Easter

This Easter was so fun because it was great weather and it was General Conference weekend.

We had a little Easter egg hunt in our backyard on Saturday and the kids were extremely excited! We had a ton of candy and the kids had to use second buckets to pick up all the eggs. Grandma Darlene even put money in the eggs and they loved that!

We all loved sitting down together and listening to conference. The kids were especially reverent and picked up on a lot of messages from the speakers. After the last session, Douglas made an amazing dinner that related to the savior and the resurrection. As we ate the food, he told us what each part represented. We had lamb with bitter herbs, balsamic glaze, cucumber salad, deviled eggs and fruit and nut compote. It was delicious and a nice way to think about the Savior on such a special day.

Before bed, Gracie realized that we hadn't colored any eggs and the world almost stopped turning, so we colored a few eggs and it was a great way to finish up our day.

Grandma and Grandpa watching as the kids frantically search for eggs.

Douglas did a great job on the dinner. It was delicious!

Marley Man

Marley man is now 2 and a half and he is an amazing little boy. He loves being outside and pretending to be all sorts of people or animals. He love his sister. He loves to say prayers and volunteers every time. He talks all the time and loves a good snuggle. He's a great sleeper and such a joy to have in our family! Marley, you have a great personality and spirit and you are very important to us. Love you!

Here are a few random pictures of what he's been up to lately.

Playing outside and "pee-tending"

Watching Little Einstein in the coolest seat in the house

Helping Papi with the garden

Spring Break - Part 3

To finish off the spring break week, we left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Williams and headed to Harwood, Texas for a scenario paintball game. This was my first scenario game and it turned out really fun. Our friends Brandon and Joseph came with us and it was fun to see Douglas and his friends so pumped up and excited. We froze our butts off the whole day and weathered the rain and ice, but it was really fun and we warmed up in the heat of the battle. I actually can't remember who won but it was just fun to go in and out of the game and battle over the building and fields. We even did a few covert missions sneaking through the trees undetected. Everyone had a few battle wounds to show, especially Douglas who is the most gutsy of all of us. We made some new friends and Douglas did some recruiting for D-day, the huge paintball game in Oklahoma. It was nice to get away for a few days. The kids had such a fun weekend with the grandparents and they were asking to go again the next week.

We joined up with a few other guys during the game.

So happy!!!

Freezing!

Joseph, Douglas and Brandon

Douglas in the heat of the battle

All dressed up in our Multicam

Joseph pondering the deep importance of paintball

Brandon heading to the battle behind him

Opening the celebratory Martinellis

Spring Break - part 2

During spring break some friends from church invited us to the lake to camp. But we decided to enjoy the evening roasting s'mores and then go home and sleep in our beds. We'll try camping later this summer. The kids had their first experience with s'mores and what a sticky delicious mess it was! We went through a lot of wipes and we made some good memories. We are anxious to do it again.

Marley was telling Douglas a great story

I helped Marley roast his first marshmallow, but he thought the fire was way too hot.

Mmmmm.... golden brown marshmallows

Doesn't this picture just make you feel sticky?

Douglas and Gracie mesmerised by the fire's glow

Busy busy busy!

Life has been so busy and blogging seems to fall on the priority list. School, church, exercise, cleaning, birthdays, the list goes on and on. It's normal life but extra chaotic lately. But, this weekend Gracie has been sick, so we're taking it easy today and keeping her home from school.

I figured it was a good time to catch up on the blog. So I'll rewind back to last month during spring break and start from there.

Happy 5th Birthday Gracie!

It's hard to believe that 5 years have gone by since Gracie was born. Our little girl is all grown up! She is such a special part of our family and we're lucky to have her. She has grown so much this year in her physical size but also in many other ways. She has learned to spell and read many words, she has warmed up to pre-school and her new primary class. She is so imaginative and very musical. She loves listening to Elvis and dancing to the beat. She is a great older sister and shows Marley the ropes. Gracie gives such sweet compliments and gives lots of love and affection. She has come such a long way and we're grateful that she's healthy and strong. Gracie we love you and we're lucky to have your sweet. spunky, smart little self in our family. Happy fifth birthday!

Ready for her first day at school as a five year old.

3 weeks old and so weet.

Such a great addition to our family!

Spring Break

Spring Break is even more exciting now that we have 2 students in our family. We headed to Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo for a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Williams. We did some hiking in the mud and soaked up the warm sun. The kids enjoyed getting dirty and looking for animal tracks. The Canyon is beautiful and totally unexpected with the mostly flat landscape through Amarillo.

After we finished seeing the canyon we went to the Panhandle Plains historical museum. It sounds boring but it was really cool. There were several exhibits that the kids could touch and they could run free and tire themselves out before naptime. The exhibit that I liked best was an old Oil rig from the 1920's. It was massive and so ingenous.

We also hit the Amarillo Zoo which was small but still entertaining. The kids are always happy when they can run around and see lions and monkeys. They especially loved the peacock that was not at all afraid of them and gave them a good view of his feathers.

Our trip was nice and not too far away from home. I think next time we'll camp in the canyon instead of in the Hotel.

Gracie loved the mud and rocks. She loved getting dirty.

The soil was such a pretty color.

Hiking with Grandpa

Marley was so muddy by the time we finished and his pants kept falling down, so Grandpa ended up carrying him.

Marley was so happy to not be buckled in his seat!

Having fun with the camera

Ride 'em cowboy!

Checking out the monkeys.

Right after this picture Douglas set Marley down and Marley took a big fall that caused a massive bruise on his forehead. He was understandably a bit grumpy for the rest of the zoo trip.

Grandma and Gracie

The peacock that the kids fed and were fascinated with.