Aprilness

It is spring in Oregon! And, let me tell you, it is Beeeeeeeautiful! I told Kody recently that we totally moved to the right place and house because there are flowers growing all around the house. And guess what kind they are? Tulips!! My favorite! We had no idea they were here since it was winter time when we moved. But, oh, they are so pretty! And the grass and mountains, trees are all GREEN!!!! Truly, so beautiful! My favorite part of homeschool is being able to look out our big kitchen window out to all that is GREEN! That makes sitting with kids trying to teach them to read bearable. :) 

Look at this GRASS!! Oh, I don't know if I love anything more than I love grass. Well, maybe food. And people. And musicals. And baseball. And.... Well, you get the point. :) 

These are pictures right from our front door

Kayda and Kamille had a temple trip that I got to go along with. It was Kayda's first time and it was a really neat experience for all of us. One thing that I really loved was seeing the young men do the baptizing. One of the young men in our ward got to baptize his younger sister. It was a tender emotional moment for both of them, which touched the rest of us. Both the girls found their own names to take to the temple. It was a great morning. 

We are in the Columbia River temple district. Exciting, because I got to see a couple people that I knew from when we lived in Kennewick. And also, we were able to stay at my friend, Kate's house. It had been about 5 years since we had seen each other last, so it was fun to stay with her,  have our kids play, and for us to catch up. She was also a champ to watch my younger kinds while I was at the temple with the older girls.

With April comes my favorite pastime (other than baseball). Mowing the lawn!! We have a little over an acre of grass that needs mowed. We have a riding mower and push mower. This time, though, the riding mower was out of commission with a flat tire that needed repaired. So, I got to use the push mower for the whole thing. It was glorious! It took me about 5 hours and I walked 6.5 miles doing it. According to my health app, anyway. :)

Kayda has wanted to have a flower garden for a while now. So, one day we dug up some grass and made a little flower garden spot for her. It took a few hours, but was good work. She planted 6 different kids of flowers and has been really diligent to tend them and water them every day. They've started to come up and hopefully will add some vibrant color and beauty. She's an excellent flower arranger person and has quite a knack for crafty things and beauty of that sort. 

One glorious Saturday we drove up the mountain (20 minutes) and spent the day in the trees, with the river, and the beauty of the valley. 

 Quite a bit of farm land was underwater from all the snow melt and late rains we got. 

I walked into the office one day to find permanent marker on Jace's face. I had a slight meltdown before I realized he had put Scotch tape on his face, then had colored over it. The kids were playing "Indian's." This was his attempt at war paint. :) At least he had the bright idea to color on Scotch tape and not his actual skin. He's a smarty pants! :)