Well, apparently our moving company doesn't work on the weekends, so we've had to tweak our moving tactics a little bit. We're going to be packing up a bit early since it will take about a week for our stuff to arrive in Texas. We're loading the trailer Tuesday, April 8th- but still not driving to Texas until Saturday, April 12th. Atleast it will give us plently of time to clean before we leave! Warren will be out of town on business on Tuesday, so we're hopeful to load as much of the moving van on Saturday after our Open House. Hopefully I'll be able to find a few helpers for some furniture loading on Tuesday night. I've had some awesome friends come to help me pack. I just have the last minute stuff to do. We are so blessed to know such wonderful people here in Merced! We'll miss you!!

At the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk! The kids had all these dreams of Scooby running up and licking there faces. Followed by hours of frolicking in the sand and ocean together. Needless to say they were a little disappointed when they came up to Scooby and saw he had a blond ponytail hanging out the back! He is definitely one of their favorites right now. Cade said Shaggy must have been taking a nap and Fred was at work, so they couldn't play either.

We were playing on the beach when we found a baby elephant seal. We talked to the park ranger and he said to just leave him there, that the mom was out finding food and would be back to feed her baby! It opened its eyes and looked right at us. Luke LOVED it! The next day we went to a museum that had pretend seals you could play on. Luke thought they were the real thing. It was pretty fun to watch. The kids wore themselves out completely. They were all snoozing on the drive home. I'm glad we got to go since it is probably the last time we'll be able to go for quite a long time.

We went on a fun train ride through the Redwood Trees on our Santa Cruz trip. It was amazing to see all the beautiful, giant trees along our ride.

Not often you get 4 generations together. My parents from Reno (and sister, Hailey), and grandparents (from Salt Lake City) met us in Santa Cruz for a few days. We even got to see Aunt Karrie for an afternoon!

We had a fun trip to Santa Cruz this week. On our way we stopped at Casa de Fruta to have a picnic lunch at the playground. We played on the trains and took a ride on the double decker "Casa de Carousel!"

Our traditions were a little lacking this year with the move to Texas coming up in 3 weeks. But I don't think the kids noticed, they seemed happy with their loot! On the spiritual side, we enjoyed having a pita dinner with the missionaries this weekend as our version of the Last Supper/Passover dinner. Chicken salad probably isn't nearly as authentic of a filling as lamb- but we did have olives and grape juice to go with it!!

We had a fun time with Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Ryan last night doing our annual egg hunt. Luke found that he loves Easter eggs since they are filled with candy! We will miss having them so close!

We will be packing up Friday, April 11th and driving away to Texas on Saturday, April 12th. For all who want to know. We're still not sure where we are moving to- we're hopeful the rental we faxed today is still available. They were the only ones to give us a 6 month lease, so we are crossing our fingers! Let you know when we know more!!

"I testify that when the Lord closes one important door in you life, He shows His continuing love and compassion by opening many other compensating doors through your exercise of faith in Him. He will place in your path packets of spiritual sunlight to brighten your way. They often come after the trial has been the greatest, as evidence of the compassion and love and an all-loving Father. They point the way to greater happiness and more understanding, and they strengthen your determinantion to accept and be obedient to His will."

In his bedtime prayers tonight he finished and then had to start again "because I forgot to bless Texas!" He thanked that we can go to Texas and said, "Bless our friends that they don't cry cuz we move to Texas." I thought that was so cute!

We decided to go to work with Warren on Saturday. He was working on the coast, so the kids and I thought we'd go to the beach while he slaved away. Unfortunately Mother Nature had something else in mind. It was raining and hailing- so we decided to take an alternate course. We visited the "Great Artichoke" where they are known for their deep fried artichoke hearts. (Tasty!) Then the kids and I went and hung out at the mall. The Disney store was a hit as well as the play cars and merry go round. (We don't have such things at our lovely Merced Mall! For any of you who have actually been to our famed mall you will get what I am talking about. A mall made up of Payless and Longs is not exactly the most exciting!)On our way home we ran into a nasty car accident 15 car pile up just outside of Hollister. So we had to drive another 3 hours out of our way to get home. At least is was a beautiful drive. We enjoyed the green rolling hills covered in California poppies!

We have been enjoying these beautiful spring days. Luke hit a milestone this week. He cried for the first time when leaving the park. He loves playing with his friends. We'll miss you friends!!

Apparently we haven't had enough change in our lives, so Cassidy and I decided to get some short summer haircuts. I cut about 5 inches off mine- it had really gotten long!
Cassidy had her first official visit to a hair salon. Normally I cut it- but we've had so much going, I thought it would be a fun girly outing. Cassidy was beaming! She loved looking through the books to pick out her haircut.
The kids have taken all the pictures in this segment- including the haircut photos. They think they are quite the photographers.
This one made it in- it seemed the most clear. All the other pics Cade took were of blurred fingers, toes, backs, etc.

Am I the only one completely goofed up from this time change? Granted it all came about while we were in a different time zone- still I'm all out of whack! I nearly forgot dinner it was light so late tonight. I prefer the fall back- I can always use more time in my day!!

So we looked at about 25+ homes this weekend in the Dallas area. We were starving for lunch and our realtor said we had to have a real Texas experience- Texas BBQ. So we're driving by and we see this really creepy lady (fake of course) sitting in the back of a pick-up.

We went to the doctor today and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat! Yeah!! Everything is going great. We should have our sonogram next month and find out if this little tiny is a boy or a girl! We'll keep you posted!

So, we've been trying to spruce things up a bit over here. I spent about $80 in flowers and Luke is sabatoshing me! Look at him stomping!!! Yes, it's 5pm and Cade is still in his pjs. Can you tell I've been a little distracted?
Just before I took this picture Luke leaned too far out the window of this slide and did a flip falling right on his face. I thought that would probably be enough for today, but he was right back at it.
Our new plants. My naked lady plants didn't quite make the transplant. The ones I didn't move look great- the others will be fine next year since their bulbs, but for now they are limp and flat! So sad looking!
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree! Don't you love spring?