Alive and Kicking

Our poor little blog has been neglected and put at the bottom of the priority list these days.  It has been 7 months since the last post. I wish that I could use the excuse that we have been extremely busy traveling the world but that is certainly not the case.  We have been sitting in our quiet little town of Richfield being lazy (this is regarding Lindy.)  Jesse is too busy at work to worry about the blog.  I blame it mostly on the fact that we have a very crappy computer that shuts down while you are in the middle of something all the time.  To stay sane, I never use the thing anymore!  All is going well with the family. We are loving our home.  Jesse is loving his job and the kids are loving doing what ever they please.  Since we are so far behind I thought I would share the highlights by month and a slew of pictures...  Buckle up, its about to get crazy up in here.

December - We had another nontraditional Christmas.  We celebrated a couple days before so we could have our own family time and then traveled to SLC to spend actual Christmas with the family.  This works out well because Santa comes two or three times.  Kids were spoiled rotten as always.  Lindy also celebrated her golden birthday, age 31 on the 31st.
 

Finn's Christmas program at preschool.  He makes a fine wiseman.

Finn and Lark being silly.

Lark is still not quite awake, showing off something that she is not sure what it even is.

Putting Jesse to work building Lark's new Ariel salon.

Lark loves Spiderman.  Mostly she loves to steal whatever is Finn's.

Finn and his cousin Ava at the family Christmas extravaganza.

These two are inseparable.  Getting ready for the nativity scene, this time an angel.

All of the cousins towards the end of the scene.   Lark had no desire to participate this year, just there to disturb the peace as she does so well. 

All the cousins and their hats from Grandma Becky.

We all went for a family walk and Finn had to wear his new Darth Vader mask.

Cousin Maggie taking care of Lark.

Kids and ladies getting their gossip on.

Lindy's golden birthday party.  Grandma Kris came down so that we could go on a hot date which  included dinner and a double feature.  Pretty exciting!  Pumpkin pie is the best birthday cake ever.  And the best breakfast ever.  Pretty good for lunch and dinner too.  Or a snack anytime during the day. 

Wild times.  Wild, wild times...

Nothing says happy like a Diet Coke with pumpkin birthday pie.

January- This month was not very memorable.  Shocking, I know.  January is usually so awesome.  Mostly just hungover from December. 

Richfield snow tastes better than your snow.

February- Like January.  Not much exciting that we can remember.  We probably went out to eat... 20 times or so.

The two most handsome boys ever!

March - Lindy had to do Kindergarten registration for Finn.  This concluded with her crying uncontrollably and needing some medication to calm her down.

Reading the lyrics to the soundtrack, Lark falls asleep in the car.

April - Jesse worked Easter Day so the Easter Bunny came early to our house. We experienced our first concert here in Richfield.  We saw Firehouse with our new amazing friends (you may need to google the band or just think "finally found the love of a lifetime). Jesse thought the whole town would be decked out in rock gear so he got all dressed up.  He was wrong about the others.

Happy Easter.

Our  lovely creations.  Amazingly, Lark did not drink the dye of any colors.

Cheese and eggs.  Makes me hungry for a McMuffin. 

Parents had no idea that we were supposed to be doing serious faces in this picture.

Firehouse!   With some great friends Angie and Jim.   Rock on!  This is Richfield entertainment at it's finest-- bring in bands that were big several years ago and party like it is 1990.

May - We signed Finn up for T-Ball and I think he could take it or leave it.  He is fun to watch- he is the first one every time to grab a helmet and bat so that he can be the first one to hit.  Finn graduated from his last year of preschool and it was very bittersweet.  I am so sad that he is growing up so fast.  We had "A Big Day"  birding competition with Jesse's family to see which family could spot the most species of birds in one day.  The kids were loving it. Unfortunately, the rain cut the adventure short.  Lindy was not-so-secretly thrilled with this change in the weather. As a family, we saw over 45 species of birds over a couple hours.

Finn at his preschool graduation, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Singing a silly song or laying eggs.

Practicing hand stands with Ms. Paula.

This is Finn making an "F" with his body.

Contemplating life after graduation.  Going to be rough. 

Receiving his cap and certificate.

Mrs. Paula and Finn.  She was the best!

Finn and his good friend Gabe in his class.

The graduates!

Our cute little graduate.

Lark, our little princess.

Spencer Family bird day.

Yellow-headed blackbird at the Great Salt Lake, one of our favorite birds as a family.

Cousin Tate and the kids looking for the birds.

Doing the jig on the bird watch.  Our team was pretty good but easily distracted.

Lindy trying to protect herself from the rain. Thanks Jodi for letting me use your umbrella!

Finn and his Uncle Nate, still on the lookout for birds.

My kids love their Uncle Nate.

The Great Salt Lake bird sanctuary off Antelope Drive in Layton.  It was really neat.  This is a lookout tower along the path and there were plaques with information regarding birds of the area.  Very nice, thanks Audubon Society

Grandma Becky and some of the boys in the tower.

Richfield brings in a carnival every year for graduation day.  The kids were in heaven.  Parents felt ripped off.  Carnies were stoned as usual.

We have this drinking fountain in our backyard and since we moved in we have wanted to paint over the previous owners' hand paintings.  Jesse finally did it and made the pirate watering hole.  Finn is so proud and had to gather all his friends to some and see it.

Finn and Lark showing off their suckers and new flip flops sent in care package from Aunt Jodi.  We love you.

Crazy hair from jumping on the tramp.

Finn's T-ball picture.  Big time slugger.

Finn and his team,  the Rockhounds!

Finn at bat, getting ready to kill it.

Go #3!

Finn playing outfield.  He has way more concentration than his dad ever had.  Jesse would be sitting down, swatting at flies.

June- So far, so good.  Jesse finally hiked the Subway in Zions and we have a family vacation in Oregon planned with Jesse's whole family- should be fun and exciting.  Expect to see those pictures in 7 months!

All is well.  Lindy's mom comes to visit pretty regularly which we love and so do the kids.  A couple of our siblings have come and Jesse's mom and dad make it down here every once in a while. We love visitors so if you ever want to come visit please do!