April

I've finally reached my April post - I think I'm all caught up! And we're only a few days into May...look at me go! ;) April was a full, fun month. The weather started to warm up (and then went back to rain), we celebrated Easter, had a few adventures, I went to Pocatello for a weekend and Stephen was working in the ICU (one day off a week and 30 hour shifts every four days). Here are the highlights!

There were plenty of lazy, cozy school mornings, walks and bike rides to parks, on bug hunts, picnics and to the hospital. Four and two and these kiddos are now each other's constant best friends - their friendship has truly budded the last two months and it has been such a  joy to witness!

The rain came back around with Easter Sunday, but we were able to make the best of it! We had a potluck style lunch after morning service with some of our greatest friends here, and an egg hunt for the kiddos! We are abundantly blessed in many ways and friendships has been no exception! Truly so thankful for these families!

One particular Tuesday took us to the Monterey Bay aquarium with some good friends (who sadly aren't pictured!) Uriah's favorite was the hammerhead shark and Ezra's was the sea turtle!

One of the biggest highlights of the month was my dad's surprise retirement party in Pocatello. And I got to be part of the surprise! I flew up on a Friday morning and so many of his family, friends and co-workers (many who came from out of town and out of state!) surprised him in the evening with a happy retirement/yay for the next adventure party! My mom and sister put the whole thing together perfectly and he was completely surprised! His reaction was such a joy to see, his late night re-living the party ramblings almost better! I got to see cousins I haven't seen in a long time, aunts, uncles, MY NIECES!, the airstream and my childhood home (one last time!) It was such a fun weekend getaway and I'm so thankful for my mother-in-law who, really!, made it all possible. She flew down from Alaska just for the weekend to stay with my kiddos because Stephen had to work. Isn't that incredible?! They didn't miss me one bit with her love and attention, I'm sure!

The weekend after I got back was Stephen's first weekend off in a month and it happened to be a long one! He had to go out of state to complete some paperwork for South Africa (something maybe I haven't mentioned here on the blog yet...?! Stephen's going to South Africa!) so we decided to make a whole trip out of it and spend a few days in Tahoe! Neither of us have ever been and though maybe it wasn't ideal to go in the off season, it actually worked out great because we had the place to ourselves! We got to see sand and snow and the kids loved it! We spent our first night eating out at the local brewery, went swimming first thing the in morning, walked around the lake playing in the sand, hiked up a hill for a view of the lake, celebrated Friday Pizza Movie Night, took another little hike, played in the snow and saw some incredible views. Yay for weekends away and YAY for weekends with Stephen!