Easter 2012

Easter weekend sure was nice this year, and not just because it was the first weekend in over 6 of them that Caleb was actually home with us! We started the weekend off with a good old fashion Easter egg hunt with some of our dear friends that we will miss when we leave in 2 months!

Group shot!

Boy is it hard to get a bunch of kids to sit still and smile!

Lucy sure had a lot of fun finding the eggs and carrying around the basket.

Makayla is an old pro at finding the eggs!

The next day we took a long over due trip to Navuoo to go to the Temple. What a great way to celebrate Easter. (Didn't get any pictures of that, since it was kind of cold outside and all)

On Sunday we dyed some Easter eggs. Makayla LOVES this part of Easter and was begging to do it since we got the egg dying kit. We did most of it while Lucy slept which was a good thing since all she wanted to do was play in the different colors. We did get a couple of pictures of her helping when she woke up.

Makayla getting ready to color an egg.

The finished eggs!

We also went to Church on Sunday and got to celebrate what we believe is the true meaning of Easter. I am so glad I have the knowledge that I do about the Savior and his resurrection. I am thankful for his atonement and the fact that I can be forgiven and will be able to one day return to my Heavenly Father.

We ended the day with having a fabulous ham dinner with some of our friends here in Iowa. I am so thankful for them. They have made these 3 years that we have been away from family a lot better. They have become just like our family and I will miss them dearly! (I keep saying that I know but I really will!)

Oh of course I took some pictures of the girls in there new Easter dresses thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hunter! They looked so cute in them!

Lucy's pose!

Makayla's turn.

My two sweet girls! Don't they look so cute! I love having them match!

I love them so much and love how much they love each other!
Happy Easter!

Makayla's Big Day!

My little/big girl turned 4 on March 31st! I am a little late posting about her big day and how we celebrated it, but better late then never right? Her birthday fell on a Saturday which happened to be conference weekend. Also her daddy had a seminar all day long Saturday, so we decided to do most of the celebrating on Friday so that daddy could be a part of it all.

Here she is all dressed up for her big day. She wanted her hair curled and wanted to wear her cute Hello Kitty outfit. She is kind of obsessed with Hello Kitty right now. You will see this later!

Little sister wanted to get in on the picture taking!

Lucy 16 months old and Makayla 4 years old

Our first stop for her birthday was at the mall so that she could go to build-a-bear! She has been waiting to go and make a bear for months! Grandma kindly sent some money so that she could enjoy this special trip.

Stuffing what else, but a purple Hello Kitty! We found out about a month before her birthday that they were going to be having this special kitty there during her birthday and she was set on this one from then on. There was no changing her mind!

Getting the heart ready. She was so serious while doing all the crazy things the lady told her to do.

Giving purple hello kitty a bath. She did name her Annie, but to this day she prefers to call her purple hello kitty!

I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth the money to actually do this, but I have to say that it was and I am glad we let her do it. I think it was her favorite part of the day!

After build-a-bear we took her an early dinner at Olive Garden. We were joined by a couple of her favorite people! Thanks Natalie and Macy for coming!

After dinner we went to the YMCA for a swimming party. It is hard because Makayla's birthday is at the end of March and we never know if it will be warm or cold so we can't ever plan a big party because our house is so small it would have to be outside and well we just don't ever know. So this year she really wanted to swim so we told a bunch of people if they wanted to come and swim with us we would love to have them join us! Here is an attempt at a group shot. We are missing a few, but we did the best we could! Thanks all for making it a special night for her.

Makayla and one of her best buds, Cooper!

(She calls him her boyfriend from time to time)

Lucy had a blast too and I had a hard time getting a good picture of her because she didn't want to stop playing for anything!

Playing on the froggy slide.

One of Makayla's favorite things is to go down the big slide with daddy!

Splash!

Lucy was even brave enough to do it!

Saturday, her real birthday, was low key and mostly spent watching conference and riding her bike. We did take her to dinner at her other favorite place Chick-Fil-A before daddy went to priesthood.

Sunday we celebrated a little bit more and had a couple of friends come over for dinner and cake and ice cream.

