We've had a grand total of maybe 10 sunny days all spring, and one of them happened to be on Nathan's birthday. Open presents outside on the picnic blanket? Don't mind if we do.
With no prompting from me, my kids have made it a tradition to buy each other presents at the dollar store. Nathan's been coveting this Madagascar coloring book, and Nicole thoughtfully got it for him. Awwww.
 Legos!!
 And we wrapped up the Annie just for good measure.
Ain't she cute?
- By lwmauery at 25 May 2011 - 20:24
- Lauren
Can you guess the theme of Nathan's birthday party this year? Some of you already saw his cake, since I had to call for help to make it come together the night before the party. The boy's got robots on the brain, and since he loves to build it was a perfect fit for his party. Here's the excited birthday boy on the day of the party:
Here's before the boys got to our house. We went with red and black with silver details. Those streamers were so easy and fun -- I stole the idea from Jordan Ferney at oh happy day.
Welcome to the Robot Workshop! Our building lab was stocked with nuts and bolts, pipe cleaners, duct tape, pom poms, and everything we saved from our recycling bin for a couple of weeks.

I LOVE projects like this one. All the boys came up with projects that were different and unique, and they built happily for a good 45 minutes while listening to some great tunes. Thanks to Vernon for having just the right building tricks to make these boys' robot dreams come to life!
Here's Nathan with his creation:

- By lwmauery at 25 May 2011 - 13:52
- Lauren
 I found this old picture of Jaren. He cracks me up. I have more silly pictures of him than I will ever have of the serious kind. :) Lately, he has been up to some building.

Jaren learned from his big brother that when building with blocks, dominoes, jenga pieces, or anything else.....it is cool to build temples. (I don't know where Ryan got it. I always built "Towers" when I was little, so I think it is pretty cool that they build temples instead. ) Anyway, here are a few of Jaren's recent temples.
This one with the curved entrance looks like the Bountiful, Utah temple. Timothy and I were married there. :) Here is a comparison:
- By Chanin at 19 May 2011 - 11:46
- Chanin
This past weekend my sister, Nancy, and I made a quick trip to Salt Lake to visit our parents. We rented a car and headed south. The trip down was fun, we spent the time talking and laughing. We got there in time for some yummy chicken pot pie for dinner, followed by some divine keylime pie. After dinner we headed to Temple Square for a piano concert by the American Piano Duo. We got there a little early so we had time to snap some pictures of the beautiful flowers around Temple Square. Here we are! Unfortunately, Dad had just had knee surgery and wasn't able to come with us. :(    The concert was held in the assembly hall, somehow I've never been in that building, and it was beautiful. I love the architechture and woodwork.  The concert was AMAZING! These guys really know how to put on a show. Their fingers were moving so fast and the music they chose really showcased their talent. I loved it! I took some pictures of the temple and thought they turned out pretty good. After the concert we stayed up late talking and enjoying the company. The next morning started bright and early. We were at the library for their semi-annual sale before 7:00. It was overwhelming and crowded. I felt like I was in the way. But, we ended up with some good books for cheap. We got 2 boxes for $33.50. Then we stopped by the apartment to check on Dad and went back out to shop until we dropped. Mom's dear friend, Sis. Rose, came with us and she was just a delight. First we hit the thrift stores and actually found some great finds. We ate lunch at a little British cafe and it was yummy. Sis. Rose is from England and she treated us to fish and chips. I even bought some of the batter it was so good. The afternoon was spent at Hobby Lobby, Shopko and Jo-Ann's. I found some fabric to make the baby's blessing dress and some blankets. By that time we were all ready to go home and relax. We had dinner at mom and dad's and talked for awhile and then made the trek back to Rexburg. It was fun but too fast. I wish we could've spent a few more days there. It was great to leave the kids and have some mommy time but it was also great to be home again and savor their big hugs and squeezes. Joe is an awesome husband and didn't complain once about my trip! Now I have some projects to get started on! Here's our rental car, it was fun to drive!
- By mary haeberle at 2 May 2011 - 11:44
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 30 Apr 2011 - 08:28
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 29 Apr 2011 - 07:56
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 29 Apr 2011 - 07:50
- Mary
Our family has some Easter traditions that are set in stone: egg coloring, egg hunt in the backyard (or house, if it's raining -- and we live in Oregon, so....), and of course church on Sunday. To help us be a little more spiritually focused this Easter season, we stole an idea from the April Friend magazine and read scriptures each night of the week before Easter Sunday that correlated with events in the Savior's life from that week. Then we raided our Gospel Art Picture kit for pictures and posted them on the wall to remind us of the things we'd learned during scripture study.
It was a simple exercise, and we did miss a night or two and have to catch up later, but I thought it was powerful for me in focusing my thoughts on the Savior during a week of fun and spring color. It reminded me of the scripture in 2 Nephi that says we talk of Christ, we teach of Christ, and we rejoice in Christ so that our children know Him better. Loved it!
Our Easter Saturday was mellow, sunny, and fun! One of our traditions is to do our egg hunt and egg dying on Saturday to keep Sunday open for family dinner and worship. So we grabbed our rare sunny afternoon and headed outside for egg hunting! Hooray for muck boots!



