Kite Festival

 

Saturday we drove up to Salem (near Roanoke) for the 10th annual Kite Festival. We've never been before, but thought that it sounded like something fun to do. We pulled up and saw hundreds of kites flying in the air! It was amazing! Thousands of people gathered at this huge park every year in a valley where the wind is supposed to blow more - perfect for kite flying! There are venders of all sorts and games for kids. The kids even got to make their own kite (which didn't look too much more than a Kroger bag, but flew nonetheless!) and they had a great time getting them up in the air. It was actually quite crazy - people were flying there kites wherever they wanted, so we had to keep a constant heads up! We had a good time though!

 

We enjoyed watching the pros do "kite ballet" to music, as well as watch them fly these huge kites that are one of a kind. I guess its quite the sport! We had a picnic on the grass as we watched.

 

 

Upon a Golden Springtime

I love springtime! There are so many trees full of white, pink, and yellow blossoms all over town. The daffodils and tulips are so gorgeous! I had to take the kids out for a walk to take a few pics around the neighborhood. We had such a fun day smelling flowers, playing at the park, and splashing in puddles!

Bryce Passed!!

A big huge congrats goes out to Bryce for passing his PHD preliminary exam yesterday! It has been a grueling, spread out, 24 hour exam with long study hours and high stress levels. I am happy to announce that he passed his oral defense yesterday with no further assignments given (phew!); so now he is officially a "PHD Candidate" with only his dissertation ahead of him (I say ONLY with a little sarcasm)! Good job, Bryce!

10, 400 Days Old!

Last Wednesday, Bryce had calculated that I was turning 10,400 days old. He surprised me in the morning by having the house decorated with pink balloons and posters all over that had 10,400 written on them. It was really cute! He came home early from school that day to take me out to dinner at a local downtown restaurant. He had arranged for babysitting and everything! We came home and enjoyed an ice cream celebration with the kids and friends. Then after Bryce got the kids in bed, he rubbed my feet as we watched a movie together. It was so great! Bryce has been gone a lot this month taking his prelim exams for his PHD, so this was a much needed break and what a surprise!! Thanks, honey!

Easter Kids

I never put pictures of the kids in the Easter Sunday clothes. So here they are. Bryce took a lot of pictures and they were acting kind of goofy, but here are some of the "better" ones.

Easter Egg Hunt!

We ventured to the annual community Easter Egg hunt today at one of our favorite parks. This is something that the kids have been talking about and looking forward to all week! So, they have each age group line up together and wait until they are allowed to hunt for eggs in the designated areas. James went with the 2-year olds (obviously) and was totally pumped to get as many eggs as he could. He ran inside the gate and found a good spout surrounded by eggs and in slow motion placed each egg one by one into his basket. I tried encouraging him to go a little faster, but i think all the attention and swarms of people were too much pressure. When he had about 10 eggs, I said, "are you all done?" and he stood up and bolted for the exit like, "YES, she's letting me get out of here!" It was too funny!


And then there's Lucy. We waited in line for a very long 10 minutes until they let the 4-year olds in the hunt area. She was also very pumped to gather "so many eggs" with her little 4-year old friends. When it was time to go in, all 295 kids mashed up together at the entrance and waited for the volunteers to say GO. Oh boy, that was a little crazy, and just a little bit too much pushing and screaming and rushing of little kids for Lucy. She totally lost her focus and just stood there. She wouldn't even pick up the eggs that the helpers would drop right by her basket! It was so sad. I think some other kids that had overflowing baskets took pity on her because she somehow managed to come out with 4 eggs, I think. Better luck next year, Lucy!




This was Caleb's year, though. He was excited - he was ready! At the signal, he darted through the crowd of 5-year olds, leaped over the front kids who had been pushed to the ground, and ran for the best location for gathering the most eggs! His basket was filled in 7 seconds. James tried to throw his basket over the fence to him, but that was against the rules. Sorry James.


It was maddness, but it was great. All the kids managed to come home with happy faces!

Raleigh Temple

We decided it was about time that we went to the temple (it seems like its been forever!), so we took a day trip down to the Raleigh Temple with some friends in the ward.

The weather was absolutely perfect! We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the stake center lawn together, and then took the kids to a nearby park to play red rover, red-light green-light, mother may I? and other classic games while the other couples did temple work. Then we switched for our turn. We were able to do about 30 family name sealings, so we were way excited about that!


It was a quick trip, but totally worth it and we all had a great time. (In the picture we were with the Vanhille Family and the Parkinsons)