Leah's Orchestra Concert

 It was so wonderful to be able to attend a concert again!  In person!  With other poeple!  And the music was fantastic too.  One of the greatest perks of living where we do is that Leah- and all of our other kids- have the option to be part of orchestra in the school!

Stake Conference and Art Celebration

Stake conference comes around every 6 months, and this one was exceptional!  I think this might be the first picture I've taken of Jason with his counselors Jay Campbell and Joe Murdock... that only took three years.  They love to tease him about the fact that they could both be or nearly be his dad. We are blessed to work so closely with such wonderful men and their amazing families. 

In addition to the several excellent sessions of stake conference, we hosted a high council dinner, had a Spanish devotional, sang and played the piano for a baptism, attended the DSM Stake 50th Anniversary art festival, and visited in the homes of several members of our ward and stake.  

It was really no wonder that it wasn't until we pulled to the church parking lot on Sunday morning that Adam realized he wasn't wearing shoes.  At least he had socks on!  We were able to discretely surround him on the way in and out and no one had a clue. 

Visiting with a sister in our ward- look at that beautiful plant!

 There was a lot of art associated with stake conference- it's the one time of the year that the kids are allowed to bring anything to church beyond their scriptures.  Noah drew the temple!

Emma drew the Path of Life, the stops included read The Book of Mormon or eat Chick-fil-a, go to the temple or do drugs, get baptized or smoke, and finally led to the gates of heaven- 

Adam started a drawing of the Salt Lake temple, created from his LEGO temple memory. 

And Leah created 100 sheep to go along with Elder Uceda's talk about leaving the 99 to find the one. 

And everyone got a piece of saltwater taffy when we were done!

We also created art for the stake festival- Adam wanted to do origami and created The Growth of the Church in Iowa- from farmhouse to chapel to (someday) temple! 

Emma drawing was titled Building a Chapel and Leah's was Come, Come Ye Saints. 

Noah opted not to create anything but made a great photobomber in this picture!

So much talent in our stake!  I only took pictures of a few of our favorite works of art. 

Sweet Corn- This is our stake center, surrounded by fields of corn and the members sold sweet corn to help raise funds for the building. 

The Plan

All Are Alike Unto God

No Longer a Pass Through

The Sacred Grove

Hearts Knit Together

Growing Up Unto the Lord

Let God Prevail

And there was so much information about the founding of the stake, including old programs, pictures of the the first house that used as a church meeting place and these pamphlets about The Book of Mormon- 

It was all fascinating, inspiring, and so exciting to see the growth that has come and continues to happen for the church in Des Moines!

Family Bike Ride

We have had weeks of rain lately, so when Friday presented us with blue skies, we hauled our bikes over to Gray's Lake for some fresh air and sunshine!

 Having learned nothing from our last family + Laney outing, of course she came along too!

I'm sure she enjoyed the view and seeing all of the other dogs along the way.  I just wish she didn't express it by barking at them. 

But it's hard to resist stuffing her in the backpack when it earns such ooh's and aah's from the kids, especially Adam.  He can't resist her cuteness!

Emma got a new bike this spring- with gears!- and was ready to hit the trail. She started out as the leader of the pack. 

Daddy and Noah took up the rear.  It took a while to remember all that Noah worked so hard on last year, but eventually he took the lead and was so excited to be zipping around the lake. 

All that rain brings mushrooms the size of your head! The kids and I have had a running joke for years that they will bring me what they say is a handful of freshly picked flowers, which (almost) always turns out to be a handful of mushrooms that I shriek about and slap out of their hands.  It never gets old. 

Beautiful picture, very steep drop. 

The lake is just over 2 miles round trip, and most of us wanted to go twice (or more!).  

We convinced Emma to join us eventually, and when we go to the end of the second loop, we were rewarded with a lit up tunnel that we didn't know was there the first time around!

It was the perfect end to our first biking adventure of the season!

Softball and Baseball

Softball and baseball season have been dominating our schedule over the last two months.  Some days are perfect for being outside, some are pretty chilly, some have been too rainy to play.  

Leah's season started first and she always played double-headers, bringing her season to a close much sooner than we thought it would be done. 

In a very rare because we live so far apart moment, Grandpa was able to attend one of her games!  I know Leah would have liked to continue playing for much longer than the short five or so weeks that her season lasted, but for now that's it for her!

Adam has really enjoyed his season.  Baseball here is much less intense than his level of Little League was getting in Ankeny. His games are long and he's always focused and right in the game. I'm glad that he is still playing!

Celebratory ice cream for his first run!  He stole off of third and slid into home. 

Emma has the natural talent but not always the desire to get dressed up and head out on the field. 

But when she plays she does great!

Her group and coach are pretty intense but she's stuck with it!

And Noah is loving coach pitch this year!

Especially because his coach is Daddy!

That's been a great way to make sure that he's at every game, and he's so fun to watch- scrunching up his mouth when he's at bat and hoping onto each base as he makes his way back to home plate.  I'm glad everyone is playing ball this spring, and I think we'll all be glad when we have a few more free nights in our calendar once it's over!

Little Bits of Life

The boys went camping!  

It was the Aaronic Priesthood Commemorative (aka Father-Son) campout and they were all so excited for it.  Good times in the woods with friends and a guaranteed poor night's sleep in the tent.  I love that our church has land here where we can make memories year after year. 

And we had a girls night! Much cleaner than camping and I'm positive we got a better night sleep, too. 

Sleeping in the car, Barbie safely tucked in. 

Sometimes our besties come over!

Babysitting little kids reminds us all how young and small our family once was. 

We've had a lot of rainy, cloudy days lately but the bright blue and green ones make up for it. 

Our "outside pets" continue to delight us daily. 

I am 100% sure the kids will be mortified by this picture one day. 

Look at how cute these little helpers are!

We added a net to the treehouse!  We waited a looooong time for it to arrive, and when it did it came in this awesome chicken bag with Chinese characters on it! 

The net is the hot spot to play right now. 

I tried the pouty lips selfie on the way to date night.  Ha!