We had planned to do our annual Easter dinner of fish and cornbread (modern honeycomb) to commemorate the meal Jesus ate to prove He was alive again and not just a spirit as His disciples thought at first. But we moved it to Saturday night so we could spend Sunday evening with friends. So Sunday's main event was Easter dinner with good friends (no pics, sorry) and church with pretty dresses!

Going to church on Easter Sunday always reminds me of walking into a flower garden -- all the girls and ladies pull out color that's been socked away all winter. Love it!
Hope your Easter was a happy one!
- By lwmauery at 27 Apr 2011 - 13:57
- Lauren
I just posted 4 Easter posts so if you're intersted, just keep reading!! Enjoy!
- By mary haeberle at 27 Apr 2011 - 11:02
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 27 Apr 2011 - 10:33
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 27 Apr 2011 - 10:10
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 27 Apr 2011 - 10:05
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 27 Apr 2011 - 09:40
- Mary
We finally had a day where the sun was shining a bit. We live in the rainiest, cloudiest place. I just about go bonkers every year before the sun comes out for a few months. I took the kids outside in the sun to get a picture and this is what I got:
No EYES! It wasn't even full sunlight. The sky was completely overcast with thin clouds. You would think they were at the beach in full sun.
 Tyler WOULD NOT open his eyes. "Gee Mom, what is that bright ball?"
 We put Tyler in the shade and finally saw a tiny bit of his eyes.
 Oh, there they are! It took a while. I guess we can't move back to Sunny South Carolina. Their eyes just wouldn't take it. We are now a bunch of Seattle wimps.
- By Chanin at 25 Apr 2011 - 14:16
- Chanin
Last Saturday Dallin and Eliza participated in the Festivals at BYU-I and both did really well. This was Dallin's 3rd time playing and he receieved a 99/100. Eliza was brave and this was her first Festival, she received a 98/100. They both worked really hard and it paid off. Good job you two!! Last night Dallin, Eliza, and Andrew had their piano recital. They all played really well, even though they were nervous! Andrew just started taking lessons in January and he's already come a long way. He was really nervous but once he sat down at the piano I couldn't even tell. I'm so glad the kids enjoy playing the piano and they're sticking to it. I guess I'm just a proud mama!!
- By mary haeberle at 23 Apr 2011 - 10:26
- Mary
Dear Grandma S. , These pictures are way overdue. So, instead of emailing one, we decided to post all of them here for you. Here they are!
We Love You! ~Holly and Ariana
It is that time of year again to give the "big cuts" to the girls. Holly has never given her hair to Locks of Love. She will usually get a few trims and then take 5-6" off before school starts.
But now that her hair is so much thicker, it finally made it to the 10" requirement for sending in to Locks of Love. Check out the before and after:
Holly Before:

(some lucky child will get Holly's pretty platinum hi-lites! :)

Ariana Before:
(wet hair! :) 
(Ariana has been doing this now for 7 years. So, she is a pro and gave 14" again. Way to go, Ana!)

Ariana's BIG CUT!
Holly's Big Cut! (This is the only picture I got of Holly's ponytail. She is covering half of it. Aaargh. But you get the idea, right? Holly gave a full 10" of hair. )
The finished product. Ahhhh, so light and fluffy!

Wow, we forgot how much curl Holly has!
(This is curled, but is sure is easy to do now.)

Adorable Ariana
Happy Holly
It was a fun experience for both these beautiful gals. I am glad they like to do good things for others. And it is kind of fun to be pampered in the process.
P.S. Since the girls were getting so much attention with the cutting of their hair, the boys decided that they needed a little attention of their own. What better way than to grow a little hair themselves?
Jaren is planning on a full handlebar. But he's gonna need a little wax to get the full effect. Anyone know where I can find some mustache product that doesn't build up?
 Ryan was goin' for a simple chevron, but his hair is so wily that it quickly got out of hand. He trimmed it back to this handsome horseshoe and he is in the process of redesigning his look. We think that a freestyle-English type 'stache will be in the works next. Stay tuned....
- By Chanin at 20 Apr 2011 - 11:39
- Chanin
- By mary haeberle at 13 Apr 2011 - 10:19
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 11 Apr 2011 - 22:36
- Mary
The kids had Spring Break this last week and it sure didn't feel like Spring. I think it snowed or tried to snow everyday. It was new, fresh, white snow and it was beautiful. I am not a big fan of snow and am thankful it melted everyday, but it sure was pretty! It didn't stop the kids from wanting to play in it and this is how we spent one of our evenings. The flakes were huge, the biggest I've ever seen! Penny was showing us how cold it was. Brrr!
 Molly and Penny making footprints in the snow.
 Eliza was having so much fun she even lost her shoe at one point!
 Daddy and a very frozen Matthew!
 Ready to begin their snowball fight.
 I enjoyed watching them from the front porch!
 All the little footprints!
 Penny was frozen but didn't want to go inside. Daddy's kisses make it all better.  Now that the kids are back in school the weather is improving!!
- By mary haeberle at 11 Apr 2011 - 16:17
- Mary
- By mary haeberle at 10 Apr 2011 - 22:49
- Mary
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