Another Park

Thanks to baseball pictures we found another park to check out that isn't too far away. Our kids love a playground and this one was different than a lot of the parks around here because there was lots of grass and trees. Here in the dessert we don't see such things quite as much. Infact, I sat Zuri down in some grass the other day and she was quite confused and alarmed about the unusual surface I had put her on.

Baseball Photo Day 2012

Here are my attempts at documenting baseball photo day:

Photo Challenge

Trying to get a good picture of all 3 of them together is a real challenge.  Someone is always moving, looking away, has their eyes closed, isn't smiling, etc.  Good thing they are so cute no matter what.

11 Months Old

It's hard to believe that Zuri is only 1 month away from being 1 year old. We all love this little girl so much. Zuri is in to everything these days. She is constantly moving and crawls so fast that getting a picture of her this month was a real challenge. She's also pulling up on everything and has even been caught standing in her crib a few times. She continues to be a beautiful sleeper and a pretty good little eater. She really wants bigger kid food now. Her favorites are crackers, goldfish, cherrios, yogurt and strawberries. We've also been starting to switch her over to regular milk which has been going pretty well. This month our goal is to get her switched over to a sippy cup, so we'll see how that goes. Zuri loves to wave and will do it whenever she hears the word bye. This really is such a fun age. She is so cute!

Baseball 2012

*The week after Spring Break was a bit crazy for all of us. Kai had his first coach pitch baseball game on Monday night. Lance came to the game and then headed back to studying as he later would have his thesis defense on Wednesday and his comprehensive exams on Friday. Needless to say we didn't see much of him all week and are very happy to have made it to the weekend and have all that behind him. So since Lance was using the computer for all his stuff last week I am finally getting around to all of these posts including this one about Kai's first game.

So far Kai seems to like coach pitch. They get 5 pitches from the coach and then if they haven't hit it they get to then hit it off the tee. Kids on the team range in age from 6 1/2-8 so this year he is one of the very youngest and he is the only lefty on this team. On Monday night he got up to bat 3 times and had 3 hits off the coach's pitch which all got him on base. His first time up at bat he actually hit the first pitch which was a good way to start things off. I actually got it and his last at bat on video which I will attempt to post below for the sake of the grandparents and great grandparents. He enjoys being on a team and playing pretty much any sport these days. The games are a little long for some of the other members of our family, but we're glad he is enjoying it.

Easter 2012

My parents had lunch with us Friday (which happened to be my birthday) and then headed back to San Diego. After saying goodbye (which brought on some tears from the kids) we headed home and packed up our own bags. A little while later we were on the road heading the opposite direction to St. George to spend Easter weekend with Lance's parents and extended family. It was noted how neat it was for us to get to see both sets of grandparents on the same day.

We were glad to have a fun little adventure away from home to wrap up Spring Break. St. George is a great getaway for us as it is only about 1 1/2 hours away. We've gone there several of the last few years for Easter so we've got our list of things we like to do. There was swimming in the pool, birthday cupcakes and later cake, the Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt in the park (which Zuri found exhausting), the Arts Festival, in the hotel room treasures from the Easter Bunny, and all of the standard Red Cliffs family traditions -dutch oven dinner and breakfast, great grandkids Easter Egg Hunt, 2nd cousin buddies, and a little bit of hiking. The weather was great and we enjoyed being on a little adventure. Our kids love this trip every year and are always sad (more kids tears) for it to all come to an end. It is a strange feeling to watch most everyone head back up to SLC as we pull out the opposite direction for Vegas. But it sure is nice to have the short drive home and get to unwind a bit before starting back on school again the next day.

Spring Break & Grandma/ Grandpa Whitney Visit

We had a nice Spring Break week this year. Kai, Rori, and Lance all had the same school break this year which was different than last year. Lance still had work that week though. The kids and I spent the first few days just hanging out around the house which was nice. We are on the go so much in life that sometimes it is nice to just be home all day. On Wednesday my parents and my sister all came to visit as my Mom was also on break. The kids were besides themselves with anticipation of their arrival. For weeks leading up to the trip Rori was talking about them coming and asking how much longer until they were coming. It was very sweet. We kept them busy the whole time they were here: baseball practice for Kai, checking out and playing some basketball at the new playground close by where we live, hitting the mall and toy store (where Rori quickly and painlessly picked the pink and purple basketball for her toy which my Dad of course thought was great) with us, driving around some places they hadn't seen before, learning new speech games on the IPad, writing a "book", and taking us out for some of our favorite meals. Apparently we were so busy having fun that we didn't really get any pictures that had anyone but children in them. We had a great time being with them and were so grateful that they made the long drive to come. Here are a few pictures that Mom and Dad took of the kids with their camera:

Last Day Before Break

Rori's class had an easter egg hunt in their school courtyard the last day of school before Spring Break. It was good prep for the real deal a little over a week later. Part of the reason she loves school so much is they are constantly doing fun things.

First Ponytail

Zuri was born with a good amount of hair (unlike her big sister Rori). Most of it is on the very top of her head so we are now able to sport a pretty decent size ponytail smack on top. It took a LONG time to be able to do this with Rori so it is a little extra exciting. :)