Micah's 3rd BIRTHDAY!!

 Happy  3rd Birthday to our Favorite MICAH!!

So we actually celebrated Micah's birthday the same day as Jacob's birthday celebration ... and YES - that was a LOT of cake!  Benjamin had a friend birthday party to attend at Chuck-E-Cheese ... so we all went along and celebrated Micah's birthday too!

 Micah BARELY made it through his little party - and we felt SO bad when we got home to figure out that he had a FEVER!  Poor kiddo! 

He did ENJOY opening his presents and blowing out his candles - but he probably would've just slept through the rest!

Micah is such a sweet and QUIET little guy!  We love the love that he shares with us!

Jacob's 1st BIRTHDAY!

 Happy 1st Birthday to our little Jacob-Roo!

 Don't you just LOVE those glowing eyes!  "Dad" let him have a taste before we put the candles on!

 And then ... he finally got his 1 little candle!

 The boys were excited to help him celebrate!

 He was happy to get a piece all to himself!

 Unfortunately after cake time - when it was time to open presents, Jacob was EXHAUSTED and just ready to go to bed - not to mention that he DID NOT like the party hat - poor little guy!  

 We love this little man and all of the joy that he brings to our family!  We were bummed to celebrate his birthday late - but he didn't mind!

Jared and Jenny's Wedding!

 Jonathan's brother, Jared and his now wife Jenny, got married in Utah over Jonathan and Jacob's birthday weekend ... so Jacob got to come along!

Here we are with the newlyweds...

 The big GROUP photo...

 

Since it was Jonathan's birthday ... we got to do some fun things!  Jonathan has always wanted to play golf at the golf course near the Salt Lake Airport... so we did!

We ate lunch at the Lion House, walked around Temple Square and Salt Lake, hike at Bridal Veil Falls, and visit some dear friends!!  We even were able to stay with the Hobsons which was such a TREAT!!  Why didn't we take more pictures!

 Jacob and Rachel...

Jonathan, Rachel and Jacob at Temple Square!

Jonathan and Jacob on Temple Square - Happy 32nd Birthday!

Lots of EASTER ... 2012!

EASTER ...  

included LOTS of Easter Egg hunts before we finally celebrated Easter on Easter Sunday!  

Our first egg hunt was our annual (and growing larger every year!) FHE Egg Hunt!  Micah was just happy to get a few eggs - while Benjamin was bummed that he didn't find the prize egg! 

 

Most of the kids at our Egg Hunt... I'm sure it will GROW even larger next year!

 Jacob was content with the 2 eggs Nana helped him to find...

 Benjamin and Micah BOTH had egg hunts at school... Benjamin's was a no-parent egg hunt - but we got to go to Micah's!

 Micah was a little embarrassed at first but then got more than his fair share!

Micah's cute little preschool class!

 Conference Weekend ... the boys got to have an egg hunt put on by Mom Mom with two of their cousins!  There were LOTS of eggs!!

Micah found one of the prize eggs with money in it!

 Our family at the cabin...

 The Monday BEFORE Easter ... we were able to go to the Owens (Grandaddy and Grandma's) for a BIG cousin egg hunt!  The kids had fun!

 Easter Bunny - Saturday!! 

 Jacob was SO excited about his pacifiers!

 The boys looking in their Easter baskets!

 We love celebrating Easter Sunday by going to church and rejoicing in the life and Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ!  We are so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives...

 the boys were pretty tired after church... so we had to take separate pictures...

the boys with Jonathan - HANDSOME!

Happy Easter from the Owens!

Grand Cayman Mom's Weekend OFF Trip!

 My AWESOME friend Lynette and I were able to have a Mom's weekend off thanks to our AMAZING husbands who held down the forts at home! 

We went in March which seemed to be perfect in Grand Cayman - and we were able to squeeze in SO many late night chats, yummy food, fun excursions, and LOTS of smiles and laughter! 

Lynette and I on Seven Mile Beach - just out from our hotel...

 These chickens and roosters were EVERYWHERE - literally and were even the local "road-kill."  No one should be hungry there - if so - they should just take a walk and they'd have a dozen chickens for dinner!

 This was another common site - and they were HUGE -- about 1 & 1/2 to 2 feet long!

The BEST WORST DINNER ever - at Roland's Garden - which is supposedly one of the BEST places to eat on the island - either we know NOTHING about German food - or everyone who eats here enjoys the alcohol first and doesn't realize what they're eating!  OH BOY - we had so many laughs and possibly even a few tears trying to force ourselves to eat the food!  EESH!

 We had a fun time just driving around to different sites - this is  a popular spot named "Hell".  It was neat to see but we thought it was a little anticlimactic for all of the hype.

 One of our favorites was snorkeling at Cemetery Beach.  The fish were amazing here!  We did a lot of laughing too - probably mostly at ME because it took me awhile to get the hang of snorkeling!

 This is one of my favorite pictures - closest to capturing the laughter or me trying to snorkel!

View of the fish...

Lynette snorkeling - she is a PRO!

 fish in the water...

STINGRAY CITY...

We took a boat ride out to Stingray City - which also included a few stops to snorkel as well.  Here we are with the stingrays ... AMAZING!  We got to feed them as well - which kind of felt like a vacuum brushing over your hand!

 

Stingray back rubs...

AND ... we both got to kiss the stingray as well!

 One of our stops was to see these incredible starfish ... a super nice man dove down and got one for us to hold - so many amazing animals in the sea!

One of our site-seeing tours was to the Turtle Farm ... they had all sizes of sea turtles - from big to tiny!  It was fun to hold these little guys!

 Our last day was a drive out to Rum Point and then a night kayaking ADVENTURE to a Bioluminescent Bay!  INCREDIBLE!  

This was the RENTAL CAR aka "the egg" that we RENTED while we were there - did I mention they drive on the OPPOSITE side of the road!  Thankfully when we first got in it - Lynette suggested that we say a prayer (she must've been a little nervous about my driving skills!!) but we did GREAT and only drove on the wrong side ONCE I think!!

The kayaking trip was by FAR one of the hardest things I've ever done - but probably one of the most "fulfilling!"  We had to paddle in the open ocean which was a little tricky - and VERY tiring - but we did it!  We were able to see 3 different types of bioluminescence - my favorite were the SHRIMP - they kind of looked like lightening in the water when you hit the ground with your paddle!

Before our trip... and before we were exhausted!

Fun sign at Rum Point!

One of my favorite pictures of the beauty of the island ... heading to Rum Point!  Definitely the trip of a lifetime and SO many memories!  Loved every minute!