If can't be this time of year without some fishing at Dry Wash. The view is so pretty, the fishing is usually great, and being on the mountain is my drug of choice. On this particular trip Parker caught a 14" trout. What more could we ask for?

I know that I'm way behind with blogging, but that's just because we are too busy having fun. I had to put up a few pictures of Bronsen's machine pitch baseball season though. He had such a great time. It's such a step up from t-ball. I really felt like he was out there playing ball. So much fun to go watch!
Thanks to an awesome coach who even managed to teach these boys a few things.

Memorial Weekend we had a very busy, but exciting time. We headed down to the Lake on Friday night to play with Steve's family and all of their crowd. Saturday morning Bronsen tried out the knee board. Thanks to a very helpful Uncle Mark, he was able to get up. Despite the cold water Steve and I tried out our new toys too, a slalom ski and wake board. Before we trashed our prop on a rock that we couldn't see because of all the wind, we were thinking that it would be a Summer spent in the water, now ????


We came home from the lake early Sunday morning in time for church, and some much needed rest. Monday the Snyder family all got together for a BBQ at the farm. It was tons of fun to see everyone. Steve's aunt asked me how life was going. I replied, "Couldn't be better!" I've been thinking about that statement the last few days, and really we're so blessed, I couldn't ask for life to be much better.

Steve's brother and his wife came out to visit from St. Louis. We were so glad that they came. We made them linger a little longer than we probably should have and took them to Mesa Verde on Tuesday. In 3rd grade I broke my arm the night before our field trip to these cliff dwellings, and it's been on my bucket list ever since.




I love this picture! She is such a happy thing when she can run and be wild.


We're not the best at family snapshots lately.
Cliff Palace
Grandpa and the boys.
So good to see the two of you again. My kids have always loved their Uncle Mark, and despite the fact that Parker won't hug or kiss Madison they all talk about her and when they're coming back.
A random picture of Parker. He has always been my "gear" boy. The other day he was acting very very silly and trying to get some attention, he dressed up.

As I sit here on this Sunday afternoon, I'm banking on this quote by Elder David A Bednar who shared this at a Women's Conference.

"Brothers and Sisters, we should find great comfort in the fact that ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results."

I say this because I came home from church thinking, "That was pointless today." You see Sienna was super loud and naughty in Sacrament meeting, but she's two, so you have to cut her some slack. The boys however are old enough to know better. So Steve had them sit in the chapel for a good 15-20 minutes instead of going to primary. (Hopefully they will remember that next week.) So I'm sitting in Sunday School, Kade is being noisy, but good. He's discovered his voice, and it's so dang cute. Then, the nursery leader comes to get me. Sienna has thrown up, all over herself and the carpets. So I'm home now. Two kids sleeping and the others at church with their daddy. Steve tells me I need to just remember that we are 30 year olds, with 4 kids trying to go to church.

So in the peace and quiet that I have for another 15 minutes, I was doing some reading and came across this quote.

"Brothers and Sisters, we should find great comfort in the fact that ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results."

I feel extremely thankful for my faith and the gospel to teach me in my efforts to be a mom. I'm really not sure where else I could turn that would be as effective in reminding me that yes, raising a family in righteousness is hard, but that it is the most important thing we will ever do on this earth and thanks to temples ordinances these sometimes crazy but mostly amazing kids are mine to keep for eternity. So I guess I'll keep doing those simple things of going to church, having family night, saying our prayers, reading our scriptures, and talking about gospel principles on the faith that I know Elder Bednar's word are true.

We had such a fun Easter this year. The best I can remember! We went and parked the camp trailer the weekend before so that we would be all set and get a good spot. Steve took Friday off work, so we headed up Thursday night. It's always fun to camp and do things with just "our little family". We enjoyed marshmellows that night and some hiking, baseball and relaxing the next morning.
Then Friday my family started showing up. Once everyone that could make it got there we headed up Arch Canyon on 4 wheelers. My favorite part was the hike up to the arch itself. Then on Saturday the Easter Bunny came, more family showed up for lunch, we raced eggs and the annual egg fight ensued, the boys shot guns, rode four wheelers, and played games. Then we packed it up and headed home in need of some serious showers.

I'm not sure all of my captions are showing on this slideshow. Oh well!

Wrestling this year was a lot of fun. We did the Monticello, Blanding, and Durango tournaments. Both boys improved a lot and had tons of fun. I think Steve had more fun than both of them combined though. My boys are lucky to have such a great coach.






And a random picture of Kessia and Sienna playing at grandma's house.

Parker came home from school yesterday all excited. Our conversation went something like this:

Parker: Mom, at school we made a bird feeder. We covered a pinecone with butter and put bird seed on it.

Me: Oh, that's pretty cool.

Parker: Ya, me and Bronsen are going to hang it up, and when the birds come, we'll shoot them.

Me: Why would you want to shoot them?

Parker: Why not?

Me: Because Heavenly Father made them and we should only shoot thing that are pests, or that we are going to eat.

Parker: (pause) OK I'll eat it.

And he runs off to get his nerf gun. Later he came in and said, "I wish I had some camo"

I so have boys!! They are definitely not city boys!