BAHAMAS TRIP!!!

Cade and I were able to go to Atlantis in the Bahamas for a Fishbowl work conference. It was such an amazing trip (with our cute little Lucy Lu)! Cade found out back in January that we would most likely have this opportunity. However, with the unknown of little Lucy, we decided not to go. If she was a really hard baby then it probably wouldn't be the most fun trip. But one week before leaving, Cade said, "you and Lucy should just come. We should make it work!" He did everything he could (including getting expedited passports for Lucy and I) and our next door neighbor Allison watched the older two so we could go on an awesome adventure!

Lucy was a great traveling baby! She slept in our arms great and was awesome for a 8 hour traveling day there and 8 hrs back. It was so cute having a little passport for our 3 month old! World traveler at such a young age :). I'm so glad she is such a good baby so she and I could join Cade on this adventure.

We got to the Bahamas at nighttime so we didn't get to see much on our way to the resort. But when we got inside this was our first view. It was such a cool place! I didn't realize exactly how BIG it was until the next day when I went exploring.

The next morning I woke up to this view. It was so beautiful. Cade was working all day Monday, so Lucy and I went outside to explore the resort. There were pools each filled with different sea creatures such as turtles and sharks. It was so cool! There were many pools you could choose from and a huge children's play area that i couldn't help but think how much the girls would LOVE playing here! The aquarium and shark tanks were really cool. There were two water slides you could go down that went right through the sharks tank. Cade went down the really fast one. I just went down the calm tube one :). The water park itself was so much fun! Cade and i didn't get to go there together until Wednesday when the conference was about wrapping up. 

It was fun being able to see some of what Cade does at these conferences and meet some people he knows from working with them. This conference he got to be one of the presenters during Tuesday morning breakfast. It was great to see him in action! Even though Lucy only allowed me to see the first 10 minutes of the presentation- he did great!

Tuesday morning and a lot of Wednesday was our time to do the beach and water park and spend a lot of time together. It was so much fun to be together. I learned that the beach is really not that easy and exciting with a 3 month old that you are trying to keep out of the sand and sun, but it was still fun.

One of my absolute favorite parts of our entire trip (and really anything I've done in life) was the shallow swimming with dolphins! It was so NEAT and those creatures are such amazing animals! They are smart and kind and so amazing to interact with. Lucy even got to join us- in her baby wet suit and all!

We had such a great time and I am so grateful to Fishbowl for giving us that opportunity. Atlantis was incredible and I kept saying to Cade, "next time we come..." and he kindly reminded me there probably wouldn't be a "next time" so enjoy everything I could. We did and I loved it!

Emma Graduation/Reese 1st Year Preschool

Emma graduated from Kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary with Mrs. Cluff and Reese finished her first year of Preschool at Learning Dynamics with Mrs. Johnson. We LOVED both teachers so much.

Reese loved making friends (such as Bailey), learning about different letters every day and getting a skittle every time they listened and cleaned up :). She learned how to write her first and last name really well and be able to write and recognize all of her letters.

Emma learned how to read at a level G by the end of school. She improved so much during the year. She of course LOVES all of her friends most of all as well as doing art work. She is excited to start in full-day 1st grade in the fall!

Reese and Mrs. Johnson

Reese and Bailey

Pres. Emery and the Henderson's

It's so great to catch up with friends. First, we visited President Emery and his new wife Sharon, Cades mission President and new wife. It was great to see them. Cade was really close to him on his mission because of being AP (Assistant to the President) for a while. The girls favorite part of the visit was the stork they got to ride :).

Aimee and Russ Henderson came to visit!!! We miss them so much! What great friends and amazing people. We were first friends with them in college in our married BYU ward. We had some awesome memories- stinky sheep, exploding chocolate fountains, crazy dog Jonah, camp-outs up Hobble Creek, singing in stake choirs, card game nights, and seeing them adopt their first child, Savannah. And so much more. They are incredible people and it was so much fun seeing them again! (Photo credit: Emma :)).

Easter 2016

I love Easter time- the flowers and plants starting to come back to life, baby animals, our Robins nest on our back porch (minus all the bird poop!), warmer weather that brings playing outside, dying eggs, Easter Egg Hunts, and of course the most important thing- talking about and spending more time thinking about our Savior and His atonement and what that means to us in our lives.

Our favorite tradition is to eat a waffle breakfast and watch the sunrise in our family room and talk about Christ being the Light of the World. I am so grateful for my Savior who makes it possible to repent from mistakes and wrongs we've done and become more like Him. There is such great happiness that comes from knowing you can always be with your loved ones for eternity. Hallelujah!

A new favorite tradition (3rd year now, I think?) is going to Thanksgiving Point during their Tulip Festival. The gardens are filled with tulips and it's gorgeous. Some day it would be fun to go with just Cade and I and have a RELAXING walk with him :). By myself with all 4 was still fun but by the time we were half way there, deep into the gardens, the girls and my feet were hurting and there was a whole lot of complaining on the way back!!! We still had fun!