hopefully the first of many

the last weekend of march we were able to take a family bike ride around our little city. i love these little excursions and hope we get to do a lot more of it! 

clowning around

the boys came up with this all on their own...like a crazy circus act.

happy birthday grandma eva!

grandma eva (my dad's mom) turned 94 the end of march! a birthday party was held in her honor.



 i'm so proud to belong to this lady! and i'm even happier that my kids will have memories of their great grandma eva. she is one of a kind and a shining example! 

 

family home evening

family home evening at our house



i just had to snap this picture the other night.

we hold our family home evenings on sunday nights (because kevin works late on mondays) and it can be quite comical.
we begin with a song from church that the kids know. usually "i am a child of God" or "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" which madalyn and wesley both lead.
owen will usually say the prayer and is always sure to bless the treats.
then we read a book of mormon story followed by a discussion.
we ask the kids to sit on the floor in front of kevin and about 30 seconds in this is how it looks. EVERY.TIME!

they love their dad, they love learning about the book of mormon, and they love treats!

its a win win situation. :)

 

annual snowmobile trip

saturday was another day of relaxation. jarom and elena fed us sausage and hot bran muffins. so good! then it was more playing outside.


dad and mom enjoying a walk outside.

kevin pulled the kids behind the snowmobile for a bit.

we had a great view of the grand tetons. the weather really couldn't have been any better. kevin spent a good amount of time out on the deck reading a book, and enjoying the view of the river and mountains.

dad taking a nap

nat fed us every kind of grilled hot dog you could think of for lunch. it hit the spot!

we played lots of games and watched lots of movies. and did quite a bit of sledding.



then the hanson's fed us some zuppa toscana soup for dinner. it was delicious!

sunday we woke up to yummy cinnamon rolls courtesy for amber and then we spent the morning loading up.

we all met back up again at 1pm at my parents church. it was nice to all be back at our home ward together again. and before we all went our separate ways we enjoyed a nice beef stew lunch at my parents house.

it was a great weekend!

annual snowmobile trip

friday afternoon me and kev were in charge of lunch and fed the crew hot turkey subs. they were perfect after a morning of playing in the snow.

then we did some relaxing inside. there was a lot of coloring going on. madalyn parked right next to aunt emmy and copied every move she made. it was so cute!

madalyn copying emily and collin coloring

i love this picture!

dad played company of heroes on the big screen. it was pretty entertaining to watch!

the boys were very preoccupied and opted not to go on a snowmobile trail ride. so dad took the ladies on a snowmobile ride to warm springs and mesa falls. he split us in two different groups but we got a picture during transition. :).

melissa, katie, alex, natalie, elena, me, amber, emily, and kaylin

dad and me

my group

me, alex, elena, katie, and amber

on our way to warm springs we were playing around in some snow off the trail and i was bringing up the rear and tipped over trying to maneuver through two trees. that is never fun...but even worse when no one is behind you to see that you are stuck. i was alone for about 5 minutes trying to get the machine flipped off it's side and lost my composure for a second...or two! HA! the night before we were talking about wolves and i thought for sure i was wolf meat. but, dad came to my rescue. :) i can laugh about it now.

where warm springs comes out of the mountain. the water comes out at a temperature of 50 degrees.
elena, alex, katie, amber, and me

i rode with katie on the way back. it was nice to just be a passenger and enjoy the scenery.

jarom showing off his gear. ;)

mom and dad relaxing

that night we had homemade pizza for dinner (it was friday night after all...and manwaring's always have pizza on friday night) thanks to ben and kaylin. it was quite an undertaking feeding that many people homemade pizza but they pulled it off! and it was delicious!

after dinner the older cousins put on several activities for the younger cousins to do.

annual snowmobile trip

we spent a good majority of friday playing outside. the weather was so warm and perfect! we started the morning with biscuit bubble ring and biscuits w/honey and jam along with some fruit thanks to the hollingsworths.


madalyn and collin

madalyn spent just as much, if not more time, outside than either of the boys. she reallys likes to be out playing.

kevin took madalyn for a little spin on the snowmobile. she liked it.

kevin taking owen for a ride. this year kevin let owen try pushing the gas. owen LOVED that!

madalyn

kevin taking wesley for a ride. kevin also let wesley try pushing the gas. i think they almost fell off! ;)

halle and emily

ogden

micah

payson

truman

madalyn making a snow angel

ogden and owen sledding

madalyn and me

melissa, me, and emily

emily was nice enough to take madalyn for a few rides down the hill. madalyn kept saying "again! again!"

emily and madalyn

melissa being attacked by her boys