April

 Easter was the week after we moved so we got to do our egg hunt in our new backyard:

Brooklyn found one:

Micah:

There is a large variety of trees and plants in our yard.  I wish I knew what they all are.  Here is Alan finding an egg by a mystery bush:

Conner found one right by the house:

Random picture of Micah and Brooklyn enjoying a sucker after visiting Dad at the office:

Alan entered the STEAM expo this year (a science fair).  In his ECS program this year he made a computer game so he presented that at his table.  He did a great job explaining his game to the judges:

The kids got free tickets to the circus this year.  We decided to go and check it out.  It was fun to see all the different acts.  

Brooklyn and Micah painting:

Moving is hard

In January we started looking at houses again after taking a few months break.  We made an offer on one house but we were out bid.  In February we went and saw another house.  It had been on the market awhile and the price had just dropped.  We took the kids are looked through it.  We liked it but the price was still a little high.  After we got home we realized that we had left our Ipad there - oh no!  So we called our realtor and he said he would just go pick it up for us.  When he got to the house he talked to the owners and they flat out told him that they really wanted to sell the house (they were already building a new one that was going to be finished soon) and were willing to go down another $10000.  Wow, that was perfect.  So we made an offer and they accepted!  We just moved across town but we are in a different ward and the kids will go to a different school.  The kids were pretty disappointed to be leaving their old school and friends at church so I told them I would drive them to school the rest of the school year and then they would start at their new school in the fall.  They were okay with that.  We closed on the house towards the end of March.  Wow we have a lot stuff - so much to pack.  We got rid of quite a bit of stuff but we still have more to go.  We moved on a Friday, with the help of a few good friends and our families - Thanks everyone!  It was a long day (and night).

Reed carrying me across the threshold of our new house:

Our old house - it was a great house for us.  Instead of selling it we rented it out.

I didn't really take any pictures of the craziness of moving (maybe a part of brain just didn't want to remember it)  Here is a picture of Brooklyn and Micah playing and you can see lots of boxes in the back ground:

More boxes:

Our new house (it has a garage!):

Yes, those are cactuses in our front yard - nothing says welcome to our home like a patch of cactus:

The house came with a hot tub.  We filled it up to see if it works and after fixing a part it held water.  We definitely need to replace the filter and then we will be all set to use it:

The backyard:

The other side of the backyard.  We have an apple tree, which is pretty exciting.  We also have a large variety of bushes and trees, most of which I am not familiar with:

The inside has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, family room, and laundry room/storage room.   Right now Alan and Micah are sharing a room and Conner has his own room.  We decided that every year we will switch off who has their own room.  So next year it will be Alan in his own room with Conner and Micah sharing.  We like the neighborhood and our house, and we are getting used to our new ward.  Reed and I were both called as nursery workers and we have enjoyed the calling. 

March Break

In March we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Bassett's house.  We got to see Ken and Shelly, Jacque, Russ and Kristie and their families.  On the way over we stopped for an ice cream break.  We bought each of the kids a cone but Brooklyn and Micah wanted to share.  It was pretty cute to watch Brooklyn take a lick, then Micah take a lick, then Brooklyn...

Sitting in a giant lawn chair in front of the store:

On Saturday we went to a new sporting goods store.  We looked around for a while and found this fun jeep to pose with:

 

Then we went on the ferris wheel but I guess I didn't get any pictures.

 

Then we headed over to the indoor waterpark.  There were two slides, a kiddie pool, a medium pool, a wave pool and a hot tub. 

Reed with Micah and Brooklyn in the wave pool



Conner doing his classic pose:

Conner making his way across the stepping stones:

Reed and Conner just came out of the slide.  Alan and Conner LOVED the slides (Reed and I thought they were pretty fun too):

Micah coming down one of the kiddie slides:

Alan spent most of his time on the slides and I didn't get any pictures of him.

After church on Sunday we went for a walk:

The boys were very industrious at the bottom of the hill.  They built some shelves in a tree to hold the interesting things they found, like animal bones:

Playing on the swing set:

It was a fun visit!

