New Pictures!

Marley Man just turned 2 1/2 and he has grown up so much in the last 6 months! He is all boy and loves balls, getting dirty, and getting into mischief. He's definitely 2 but such a joy in our lives!

New Pictures!

Since Gracie turned 5 recently we had her pictures taken and it just made us realize how big she is getting. She is a joy in our lives and we're grateful to have these pictures to remember her at this moment in her life.

After party family time

After Gracie's party, we spent time together as a family. Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Uncle Leroy came into town for the party and we enjoyed being with them after all the chaos died down.

Gracie was all smiles with Uncle Leroy, but Marley wasn't feeling so good.

He just wanted to snuggle with Grandpa.

Leroy gave Gracie a digital camera and she
enjoyed praticing her photography skills on him.

Douglas and the two monkeys

Anita and the two monkeys

Boys in Blue

The 3 Girls

Gracie loves to pick roses!

Gracie's Birthday Bash

The long awaited day for Gracie's birthday finally came. She was trying to be patient, but it's hard when you're 5! Gracie requested a Horse party complete with balloons, piniata and cake. I did my best to fulfill her requests and the party turned out really fun and really crazy. We had 27 kids show up and it was chaotic but very exciting for the birthday girl.

We colored stick horses and then did barrel racing.(around cones) The kids each took their turn and loved being cheered by their peers. Then the kids cracked open the piniata and dashed for the candy. We ate pizza, sang to Gracie, opened presents and then had cupcakes. Gracie recieved so many nice gifts and enjoyed spending time with all her friends. It was a beautiful day and a bit windy, but perfect for making memories and celebrating how big our little girl is getting. She's growing up so much! Thanks to everyone who came. We love you Gracie and we're so blessed to have you in our family. You are an amazing girl with such a beautiful spirit. 5 years have passed so quickly and they have all been wonderful!

The birthday girl

Stormi and Gracie sporting their bandanas and stick horses

Macy, Elyse, Gracie, Stormi and Marley riding the see-saw "horse style"

Happy Marley Man

Sweet Gracie girl

Anticipating the race

Ready..Set..Go!!

Douglas and Marley smacking the horse around

Gracie is a pro at piniatas

The cake

Happy Birthday dear Gracie, Happy Birthday to you!

Opening presents is always so fun! This was a Princess Belle doll and horse. So exciting!!

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