Desert spring

I LOVE this time of year.

Our changes of seasons are pretty subtle in the desert, you have to look closely, but they are there if you're watching.

The temperature has been perfect, tons of sunshine and longer days mean that we've been spending every chance we have outside enjoying it!  Summer is coming quickly and all too soon we will be driven inside by the scorching temperatures.

March was a huge birthday month for us.
Which explains why my jeans are all now too tight.
Peanut butter pie, strawberry  shortcake with buttermilk biscuits, strawberry pizza, oatmeal cake, chocolate cupcakes...my resolve to restart my diet only lasted as long as it took for things to get out of the oven. Again.

First up, Bella turned 5. She had waited for this day for, what seemed to her, FOREVER, but it came much too quickly for her mama!

Notice the spaghetti-monster  peering over her bowl in awe of her smartest and funnest big sister.

Bella loved her new puppy and she even got to spend time with her great friend, Lily.

Lily was visiting from out of state and also turned 5 a couple of weeks before .

Isabella and Lily five years ago.

A couple of days later we celebrated Caleb turning 15.
I. Cannot. Believe. It.
and
WhereDidTimeFly???

Don't tell him that I think it's pretty cool that he loves his little sister so much...you know how much 15 year olds hate to be cool. (Umm, do teenagers even still use the word cool anymore?)

Okay, never mind, go ahead and tell him. And while you're at it, tell him his mom and dad are awfully proud of him and who he is becoming too.

Next up, it was Jerry's turn. Since he wouldn't let me buy him a 3 night golfing trip at a resort in Mexico, we did the next best thing, which was to stay at home surrounded by the many little people who love him most, and who think he is the  awesomest, smartest, handsomest, funniest dad ever! I would agree.

We ended the month with Gabe turning 9.

He's his father's son, no doubt about it.
Gross was the theme of this year's party...we couldn't find a wormy brain cake recipe so we had to settle for wormy cupcakes. Either way, one worm is too many as far as I'm concerned.
But you only turn nine once and the wild dreams and crazy imagination of boyhood fly away so quickly, so a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do while she can!


Several weeks ago we drove a couple hours north and spent a day sledding and playing in the snow.
I love snow.
Especially when it's 2 hours away.

Mikayla enjoyed it a lot more than she had last year and she ate it by the handfuls.

(Mikayla '09)

We went hiking recently for the first time since the twins were home. First time with 9 kids and
we haven't gone again since.

It's going to be a much shorter hike next time; after all, you can only carry out so many people before you end up needing to be carried out yourself.

Here's hoping at least some of the birthday cake calories got burnt off in the desert...but I'm taking a wild guess that it wasn't even close to all of them.
A wild guess and the sad fact that my jeans are still too tight.