Rylie's Birthday

On Wednesday Rylie turned 5!!! It was quite the day!!!

She started her morning by going out to breakfast with her dad...a tradition Shane does with all the kids on their special days!

I let her "play hookie" from preschool and she and I headed to LA to the American Girl Store!!! Here she is with Elizabeth going up to the cafe where we had lunch!

Yes, the dolls are served too!!! Rylie made sure Elizabeth was well taken care of!

We also had lunch with Charissa, since Felicity wasn't available! Yes...the dolls are wearing birthday crowns!

This was Rylie's cake! It was very huge and very yummy! They even sang Happy Birthday to her...she was embarrassed, but loved every second of it!!!

After lunch we went to the beauty salon to get Elizabeth's hair done!

Then Rylie went and found her new doll...Felicity!!! (She and Elizabeth are best friends!)

Here we are in the personal shopping room, trying to decide what we were going to get!!! It was a very hard decision!

Rylie and her dolls...and her bag full of goodies for them!!! She even got herself a dress...and Felicity and Elizabeth one to match! They are going to wear them to see the Lion King in June!

One last picture in front of the fountains at The Grove before we headed home. Rylie and I had a great day together! It is very rare that the two of us actually get a "date"...I don't know who had more fun!

Tall Ship

Mason went on a once in a lifetime field trip for school this past week...and Shane and I were lucky enough to get to tag along! His fourth grade class traveled to Dana Point to the Ocean Institute for their Before the Mast Overnight Program. It takes place in 1834 on a tall ship. The crew is in character for the entire field trip experience...from 2:30 p.m. when the kids are recruited to work as crew members on the ship, until 9 a.m. the next morning when they disembark. All of the kids were divided into groups before they got to the ship, with one student as the mate of each crew of kids. Mason was the mate of the Hidegathers. Shane and I were Safety Officers. There was one Safety Officer assigned to each crew. Our main job was to make sure the kids were safe at all times, but not to help them, unless a member of the crew asked us to. Shane was assigned to the Boatswains. They were responsible for the ship's maintenance. I was assigned to the Galley. We were responsible for the preparation of meals and running the galley.

The class getting ready to board the bus!
Mason and his buddy Connelly
On our way to the Ocean Institute, we stopped at the San Juan Capistrano Mission.
It was so beautiful!

Here we are in front of the Pilgrim in Dana Point This is the boat we were on...the Spirit
This is Mr. Alexander, the first mate. He was rounding up a crew and assigning crew mates...this is when he "recruited" Mason!
Mason getting ready to board the ship!
This is "Dr. Chaos". He was the cook and the ship's doctor. He was called the doctor not because he had any medical training, but because he was the one with the knives! He was very superstitious and very funny! I got to spend quite a bit of time with him since he was over the galley.
Here is Mason with the other Hidegathers and Mr. Hudson (the second mate) going out to get some bullock hides.
He also learned to coil the lines. He was very quick to jump in when there was something on board that needed to be done!
Here's Mason reporting to the Captain. He was explaining why they only returned with 2 hides.

The kids had a great night on board. Each crew (except for the galley) had to do a two hour night watch. Mason had watch from 10-12, and Shane had watch from 12-2! It was amazing how these kids just got up and did what needed to be done! As for me and the galley crew, we didn't have to do watch, because we were up at 4:45 to make breakfast! We even got in some rowing in order to go around to the other side of the boat to wake up the captain!

Once the decks were scrubbed and the boat was clean, it was time to go sailing! They even gave Susan and I a job! (Susan was one of the other Safety Officers on board!)

It was a beautiful day for sailing!!! The kids even learned how to steer the boat!

This was such a great opportunity...we had a great time! Mason wants to do it again!!!

Happy Birthday Rylie!!!

Today my baby is FIVE and she couldn't be more excited! She has been counting down the days to her birthday, even though her dad has offered to pay her $20 to stay four! She made it known that she wanted "strings" (streamers) hanging from the ceilings when she woke up on her birthday in celebration of her big day!

Rylie and I are going to spend her birthday in LA at the American Girl Store! We are both so excited! And yes, Elizabeth gets to come too! Rylie is going to pick out matching dresses for she and Elizabeth to wear to see the Lion King when we fly to Sacramento to Mackenzee's house in June...her big present this year!

