Two more steps

Chantz was ordained an elder and it was such a neat experience. We are so lucky to have families that support us and are excited for things that happen in our family.

I know Chloe is going to miss her big brother!

Don't they look handsome--Clay will have to hold his own against his sisters!

We had the ordination on the Sunday of General Conference and if I would have planned better I would have realized that we usually don't get dressed on that Sunday....(maybe that's the reason I love it so much!)

We are so lucky to live close to family!

Two very handsome men (I may be a little biased but I don't think so!)

The following Thursday we were able to go with Chantz to the Temple. I can't express the feelings you have as you watch one of your children experience the blessings of going through for the first time. Chantz was so excited and I love that about him! Although it really makes you realize that your child is growing up and with that comes change--I can't describe the peace of knowing he has made the right choices that has allowed him to be worthy to go to the Temple. He is so excited to serve a mission and for that I am grateful!

Happy Happy Birthday!

(I know, I know, I'm a little behind!) It it Chantz's 19th Birthday--hard to believe it is here! It seems like he was just in 5th grade doing his own dance on stage during a skit and we were amazed at his dancing skills (and also how brave he was!) This is a big birthday as he is getting ready to leave for his mission on June 1st. We just had a family celebration (I'm selfish and want to spend each "last" thing as a family) We had Mississippi Mud for his favorite dessert!
19 things you might not know about Chantz--

Always fun to be around
Always smilin' (for the most part!)
Excited to teach the gospel
Great big brother
Responsible and a hard worker
Strong (a manly man) and willing to help!
Great dance moves
Has saved the entire amount needed for his mission
Great Primary teacher to a class of all boys
Smarter than me in Math....Physics....Calculus....Chemistry..(I'll stop there)
Loves to make noises
Is a great singer
Very athletic
Just got first ticket :(
An example to everyone
Will be missed ALOT!
Leaves in 32 days!
Loved especially by me (and maybe the rest of the family!)
Makes us sooo Proud!

Great missionary shirt and tie from Grampy and Grammy!

Happy Birthday Chantz--We LOVE you!

H-H-S!

Cassie has been keeping busy with Cheer lately. Her high school team just went to Nationals and placed 5th in the Nation! The girls had really worked hard and it paid off!

Luckily for Cassie they also got to go to Disneyland while they were there--her favorite place!

I wasn't able to go to Nationals because it was Chantz's birthday and we had Ward Conference that weekend so my pictures were from the State competition where they performed the same routine!

Cassie's in the middle holdin' that girl up. Maybe all those years of messing around with her brothers and sisters made her strong! It was so exciting to watch Cassie perform--I was amazed at their stunts and their routine! Way to go Cassie!

Spring Break

We are so lucky that the Grandma and PaPa Oliver have a great cabin to visit in Pine--just 1 1/2 hours away. It makes for the perfect 2 day trip and still allows for our teenagers to be able to hang out with their friends during Spring Break. We seem to find lots of things to keep us occupied each time we go.

We love to go quad-riding.

We have found this muddy lake....ok more like a pond but it makes for great rock-skipping contests!

We try to pose like Karate Kid (notice just enough rocks!)

We climb to the top of a rock hill and pretend it is the top of the world!

This year we took a different route on our quads and ended up at Fossil Springs--it was beautiful. We definitely will be making this a regular quad-ride trip!

We started off just putting our feet in the water--it felt great and was not too cold (for melted snow)

Then....as usual, we had to start messin' around. Some in our family LOVE to mess around!

I don't know how we ended up at this--but we found this great swimming hole a little ways up and the boys found a great place to jump in. I figured their boxers looked close enough to swimsuits AND there was no one around (why are boys never shy!!)

After a couple of jumps they convinced the girls to try and one by one each of them decided to do it! We had toe-touching contests and lots of other things to keep things interesting! (notice....luckily, Russ and I refrained from joining in!)

Even though we went swimming--we still looked like this when we got back. It was a great time and so nice to spend time as a family (except we missed Chelsey and wished she didn't have a real job!) I'm pretty sure this is the last trip together before Chantz leaves (but I'm not thinking about it!)