DiSnEyLaNd!!

On the train....

Will with his new Jack Sparrow sword.

Ava and Dad eating lunch in the hotel.

"Hello?.....Uh-huh. Yup. Okay, Bye!"

One of Elle's favorite attractions was Toon Town.

Will and I on top of the steamboat.

Peyton, Hallie, and Ava

Cael enjoying the boat ride.

Will, Ava, Kate, and Cael

I loved waking up every morning to see what position these two were in.

Ava taking a little cake break while swimming at Will and Tracy's house.

Jumping Competion

Always climbing on the rails...

We loved the parades!

Tess and Peyton

We got a jump start to our summer vacationing and took the kids to California this past week to hit Disneyland!...an absolute family favorite...Andy always does his homework when planning a trip, and so of course, we stayed in THE closest hotel to the park (which made it so easy to go back and forth for swimming and naps), and he has figured out the FASTPASS system so well that we honestly never had to wait in a line for more than ten minutes, if that. We usually just walked right on all of them. Such a perfect week to go! He had the 4 days planned out so well, we hit every single ride/show we wanted to do, and then would go back for second and thirds of our favorite ones. The weather was perfect the entire time, and the kids did great. Although, I do have to mention that Elle wouldn't ride in the double jogger with Will, so I got to carry that little turkey EVERYWHERE!...I actually didn't mind too much though, she gave me a great bicep workout. We loved having Dave and Gina and Mike and Megan there with us, and all their cute kids. It was a non-stop party! The day we went to Huntington Beach, there was a surf competition going on, so the kids liked watching that. After park hopping for four days in between D-land and California Adventure, we headed North and stayed a night in Primm. Then the following day it was Macie's baptism, so we got to go see the rest of our relatives in St. George for her special day, and more swimming and playing. By this time our kids were beginning to think that life was going to forever be one big party after another, so it was good to get back to reality, and school, and chores. Oh! Aaaand, our hamster (who all along we've been calling Larry) had twins while Shelly and Lele and the girls were taking care of him...well, her!! We had no idea it was a female, let alone a pregnant one! It freaked all of us out a little bit. So, now we have three, and are fighting over what to call them, and I've had to buy a bigger cage for the new family. The kids love them so much, and I have to admit they are pretty cute. Fun times in California, and the kids already talk about the next time we get to go...only 700+ more days till we get to go back!...I don't think we'll start counting that one down for a while yet.

Painting Easter Eggs

General Conference

General Conference was so amazing. I enjoyed so many talks, and really needed to hear them as well. Cael and Ava were so good to listen to EVERY SINGLE SESSION, and took notes on lots of the talks. The best part of it is they did it without us even making them. They just wanted to so they could fill out their conference packets that they got from Primary. They are so awesome. We put up Cael's new tent that he got from Gramma for his birthday, and then they watched conference on the computer inside the tent. I'm so grateful for my little family, and for the testimonies I'm seeing blossom in my children. I'm so grateful to be a member of this true church, and know that our prophet speaks about the things that my Heavenly Father wants me to know.

a few birthdays...

March and April are great months at our house because we get to celebrate Cael and Will's birthdays. Cael turned 9 this year, and Will turned 4. We had a really fun party for Cael with 7 of his best friends. We took all the boys to the Lehi Legacy Center, and they had a blast swimming. When we asked Will what he wanted to do for his party, all he wanted to do was stay home and have his cousins here and Banks (of course). I only took a few pictures of all of the festivities. These are of Cael opening his huge scrapbook that Gramma put together for him, and a new tent, and Grandma and Grandpa Hokanson sent him Harry Potter legos. Will got a Jack Sparrow toy and sports balls and a new (indoor) tent and sleeping bag. They've loved playing with all of the new toys they got. I love my boys. I love that they get to share a room, and talk (and sometimes yell) to each other at night, and that they are good buddies (most of the time). They are the best sons I could've dreamed up. Happy Birthday, Will and Cael!
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I love how she will drink all the milk left in her bowl, after she's had cereal. Andy does it, and so do all of his siblings (they were taught growing up not to waste a drop/speck of food). All the little things Andy does to be frugal are so cute to me (and let me just say there are many), and I love when it rubs off on the kids and I. Although, I think as of now, Elle and Andy are the only people in the house that will actually do this. But really, it's the best to hear her slurp up that milk!

one tired, little ballerina...

On the days Ava has ballet, she just wears herself right out. Especially lately that the kids have been jumping on the tramp for hours on end after school, and then she heads to dance, it's so hard for her to keep her eyes open sometimes. The other day we came downstairs and found she'd fallen asleep on these hard barstools.

