Happy Birthday to me in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

 Isn't this a fun picture. Ryan took it of our hands at Myrtle Beach. I want to hang it up when I have my own walls once again. :) Can you guess whose hands are which?

 We had a lot of fun at the beach. It is funny how much it looks and feels like Virginia Beach. The only difference is there are old people EVERYWHERE in Myrtle Beach.

 A friend recommended the Sea Mist Hotel. It looks pretty bad on the outside but it was sooo fun and nice, and inexpensive. Our room was comfortable, it was directly on the beach, and also had eight swimming pools, and lots of little slides for the kids. They were in heaven. I would have paid the price of the hotel just for the water park.

 Once I remember the name of this restraunt I will put it here. But it was a very classy Italian restraunt. We really enjoyed ourselves and the food there.

 At our hotel enjoying the pools.

Oh did I mention Ryan sent me off for a massage which I haven't had since leaving Utah. It was heavenly.

Savannah Georgia and Tybee Beach

Happy Easter and Fayetteville Carnival

HAPPY EASTER!!! I will have to take pictures of the kids in their Easter Sunday Clothes because they looked beautiful. We had a lot of fun this year. The kids loved dying the eggs, and playing the easter games I had put together. We had a great Saturday Party. We figured that would be it, and the Easter Bunny would drop off their baskets in the morning. But they wouldn't stop talking about him hiding eggs in the morning. So as not to dissapoint Mom "heard" the Easter bunny outside so we ran to the door to look. The kids eyes just lit up when they saw all the eggs hidden around the yard. It was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time talking about the true meaning and what the Resurrection is so I was pleased that this was more the focus than anything. We had a really great time this year.

 These guys are "our" missionaries. Living in Utah I never really got how people got attached to missionaries. But we really felt like these guys were our little brothers and we had to make sure they were well taken care of. Elder Sharod and Elder Segundo were great guys to learn from and get to know. We shared many spiritual times with them and learned alot through lessons, and missionary discussions, and "role playing how to be a missionary." And the kids LOVED them. They loved that Elder Sharod could juggle and Elder Segundo was from Brazil. They were great examples for my kids.

 Fayetteville Carnival. Why does anyone spend money at these things I always ask. But some how you can't refuse your kids begging to go after you've driven by it so many times. This was expensive as usual but I have to admit their rides were pretty good. Especially the motorcycle one.

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Cape Fear Valley River Trail and Valentine's Day

 Ryan's favorite thing to do with the camera is try to find the perfect place to put it and set the timer just in time for him to get in the picture. He does a pretty great job; this is how we get most of our family pictures these day. The Cape Fear Trail is one of our favorite things to do on a day off.  We had fun playing on the old tracks at the trail. We have ridden bikes and played at this trail quite a bit. It's beautiful and well maintained.

 I love that this wasn't a set up picture. Anytime Raiyah will let him, Malakai takes her hand and loves to just walk with her.

 Valentine's was a great day. All Raiyah wanted was to go on a Daddy Daughter date. She kept talking about it for over a week. So while Malakai went to a Sunbeams Valentinen's Party Ryan took Raiyah shopping at the mall and for dessert. She felt like the most loved daughter in the world. I couldn't ask for a better valentine than to know what a wonderful father Ryan is. That night my sweet friend Kaci watched the kids while Ryan and I went to a wonerful Japanese resturaunt and bought me new running shoes. Oh, and my favorite part. Ryan spent the whole night before making me a handmade valentine. It's packed or I would take a picture. It was a owl he cut out all the little details and then wrote, "Owl" always love you. It was very sweet and he was so excited to give it to me. TE AMO