Seriously, what made me do this?

We went to Sams Club over the weekend with the kids and they asked if we could get a HUGE, MASSIVE, GINORMOUS container of cheese puffs

and I said "YES."

Why I'm not sure. I don't like these for many reasons, the mess, the sounds of them crunching, the no nutrition of them.


But still I said "YES."


The kids are going to be in cheesy, noisy, junk food heaven for weeks or months. Maybe I'll have these be the snack when we have a backyard full of kids!

Flowers

Today Rebecca and I went on a tour around our yard and your neighbors yards to check out the flowers coming up this spring.


The daffodils around the light in the yard. I'd love to get this light working, but the cost is WAY more then I want to pay, so for now it will stay as decoration.



The tulips had a tough time with all the times they were stepped on by kids. This one was already losing it's bloom a day or two after opening.



This is our neighbors cherry tree. Last year it only produced a few cherries that the birds ate and alot of the seeds ended up in our garden on the other side of the fence.


One of our bleeding heart flower plants.



The neighbors on the other side are very fond of dandelions, so there are plenty of them in their yard for Rebecca to play with.

You've Got a Friend in me

This was the theme for this year Family Camp.


The kids wanted to do it all, and do it all they did!! The only things we didn't do were story time and parent workshop. We did get some away time Saturday night when the kids watched Toy Story 3 with the counselors and the parents got their own bonfire with smores.

The very 1st thing we did was take a hike. Rebecca and I stayed behind, so we missed the adventure but we got to hear about it. On the hike they had to cross the VERY muddy creek 6 times. On one of the crossings Ammon stepped into the mud and his shoes got stuck. He took his shoes off and then his socks got stuck in the mud. He came back extremely muddy. After half hour he asked if we'd get him his extra shoes because his muddy ones were bothering him.


Ice Cream and Cherry cobbler.


Tie dying-their shirts are on the bottom row.
from left to right
Ammon, Rebecca, Corrine and Simeon


Simeon & dad on their trail ride. You had to be 9 to go on the trail ride


Ammon on Buzz


Corrine on Buzz


Rebecca on Buzz


Our horse lover Corrine dreaming of riding Buzz all afternoon!


Ammon shooting his 1st gun ever. He was more then excited to go to this rotation!!


Ammon sewing his army tank pillowcase from ConKerr Cancer.


The kids with their pillowcases. They each got to pick out their material and help sew them. I even got a Winnie the Pooh pillowcase.
Simeon sports, Corrine guitars, Rebecca zoo animals and Ammon army tanks.


Ammon all harnessed in and ready to climb the rockwall. All 3 kids made it to the top of the small wall.


Simeon on the high wall. Corrine wanted to climb it, but one of the workers told us they had to be 9 to climb it. She climbed all the way to the top last summer (when she was 7) and wanted to show us. Later we learned that we were told the wrong age and any age can climb the high rock wall, but you have to be 10, to go on the zipline.


Playing parachute so we could get a puzzle piece to find out where One Eyed Pete had hid the ice cream sandwiches.

This is the same came that the kids go to in the summer. It's fun to experience the fun activities that they do at camp. The Children's Cancer Connection does an awesome job making camp fun!

Omaha Children's Museum

Last time we went to the museum, Rebecca was just a few weeks old and the 3 older kids LOVED the ball room. This time we spent 5 minutes in there before the said it was too crowed and they couldn't find anything to play with.
Corrine and Ammon and I found a giant peg screen (for lack of the real name of this toy). It was so much fun. You pushed the red pegs in on one side and they came out the other side. We made face impressions, hand impressions, then whole body impressions.



We went to find Rebecca and the kids had more fun the in younger area, then the older kid areas. The old time firetruck is a favorite to climb on.


Rebecca got her hands wet then saw a little boy using a dryer to dry his hands. Rebecca went and tried it out, and was instantly hooked!! She would go get her hands wet, then walk over to the drier to dry them. The air blew out so hard that it would blow her skin all funny.

Winter Quarters Temple

We've been to Omaha a few times, but have never made it up to the Temple before. We put the address into our GPS and it said it was only 2 miles from the Children's Museum. It took us to where the address said, but we were nowhere near the Temple. We knew we were on the right road, just miles away. The end of the road we were on was small, very old and ended up dead ending. We found another road going to same way and hopped on it. Again it was a small, very old road and not the best, so we found another bigger street to go on. We knew we were in the area by the house #'s so we turned up a street. We ended up going up one of the steepest streets ever. When we got to the top we turned right and within a few feet we were on a dirt road. This was NOT how we thought we'd get to the Temple. We took a left onto another dirt road hoping to get there, and within a block on this road, the Temple stood on the hill.
We went in the visitors center where a very nice sister missionary greeted us. She had a watch a 15 minute video about the pioneers, then proceeded to get the kids dressed in pioneer clothes and hats. Then she went into a 45 minute tour of the visitors center.







