Rhaevyn decided that she would like to celebrate her birthday up at Ben and Stacey's.
We had a great time visiting and playing while we were there.
They are always so great to put up with all six of us. I know that we can be a noisy bunch, but we are glad that they don't seem to mind because we sure do love spending time with them.
Stacey, Rhaevyn and I went to the local craft store. I got some stuff for homeschooling, and I also bought this hat, and stuff to attach to it, for Elsa.
The Wii was quite a treat for the kids. Myles loved playing Monkey Island. Rhaevyn and Aeva enjoyed the hairstyling game, but they all loved playing Mario Cart. They even let me have a few turns. I usually laugh the entire time I am playing because I am not very good and run into everything.
Chris played a round of tennis with Ben.
I may be craftsy, but I am not artsy.
So, I love that Stacey encourages art and creativity with the kids.
They really enjoy this. Stacey set them up with paints, charcoal pencils and water color pencils.
They had a blast!
Elsa loves Waffles. She just refused to leave him alone. She would follow him around calling "waffuz" or "kitty, kitty." He tried to tell her a couple of times to leave him alone, but she just wouldn't listen. By the time we left, I think they were becoming good friends. He was being such a good boy to let her pet him, and she was doing pretty good at being gentle.
Stacey made cupcakes and let the kids decorate them. They really had fun doing that!
Here are all the decorated cupcakes.
Friday was a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny, so we all decided it would be fun to go to the playground. The kids had a blast. They loved being able to actually be outside in the sunshine. Ben brought along his new toy. Myles enjoyed chasing it around, but Elsa didn't quite know what to make of it.
Such funny faces.....
Rhaevyn wanted chicken enchiladas for her birthday dinner, and Ben was wonderful to make them for her.
She picked out a cake, but unfortunately it was not as good as it looked.
Preparing for the cutting of the cake.
We cut Elsa her own cake square and put two candles on it.
She was the only one who actually finished her piece of cake.
Snuggling up with Stacey to watch a movie.
Rhaevyn had written Ben and Stacey a note about how much fun she had had and asked for French Toast for breakfast in a note and slid it under their bedroom door.
Elsa was full of loves. She is so funny. She would spread her arms wide open, run at Ben, and then wrap her arms around his legs.
Stacey taught Elsa to do the "Hollywood Kiss"
It just cracks up watching Myles's little fingers on the keyboard.
It amazes me how coordinated his fingers are because I am in no way like that at all.
I can't get my brain to connect to my fingers very well when it comes to computer games.
Going to Ben and Stacey's is a bit like going to a playground. There is so much room to move around. The kids love running a circle through the kitchen, the living room, down the hall, and back into the kitchen again. We loved playing hide and seek because there are some great places to hide. Elsa loved going up and down the stairs. She would do this at least five times in a row until I told her I was too tired to keep doing it. She wanted to hold onto someone's hand rather than go up and down herself on her tummy. By the end of our vacation she was walking up and down all by herself. That was making me nervous, but she was doing pretty good at it.
We enjoyed playing air hockey and the Wii too. I think I could get used to a house that big, even if it meant extra cleaning.
On a down note, I lost one of the diamonds in my wedding ring while on our trip. But on the bright side, it wasn't the whole ring that got lost.
As always, we had a grand time and can't wait to see Ben and Stacey again. It is always hard to leave. I told Stacey it is like part of your heart is being left behind. On the bright side, we look forward to seeing them again soon.
This was such a treat. We had a wonderful time and learned some new things about our special friend. We even came home with some fun volunteer projects to work on, which we are really excited about. I think it is amazing how our Heavenly Father works. How he places people in our life that are meant just for us at just the right time. I would have never imagined when I went to the hospital my 7th month of pregnancy that the sweet nurse who tended to me would be my labor and delivery nurse two months later with Rhaevyn. And that 12 years and three more kids later we would still be a part of each others lives.
Happy Easter!
We hope you all have a very lovely and peace filled day.
Myles enjoying his cupcake. 
Elsa tried a bite of each, I think.
