March 2018

Brian turned 34 on March 1st.  How did that happen? Clark is happy about the large amount of snow that we got. (Not many adults were happy about it).  Ryder thinks he's funny to crawl under the bed and hide.

Molly loved her Koala Crate with a snake. (I wasn't real thrilled to make a snake). Then she had a great time playing with Grandpa and the Magic Track.

Clark, Annie and Molly had a great time wearing these funny crowns.  Maden had a great time trying to photo bomb.

Clark is busy coloring the bugs from his Cricket Crate.  Maden made another light thing in his Tinker Crate.  I didn't get a picture of Annie doing her Kiwi Crate, but I did get one of her cute face that she got painted at Texas Roadhouse.  Grandpa loves playing and reading with his grandkids.  Ryder liked making a tower with his Cricket Crate blocks.

Ryder and I went to tend Molly one day.  They had fun wearing crowns, casting spells and chasing each other with the shopping cart and stroller.

Clark came to Blackfoot with his dad one day, so they went to Tommy Vaughn's for lunch. Then Ryder and Molly got to go to Red Lobster for lunch too.  It's always a party when these littles get together.  It rained really hard one day, and the rain gutter was plugged, so Blake had the great opportunity to go out in the rain and unplug it.  Molly is a really cute little Easter Bunny.  I guess Annie, Clark and Ryder decided to have a party in our shower.

March 30 - Blake and I took a little trip to Lava Hot Springs with Randy, Courtney, Ryder, Jared, Nikelle and Molly.  Molly is not afraid of anything and loved it all.  Ryder is a little chicken boy, and had to be coaxed into going down the slide.

Molly loved everything and had a great time trying it all out.

Such cute kids, and parents.

Just some more pictures of the water fun.  Ryder was really afraid of the big bucket that dumped water out, he even had nightmares about it that night.  Not Molly, she would stand and wait for it to dump on her.

Molly turned 3 on the 31st!!! She had a Minnie Mouse party! They watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, broke a piñata, opened presents, ate pizza and had a cute cake.  We love you Molly, you are such a delightful, happy, imaginative, talkative. sweet little girl.

Later in the afternoon after Molly's party, we had planned to go to a park for an Easter egg hunt and picnic, but it started raining, so we went to Brian's house instead.  The kids "found" a lot of candy and other fun things.  

We had planned to have a combined cake for Molly and Celia (Celia's birthday is on April 3rd), but Celia ended up going to Jackson with her mother and brother, so we sang to them both even though Celia wasn't there.  

Annie thought it was way cool to be sitting between her two Grandpas.  We even had Brian and Annie open Celia's present.  The kids loved playing on her ground hammock.

February 2018

Randy arranged for us to rent a cabin in Island Park during the 1st weekend in February. It's a fun cabin, and there was a ton of snow.  Maden had a ballgame on Saturday, so he and Celia didn't come up.  Brian, Clark and Annie stayed Friday night and left early Saturday morning.  Blake and I left late Saturday afternoon.  

Annie rode with Molly and Ryder in Randy and Courtney's pickup.  Molly and Annie liked playing with some play dough, Clark liked doing a puzzle while Grandpa and Brian talked shop.  All the kids liked watching a movie.

There was a fun dart contest. I don't know who won, but it was fun!

We all had fun while the darts tournament was happening.

On Saturday, Molly and Ryder played with the toys, watched some Mickey Mouse, and got ready to go outside in the snow.

They got a little turn on the snow machines.

Swinging in the snow? Why not?

We had another Darts tournament before Blake and I left.  I know I did not win!

On Sunday, Feb. 4th after church Blake and I took off for a much needed little vacation.  We decided we would make it a temple trip. We ended up going to the 4 different temples.  It was a great, relaxing trip.

We stayed at the WorldMark Wolf Creek resort in Eden, Utah on Sunday night.  These deer crossed right in front of us as we drove to our unit.  There were even more up the hill.  On Monday, we drove to St. George, and stayed at the WorldMark, St. George resort.

On Tuesday, we went to the St. George Temple.  We had both been there, but had not attended together.  It is a beautiful majestic building.  It is amazing how the early members could build this building without all the modern tools and machinery. 

We went to a nice car wash, they detailed it very nicely.

On our way out of town, we decided to stop at Walmart, and as we are almost getting there, the light comes on in the car telling us that we have a low tire.  We took it into Walmart and it took them an hour to get the screw out and patch up the tire.  We were glad it happened then, and not in the middle of nowhere on the way to Las Vegas.

We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the WorldMark Las Vegas, Boulevard Resort.  On Wednesday we went to the Las Vegas Temple.  What a calming place to go in that bustling, worldly city.  After the temple, we went to the some outlet stores, and wandered around the strip for a bit.  We ate a good buffet dinner.

