Happy Birthday!

It was Grandpa Mark's birthday yesterday.

Bomb Scare

Artificially happy

BEFORE:

It was so nice and green when we bought our house!  It's been

a sad excuse of a yard ever since.  

This particular picture was taken over 6 months ago, so the only difference lately has been that dirt replaced most of the areas where the dead grass was, and that there were a load of dandelions in the green corner (did you know that if you don't pick them, they grow into dandelion trees!  We called it the dandelion forest).

There was a two week period from when we bought our house, to where we moved in, that the sprinklers were off.  Needless to say, it doesn't take long for a lawn without water to fry in the sweltering heat of a Nevada summer.

AFTER:

We just got artificial grass, and it's great! Our yard went from looking the worst, to the best on the street, in a few short hours.  It's so nice to look out the window to a nice green yard, and a lawn that always looks freshly mowed.

Blair says that artificial grass has to be one of the most wonderful things ever invented.

here's it close up:

This was part of Xander's prayer the night before the people came to put in our grass:

"...bless that the grass guys can be safe and not cut their hands when they put in the grass, and not get hurt, and not put their fingers in the dirt... and bless our blessings to be safe..."

-It made me chuckle.

Puerto Vallarta

We got to go to Puerto Vallarta for our spring break and it was so NICE to have a relaxing vacation. Thanks mom & dad Curtis!

The resort we stayed at had a program for kids. We accompanied Xander for a few activities. Being that he doesn't get the opportunity to use scissors much, he was ecstatic that they were using them one day. He kept cutting things tinier and tinier, and didn't want to glue them onto his project- he was too busy cutting for about an hour. The next time we went to an activity he promptly told the instructor that he needed scissors again. Unfortunately the next activity didn't require them.
We had an ocean view room on the top floor. They had a mix up and overbooked the room we were supposed to be in, so we lucked out I guess, and got a better view.

Playing at the beach.

We walked along the "malecon" downtown, where you can find food, booths, street performers, and lots of fun things to look at. There were the most amazing sand sculptures- this one was of the last supper, and it was way larger than life-size.

We went to Eden, where Predator was filmed. We hiked around a little in the rainforest, and put our feet in the pool of water they have there.

Watch out- he's behind you!

Will really wanted to hold this parrot. He loves birds, and is always sure to point them out to us and say, "tweet tweet!"

We went on a pirate cruise on a ship called the Marigalante. They said it is an exact replica of the Santa Maria. They had food and pirates all over swinging from ropes and putting on a show for us. We got to a little beach where Blair and Xander went kayaking, and I watched Will throw balls of dirt to a dog that would chase after them, and then he'd laugh hysterically- over and over and over and over.....

Xander thought that this toilet was pretty cool on the pirate ship- but he wouldn't go near the shark-mouth urinal. He told Blair he thought it might bite him.

Easter

We went up to UT for Easter.  It was lots of fun!

We went to Wheeler Farm with Grandma Diane.  Here is the rude goose that kept following us around and trying to intimidate us to give it food.

This little lamb was going for a ride.