February in a nutshell

 At the beginning of February Alan and Conner had their awards assembly. 

Good job Conner!

Good job Alan!:

We also celebrated Reed's birthday, but I didn't get any pictures and now my memory is a little fuzzy on what we did to celebrate. 

For Valentine's Day we headed over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bassetts.  Reed and I went to the temple and then we hung out at the house.

Brooklyn enjoying an apple and Micah playing with a stick:

Conner using one of Grandpa's tools:

In January we started looking seriously at houses again.  In February we found a house that we really liked.  We took the kids to look at it and we liked what we saw but it was a little expensive.  After we left we realized that we had left our Ipad there.  We called our realtor and he said he would go over and get it.  While he was there the family told him that they just wanted to get out of the house and were willing to go down another $10000.  Perfect!  We made an offer and they accepted.  We set a closing date for the end of March. 

Alan's birthday weekend

On the weekend before Alan's birthday my parents came to visit.  We all went to an indoor trampoline place to have fun. 

Micah would just jump off the edge instead of swinging out on the rope.  Then he had a hard time getting back to the edge:

Alan swinging out:

Conner and Brooklyn:

Conner climbing out:

Then on Sunday Reed and I and Alan and Conner spoke in sacrament meeting.  Alan and Conner did so good.  They were both nervous.  I helped each of them write out a short talk.  We drew Conner's in pictures since reading can be tricky.  Conner paraphrased a story from the Friend about a boy who saved money for a toy but then donated the money to help earthquake victims and then he bore his testimony.  Alan read a story from President Packer about spiritual crocodiles and then he bore his testimony.  They did such a great job!



 

That night Alan opened some of his presents:

 

Those new snow pants are going to come in handy because...:

 

Alan chose to go skiing with Reed for his birthday.  We gave his 3 options: going to a movie theater with one of us, going out to eat with both of us (and the other kids staying home with a babysitter) or going skiing.  He and Reed set out early so that they could make it up in time to get their skis and get to the their lesson on time.

 

Alan was a little nervous and very cautious at first.  After their class got to the top of the bunny hill Alan must have accidently got his skis pointed downhill because he just started going.  Reed said he was really flying and the instructor was right behind him but he couldn't really do anything.  Alan made it to the bottom in one piece and after that Reed said it was like all fear left him.  He learned how to turn and stop and then Reed and Alan started going down hills.  Reed said it was common for Alan to just go whizzing past him and Reed would find him waiting part way down the hill for Reed to catch up. 

 

He enjoyed getting snacks at the lodge. 

 

He came home absolutely thrilled with the experience.  We didn't get a chance to go again this season but I know Alan will be asking us about it when the snow starts to fly again.

 

Having a little family celebration:

 

Alan requested the same cake that I had: chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.  He wanted to light the candles himself:

 

Make a wish!:





A little about 9 year old Alan:
Here's a fun conversation that we had shortly after his birthday:
We had been looking at houses and we looked at some that had t.v.s in every bedroom.  We had the following conversation when we got home:
Alan - "Can I have a tv in my room?"
Me - "no, you are never going to have a tv in your room" (me feeling kind of exasperated because we have had this discussion more than once, where I actually explained why...)
Alan - "Until I move to my own house and then I will."
Me - "When you move to your own house you will get to decide."
Alan - "Yess!"  pause  "Oh, but by then I will know not to have a tv in my room."  He looked very disappointed after this comment. 

A couple of months after his birthday Reed took Alan shoe shopping.  We found out that Alan now wears size 7 in Men's shoes!  It was crazy to think that Alan and Reed were looking at the same shoes, just different sizes.

Favorite color: blue
What do you enjoy doing: spending time with my family and friends.  Going places with them.  Buy stuff, like gum.
Favorite subject in school:  I like all of them
Favorite food:  Split pea soup
Favorite book:  Percy Jackson books
What do you want to be when you grow up:  an inventor.  I want to build my own submarine.