:

Helping dad put up a tent - 18 months old:

Helping us unpack after we moved to Nebraska - 21 months old:

2 1/2 years old:

Alan sleeping in his big boy bed, right after he turned two.  He looks so tiny in the big bed:

And Alan in the same bed but now he is 8 years old:

Alan started Cub scouts in our ward and he has LOVED it!  It has been fun to hear about all the things he is learning and doing.  He looks so grown up in his uniform:

Well, that was my nostalgic trip through my photos!  We sure love this kid!