Thursday morning, we got up early and headed for Cedar City.  It is a new temple, and is very beautiful.  After we finished at the temple, we got some lunch and headed toward Payson.  It was kind of a long travel day, but it was a nice day.  We stayed in a Quality Inn in Payson on Thursday night.

We got up Friday morning to go to the Payson Temple.  It was our favorite of the trip.  I can't really pinpoint why it was the favorite, but it was.  It is just beautiful, and well laid out.  It was the only temple that we had to take selfies, and we're not very good at it! We headed for home after the temple.  It was a great trip. We decided we'd like to do something like that again.

Maden had double header basketball games on Saturday, Feb. 10th.  He and his little teammates have improved so much.  It is so fun to watch.

Ryder and Clark had a fun time playing with cars while the rest of us watched the games.

We celebrated my Mom's birthday on Sunday the 11th. (Her birthday is the 9th) The littles all love to sing and blow out the candles. I'm not going to reveal her age, but maybe you can figure it out.  

Molly, Ryder and Annie are enjoying some tv watching on Grandpa's lap.

On Monday, Feb. 12th, Annie and Clark came down, so we did their Kiwi Crates.  Annie had fun making paint go up the "stem" of the flowers. It was interesting doing Clark's and Ryder's Crates at the same time.  It must have tuckered these little guys out, because they both went to sleep on their way home.

Saturday, Feb. 17th, more basketball.  I love this picture of Clark, what a cute little guy.

Monday, Feb 19th, Molly and I did her Koala Crate.  It was all about Arctic animals. We had fun playing catch with Polar Bear paws.  Then, I went and did Maden's Tinker Crate. We wired a light that changed colors.  I love spending time with my grand little friends.

I brought Maden, Annie and Clark home with me, and they got to spend some time with Ryder.  We had pasta for dinner, because Maden and Annie love pasta.

Celia took this cute picture of Annie when she cashed in her tickets for a ball at Culver's.  She's such a cute smiley little sweetheart.

Saturday, Feb 24th was Maden's last game of this season.  It was a fun season.  Annie was there, just not in the pictures, but she took the pictures of Clark and Ryder and me.  She loves to take pictures, most of which get deleted because I don't need 181 pictures of the game.  Grandma Beth and Grandpa Chin Chopper got to come and cheer Maden on too.  

After the ballgame, I went with Randy to JC Penney's. This is what happens when you go shopping with a 2 year old.  He climbs into the shelves, then can't get out.

Molly was such a big girl and got a really cute hair cut.  She's such a little doll. Ryder and I enjoy going to Story time at the library.  This is such a typical smile on Maden's face.  He is getting so big.  

January 2018

On New Year's Day, some of us decided to go to Fat Cat's in Rexburg.  It was a pretty busy place, so they couldn't bowl, but they had fun in the arcade.

Molly and Ryder think they are as big as their parents and can do anything they do.  

We went to Blake's Aunt Ilene's funeral, then to Chuck A Rama afterward.  Blake and Merralee got Helen 3 plates at the same time.  She felt silly with all 3 plates in front of her, but she ended up eating most of it.

Ryder loved helping to make banana bread.  Annie and Clark like Grandpa to read them a story.  Annie loved her magic trick she learned from her kiwi crate. I loved hearing her laugh.  Ryder stayed over a for a weekend and had to have some stories before church.  Clark liked painting his mat that came with his cricket crate, Annie liked it too.  Ryder enjoyed painting on his cricket crate mat too.

We celebrated Nikelle's 26th birthday on the 13th, since she was at her Grandma's funeral on her birthday on the 6th.  All the kids like the cake time.

Randy and Ryder set up the Magic Track to try out the new cars for it.  Ryder loves to watch the cars go up and down the hills, and through the tunnel.

Molly loved her xylophone, tambourine, and dancing flag that we made from her Koala crate.

We took Ryder bowling with Brian, Annie and Clark.  Once, Ryder got the idea that he had to take turns, he really liked it.  Annie and Clark love it too.

It was a fun day.

We went to the Ag Expo in Pocatello.  Ryder liked getting in the big bucket of the loader and standing on the huge wheel of the tractor, and eating popcorn.

January 19 was Grandma Purcell's (Helen) 92nd birthday.  She's living with Merralee now, so there was soup and cake at her house.  

Fun at Texas Roadhouse, Ryder and Molly were both watching videos on their parents phones.  Annie lost her first tooth! Ryder and Molly love to play together.  Ryder and Grandpa playing with the Tony the Tiger truck.

Maden's playing basketball again.  It's still quite entertaining to watch, but Maden has improved a lot.  He makes quite a few baskets, and he's very good on defense.  Molly and Clark and Annie are his best cheerleaders.