It's Camping Weather!

Last weekend we went on our first camping trip of the year. The weather was perfect! The water in the lake was still pretty chilly, so Nate had to settle for the sprinkler. He LOVES playing in water. I think we are going to do a sprinkler/slip-n-slide party for his birthday in July.

My niece, Ashlyn (right) and her friend Rachelle (left)

When Nate wasn't playing in the sprinkler, he was playing with this bucket of water. He is really into Cars right now. He has several of the cars and loved getting them dirty and then washing them off in the bucket. My mom also made him a ramp for his cars. Grandparents are the best!

Because He Lives

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

I love that old hymn! We sang it on Easter Sunday and for the first time those words were so precious to me. Without the resurrection of Christ our lives would be full of fear and hopelessness. God has had our family on an incredible journey these last few months and we are learning to truly trust Him more and more each day. Darren and I are confident that He holds our future and His will is perfect. This doesn't mean that our life will always be easy, but we are confident in Christ's love for us.

Checking out his basket

Since Nate arrived, we've tried to take a family picture every Easter. This one is pretty good considering we did it before church with the tripod.

We ate lunch with Darren's family. While the adults were hiding eggs, the kids went on a hayride.

All of the cousins - Kelsey, Karmen, Carson, Cam & Nate

Easter Egg Hunt

We hosted our church's preschool Easter egg hunt. We had lots of families come down to our neck of the woods and we had a great time...until it started raining. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few cute ones.

The Case of the Missing Kittens

We've had a lot of stray animals cross our path the last 10 years. Most of them hang around a few days and move on, especially the cats. A cat showed up several months ago and didn't leave. We are a sucker for animals, so we started feeding her. About three months ago we noticed that she was probably pregnant. Then one day we noticed that she looked "normal" again. That's when the hunt for the kittens began. We looked for those kittens for 4 weeks and could not find them anywhere. Then last Tuesday the kittens appeared. First she brought out the black one and then the two orange ones. I'm really not a cat person, but I was so excited to see the kittens. We had the best time watching the kittens. The momma cat didn't even mind us petting them or holding them. Then the next day she carried them off again - so maybe she did mind us petting and holding them. So now we are on the hunt again for the kittens. She can't keep them hidden forever.

Dyeing Eggs

My mom LOVES to dye Easter eggs. Even when I was a teenager we dyed eggs. Then Ashlyn came along and we continued the tradition. Now Ashlyn is a teenager and she still enjoys dyeing eggs. A couple of weeks ago we dyed eggs with my mom and dad. I forgot my camera, but I used their camera to take a couple of pictures of Nate hunting the eggs we dyed. Check out all of the dye on Nate's clothes. I think he had a good time. :)

Last week Ashlyn called to see if Nate wanted to dye eggs. Of course he wanted to dye eggs! Now he's an egg dyeing pro.

My 33rd Birthday!

I celebrated my 33rd birthday on March 19th. We had pizza and cake at my parents' house. Darren's birthday was the week before, so Nate had birthday cake two Fridays in a row. I have a feeling March is going to be one of his favorite months. He spent the night with my parents that night and as we were leaving he said "Thanks for the birthday cake." I guess he thought it was his cake even though we talked about it being my birthday.

Getting ready for "Happy Birthday to You" with Nate and Ashlyn


Nate's favorite thing - licking icing off of the candles


This is the first picture the four of us have taken together in a really long time. Check out the pictures of Jill and me in the background.


Darren Junior

Our First Double Yolk