I felt kind of bad that I didn't make her a crazy cool cake this year! Instead she got to help make and decorate her own cake and honestly think she liked it better!

It was so windy that we had to hold the cake inside while she blew her candles out!

Opening a couple of presents. This one is from Paul, Natalie, and Zoey.

This was the best present ever! Ron and Macy gave her a dead rose since it was April Fool's Day. It was suppose to be a joke, but Makayla's loved it instead of thinking it was weird! They also gave her little banana's because I had told her they were "not practical" and I wouldn't buy them. She had asked Macy to buy her some for her birthday and she followed through!

Enjoying some cake with the neighbor girls who decided to invite themselves over! haha!

We are so happy to have this little girl as a part of our family! She is a joy and a terror sometimes, but we love her all the same!

Happy 4th Birthday Makayla!

St. Patricks Day & Nice Weather

Even though St. Patrick's Day probably isn't a big deal to most people, it is to us. In fact any holiday that I get to have an excuse to do something fun I take! This year we decided to make a rainbow out of fruit. My girls love fruit!

Fruit rainbow with marshmallows clouds and caramel gold!

They were so excited. Makayla loved helping me put it together.

I told you they love fruit! (J/K)
I actually took the pickle jar away from her and boy did she get mad at me! I thought it was hilarious! Shows her personality perfectly.

They were so excited to dig in.

This is what was left after we all had our turns at it!

Later that night we continued the green theme by having Brazilian lemonades. They are made with limes, but don't end up being green so we had to pretend! hahaha!

The weather out here was perfect for a few weeks and trust me we soaked up as much sun as we could during that time. One of Lucy's favorite things to do is blow bubbles. I am not sure how many she actually blows but she loves to carry that thing around and blow at the wand. So cute!

Makayla is much more experienced at the bubble blowing thing.

Showing off there new bubbles! We are so excited for this warm weather and spending more afternoons outside playing!

Caleb's Trip to Brazil

Caleb had an awesome experience about a month ago when he got to go to Brazil. He went for a clinic abroad trip with a group of students from his school to provide Chiropractic care to the people there. He had a lot of fun and learned so much. We defanently missed him here at home while he was gone for 12 days, but we are happy he got to go!

Here are some pictures of his adventure!

One of the first days there they went to an orphanage for disabled kids.

(This is the sign in front of the orphanage.)

Caleb said it was really hard to see these kids and know that most had been abandoned. He was especially touched by a baby that was like a month old who had a cleft palate. He said she had the most beautiful eyes. It made him grateful for the things we have here. He was able to do a couple of adjustments while there.

He also took a picture of one a soccer stadium that was being built. You may be wondering why a soccer stadium that isn't even built yet, but it was because it is one that will be used when the World Cup is play in Brazil in 2014!

They also got to tour an Opera house that Manaus is famous for.

Inside the Opera house.

Another neat opportunity Caleb had was that he got to go and see the Manaus Temple that is being built. One of the leaders in Brazil offered to take him and a friend to see it. Pretty cool if you ask me!

(This picture was taken in the dark and didn't turn out the best)

Here is a picture of it again, but this time it was taken when he got to take a ride on the Black River, one of the rivers that make up the Amazon River.

A picture of some houses that were on the river.

This shows the two rivers, the Rio Negro (Black river) and the Rio Solimoes, that join to form the Amazon River. Caleb said it was crazy to see the distinction between the two and took a while for them to finally merge and form the Amazon!

A look at the boats they rode on.

When they were walking on a bridge they looked down and saw an alligator below them. Caleb had to get a picture of him right above it. Pretty scary if you ask me!

After getting to see some of the sites they spent the rest of the trip doing this! Caleb saw a total of 116 patents and learned so much while he was there!

Here is Caleb with his translators, Carol and Jonatas. He thought they were pretty cool kids and he enjoyed getting to know them. They helped him so much and he couldn't have done it without them!

Here is Caleb with the people in Brazil that made the trip possible.

He had a great time, but we are VERY VERY glad he is back!