These past five years have flown by! I still remember when I went into hysterics when I was told I was going to have a little girl...it seems like it was just yesterday...I was so excited, I just couldn't believe it! I still remember the first time I held my little Rylie Katie...she was an angel, just like her aunt she is named after! Ever since that moment, she has been the princess of our house and has kept us on the edge of our seats every second!!!

Happy Birthday Rylie Kate! Thank you so much for the never ending excitement you bring into our lives! Your brothers adore you, your dad is wrapped around your little finger, and I'm so blessed to be your mom! We love you!!!

Easter

We had a great Easter this year! Here are some of the highlights!

It all started with the egg decorating on Saturday! As you can see...this is taken very seriously at our house!

The kids were very excited to look for their baskets on Easter morning! Rylie has been counting down the days until Easter for weeks! Mason found his basket first this year!

Rylie was very excited to dig in to her basket! She was actually up at6:30! She came in our room to inform us that the Easter Bunny had come and that he had hidden all of the baskets...but that she hadn't looked for any yet! She then told us that we needed a bigger house so that the Easter Bunny would have more hiding places for baskets, and a bigger backyard so that he would have more hiding places for eggs! Finally at 6:45 we let her wake up the boys and the fun began!

Parker found his last...that Easter Bunny was very tricky this year!

All ready for church in their new Easter Outfits...Rylie especially loved her dress and the opportunity to sport her "wiggy hair"!

Rylie and Shane

Me and the kids

The kids couldn't wait to get home from church so that they could hunt for Easter Eggs in the backyard. Rylie talked Mason out of a few of the eggs he found!

Rylie made sure she looked under everything for eggs!

Parker made sure Rylie found all of the "girly" eggs. He's always watching out for his little sister!

The Easter Bunny brought Rylie and Elizabeth matching sundresses. Here is one of them! Rylie loves to dress her dolls the same as her!

We had a great Easter...and we even took the time to focus on its true meaning...the sacrifice our Savior made for us...his life, his death, and his resurrection. For that, we will forever be grateful.

"Katie" Weekend

March 15 is "Katie" day. As I mentioned earlier, we all spent this day together this year. I flew up to Utah on the 13th and the rest of the family arrived on the 14th. My mom arranged for a mini family reunion with her brother's family and some of her cousins and their families that night. We had a great time hanging out. We have so much fun together! This picture is of us with our cousins...Keaton, Me, Robert, Colter, Donny, Kari, Lauren, and Hayden. It's always a party when we get together, regardless of where we are or what we are doing. Yes, we are in the restaurant playing Ligretto...the funnest card game EVER! Thank goodness we had a room to ourselves!

Here I am with Kari and Kelsey...they drove straight to the restaurant from Denver...it was so fun to see them and their kids!Sunday morning we headed up to Katie's grave. It is still so hard to believe that it has been 10 years. He have a tradition. When we visit her grave on her anniversary, we take pics of the family and stick them all around her. It's amazing how much our families have grown and changed since she has been gone.

Kari, Kelsey, Donny, and I. It was very cold up there...but the cemetery she is buried in is beautiful!

After we finished at the cemetery, we went over to my Aunt and Uncle's house. My uncle Ray is my dad's brother. Their kids and their families came over to hang out. It was really fun to catch up with my cousins I haven't seen since we moved away from Utah almost 10 years ago. Here I am with my cousin Jared. Until I saw this picture, I knew I was short...but I didn't realize I was this short!

Here we all are...Kelsey, Kari, Jared, Alli, Walt, Donny, Me, and Amber. Of the two families, the only one missing from this picture is Ryan. It is so funny to see us all grown up with families and lives of our own...we all grew up together...for a while we lived just down the street from each other.

On Monday we spent the day in Salt Lake. It was great to have a weekend of just being with our family. We don't get enough opportunities to do that!

Happy Birthday Shane!!!

Today is Shane's Birthday! He's...36 years young!!!
(I can't make fun...I'm not far behind...did I just admit that?!)
There are lots of reasons why we love you, but the main reason is because you make everything more fun just because you're around!!!

Spoiling me rotten on Valentine's Day!

Hanging out with Mason at Disney on Ice

Coaching Parker at baseball

"Cheesing" it up with Rylie...his "twin"

Happy Birthday!!! We love you!!!