Chef Cael

Cael was feeling inventive last week after church, and wanted to make up his own dessert recipe. So after awhile in the kitchen, and after a few recipes gone wrong, he came up with a winner. Ava and Will are huge fans of his new treat, and I think they are pretty tasty as well. Here it is: Graham crackers with a peanut butter spread, and cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top. It's funny because he had some of his friends try it the other day, and now whenever they come over they ask him to make some for them. He really thinks he wants to be a chef someday, and I totally support him!

No more bottles!

It was a tough go, but we did it! We can officially say we are done with "ba-bas" in this house. My doctor recommended getting Elle off of them once she turned 18 months, so that's what we did. She was quite sad for about 4 days and nights. I would usually give her one in the morning, and then one before each nap, and then one at midnight,.. 2:00,.. 4:00,.. 7:00...yah, no joke, it was like she was a newborn again. I don't even know how we got back into that horrible schedule, it just sort of started happening. She'd wake up and ask for it, and her being such a cutie, and me being such a push-over, didn't make for a good combination. So we would go down to the kitchen in the dark, get the bottle out of the dish washer, pour the milk, warm it up in the microwave, go back up to my room, feed her, rock her back to sleep (doing all of this with one eye half open), just so that I could keep her happy and let everyone else sleep. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it some nights, but most nights? Not so much. I was taking one for the team...haha. It was funny because Andy would sort of sleep through all those nightly feedings, and one time when I'd had enough with the whole thing, I broke down and told him what horrible habit I'd gotten Elle into, he was amazed and quite annoyed with how bad I can mess a good thing up...she had been sleeping through the night for like 9 months prior to all this since I'd stopped nursing. Anyway, all the ba-ba tears are behind us now. It was just so cute and sad at the same time when she would go open the dishwasher to find one, and not seeing it there, would just throw herself down on the door and cry. It's already been a really great thing (not to mention the awesome night's sleep I'm getting), she's really starting to talk more, and just seems happier and able to handle being sad, and then calms down on her own without the companion of a bottle. I love that cute, little chick, and am so proud of her for going through that little rough patch in the growing up process.

Bowling at BYU

We went bowling at the Wilkinson Center for FHE. The kids love anytime they get to go on campus, mainly because they think it's so cool that Andy went to school there. They always ask questions like, "did you have a class in there?", and "did you eat at these tables?", and "did you buy ice cream like this, from that place?" (it's really cute). We usually will walk around the Wilk for a bit and just let them explore all of the elevators and stairways and hallways. Anyway, back to the bowling...Andy barely beat me, and Cael was the winner of the kids, with Ava in close second, and Will in third. And Elle? Well, she just loved munching on the chicken strips.

SuperWill

I always get such a kick out of seeing Will use the bathroom (I know, I know, someday he might be mad at me for taking this picture, but it's just too cute I couldn't resist). He is usually always wearing some sort of cape, and so he's really good at remembering to flip it up over his head so it doesn't fall in the toilet. We all love seeing who it is he will "be" each day - Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones, Superman, Ironman, Batman...he sure makes life so much FUN for our family.

Baby Blake is here!

Scott and Brittany gave birth to their second baby this past January. His name is Blake Scott Beardall. He is one of the most handsome little guys I've ever seen! We couldn't get enough of him. And now that we all have colds over here, we're anxiously awaiting being well again, and getting to hold him some more.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

(His cake had been picked at by about thirty little fingers by the time we got home.)

For Andy's birthday this year, he picked to go to the temple...yes, I married a good man. Going to the temple EVERY month (without missing) is a commitment/promise all of Andy's siblings and spouses have made to Grandma and Grandpa Hokanson while they're on their mission (that's all they wanted for Christmas). So we were getting close to the end of the month, and hadn't gone. We grabbed a bite at SmashBurger, and then had a little family party for him at home. I wonder what he wished for...he NEVER tells us. Happy Birthday, Andy!

RV'ing in Zion National Park

I don't know how I'll ever be able to go on another trip again, without doing so in an RV. I'm ruined! It was so nice to have everything we needed with us wherever we were...sometimes we'd pull up to do a hike and someone would be napping, so we'd pull out some snacks and play a card game, or watch a movie until we were ready to go, or we'd get back from a bike ride and just want to hang out, so we would. I loved not having to always be jumping in and out of a car, especially at ZION, because we were always getting out to see some cool artifact, walk through a museum, do a hike, eat somewhere...it was such a great way to travel, needless to say. We were all sad to have to return it at the end of it all. What a fun little trip it was!

So that's exactly what we've been doing ALL day...playing.