It was very interesting and had lots of hands on things for the kids, but Rebecca had had enough after 25 minutes, I tried to keep her occupied, but it wasn't to be, so we escaped outside for the last ten minutes.
Outside we found "Popcorn Trees". We smelt the blossoms, picked them up in our hands and blew them and sand Popcorn popping under the trees. This was more Rebecca style!



We took some quick pictures at the visitors center and Temple before heading back to the Museum (which was closed when we got there earlier.)

Waterpark & Omaha Zoo

We needed this trip. Each of us needed to get away from life for a few days and play, and play we did!!
We stayed at a Holiday in with an attached waterpark. Coco Keys resort. We LOVED this waterpark!! We've stayed at a lot of waterpark hotels over the years, but I think this has been our favorite so far. It had so many different areas with something in each that someone loved. Ammon and Rebecca spent alot of time in the kiddie pool. It was zero depth entry and only went to 1 1/2 feet, which was perfect for Rebecca to walk and crawl in and for Ammon to swim with his goggles. The play area was big enough for Simeon to enjoy, but small enough that Rebecca could also play in it without feeling overwhelmed. They had 3 good sized slides that Corrine & Ammon went down dozens of times that were big enough to be big slides, but not too big to scare them. Then there were the big slides. It took some convincing to get Corrine to go down them. The 2nd night we were there she went down with dad. She ended up going down both the tube slides 4 times each! They also had a 4 foot pool with 4 basketball hoops and climbing net (monkey bar style) over the water. Simeon spent a lot of time there. Ammon liked that areas of that pool were only 3 feet deep so he could swim and if he got nervous he could stand right up. And the lazy river was long and didn't shoot water at you-just how we like them!
I didn't take a single picture here. I decided I wanted to enjoy the waterpark with the kids, not just be stuck behind the camera and then worry about the camera getting wet or stolen. So no pictures-but know it was a blast!!

We hit up the Omaha zoo on Thursday. It's one of our favorite zoos. We like that it has both outdoor and indoor exhibits. It is a hilly zoo though, so we got lots of exercise today!



We headed to the bears to see the enrichment time. The water got turned on and the bears got much livelier. It was fun to see the bears walk right up the glass and look at you.


Ammon got a very close look at a gorilla!


The main gorilla exhibit was empty today because they were replacing a piece of glass. You could see where a gorilla hand had hit the glass-HARD-and cracked it.

One of our favorite parts of the zoo is the Lied Jungle. It's HUGE. You walk around the top of it through different area to see monkeys, birds, bats. There are vines the kids can hang on and sit on and a rope bridge to cross. Then you look down to see hippos and other animals. Then you can go down to the "floor" of the jungle and explore down there. The main trees that hold up the dome are massive and you really get the feel of walking through a jungle. The kids always love to go through the viney roots of a certain tree that's made just for kids. They also like to go through the hidden staircase to go up to the waterfall.





We also like to go through the desert dome and the kingdom of the night. While we were in the swamp part Rebecca came up to me and said "Scary-up please" She didn't like walking by the alligators and other animals in the dark.



The walk through shark tank tunnel was another favorite of the older 3 kids, but NOT by dad who escaped to avoid getting sick! There were a half dozen or so sharks in the tank, but the one with all the crazy sharp teeth everywhere was the most favorite to watch. The kids were counting how many sharks swam over them.

I love how into the shark tank the kids are in this picture and you can see it on their faces and how not a single one is looking at me.

The shark with all the teeth.

Suits and Future Missionaries

The boys got new suits a few weeks back and we hadn't gotten any pictures of them wearing them yet. I think they look so handsome in their suits.


I feel like we need to start preparing them now in what they wear when they go to church. That way when they start to pass the sacrament and go on missions wearing a suit, white shirt and tie is natural. They both have future Missionary tags for their suits, but didn't have them on today.

Simeon has been reading the Gospel Principles book lately so he's ready for his mission in 9 years. What sweet boys we have!


When Johann was the ward clerk, he'd get up and count how many people were at church every Sunday. He wore a suit, and soon Ammon (he was 4 at the time) was asking for a suit. On Sunday when Joahnn got up to count, Ammon would grab his notebook and pencil and follow him counting the people and making tally marks in his notebook just like dad. It was such a sweet thing. Since then Ammon will only wear his suit to church.

One day Ammon came out of class dragging his suit jacket. I told him that missionaries treat their suits very nicely, and if they need to take their jacket off, they either lay in nicely next to them or hang it nicely on the back of their chair. That has changed how he treats his suit jacket-most of the time.